Regional Meeting Notes: May 18, 2019

Studio Art Quilt Associates

Minutes for May 18, 2019 at the Johnson County Central Resource  Library, Overland Park, Kansas

We started with a quick round of welcomes and introductions. There were 18 attendees, including one guest.

We gave a big congratulations to all members who were accepted into our upcoming de.light/FULL regional exhibit.  There are 31 works from 20 artists. The show premiers at the Leedy-Voulkus Art Center in Kansas City, MO on July 12^th 2019 and continues until August 31, 2019.  There will be a closing reception on August 31^st as well. 

Also, a big ‘thank you’ to May Kay Fosnacht (KCity), Shannon Conley (Moore, OK) and Karen Hansen (KCity) for their work on the promotional postcard and Gallery/Artist Bio book. Our exhibit is well represented by their hard work. 

We briefly talked about the SAQA booth at the upcoming Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival.  We need a couple more volunteers to step up and help by sitting with the booth during the show.  Please click https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0949a9a82eaaf58-saqa to sign up. 

Cindy P mentioned the Spring Quilt Market is wrapping up this weekend here in Kansas City.  It was a chance for some to see it live and in person by volunteering to help.  Thanks to those that did.

Cindy B gave a quick update on the ‘Variations on a Theme’ workshop scheduled for August 17th with Joanne Alberda.  Online registration and payment of fees will be through the SAQA Store and plans are that the site will be live by the end of the week.

Cindy B, Cindy P and Kathy Suprenaut (Lawrence KS) shared their experiences of the SAQA Annual Conference – ‘Threads of Innovation’ held in San Jose, California.  We were very impressed by the workshop that talked about incorporating drawing app technology into art quilting; another on how to use Instagram to develop your brand as an artist; and yet another that presented art quilting as a bridge for disadvantaged teens to engage in social justice issues.  Wow, who knew? 

Cindy P and Kathy Suprenaut gave the group a small taste of the conference by re-enacting their prepared ‘Lightning Talks’ at the meeting. Kathy’s talked was on her art quilt series titled “What did Ming Miss?” and Cindy P’s was “Creating Your Day” or how to say NO and to prioritize your art.  Everyone really enjoyed them. 

A member of the new St Louis pod, Candyce Grisham, joined us and gave a quick over view of their group and upcoming activities. 

Andrea Luliak (Oklahoma) was our ‘Member Spotlight’ speaker.  She proved what we already knew – she is multi-talented, and endlessly curious when it comes to quilting techniques and the use of color and textures.   During the course of her presentation we saw her full range.  She showed us samples of her earliest work including fabric pieces so small it’s hard to imagine handling them let alone hand-stitching them. She also had hand made dolls and art quilts that incorporated many different surface design techniques. She is certainly an asset to our group. 

We ended with a show and share and a door prize won  by Charlene Van Walleghen. Yay, Charlene! 

Correction! Next Meeting Date

Hi All,

The minutes from the last meeting incorrectly listed the date of the next meeting.  The next meeting will be May 18th at 12:00 at the Central Resource library’s Logan Room.

Thanks!

Regional Meeting Report March 2, 2019

March 2, 2019, Oak Park Public Library, Overland Park, KS

We started with introductions, as usual. There were 18 people in attendance. We started with Cindy P talking about the exhibit of 12x12 Auction quilts that had just been taken down from the Styles Gallery in Westwood, Kansas. There were 30 quilts in the exhibit and it was an excellent representation of what the region is doing. The exhibit was well received and they have already asked back again next year. Cindy P has been trying to find another venue for an exhibit before the quilts are due at the SAQA headquarters for the online auction. Only those quilts intended for the auction will go to global in NM. If you requested your quilt be returned, you can expect to see it after the end of the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival where they will be last exhibited.

There was a discussion about whether or not we wanted the SAQA booth at the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival, at the Overland Park Convention Center June 13-15. The question was - does the group want it there, and are there enough volunteers to manage the booth for the 3 days of the Festival. And we need to check with the Festival to see if there is still time to get the okay from SAQA and the Festival coordinators. Nine volunteers stepped up and Cindy P said she would follow up with SAQA and the Festival.

UPDATE: It’s a go. The booth will be at the Festival and Michele Dondell is heading up the project. It is likely that an online signup sheet will be in your inbox as time nears. PLEASE be sure to help your region out and sign up for a couple of hours at the booth.

Cindy B presented Regional Financial Report. With the speaker’s fees the Cindys earned for the region in 2018 we started the year with $1,293.98 in our account. We announced plans for upcoming meetings: in May Andrea Luliak is scheduled for a Spotlight presentation. In August we have arranged for JoAnn Alberda, a SAQA member based in Iowa, to give a full day workshop titled “Variation on a Theme” on August 17. More details will be available soon. The workshop is perfect for art quilters, but also for the traditional quilter willing to move out of a comfort zone. The class will be offered to SAQA members first. If it does not fill, it will be opened up to non-SAQA members.

There was a brief discussion on the “de.light/FULL” juried show. The SAQA Call for Entry closed on February 28th . Forty six quilts were submitted. The jurying process is just starting and all artists should except to be notified by April 15. The exhibit is scheduled to open July 12th at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City, Mo. Next it will be at the Modella Art Gallery in Stillwater, Oklahoma in November-December 2019. In 2020 the exhibit is expected to be shown scheduled at The Quilter’s Hall of Fame in Marion, Indiana and lastly in St. Joseph, Missouri at the Albrecht-
Kemper Museum of Art. Don’t forget Modella is asking for mini-workshops/demos during
the exhibit. They are also asking for hand-crafted items to sell. You need to contact them directly to check on their interest in your particular items.

SAQA is looking for a conference venue for 2022 and there was a discussion on what it would mean to our region and should we lobby for it. We did our usual much enjoyed round of ‘Show and Share”
After a break we introduced a collage project. Everyone was given an identical packet of color prints, a word cut out of a magazine and a colored paper to use as a background. Using scissors and a glue stick we were to create collage in 25 minutes. After the collage was finished we shared our piece with the group and talked about the process. We did these three times. It was inspiring to see how different each of us approached the exercise and everyone was surprised by the finished pieces. The Cindys set a challenge to everyone to use one of the collages as inspiration for a finished quilt by the May meeting. Any size, any theme. It was fun!

Next meeting: May 18th at 12:00 at the Central Resource library’s Logan Room I hope you can join us. Denise Andrew won the door prize.