Mis(sed) Communications

Sigh.  As Robbie Burns would say, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley..."

Regional Reps and Co-Reps for SAQA have varying goals for their terms as your humble servants (grin). As some of you may remember, when I came on board as a Co-Rep for our Region in late October last year, I wrote a newsletter with the title, "May I Have a Word?"  Since then, I've put out 2 more volumes of MIHaW, and a few miscellaneous news mailings.   My goal is to improve the communications within the Western Canada Region.  Because our Region is so vast, this means using technology, for better or for worse!

Recently one of our members called to tell me the difficulties she was having receiving and/or reading the bulk e-mails I send out from time to time to update the Region on various events etc.  This service is provided to Regional Reps by SAQA, which updates and maintains the e-mail address records in the data base from its membership records.   This member is the only one from whom I've heard -- so far -- about the challenges of receiving the mass mailing.  (She has a MacBook Pro and iPhone. I have a PC with wireless internet service, and a land-line phone.)

Hoping to help her (and others out), I posted a query on the SAQA Reps' Yahoo group yesterday evening.  So far I've had little in the way of reply but one Rep did tell me that the person who called this to my attention is likely very definitely not the only one out there.  In her experience, there have been a variety of problems over the years, to the point where many Reps no longer use the SAQA mass e-mail service -- while others use it with impunity, and apparently no difficulties.

The issues have been raised with the tech people behind the scenes, she reported, but she has no idea if any have been resolved.  Typically, the issue isn't a simple one; these problems have a variety and combination of sources, such as:

• The e-mail server being used by the member(s) doesn't communicate well with the server used by SAQA for this data base program. (@yahoo, @gmail and @hotmail -- all free e-mail servers -- tend to have particular problems; 'DOTedu' -- from educational institutions -- also sometimes has problems.)
• The member may have significant security and firewall protection on his/her computer.
• The Mac and the iPhone and/or Smart Phone may have problems unique to their technology.  The second Rep who responded to my query suggested that Apple users might visit their local "genius bar" for advice (found in Apple Stores).

You might be wondering, "Why don't I create an e-mail list and send out messages from my personal e-mail server?"  Well...I could do this -- but that means I have to make sure that every time I get a membership list update from SAQA, I go in and update the list.  Right now, the data base is maintained for Reps by SAQA and it's a piece of cake to use to send e-mail.

Keeping up a list on my own computer would not be an onerous task -- just time-consuming...but I'm prepared to do that if I hear from enough of you that it's what's needed to solve this problem and improve communications.

So here's the deal: if you are having trouble receiving and/or reading the mass e-mails I send out from the SAQA-provided data base, send me an e-mail directly, describing your problem.  I will pass the problems on to SAQA tech support and meanwhile, if there are more than 3 of you with ongoing problems, I will construct a regional e-mail list and communicate that way.

If you didn't get the information in the mass mailing I sent out recently, here's a summary of the information:

September 10 Workshop: Registration Deadline Extended!

Summer is a busy time, so if you haven't managed to get your registration form and cheque in the mail for "Colour It, Fuse It!", the workshop/Parlour Meeting on September 10 in Calgary featuring B.C. member, artist, author and teacher, Susan Purney Mark, you now have four (4) more weeks for it to reach me (Margaret) -- through Friday, August 29.  That's the start of the Labour Day weekend, and the workshop is just 10 days later, so to be courteous and considerate of Susan's time to assemble the number of kits needed, please make sure meet this next deadline.  The fee is $45.00 for members; $50.00 for non-members.  This includes the workshop kit (a $20 value).  (As of today -- August 6 -- 8 spots remain. We can take a waiting list.)  Contact me (margblank@xplornet.ca) for a registration form if you don't have one.

SAQA Trunk Show F is Available for Sharing!

Our Co-Rep Katie Stein Sather of B.C. has acquired the 25th Anniversary Trunk Show -- Section F -- for use in Canada till at least April, 2015.  Ideally this 51-piece show (each is 7" x 9" in size, mounted on black mat board and encased in a clear wrapper) will make its way east across Canada. 

Katie has advised that the following dates for the Trunk Show F have already been booked:

• Sept. 17, 2014: FAN (Fibre Arts Network) Retreat;
• Sept. 24, 2014: Langley Quilt Guild meeting;
• Oct. 1, 2014: SAQA BC meeting;
• Oct. 25-26, 2014: (to be confirmed) Blue Mountain Quilt Guild Show.

