Regional Meeting this Saturday

Find out what’s happening in CT and meet Laurie Russman who will be sharing how you can use ProCreate and the Cricut machine to enhance your art quilts. View her work at https://neonkittyquilts.com/2020/08/13/cricut-maker-procreate-%e2%9c%a8/

SAQA CT Regional Reps, Laura Lugo and Kathy Nutley, are inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting: Topic: CT Regional Meeting November 2020 Time: Nov 7, 2020 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Check your SAQA-CT email for the Zoom link and password   A frequent teacher at IQF’s Open Studios and the beloved City Quilter in NYC, Laurie appeared in Series 2000 and 2100 of Quilting Arts TV on PBS. Laurie is a regular contributor to Quilting Artsand Art Quilting Studio magazines and is a featured artist in Quilted, Volume Q of the Uppercase Encyclopedia of Inspiration. Her art quilts have been juried into International Quilt Festival in Houston, AQS QuiltWeek Paducah and the National Juried Show at Quilt Canada. Laurie is a two-time Aurifil Artisan, devoted MistyFuse fan and frequent collaborator with Windham Fabrics. She blogs frequently about projects featuring these amazing threads, fabrics and effects made possible by the best fusible web! She is a former board member of the Quilt Alliance and is an enthusiastic member of SAQA. Laurie lives Connecticut with her husband, angelic German Shepherd Dog, and three mischievous felines. See you there!

Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. · PO Box 141 ·

Photos from the Meeting on Saturday June 21th

Alice Chittenden combining her loves of quilting and ceramics

Christina Blais at curling practice

Clara Nartey with tea and rope

Meeting Minutes 9/9/17 at the Mattatuck Museum

We had a fantastic meeting on Saturday, September 9, 2017, at the Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street, Waterbury, CT. We had approximately 27 members and one guest in attendance.

We opened the meeting with a “thank you” to Roz Spann for coordinating our lunch. Note to all: if you see we are meeting somewhere in your neck of the woods, please speak up and lend a hand! We also welcomed our newest member to the region, Meredith Brooks.

We had another intro/reminder for our upcoming regional show, Local Color 3: Inspired by Science. There are two options to enter (you can even choose both!): the main show (juried) and the trunk show (all work accepted and will be for sale at a price of your choosing - recommendation from Cathy Smith is around $100-$150 bc it’s an “easy” amount for people to spend). Drop off is on December 2nd at Sew Inspired (this will NOT be a full meeting, only artwork drop-off...and maybe some shopping). Additionally, *trunk show pieces* can be shipped to Mary Lachman. We will need to know AT THE TIME OF DROP OFF, if you will need your main exhibition work professionally photographed (only available if it is accepted). There are already FOUR exhibition venues booked; the commitment for your pieces would be through the end of 2018. These details and more are located on the SAQA-CT website, under the tabs “Local Color: Inspired By Science” and “SAQA-CT Trunk Show”.

Christina then mentioned the SAQA-CT Facebook group. In order to access posts, you need to have a Facebook account, then be “invited” to be in the group. If you have a different email address attached to your Facebook account than what SAQA has on file, please email Christina so she can send you an email invitation. If you are not on Facebook or don’t wish to join the group, do not panic - THIS IS NOT THE PRIMARY METHOD OF THE DISSEMINATION OF REGIONAL INFORMATION. Anything crucial or critical is distributed primarily via email, and also via the SAQA CT blog. Similarly interesting for inspiration, tidbits, and community is the international “SAQA members only” page.

Sparked by a post on that SAQA Facebook group page - in which a member recounted jurying an exhibition of 130 entries but with NO fiber entries and thus encouraging members to ENTER - Christina opened up a conversation about entering work in non-fiber art exhibitions. Members who spoke up included:

Mary Lachman, who found the Mattatuck show #ibelieveinwaterbury on a fluke and entered a piece we then viewed on exhibition later in the meeting. She was similarly juried into a current Connecticut Women Artists exhibition. She had applied to SAQA shows in the past and was frequently disappointed, and so she was happily surprised at getting in to these shows, especially the curator’s excitement and enthusiasm for fiber.

