More Exhibits -- This Month and Beyond

In early March I mentioned that a number of SAQA Western Canada members had been accepted into the Canadian Quilters' Association National Juried Show.

Those names have increased by one, as Margaret Inkster of B.C. e-mailed me to say she too was in the exhibit.  Congratulations to Margaret -- and to all whose work will be on display at Quilt Canada 2018 in Vancouver -- May 31 through June 2 at the Vancouver Convention Centre's West Building, 1055 Canada Place.

Next weekend, a very special one-day-only showing of SAQA WC's "Burgess Shale" exhibit will be held at the Banff Trail Community Centre.  I know I posted about this earlier -- but I decided to send a reminder out as it's up for only one day.  If you blink, you'll miss it!

Also next weekend, the City of Lacombe, Alberta is having its 19th Annual Encore! Art Sale and Celebration of Creative Expression -- in the centre of town at the Lacombe Memorial Centre.  

Yours truly has had the pleasure of being juried into this show for a booth consistently since 2011, so I hope you'll drop by to see my new work as well as that of featured artist, water colourist Sandra Bingeman, the Student Art Exhibit and Competition, and the delightful "Sip & Shop" from 6-8 p.m. Friday and 2-4 p.m. Saturday. 

LACOMBE MEMORIAL CENTRE

5214 50 AVENUE, LACOMBE

April 20 & 21, 2018

Friday, April 20

1 pm – 8:00 pm
General Admission $5
under 12 free

Saturday April 21
11 am - 5 pm
 Admission $5 
under 12 free

Here's a sneak peek at what you might see at my booth...based on a photo taken by a dear friend, and used with his permission:

After the Storm: Granada
8" x 10", mounted on
painted stretched canvas
12" x 12" finished

Finally, last weekend, I ventured to Red Deer for the 27th Annual Central Alberta Quilters' Guild Show.  This is one of Alberta's largest shows, and it is pulled off with aplomb every year.  There were two featured quilters -- Marie Barkley, a senior who creates traditional quilts exquisitely, with a particular eye for colour in her interpretations, and Jasmine Travers-Charbonneau, a 34-year-old who's been quilting for only five years; her style is Modern.  Her quilt, "Brassica" was selected for exhibit at QuiltCon 2018!

But aside from the Featured Quilters and the terrific vendors (Hamel's Fabrics, the Superior Thread reps, 

and a wide range of shops from around Alberta and Saskatchewan), I enjoyed most meeting up with SAQA colleagues -- and former ones, such as former Co-Rep for Alberta, Patti Morris.  She's still quilting, but too busy with family (aging parents, a new grand-baby) to keep her membership, but she sends along her best wishes to the Region and was thrilled to hear about the 2020 Conference in Toronto.

And I had a great chat with Alberta member Wendy Greber of Red Deer, who took a ribbon for this delightful piece:

Little Red Wagon
First Place, Challenge Quilts

In her statement about the work, Wendy wrote that she designed it in response to the Guild's Quilt Challenge to make a piece inspired by a song.  She chose a Country song entitled "Little Red Wagon" sung by Miranda Lambert.  She said it reminded her of the little red wagon she had as a child, and concluded, "...now this one has a new purpose in life".  😊

In addition, Wendy took a second ribbon -- for this fun piece featuring wonky trees!  She wrote that she designed it following a technique described by Australian quilt artist Jan Mullen, but using her own layout and lively colour selections.

Inferno Trees
First place, Small Quilts

Congratulations on your prize-winning work Wendy!

And in other news...B.C. member Susan Purney Mark, who in early May of last year was one of our terrific workshop leaders at our first Regional Retreat, is currently trundling on foot along the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  If you're curious about her journey, she is posting fairly regularly on Facebook.  Best wishes for a safe and memorable pilgrimage, Susan!

Remember, 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.

Making Her Mark

Photo: courtesy of Saanich News

Susan Purney Mark of Victoria, B.C. is at it again!  She gave us a wonderful workshop on mark-making at our Regional Retreat in May, and she's been carrying on ever since.  This coming weekend she'll be at it again.

Thanks to B.C. colleague, Andree Fredette, for sharing on Facebook that Susan will be making more marks on August 13 when she goes to the annual Bower Creek Brush-up in Oak Bay, B.C.   She'll be one of three dozen artists in the park that day, sharing their work with the public.  The event runs from 11 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. at 1700 Hampshire Road, Oak Bay, B.C.

If you're in the area, do drop by and say "Hi!"  

Make some marks!  You might just get hooked -- like I did!  

Wall - Margaret Blank (c) 2017
12" square
Materials: Kona cotton, other commercial fabric
and hand-dyed linen, fabric paint, polyester thread,
poly-cotton batting, embroidery floss.
Techniques: mark-making, stamping,
machine quilting, "big stitch" hand quilting.

"Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night..."*

*creed, US Postal Service

Shall keep determined artists from their workshop!

Shaganappi Community Hall -- without snow!

Eleven intrepid SAQA colleagues and friends drove carefully through heavy wet snow, by-passing fallen tree limbs, to attend our Calgary workshop with Susan Purney Mark on September 10th.  Another joined us later for the Parlour Meeting over lunch.

It was a time of learning, experimenting, and sharing amidst laughter and lively camaraderie inside the cozy log walls of the Shaganappi Community Hall in Southwest Calgary.