It is hoped the trunk show will be available for Alberta in November/December, and move to Saskatchewan and Manitoba for January and February.  There is a pending request for it to return to B.C. (Vancouver Island) in March.  It will also be offered to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada, so if anyone else in the Western Canada Region would like it sooner rather than later, please contact your Co-Rep -- Katie in B.C., Dawn in SK/Manitoba, or me (Margaret) in Alberta.

(Please note that the SAQA Trunk Show Calendar has this show --Trunk Show F -- scheduled for Canada only through April 2015.  Arrangements can be made to with SAQA to extend this tour if there is enough interest in it across the country.)*

*One member has since suggested I contact the CQA re: Quilt Canada's show in Lethbridge in June 2015; if anyone can advise me who the contact person would be, I would be delighted to do so.

And thank you for your support!

Gone to Connecticut

Vicariously, that is.  Alberta member Margaret Blank's piece, "Tree Study III", is touring in SAQA Trunk Show "C" which is currently touring the Connecticut area through year-end, including a stop at the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, CT from October 4 through January 4, 2015.

Thanks to the efforts of Katie Stein Sather, Trunk Show F is available for exhibiting in Western Canada -- and possibly across the country -- through April 2015.   Ideally, it will be shown first in B.C. and then travel east.  To acquire this show for exhibit at your local guild or art group meeting, contact Katie directly via her blog.  She'll fill you in on what's needed to get the show to your group and/or venue.

Have any SAQA WC members contributed to the 25th Anniversary Trunk Show?  Please share the relevant information -- contact Margaret via her blog or by e-mail: margblankATxplornetDOTca.

A Great Summer for SAQA WC Artists!

This summer is a great one for taking in work by our Western Canadian members.

"Western Threads", the collaborative show that includes our exhibit, "Meet the Best of the West", is up for a few more weeks (till August 4) at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.

Several members have pieces in the Focus on Fibre Arts Association's Biennial Juried Show, "Prairies", on through the end of August at the upstairs gallery at Enterprise Square in Edmonton.

And "The Burgess Shale" exhibit is currently on at the Beiseker Station Museum in Beiseker, Alberta through July 30.  It will move to the Sundre Municipal Library for July 30 through August 25.

Alison Cowitz's piece, "Ozzie" has won a red ribbon at this year's Calgary Stampede!  You can see it on display there through Sunday.  Here's what she wrote me yesterday:

I entered a One Block Wonder quilt in the Stampede Western Lifestyles Creative Arts & Crafts Competition last year, and I was really surprised to get a 3rd place ribbon for my first time entering!

As a young girl I loved going to the Calgary Stampede and seeing all the creative things that people would make and enter into the Showcase. I think the competitive nature in me just wanted to enter again, so I raised my bar and pushed hard to finish Ozzie in time for the June 23rd deadline (remember I had him on my design wall over the winter?). A deadline reason to finish is more motivation for me than anything.

Let me mention that the quilting part of finishing a quilt is not my strong suit. I have a background in Graphic Design, so the design and colour part comes easier to me. I had more fun designing and building the piece, but when it came time for the quilting I was almost paralyzed with fear. Where do I start? How do I build this? What do I do in this area? How much is too much? I did take a one day free motion quilting class with Lorraine Stagness (excellent teacher!) a few months ago to warm up my skills. There came a time when I just had to let go of the practicing, put my fears aside and gather the courage to just go for it with Ozzie! So I put my “big girl panties” on and tried. It was really scary at first, then some things started to turn out well, then I became addicted to the possibilities. It was going well until my thread started breaking a lot and my usually wonderful Bernina 820 would only sew in one direction. ...my doubts came flooding in, and then I visited Michael at My Sewing Room here in Calgary, who gave me a crash course in tension, threads and needles (I owe him a 6 pack for that).

I stressed about the finishing, had my quilt done on the day of the deadline and in the end I am very happy with the results. This work represents who I am today. I heard on Friday, the opening day of this year’s Stampede, that there was a red first place ribbon beside my Ozzie! I went down for a look myself, thinking that I must have been the only entrant in this category. It was a VERY humbling experience to see my work hung amongst the many other beautiful works. In fact it's what gives me the jazz to make art quilts. It’s not about the ribbons for me, but to stand up and be counted among other talented traditional and art quilters. To be amongst such talented people is encouraging me to keep doing this with enthusiasm. I am already plotting about what to enter in next years Stampede Competition.

