THE SILVER CITY FIBER ARTS FESTIVAL AND NOVEMBER'S SAQA MEETING

The 2013 Silver City Fiber Arts Festival appeared to be a great success in part to the tireless work of our own SAQA member Lynn Welsch who chaired the committee that made it happen.  The Festival was hosted by the Southwest Women's Fiber Arts Collective(SWAFC) and there were great exhibits representing the arts of the SWFAC.  Among other exhibits was the SAQA New Mexico exhibit, "A Color Runs Through It" with 40 members from our area participating.

Denise Seavey contributed these comments about the show:  "What a fun and successful show this past weekend in Silver City.  “A Color Runs Through It” was a challenge for SAQA NM.  The possibilities were endless in creating black and white quilts with one color as represented by the 50 quilts in the show."

Susan Szajer (left) and Lynn Welsch (standing)
The Silver City contingency that were a big part of making the show a success!

The Friday night of the show there were many members in attendance for the November SAQA meeting.  It was held at the Adobe Springs Cafe in Silver City.  Other than overwhelming the restaurant with our numbers, there were 22 of us in attendance with three or four husbands included,  we had a great time sharing, socializing and eating.  Michelle will follow-up with her newsletter about the business of the meeting but in the meantime, here are some pictures.

Thanks Gale Oppenheim for pointing our way to Silver City
and making the arrangements at the restaurant for the meeting!

Vicki Conley leading the way back in after more tables had to be added to  fit all of us.

Group shot after we all made it in  for dinner.

Sandra Branjord(left),  Mary Olivea(middle) and Betty Hahn (right)
Sandra and Betty came all the way from Sun City, AZ  for the show
and meeting.

Lynn Welsch looking to relax after the first day of the Festival!

Michelle Jackson leading the meeting... and trying to be heard!

Nora Bebee sharing her piece... "did she really say it was for the floor??"

Susan Szajer sharing her 3D piece for the Riudoso show,
"Beyond Traditions"

THANK YOU PAT GOULD FOR THIS WONDERFUL ENTRY ABOUT THE 2013 IQF HOUSTON SHOW!

I've attended every Houston show since 1993 with the exception of 2007 when we did our Nile trip in November. New Mexico was well represented at the IQF Houston show this year as always, both in having works exhibited and attending the fun-filled festival. As best I can recall, these NM members attended and I apologize if I omitted anyone but I must not have run into you among the 62,000 other attendees. 

Pat Gould, Betty Busby, Julie Filatoff, Holly Altman, Cheryl Fitzgerald, Judith Roderick, Lynn Welsch, Vicki Conley, Shannon Conley, Martha Wolfe, Donna Dixon, Marianne Williamson, Lorraine Hollingsworth, Jennifer Day, Betty Hahn, Katie Pasquini-Masopust, and Gay Young. 

As always, the exhibits were stunning and we all had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new ones. The major SAQA exhibits drew large crowds and our Walk in the Wild exhibit was also a big hit and got a lot of attention. It is always nice when people are discussing your piece or the show and you can jump in and discuss more in depth about your work or how the show came about. 

One very fortuitous introduction was when Betty met Amy Milne, Executive Director of the Quilt Alliance on Friday afternoon. Amy and Betty arranged that Amy would film 3 minute interviews with artists whose work was in Walk in the Wild on Saturday morning as part of their mission to document quilts and the stories behind the quilts or their creators. Unfortunately, not all the artists from our show could be interviewed as they had to catch their flights home but I think we had about 8 of us who were interviewed and filmed by Amy. It was a very nice experience and it was lovely chatting with her. 

About a week or so before the festival, some of us arranged to rent a car on Thursday and drive to the Texas Quilt Museum to see our "Unfolding" show. The drive there was edgy as there was a torrential rain, making it difficult to even read the highway signs, but Betty got us there safe and sound. Once there, the storm blew over and the sun came out for a lovely day. We arrived at the TQM in La Grange at about 10:30 and were immediately met at the door by Lucy Carr, currently managing curator, and Jim Ayer who is the historian/librarian of the collection, as well as several local quilters who volunteer as docents. The following is from the TQM website "The Texas Quilt Museum is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity,  It is housed in two historic 1890s buildings, which provide a fine showcase for both antique and contemporary quilt art with their high ceilings, brick walls, and original hardwood floors. " http://www.texasquiltmuseum.org/index.html. Our show, as it was hung at the TQM was entitled, "Land of Enchantment: Art Quilts from New Mexico". We had the entire back gallery for this exhibit and it was beautifully displayed. We spent a few hours there talking about our work to the staff and visitors and getting to know Lucy and Jim a little bit. They had graciously arranged for us to have lunch at a local restaurant called Bistro 108 where we had an awesome lunch and the ambiance of the Bistro was great. La Grange reminded me of villages/towns where I grew up back east with its mostly Victorian style brick and stone buildings. 

