2019 SAQA Conference – Threads of Innovation – Catherine Redford
2019 is continuing to be a year of playing catch up… I can do it? 🙂
I think I can, I know I can…
I’ve been home and made another trip since the SAQA conference in San Jose. Perhaps that’s my excuse for why I haven’t sat and written about it yet? I was going to just recommend that you read my friend Jenny K. Lyon’s post, but then I did take some nice pictures in the sunshine and I can’t resist sharing a selection of them with you.
Steve had returned from a trip to Dallas late Tuesday so I took a cab to the airport early Wednesday morning. I met up with my friend and room-mate Diane at the gate. So far so good!
Registration started at noon on Thursday but we had met lots of our fellow conference attendees well before then. There is something about an art quilter that makes them recognizable in a hotel lobby. Thursday evening there was an icebreaker reception and we were off…
Inspiring speakers, breakout sessions, lightning talks, we were kept busy!
Poky Bolton was our Opening Keynote speaker.
It was hard to take decent pictures during the talks so you will have to imagine all the others! (Jenny has lots more details in her blog post)
On Friday night we signed up for dinner in groups of twelve which meant we met lots more new people.
Desserts were good. This is mango mousse with raspberry sorbet.
On Saturday afternoon we had the opportunity to go on a guided tour around some of the museums and art of downtown San Jose.
Here’s Diane with her quilt, The Place We Cannot Breathe in the SAQA exhibit, H2Oh! at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.
Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth, a regional SAQA exhibit was on show just down the road at Works/San Jose.
Here’s Libby Williamson and her piece, Ripples Untended,
and Maria Shell with her quilt, Break Up.
There was so much more but I just didn’t get pictures…
The conference came to an end on Sunday morning with the closing keynote from Joan Schulze
Here’s a detail from one of her beautiful art works.
So much to think about.
We weren’t flying home until Monday. That left Sunday afternoon free to visit some local artist’s studios. We were able to car pool and had a lovely afternoon out in the sunshine.
We started at the home of Judith Content. Her whole house was full of color.
Her threads were all in beautiful rainbow order.
Judith showed us how she makes a cord using her mixer.
Next up was the home and studio of Therese May.
Therese had a quilt in progress on her long arm machine,
and quilts on display everywhere you looked!
On to the studio of Linda Gass who has space in the Almeda Artworks.
Her current work examines the  impact of humans on water and the environment.
I bought a tea towel but I’m not sure it will see much use in the kitchen!
Our last stop was at the studio of Stephanie Metz, also in the Almeda Artworks complex.
Stephanie is working with wool, often needle felting it to make organic shapes.
These large pieces will be on display in Santa Clara next year, in an exhibit designed to be touched…
That’s the end of my pictures… I have missed so much out… inspiring sessions from Lisa Congdon, The Social Justice Sewing Academy, Rococo in Conversation… I’m sure Jenny will have them all on her blog. She’s planning a second part this week sometime!
It was my first SAQA conference. I only joined in November when I was in Houston. I must admit I was a little anxious beforehand. I might not have slept very well for a couple of nights leading up to it… I’m already planning next year’s trip. I can fit it in between commitments as long as I’m organized… It was great to see good friends, get to know other people better and meet completely new to me artists. The whole atmosphere was amazing, so affirming and uplifting. There was certainly room for everyone, no matter what their part in the art quilt world.
I slept late Monday afternoon and flew back Monday evening. I spent the week getting to grips with Market preparation, thinking about future projects, and the odd moments of household chores… Friday we flew to Nashville but I’ll leave that for another day.