Now Saskatchewan member, Jaynie Himsl, has work in this show in Duncan, B.C.:

She posted about her piece recently on Facebook with this photo:

If you're in the area next month, be sure to stop by and take a closer look at what looks to be a fabulous exhibit!

Spam and Anti-Spam

Many thanks to all the members of SAQA WC who've thus far replied to our regional e-mail re: Canada's pending Anti-Spam legislation which will come into effect July 1.  As of this writing, I have received replies from 48 of 89 members.  If you wish to continue to receive Regional e-mails with news and information about workshops, exhibits and issues concerning SAQA and its Western Canada Region, please reply before July 1.  New members after that date will receive a request for consent in a welcoming e-mail.

If you have not received the mass e-mail requesting your consent to future e-mails and newsletters, check your spam folder.  If you still cannot find this e-mail, contact Margaret, the Co-Rep for Alberta, who is collecting the consents, and she will send you a copy.

Knowing that there are differing views of spam globally, we'll leave the final word to Monty Python -- and thank you for your support!

Yvonne Porcella

Ms. Porcella was a founding member and the first President of SAQA, in 1989.  Here is her address at the 2014 Conference, celebrating 25 years (!) of SAQA:

http://youtu.be/PZ64IQmGWBQ

NOTE that she taught in Calgary in 1983 -- at a conference held at the University of Calgary...

So Canadian, eh?

Cruising down my Facebook "home" page and what do I see?

A blurry photo of SAQA member (and Canadian SAQA pioneer), Anna Hergert.  The report?  She was accepting the award of "Teacher of the Year" from the Canadian Quilters' Association at its annual conference, Quilt Canada -- this year being held in St. Catharine's, Ontario.

Anna is a former Alberta resident (who launched the art quilting career of many of us, thank you!) who now lives near Moose Jaw, SK...and she was initially the only rep for the Western Canada Region of SAQA...until she made our American friends see reason (grin).  She convinced yours truly to join SAQA in 2008...and my life has never been the same since!

CONGRATULATIONS, ANNA!!

Upon checking out the CQA site, I tripped over last year's winner -- yet another SAQA Western Canada member, Margie Davidson of Edmonton.

Whoa!  Are we great, or what?!  ;-)

On and Off Our Walls

If you check the "What We Do" section of the main SAQA website, you'll find this about exhibits and exhibiting art quilts:

SAQA is dedicated to bringing beautiful, thought-provoking, cutting-edge artwork to venues across the United States and around the world. We also offer online galleries to display our member artwork and a yearly Benefit Auction. 

SAQA Western Canada member Karen Jurek of Calgary sent this note to me last week about her experience entering a piece in one of the newest exhibits, Radical Elements.  I think you'll agree that this work is definitely "beautiful, thought-provoking [and] cutting edge"!

Karen wrote:

I was honored to be selected to participate in Radical Elements which opened in Maryland [in May].  

I was in Alexandria for the SAQA conference a few weeks ago and we had a bus trip up to Maryland to see this unique show. 

It is the first exhibit since the new definition of ‘what is an art quilt? was released last year. The exhibitors were told to use as little or no fabric at all.

[The] exhibition catalogue includes artwork created by 40 artists.  Each selected [and] created a new work influenced by an element from the periodic table.  The artists were also asked to move quilting beyond the usual materials of fabric and thread, exploring the function and decorative properties of different surfaces and stitching materials.

 I enjoyed working with only copper or copper like metals. My husband was a little ‘unsettled' when I got out the blowtorch and melted copper wire and flamed the sheet copper to give it more color.  Here below is my art ‘quilt’. 

CU Later - Karen Jurek, (C) 2013

CU Later - Detail

Radical Elements will be showing next at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts at the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida - May through August 2016.  (Information current as of June 7, 2014; for updates to the touring calendar for this exhibit, check back with the SAQA website.)

You can read more about Karen on the Featured Members page of this blog (scroll down).

Reprieved!

If you haven't (yet) donated to the SAQA Benefit Auction 2014 -- you've been given an extension.  There.  Now you have no excuses!

