Quilters: Put down your Scissors! The Blue Bear beckons.
- Mile HIgh State Capitol of Colorado
Rain pelted the wind-screen of the shuttle and immediately
froze creating a slushy mess that challenged the rapidly beating wipers. Some
vehicles pulled over to the side while their driver scraped off the icy mess. I
worried I might not have enough warm clothing—being a naturalized Gulf Coast
Texan I was accustomed to much warmer weather AND a lower altitude. No worries,
though, the sun came out late Friday afternoon and beamed its blessings on it
for the rest of the weekend.
The first two SAQA events I had attended had not been good
experiences but this one was absolutely superb. Everything was so
well-organized and the speakers were all excellent. Thursday night we started
out by a two minute introductions and passing out of business cards in a
version of fruit basket upset crossed with musical chairs. Breakout sessions
were interspersed with lectures or panel discussions—all interesting. The ones
I attended were Monica Dixon regarding a healthy lifestyle with good food
choices and activity; Valarie Portiere about Presentation of yourself as a
Business; Carol Larsen regarding preparing entries for a show; and the
Pixeladies about the basics of Photo Elements. The lectures and panel
discussions were equally well-done—a discussion of 3-D work, preserving work
from an Art Historian viewpoint, presenting a body of work influenced by
surroundings, and a brief tour of textiles in the Denver Art Museum via
slide-show.
The food was tasty, the Brown Palace Hotel a beautiful
architectural delight of the Art Deco era. Unfortunately there was not time to
have afternoon tea in the atrium—an English custom I first encountered in
Africa and instantly adored. As with a lot of women majority events, the
bathrooms were packed and it became a challenge to find one quickly before the
next event. The rooms were very cold and I wished I had gloves and hat plus a
jacket in addition to the waffle-weave shirt I wore underneath a T-shirt.
Studio tours and museum tours were held on Friday night and
Sunday afternoon but I had decided I needed to conserve my energy and I thought
I needed to be back to work on Monday. The next event is in Conshohocken
Pennsylvania in April of 2012.
tomorrow I’ll expand on what I would do differently ‘next time.
As always a selection of my photos from the event are found on smugmug –which unfortunately is down at the present moment–so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Sylvia Weir Art 