Meeting minutes 2/20/16 at Guilford Art Center

Another fantastic regional meeting on the books! On Saturday, Feb 20, 2016, 41 of us met at the Guilford Art Center (411 Church St, Guilford, CT), in conjunction with the first showing of our second regional exhibition, Local Color: Connecticut Stories. Diane Wright opened our meeting with a brief overview of the jurying process for the show and a summary of the reception the night prior. Outgoing CT co-rep Barbara Adams presented our Exhibition Committee leaders Diane (and Kate Themel  in absentia) with small tokens of our appreciation for spearheading this wonderful opportunity for our region.

Next, Betty Warner, as part of our regional Trunk Show committee, discussed the hopes to have a minimum of fifty pieces collected for the exhibition. Due to feedback from the group, it was decided to extend the deadline to our April regional meeting.  Note:  Please do not mail your pieces to Betty; bring them to the April meeting or mail after April 1.

As our dear co-rep Cathy Smith has retired from her position, we took a moment to thank her for her service and presented her with a thank-you gift of hand-dyed fabric created for her personally by Carol Eaton.

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 This meeting’s agenda highlight was a small panel on the SAQA Mentor program:
·          Jan Doyle spoke with enthusiasm and finesse about her experiences with her mentor, Linda Anderson  She briefly described how SAQA pairs you with a mentor based on your interests and how much time you are willing/able to invest. Some resources mentioned during this time were the Spoonflower website for print-on-demand and custom photo fabrics and the Dreamscape app to turn photos into artist-stylized images.
·      Carol Capozzoli started as a Mentee with the goal of entering the SAQA call for Turmoil. Her mentor, Phillida Hargreaves from Kingston, Ontario, offered gentle guidance via Skype and email, to edit her work down, further and further. Some tips Carol offered included – Don’t take it personally. Go with the flow. Always say what you need to say. She revealed her piece, Cancerous Turmoil, to much admiration and discussion from the crowd. One notable link from her discussion was http://www.terryaskeartquilts.com/Studio/tips-tutorials-and-more/my-new-favorite-quilt-facing-technique/ for a great how-to on facing your quilt, rather than binding it.
·      One major point that both mentors seemed to really push was “What are you doing NEXT?”.
·      Cathy Smith spoke about how working with her mentor, Sharon Bass  helped her prepare the application for Juried Artist Member of SAQA. Some tips were to keep good records of everything you do (whether that be on a website/blog or otherwise), to preview the application beforehand so that you can prepare and work toward it, and to prototype/thumbnail 10 pieces together so you can see if you have a cohesive body of work. This turned into a fantastic discussion on finding your voice as an artist. Takeaways included the importance of working in a series and that while it is vital to find your voice, your voice can also evolve over time.

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After a delicious lunch, we handed out a few large door prize sets of varying goodies generously donated by our members. Then we turned the show over to everyone’s favorite, Show and Tell.   A few links from that time include:
·      Cathy Smith mentioned advertising in Art New England Magazine, which publishes an artist directory two times a year.
·      The Windham Textile and History Museum will host a series “Textile Trio 2016” in June.  On Saturday, June 11 from 10-4 there will be a series of talks and demonstrations featuring at least eight CT/SAQA members.  Check the website www.millmuseum.org for more details.
·      CT Fiber Artists Collective will have an exhibition called “Soulful Journeys” at the Windsor Art Center March 12 to April 23.  As part of the corresponding programs, there will be a fabric collage workshop led by Carol Vinick and Linda Martin on March 19 from 10 to 12 and a “Felted Labyrinth” workshop led by Diane Cadrain on April 16.  Workshops are $30 each; see www.windsorartscenter.org for more information and registration.

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Be sure to follow the regional blog at http://saqact.blogspot.com - but bear with us as it is slowly undergoing a makeover. One thing to note so far is the addition of an Instagram feed – tag your Instagram photos with #SAQACT for them to show up on our site and let other members see what you’re up to!

Our next regional meeting will be April 9, 2016 at the Windsor Art Center (40 Mechanic Street, Windsor CT) We will be generously hosted by CT Fiber Arts Collective to view their “Soulful Journeys” exhibit. Hope to see you there!

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Bonus note: Members, have you been receiving our newletters and updates via email? Be sure that SAQA is on your safe sender list [esp if you use gmail!] - directions to do so can be found in the website/technical questions section of the SAQA FAQs here. Email Kelly or Christina if you are not getting our notices!