The DEADLINE to receive entries has been extended to

June 15, 2014

BUT...you need to be ready to fill out your submission form NOW so that SAQA can know when to expect your piece.  Executive Director, Martha Sielman, has already sent  you this information in an e-mail.

• Art quilts are your passion, your means of expression
• SAQA supports your passion.\
• You reap what you sow = you get out of an organization what you put into it.

What are you waiting for?

Reach for the Sky! (C) 2014
 Margaret Blank, SAQA WC Co-Rep (Alberta)

Artists' Visit a Hit at St. Albert the Great School, Calgary

Three artists who contributed to The Burgess Shale Exhibit were able to share their passion for textile art with the students of the Art 7 class at St. Albert the Great Junior High School in Calgary on Friday, May 9.

When Margaret Blank arrived, she found the class well under way -- lead by the enthusiastic duo of Leslie Barnes and Deborah Bray.  Carolyn Lutz, the Art 7 teacher, and Caroline Loewen, the Manager/Curator for TREX Southwest (Alberta Society of Artists), were in on the excitement and the learning that went on all morning.

The chosen project?  Fabric postcards of the Burgess Shale critters.  Most of the students hadn't handled a needle and thread before, or cut up fabric, or worked with buttons and trims, irons and fusible web. The photos from the day say it all...

Caroline L. irons the fusible

Stitching away...

Stitching suggestions from Leslie -- or Deb?

Working in sketchbooks

The challenge: thick thread!

Deb works on a piece

Crazy-patch critters!

Choia sponge interpretation

Sponges I

Sponges II

Finished Collection

In the end, twenty-eight pieces were ready for the students to display at the school's up-coming Art Walk.  The artists left behind a ton of fabric scraps and bundles of embroidery floss as a memento of their visit -- and an invitation to have another go at textile art.  They came away with a greater gift -- the energy of 28 students -- girls and boys aged 11-13 -- who set the class-room a-buzz with their enthusiasm, their creativity, and their eagerness to learn.

The Burgess Shale Exhibit left St. Albert the Great School yesterday and will open next at the following venues:

• Millarville Community Library, Millarville, AB - May 21 - June 18;
• Beiseker Station Museum, Beiseker, AB - June 25 - July 23; and
• Sundre Municipal Library, Sundre, AB - July 30 - August 25.

Should you live near one of those venues and want to arrange an Artist's Visit, contact Co-Rep Margaret Blank, who will put you in touch with Caroline Loewen at TREX/ASA.   While most venues would welcome a visit from a participating artist, not all require or expect the artist(s) to provide a hands-on project.  The artist(s) might be called on to do an artist's talk about the exhibit and/or his/her own work and process.  Making a visit requires only that you have a passion for your work, and an ability and willingness to share this with viewers.  Go for it!

Don't Miss the Deadline!

Reach for the Sky! (C) 2014

The final 2014 SAQA Benefit Auction submission deadline is June 1 -- and that's a received by date.  If you haven't created your 12" x 12" piece for this annual non-juried show and sale to benefit SAQA, now's the time to step on the gas and get going!  

Yours truly is mailing her piece this morning -- my sixth contribution to the exhibit. I look at it as an opportunity to put my work "out there" for only the cost of shipping (twice I was able to hand-deliver the piece at a conference) -- and what's more, I get to contribute to an organization that has brought me friends, colleagues, contacts, education, and exhibit opportunities.  Funds raised by this auction, in fact, support SAQA's travelling exhibits internationally.

Every year it's exciting to see the contributions and watch the bidding.  Three of my first five submissions were sold -- including my very first one.  That was a kick, I'll tell you!  :-)  Somebody liked my work enough to buy it!  Whoa!

The SAQA website has all the scoop on how to submit your piece, and you can see the ones already received.  The main online auction begins September 15, 2014 with the first of three sections; you can read how that works HERE.  In addition, a special selection of quilts will be reserved for exhibit and auctioned off at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 27 - November 2, 2014.

If you like, you can publicize the auction with a poster -- click HERE.  

So what are you waiting for?  Let's show the world what the SAQA Western Canada Region can create.  If you have a photo of your 2014 auction piece, send it to me by e-mail (margblank AT xplornet DOT ca) -- it would be great to share it here on the blog.