Cathy Smith also has a piece in the CWA exhibition. She has always entered non-fiber shows. She says they are a great opportunity to talk to artists of other media. She notes to take advantage of the newfound excitement of fiber in non-fiber circles. She also recommends using your pods/Local Connections to get together to find exhibitions, to carpool, to split artwork drop-off/pick-up, etc.

Clara Nartey pointed out you might possibly win a non-fiber award, in her case - even a painting award! with your fiber work. She also strongly recommends getting involved in the organizations.

Margaret Phillips mentioned her involvement and success with the Greenwich Art Society. In particular, they have an annual show which includes a fiber award, and they could frequently use more fiber entries.

Pods/Local Connections: Christina handed out spreadsheets of member contact information, based on hometown.  She suggested groups just “GIVE IT A TRY” - initiate even one meeting at the library or at a coffee shop, and see what happens. It is an opportunity to network in your local community, find out about shows, grow as a group, prepare work, share knowledge. In addition, you can keep tabs on each other - for example, make sure everyone is getting all the information, carpool, run to fabric store. Local Connections can keep the SAQA spirit going, especially if you can’t make it to a regional meeting.

We finished the official informational segment of our meeting by giving members a short questionnaire on how our region and its meetings are going. Questions we asked were:

• How many meetings should we have per year?
• Should we meeting during the summer and winter? (What do you consider summer/winter months?)
• Would you participate in a CT-based weekend symposium with a nationally know speaker/teacher? How much is reasonable to spend on a hotel? How much is reasonable to pay for a day-long workshop?
• Do you have suggestions for meeting locations? Where?
• What would you like SAQA-CT to do more of?
• What would you like SAQA-CT to do less of?
• Are you interested in shadowing either of our current reps to see what it is about?
• What roles do you see yourself doing with SAQA-CT in the future? Meeting planning, exhibits, trunk shows, outreach, communications?
• Any other comments?

We will report back at our next meeting. If you missed our meeting, we would still LOVE to hear your thoughts on these or any other topics. Feel free to email either of us with some or all of these answers.

From 11:00-12:00, we held everyone’s favorite, Show and Tell:

Joan Blade Johnson has been working on eco prints on silk scarves and selling them in shops. If anyone has ideas on shops where she might be able to sell - contact her.

Barbara Dieroff showed off two of her quilted mandalas, steeped in her love affair w sacred geometry, both in dyeing and quilting. This work includes dye resist circles and Swarovski crystals. We learned of Hang it Dang its , a wonderful quilt hanging solution that comes in a wide range of sizes.

Rita Hannafin showed us a piece she was commissioned for to be gifted to a retiree (that she doesn’t know). She received 9 awful photographs about someone she doesn’t know and the tidbit that the recipient’s favorite color is pink. She challenged herself to do something she would enjoy, and knocked it out of the park.

Cathy Smith showed us a piece of her earlier work, to lead into the tell of the recently published book “Artistry in Fiber: Wall Art” featuring some of her work. The authors likely found her between advertising in Art New England (there is a fee, but it gets you out there) and her work in non-fiber exhibitions (see notes above!).

Phyllis Small bought a book by Dyllis, when we were at the Windham Textile and History Museum, and became deeply inspired by the clothing/work. Phyllis showed off a beautiful work in that vein, including the use of buttons and the overall color scheme.

Jan Doyle’s quilt, Fractured Owl, was accepted into an upcoming exhibition at The New England Quilt Museum in Lowell MA.

Meredith Brooks, our newest member, is just starting a series of planetary quilts. She starts with NASA photos of actual planets and turns them into gorgeous works.

Maureen Lopes is a self-proclaimed slow producer but had the tell that Shoreline Quilters Guild will be holding their Harvest of Quilts 2017 at the Madison Senior Center Oct 7th and 8th.

Bev Hughes showed off beautiful (self-proclaimed as not an “art quilt”) supermoon quilt.

