The Conference began the next day. One of the high lights of the trip was a visit to the Barnes Art Museum. Several of us took an Uber there (my first experience with Uber but not my last)
Waiting for our Uber
The Barnes....we couldn't take pictures inside; a fabulous collection! I've never seen so many Renoirs and Cezannes under one roof.
That evening we went to an Ice Breaker Reception and Fajita Bar Reception at the hotel, the Double Tree Center City. Being from Texas, I'm always a little leery of Mexican food North of the Red River and the rule applied...fajitas ok but not great! But I had a wonderful time and met many, many fellow artists!
Our hotel in Philly. That's the famous City Hall down the street.
The next day, Friday, an inspiring talk by fiber artist, Kathleen Loomis. She spoke on why work in a series....I absorbed sooo much from her!
After this talk, we heard from students from the University of the Arts. Lunch was on our own so Andrea and I struck out to see some of the sites within walking distance.
City Hall with the famous 36 foot high statue of William Penn on top.
Andrea and I with Robert Indiana's "LOVE" sculpture (Philadelphia IS the city of Brotherly Love!)
A sculpture by Lipchitz "Government of the People"
That afternoon, we attended the PechaKucha! The art of concise presentations! 24 SAQA members presented 20 slides in 15 minutes each! Really fun and very informative! That evening was the Banquet and Spotlight auction. The auction is a fund raiser for SAQA...I had donated a small quilt I had made with fabrics I had created at various Arrowmont workshops. Jill Kertulla purchased it as she had just taught at Arrowmont and had done one of the PechaKucha presentations on her time there.
My "Autumn in the Smokys" purchased by Jill Kertulla.
Saturday another fabulous speaker, Carolyn Mazloomi on "When Being a Good Artist Is Not Enough". Dr. Mazloomi is a terrific speaker...funny, sincere, full of wisdom. I could have listened to her longer than her allotted time frame.
I am fortunate to have one of her books...."Spirits of the Cloth", a retirement gift from a friend of mine, Cindy Montgomery.
Saturday afternoon we were scheduled to attend the "Art Quilt Elements" Show at the Wayne Art Center. We all gathered outside the hotel to wait for the buses to take us there. After about half an hour of wait, several of us decided to get an Uber driver. About that time there was an announcement that there had been a miscommunication at the bus company, and that they were not coming! So a mad scramble issued...we ended up stuffing eight people (plus the driver) into our Uber for the 40 minute drive! A great show...not able to take pictures but several SAQA members had been juried in, including our own Kerri Green fro DFW region.
The Wayne Art Center...Wayne, Pennsylvania
That evening it had been arranged for everyone to go to a dinner location with other SAQA members within walking distance to the hotel so we were all scattered hither and yon. Andrea and I ended up going to an Italian restaurant with two great SAQA members, Cindy Grselda and Lori Beitler. Both are long time members which was really good because they were very helpful in answering our newbie questions!
The last day, Sunday, we were in the main lecture hall once again for a couple more speakers. Maria Shell, one of our new friends from Alaska, gave a talk titled "The Art of the Word: Walk, Talk, and Write Like An Artist". Again, another encouraging, inspiring talk! And then a very interesting talk on copyrights in art. And lastly....the goodbyes and last picture taking!
Maria, Kerri, and Heather
The Texas Girls: Deborah, Kerri, Heather, Jay, and Andrea
I love my little art quilt. It will remind me of both the Smoky Mts and of the Conference! You stay after the conference sounds great!!
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