SAQA Conference 2020!!!

Did you know that SAQA is hosting its first International Conference outside the U.S. in 2020?!

It's TRUE!  And it's in Toronto.  The Central Canada Region is...well...central as far as location, and has a significant number of members available to make this happen...

But...they STILL NEED ALL OF US to help make it a success!

Two years is short when you're planning a large conference

SO...

The call has now gone out for volunteers in various capacities.

And yes, there will be things we can do from afar, and also on site during the conference!

The following is a message from Chair of the Local Organizing Committee, Maggie Vanderweit, shared by Bethany Garner on the SAQA Central Canada blog this morning.  It's time for us to join our colleagues, figure out what we're able to contribute, and work together to make this the best SAQA International Conference ever!

Here is a list of committees/tasks that we will be doing for the 2020 SAQA conference at the downtown Hilton Hotel in Toronto. I hope you will consider joining us to help create a spectacular event.

My role, as Chair of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) will be to interface with SAQA and help the committees run smoothly.

Regional Exhibition (Canada)

- Tracey Lawko is chair of this committee tlawko@sympatico.ca

- we are looking for a theme/name for this show ASAP, please send ideas to me and Tracey

- this committee needs to get to work right away

- we hope it will travel and have a catalogue

Possible Exhibition at the Hilton during the conference?

- invitational for regional reps/board members to hang in hotel

Conference Theme/Name

- please send ideas to me ASAP - brief, sassy, smart, something we can build a conference around

- e.g. 2018 TEXtiles is in San Antonio, Texas (clever, right?)

Restaurants

- Friday night we will go out in small groups for dinner

- organize this event, choose and reserve great local restaurants

Spotlight Auction

- help SAQA mat the pieces and place in cellophane envelope, plus add label

Local Gallery and Museum Tours

Pre and Post Conference Bus Tours?

- e.g. Niagara, St Jacob’s/Elora

Local Transportation during Conference

Welcome Package

- gather tourist materials from galleries, museums, restaurants, Toronto maps

- program guide, lanyard, banquet tickets, hotel floor plan etc

- gifts from sponsors?

Volunteers for each presentation/workshop during Conference

- man the doors, run errands etc

- can be any conference attendee

Local person to receive boxes of Conference supplies

Conference Program

- recruit advertisers and sponsors

Please let me know by email where you best see yourself and if you are willing to chair a committee, or would prefer a helper role. I will be sending this invitation to participate to the other regions in Canada as some jobs can be done with email/internet and the more all Canadian SAQA members are involved, the better!

Cheers,

Maggie

Maggie Vanderweit
Central Canada Regional Representative
Studio Art Quilts Associates
maggie@stonethreads.ca

Exhibition News!

On NOW in Kamloops!  

B.C. member Janet Scruggs has shared this information...as she has pieces in this exhibition.  Please note the special evening hours on March 15, and the fact that the pieces are available for purchase!

The Return of the Burgess Shale Exhibit

Hectori Trilobite 
Jaynie Himsl

In 2013, then SAQA Co-Rep for Alberta, Patti Morris, curated an exhibit of the critters (fossils) of the Burgess Shale, inspired and assisted by member Deborah Bray.  Member Barbara J. West was then President of the Alberta Society of Artists, and was instrumental in arranging for this exhibit to tour schools and libraries throughout Alberta as part of the TREX (TRavelling EXhibit) program.

Dinomischus
Judith Panson

On that tour, it was seen by a fellow who was connected to the Burgess Shale Interpretive Centre.  After some discussions and deliberations, at the end of its TREX tour, the Burgess Shale Exhibit was delivered to the Interpretive Centre in Field, B.C., with a view to having a permanent home there.

Sadly, this has not happened.  It is reported that the Federal government, the Alberta Government and the Parks Department were unable to agree on how to manage this exhibit, and so Deb Bray has brought it back to Alberta, in the hopes of finding an alternative permanent place for it.

The good news is that there's to be an introductory exhibit!

Deborah Bray and Patti Morris have teamed up with the Bow River Quilters for a one day only return exhibit of this very special project.  If you have never seen it in its entirety, and are in the area, do make your way to the Banff Trail Community Centre in Calgary for a unique, colourful and family-friendly exhibit -- the fossils of the Burgess Shale, interpreted in fabric, fibre and floss.  Enjoy!

It is hoped that this reprise exhibit will stir interest and help find a permanent home for these special pieces.

The artists involved are especially invited to attend this one-day-only exhibit.  Some of them are no longer SAQA members...and may not follow this blog.  If you know them...please pass the word along!  

In addition to organizers Deborah Bray and Patti Morris, the artists who brought these creatures to life include:

From Alberta:

• Bush Eastep;
• Barbara West;
• Diane Duncan;
• Hanne Seidel;
• Ilse Anysas-Salkauskas;
• Wendy Klotz;
• Leslie Barnes;
• Margaret Blank;
• Linda Mackay;
• Susanne Loutas;
• Christine Wiggett.

From British Columbia:

• Terry Aske;
• Katie Stein Sather;
• Jennifer Cooper;
• Catherine Nicholls;
• Mardell Rampton;
• Lesley Mayfield;
• Coreen Zerr.

From Manitoba/Saskatchewan:

• Jaynie Himsl;
• Judith Panson;
• Rena Holma;
• Susan Wittrup.

And...Linda Sharp, no longer a member, whom I cannot place -- with apologies!

I regret, as one of the artists involved, that I am unable to attend because...I will be busy with my booth at the Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale, Lacombe Memorial Centre, April 20 and 21...So I send my best wishes to all involved for a successful return to the Burgess Shale.

Who's Showing?

The Canadian Quilters' Association (CQA) show -- Quilt Canada -- is in Vancouver, B.C. this year.

I hear tell that at several of SAQA WC's members have just had pieces accepted into the CQA's National Juried Show!

Congratulations to Terry Aske, Diana Barteling, Alison Dean Cowitz, Robin Fischer, Jaynie Himsl, Karen Johnson, Paula Jolly, Judy Leslie, Karlie McChesney, Anne Rayner-Gould, and Susan Selby!**

AND

Terry is to be congratulated as well for having two pieces accepted into SAQA's Juried Exhibit, Dusk to Dawn.

Moonrise - Terry Aske, 2018

Aurora - Terry Aske, 2018

Congratulations to all of you!

In Other Exhibit News...

The Mountain Cabin Quilters' Guild of Canmore, Alberta, opens its Annual Artistic Visions show this weekend at Elevation Place.  This show runs from March 4 through March 20.  Admission is free, and there will be 29 quilts on display.* 

And...B.C. member, Karlie Norrish McChesney has work in the 5th Annual Fibre Arts Show at the Gallery Vertigo in Vernon, B.C.  The exhibit runs from March 6 through March 31, 2018.

The Opening Reception is March 10, 2018 from 7 - 9 p.m.  NOTE: this is a change from the date posted in the advertising photo (below), so if you are planning to attend, please make careful note of this revised information!

*EDITOR'S NOTE: I've written to a contact about the Exhibit for permission to post a photo and to mention SAQA members, but have had no response.  Should I receive word, I will update this post ASAP.  Thank you.

**ED. NOTE II: Thanks to Judy Leslie for helping me up-date the list of SAQA WC members showing at the CQA Nat'l. Juried Show!

If you have exhibit information to share with your SAQA colleagues in Western Canada, across Canada and world-wide (yes, members in other Regions read this blog!), please e-mail blog editor Margaret Blank.

Thank you for your support!