As the Co-Rep who initiated the event, I was blessed and thankful to have members Alison Cowitz, Marie McEachern and Helene Blanchet as my "feet on the ground" -- procuring the venue and helping with all the details of The Day -- including unexpected snow shovelling!

Susan led us in her "Colour It, Fuse It!" workshop...and the photos speak for themselves...

Susan PM introduces the workshop.

Starting to paint our fusible webs and inter-facings.
(L)-(R): Trudy, Diane, Marion Susan, Marie, Pat

Marion gets colourful with her fusibles,

Shalaya and Bush are focused!

During lunch, we had our SAQA Parlour Meeting.  Many of the participants had never met before the workshop, and were eager to get together and meet again in similar or smaller group(s).  Not having a formal "chapter" system like some organizations needn't be an impediment to meeting -- and members don't need a Co-Rep to be present! :-)  Ideally, though, Co-Reps will be kept informed about groups that form and what they are up to, so they can share information with the Region at large and with new members looking for a way to connect locally.  (Refer to the "May I Have a Word? Vol. 1, No. 2" article about the formal "Pod" system established by Co-Reps in Florida around major population centres.)

One Calgary member has offered to be a point person for a group there, with meetings starting in the spring (like many, she's a snow-bird)...and I know there are "clusters" who meet in various locales in B.C.  Why wait till spring?  Another issue of the newsletter will be going out soon...If you are interested in being "point person" for a small group where you are, contact me and I will forward that information on to the Region in the newsletter -- OR contact your Co-Rep (me in AB, Katie Stein Sather in B.C. and Dawn Piasta in SK/MB) so one of us can link you with members closer to home.

We ended off the lunch meeting with show and tell:

Trudy shows and tells us about her beautiful piece.

Susan's piece, A Bridge Between Equals
will be shown at  Quilts=Art=Quilts,  Schweinfurth Museum,
New York, November 1, 2014 - January 4, 2015

In addition to "Show" there was a "Tell" -- two bits of news from member Diane Duncan:

• She has a piece included in the soon-to-be-released book, 1000 Quilt Inspirations! and
• She and other Calgary-area SAQA members have pieces in a current exhibit by the Quilted Mouse Guild at the Fish Creek Library, 11161 Bonaventure Drive S.E., Calgary -- open Mondays-Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sundays, noon - 5 p.m.  The venue is light, bright and airy, which shows off the artwork beautifully.  This exhibit runs through September 27, so if you're in the area, do drop by!

After lunch -- fusing with foil!

Susan introduces the foiling technique

Trudy gets the pressure just right.

Examples of our foiling fun.

Foiling was followed by a session using stencils and thermo-fax screens -- each one of us got to select one of each to try and to take home for further experimentation.

Throughout the day we were invited to shop for more delights -- hand-dyed fabric and threads, more thermo-fax screens, stencils, etc. -- in Susan's Workshop Store.  We could also sign up to receive her newsletter, "Design Notes".

Susan's Workshop Store

All in all, the day sped by...so that we forgot that out on the back of the Community Hall property, it looked like this...

Limbs down over the sidewalk near the drive to the hall.

Again I am thankful to the members who helped this day to come to pass, to Susan Purney Mark for her light-hearted and skilled presentation, and to the enthusiasm of the members who want to carry the ball for future gatherings to share their art, and their knowledge, establishing connections and making friendships that continue to grow and establish the art quilting community.

The final word is from Diane, who sent me this photo of her finished piece from the workshop.  She wrote:

It is off to the retreat as part of our exchange!  My theme for the show and tell is 'exploring abstraction'!

Workshops and Exhibits

Susan Purney Mark

I know I sent out a newsletter earlier today...but to clarify: the date of the September Calgary workshop/Parlour Meeting -- featuring Susan Purney Mark -- is Wednesday, September 10 - at Shaganappi Community Hall.

Pat Pauly

The organizers of the Pat Pauly Workshop/Evening Talk (in Langley, B.C. in October) have advised that there are 2 spaces in Pat's class for interested parties!   Follow the link (above) for information.


And today the Alberta Surface Design Association (SDA) chapter has posted some wonderful exhibit information about up-coming and current exhibits.

Dana Roman has a solo exhibit opening in Canmore in late September and running only briefly -- Sept. 25 - October 7.
She works in acrylics, mixed media and textiles, creating silk paintings and semi-abstract landscapes (from her website).

The textile group Contextural has completed another ACAD residency and will be exhibiting the results in a show entitled "Organic Matters"
at various locations around the ACAD campus between August 25 and October 15th.  The opening reception is Sept. 4th at 6-8 p.m. on the ACAD Mall.  Check the SDA Alberta blog for details about both of these exhibits.

The 2014 edition of the SAQA Benefit Auction begins September 15th.  A selection of the submissions has been set up as a slide show (see the right-hand sidebar), but you can see all of these fine works -- including pieces from seven Western Canadian members -- HERE.

The Burgess Shale exhibit begins a new tour shortly -- check for an up-date as to locations and dates on our "Networking" page.  Members Deborah Bray and Patti Morris have been working with the folks at the site -- and it is a distinct possibility that this exhibit may be shown there after it finishes it's tour of Southern Alberta venues with TREX/The Alberta Society of Artists.  There may be a permanent home in store for this exhibit one day.  This would be an exciting outcome for the artists involved, for the SAQA WC Region and for SAQA and textile artists as a whole.  Stay tuned for developments!