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Monday, March 28, 2011

SAQA New England News...Colchester, VT Event

Dear Reader,

I had the great pleasure to attend the Workshop Event in Colchester, VT this weekend. Margaret Sheehan was the hosting SAQA Rep and Alexandra Nickerson was the event planner and hosting SAQA member.

March 25-27, 2011 


It was an exciting opportunity for SAQA members.


Two workshops were offered:


Approaching Galleries - Rae Harrell, owner of Rae Harrell Gallery, and
From a Juror's Perspective Valerie Poitier, guest curator/juror and SAQA Co-chair of the "No Holds Barred" exhibit at the NE Quilt Museum and SAQA MA/RI co-rep.


I must say that Alexandra did an excellent job selecting the speakers, location, and studio's for the event. As both presenter and participant I felt we all came away with a reminder or much better view of what it takes to put on an exhibit. What it takes to participate in an exhibit. Whether or not we were in the game, or wanted to be in that particular game.

Friday night's dinner was great, even if I couldn't eat. The company and discussion was worth the trip. Saturday was packed from morning to late night with the two workshops and an opportunity to share our work with each other, simply smashing quilts were unpacked and unrolled. The works of art and techniques were very different.

Here are some of the areas discussed:
- The decisions and choices the curator, juror, gallery owner is faced with.
-What a gallery owner or representative is looking for and what you/we as artists need to provide that person so that we may be represented at the highest level of professionalism.
-Bio, Artist statement, Artist Statement, CV, Education.
-Pros & Cons of Exhibiting.
-Personal development, build courage by doing.
-Where you are now, where you see yourself going.
-How to get the best out of the resources available to you.
-SAQA site, we took a short on-line tour.

Sunday was an extra-ordinary day. We rode further up into the hills of VT. The trip took us to the most, and I mean most wonderful studio. Dianne Shullenberger, fabric artist shared her gallery and studio spaces with us in a gracious and melodious manner. Yes it was a pleasure to the ear and the eye. Her work and space was for me, like a grand banquet. Everything I would wish to see, crafted by a master, with the proper spaces to put them in. What more could this artist want, I got to see a working gallery and a working studio! That my friends... is one of my dreams...and it feels closer after this weekend.

All in all this was another spectacular New England Weekend. The weather favored us by being sunny, crisp, and a bit snappy with cold. We travelled back to Massachusetts having experienced the best of VT, the best of SAQA, and the best times.

Regards,
Ms. V

Sunday, March 13, 2011

No Holds Barred - Regional meeting for MA/RI - all SAQA Members & Guests are invited

Good afternoon!

In one week we will have the opportunity to come together at 10:00 for one of our Regional meetings at the NEQM before the current exhibit of SAQA New
England.

In addition to holding our regional meeting, we will share upcoming news, in progress or completed art works, talk about what we are doing or teaching, plan our next area exhibit, meet the artists of the current exhibit, and to invite our guests to become members.

One important order of business will be to thank Jeanne Marklin for her time
as Co-Rep of SAQA MA/RI. She will be stepping down in June 2011. Jeanne will not be in attendance however as she is hosting a meeting in western MA. So we will plan our thanks and deliver in person at our next joint meeting. We are seeking a member to work with me during the remainder of my term, and to carry the torch while recruiting the next rep. Please start to scout out possible members who have what you consider the necessary experience and energy to best represent you to SAQA and the art community.

After the official meeting time, approximately 1:00 we will walk the museum as a group and look at the exhibit together and ask specific
questions about techniques, materials used, and the types of machines used. We should all come away from this experienced inspired to either continue what we are doing or to try something new or in a different way.

If you are an instructor or have a business please bring business cards or a handout. This will be the perfect time to talk about what you do and what
you offer.

There were many lessons learned during the No Holds Barred exhibit process
and we should review some of them and what we want to do in the future. It
is important to discuss what we can do differently, in addition, or not at
all next time around. So the floor will be open to everyone to share their
input.

Also come prepared with ideas about what you would like to participate in
regarding future exhibits. We are ready to start on our next SAQA project
as a region and having your input is very important. The current plan to
open the area up beyond the six states and we will discuss to whom and how
many other regions to include. Depending on the ideas we may even open it
up to all of SAQA.

As you can see we have a full schedule of items to discuss and we hope you
will be able to join us. Your voice is important!

Please RSVP to vprattpoitier@yahoo.com.

Regards,

Best Regards,
Valarie Poitier
Curator, Co-Chair SAQA-NEQM-2011 Project "No Holds Barred"
Guest Speaker Grand Opening January 29th @ 1:00pm IT was awesome!
SAQA Rep MA/RI
****SAQA-MA-RI@blogspot.com ****OUR NEW AREA BLOG
Ms. V's Studio #508-314-6597
http://www.saqa.com - Studio Art Quilt Associates
http://saqane2011news.blogspot.com/ - No Holds Barred News
http://msvpoitier.blogspot.com/