Meeting Minutes 12/3/16

Another fabulous meeting! We had 25 members and three guests for our regional meeting at the NEST Arts Factory in Bridgeport on Saturday December 3, 2016. It should be noted that our guests had quite the international flair: Selma Kenter came to us from Istanbul, Turkey, while Hiroko Matsuda and Masako Matsusaki were visiting from Japan. All three guests came to us through Sisters in Cloth.

Before I get into the meeting brief, a few calendar notes:
— Members of SAQA-CT (and NJ) are invited to the SAQA-NY regional meeting next Saturday, December 10, from 10-11:45am (RSVP to lisa@threadplay.com to confirm space availability). 335 West 38th Street, 8th floor #8.
— Sisters in Cloth will be having an Artists’ Reception on Saturday, December 10, from 2-5pm for their current exhibition at the Guilford Free Library. The exhibit will be up through the month of December and includes work by some of our SAQA members, as well as our recent guest, Hiroko Matsuda.
— The second half of the Local Color: Connecticut Stories exhibition will be up at Connecticut Hospice through January 7, 2017.
— We hope to have our next regional meeting sometime in February, but we’re still in need of a venue. Please email me or Christina if you have a (no-cost) meeting space for 45ish people on a Saturday from 10am-2pm…

Now back to our meeting! Christina briefed us on some helpful things found on the main SAQA website. First was the SAQA Seminar, a new project launched by the SAQA Education Committee, chock full of multi-media content - this series is all about "Stitching”. Christina also noted the fantastic index of back issues of the SAQA Journal. You can search or sort by topic, date, title or author to find what you need. So handy!

Our regional Trunk Show, “You’re Doing What?!" made a spectacular appearance at our meeting. It has visited three different guilds/quilt groups so far (email Hope Barton or Betty Warner to schedule the trunk with your venue!). It was a delight to see the variety of ideas and work amongst our regional membership, and the results of the hardwork of our Trunk Show committee. Those who were present and had pieces in the show spoke briefly about how their piece fit in the theme…or how it didn’t necessarily but represented their work or interests.

On to Show and Tell: many of those present had beautiful work to show off and exciting things to share. Some useful tidbits:
— Dot Bergen was enthusiastic about the use of encaustic wax to layer and college fabric. Highly recommended was the workshops of Leslie Giuliani.
— Paula Klingerman brought a great piece to show off the process of silk fusion, layering silk roving in cross-directional layers and melding it together using dish soap and textile medium.
— Carol Capozzoli reiterated her success working with a mentor, and inquired about critique or tips for using tulle to create depth or shadow.
— Norma Jean Brevik (who was also a hero in assisting with the abundance of door prizes for this meeting) introduced some of us to the wonders of silicone oven liners. Inexpensive and easily found, they can be used in place of a Supreme Slider  - just be sure to put some double-sided tape on the back. Others noted they are great for fusing assistance.
— The New Britain Museum of American Art has a enormous quilt reproduction fabricated in a manner reminiscent of sand mandalas, on exhibit in their New/Now section through January 23, 2017.

We then split into two groups and snuck into the exhibitions for Surface Design Association and the Celebration of Karen Loprete a little bit early, before adjourning.