The 2013 IQF Houston was another great festival. 

Pat Gould

SILVER CITY MEETING IN NOVEMBER & A NEW EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITY

Silver City is right around the corner, November 15 and 16. If you are planning to attend the SAQA diner meeting on the 15th, and have not mentioned it to either me or Gale, please email me and let me know you plan to attend. We will need to give a rough number to the restaurant. It will be great fun. I hope to see you there. Just a note about emails from me/SAQA: When I send a SAQA newsletter or update through the SAQA email system, the system automatically personalizes the email with your first name and assigns my email address as the return. This has confused people a bit in thinking that I have only contacted them personally and not the group as a whole. I’m sorry about the confusion and the sometimes forward nature of these emails. One way you can tell the difference is that in a SAQA group email I will sign my full name with the SAQA NM Representative title. In personal emails I will just sign Michelle. I hope this helps with the confusion. Now that we have one exhibition entry behind us, it’s time to prepare for the next; Beyond Tradition. Please see the following from Betty. I’m sure you’re working on something perfect for this show! I can’t wait to see it! New exhibition opportunity for SAQA/NM members! The information for our upcoming show in Ruidoso, Beyond Tradition, is attached in Word format AND included in the body of the email below. When submitting your entries, you may return the email to Betty Busby atfbusby3@comcast.net with your information filled in, OR, return as a document in Word or Pages.  Please DO NOT submit as PDF, JPG or hard copy.  thank you! Betty Busby Beyond Tradition An exhibition of contemporary fiber art by the Studio Art Quilt Associates of New Mexico at the Hubbard Museum of the American West April 5-TBD, 2014 VENUE: The Hubbard Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, is located at 26301 Hwy 70 West in Ruidoso Downs, NM 88346.  It is owned and operated by the City or Ruidoso Downs, and is open from 10:30 am to 4:43 pm daily. SAQA has been allocated the Mezzanine Gallery, 2500 sq. feet, and the Angle Gallery, 1500 sq. feet by Ray Pawley, Curator of Exhibits. ELIGIBILITY: All work must meet the SAQA definition of an Art Quilt: “The art quilt is a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered construction.” In addition, only original artwork, conceived and created by the entrant(s) will be considered; no patterns, kits or copies. All artists involved collaborating on an artwork must be listed as entrants and sign the loan agreement.  Applicants must be current members of SAQA with New Mexico as one of their regions.  In state residence not required. THEME: What have you done with your fiber art that pushes the boundaries of tradition?  Do you use old techniques to produce new imagery?  Or do incorporate mixed media into your work?  This exhibit is intended to demonstrate new directions that we are taking.  ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:  Two dimensional “wall” pieces as well as three dimensional sculptural work be eligible. Dimensions of wall work must be: A minimum of 24" width. A minimum of 24" height. *A maximum of THREE two dimensional works per artist will be considered. All wall entries must have a 4" sleeve sewn to the top of the quilt in the back.  There should be 1 ½" allowance on each side of the sleeve to allow hanging slats to remain hidden. Each quilt should be labeled in the back with the title, artist name and contact information. Dimensions of sculptural work must be: A maximum of 48” in any direction. •      A maximum of TWO sculptural pieces per artist will be considered for a possible total of FIVE entries per artist. •      Any work not able to be stacked or rolled will be the artists’ responsibility to deliver to the Museum. All entries must also be labeled with the artist's name, address, phone #, and email address. JURY: Selection of the two dimensional work to be shown will be made by Dr. Sandra Sider. Selection of the sculptural work to be shown will be made by the Exhibition Committee in conjunction with Ray Pawley, curator of the Hubbard Museum. Non-refundable entry fee is $30 for up to THREE wall entries and TWO sculptural entries, for a possible total of FIVE per artist. Please make checks payable to SAQA, and mail them to: Betty Busby 14306 Oakwood Pl. Albuquerque NM 87123. ENTRIES ARE NOT COMPLETE UNTIL FEES ARE RECEIVED. IMAGE REQUIREMENTS: Please submit one full and one detail digital image of each submitted work by email to Betty Busby at fbusby3@comcast.net.  Save your images as JPEGs, minimum of 1800 pixels on the longest side.   Be sure to label your images with your last name, and the title; for example, gould-moonrise-full.  Images must be in sharp focus. The quilt should be photographed on a plain white background with no hanging devices, pins, tacks or other extraneous items visible and the quilt should be as straight as possible. Poor quality images will affect the jurors' decisions. If an entrant disregards the requirements, their quilt(s) may be disqualified. Michelle Jackson SAQA NM Representative