Miriam Byroade read the book “Coyote America”  which details the science and history on how we’ll never be able to get rid of coyotes. Her pieces included “We’re not here to please you” coyote piece, with lettering stenciled onto fabric, applied with wonder-under, and carefully trimmed. She also showed us sun-printed cockroaches stating “we will be with you always”, and a work utilizing similarly indestructible dandelions.

Margaret Phillips noted that the SAQA auction starts next week (now last week), and has as a piece in it. She also showed other pieces from the same series of animal pieces.

Toni Torres participates in an annual show for African-American artists in South Carolina. One work just came back from last year’s show: the “Angel Oak Tree” in South Carolina - the largest oak tree in the country. She then showed us her piece from this year’s theme of “Moving On Up” - a beautiful purple mountain scene, “Journey to Peace Mountain”.

Evelyn Oliver is newly retired, and recently did some traveling. She went to the first National African American Quilt Convention in Kansas. There she took fantastic classes - including one on indigo-dyeing. Later, she went to Ohio, and spent an AMAZING afternoon with Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and even bought a quilt from her, which she showed us.

Our guest, Connie Beckley, (Christina’s sister) shared “Ode to Thread” (complete with her first hanging sleeve ever!) Christina pointed out that her sister used a different method of facing on the two short sides, then the longer lengths on top and bottom, which means there’s less bulk in the corners.

Carol Vinick was also commissioned to do a retiree piece. Her quilt was for a pulmonologist. It featured logos from some of her grants and images of her and various programs she worked on. She also showed us a stunning piece on John Lewis (her entry into the Our Story exhibition).

Clara Nartey has four pieces in a show at a Newington country club through the end of the month. She has been interviewing artists on her blog about ways to make your art thrive. Check out her most recent interview, with Joe Cunningham!

Christina Blais’ Van Gogh Dog is going to travel as a finalist in the Cherrywood Fabrics’ Van Gogh challenge. She shared her work, Happy Dog, complete in all the colors of the rainbow. Cathy Smith mentioned that the Windham Textile and History Museum is still trying to raise money to purchase racks for displaying quilts (ideally enough to hang Local Color 3!). As a region, we donated the funds for one quilt rack.

We had a brief lunch, full of wonderful conversation from 12-12:30p. Then we packed ourselves up out of the meeting space and went on a tour of the Mattatuck, under the generous direction of Heather Whitehouse. We viewed Winslow Homer works from a private collection, a spectacular fiber installation by Nnenna Okore, luscious-colored paintings by Dmitri Wright, the button collection, and works by the Valley Girls. We also did a little hunting to view all the various #Ibelieveinwaterbury works scattered throughout the museum, including one by our own Mary Lachman!

Another successful meeting in the books. Again, if any of you had more suggestions that you did not put down on your form at the meeting, or if you missed the meeting and have input for how we can best serve our region, please please email me or Christina!

Thank you all! Keep creating!!!!!

Kelly Lorraine (art@kellyissuperneato.com)

And Christina Blais (christina.onebobbin@gmail.com)

CT regional co-representatives for SAQA

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.

Next regional meeting: October 8th!

Hello dearest CT regional membership! We are SO sorry for short notice on this, but we will be having our next regional meeting on October 8th. We will be meeting at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Ave, Hartford, CT from 10am-2pm.

We have an exciting agenda planned, but we need your help! We would love to have a discussion about workshops and teaching gigs - perhaps 3 or 4 panelists, speaking from your experience on how you started teaching, what you’ve learned from teaching and about teaching, favorite tips or what you would do differently if you could do it all over again. After that, we’ll have an open mic time of what the best workshop we’ve ever taken was or what a teacher may have done that really inspired or wow-ed us. Please email Kelly (art@kellyissuperneato.com) ASAP if you would be willing to share your expertise.

As always, we will have a lunch option - email Christina (christina.onebobbin@gmail.com) to be added to the list for $10 (sandwich, chips, beverage, cookies).

And Show and Tell!!!! I can’t wait to see and hear what amazing things you are all working on and doing out there! Plus, don’t forget your door prize donations.

Thanks for your abundant patience, and I look forward to seeing you all soon.