Sue King and Terry Ann Hartzell Attend Visioning Converence in Denver

On May 19, 2011 Sue King and Terry Ann Hartzell flew to the Mile High City, Denver, Colorado to attend the four day SAQA Visioning Conference which was held in the Brown Hotel of Unsinkable Molly Brown fame. Sue attended a meeting of approximately 20 other SAQA reps to learn about activities taking place in other states and countries. She was pleased to learn that Ohio is now almost on par with some of the other states that are quite active.

Key note speakers included Luana Rubin, the founder of eQuilter.com and Dr. Alice Zrebiec, the textiles curator of the Denver Art Museum. The Front Range Quilters of Colorado acted as hostesses for the event, which included studio tours and a panel discussion by Deidre Adams, Patty Hawkins, Carol Watkins and Charlotte Ziebarth. These artists shared some of their favorite techniques, especially photography, and discussed how living in the West has influenced their work.













Another panel presentation involved a discussion of three dimensional work and included artists Susan Else, Mary Beth Bellah, Carolyn Crump and Jill Rumoshosky. On Thursday evening a cocktail party feted the opening of the SAQA Trunk Show which was spectacular and will be travelling the country this year. We have requested the show for Ohio members to view, so if you know of a venue willing to exhibit the show for at least a three to four week time period, please contact Sue King.



Carole Waugh's Studio at the Ice Cube Gallery



Terry Ann and Sue attended numerous break out sessions with titles such as Make Adobe Photoshop Elements Dance, Promote Your Work Without Apologizing, Rejected:Common Mistakes When Entering Juried Shows and Self Promotion with Pizazz. There were also sessions to assist SAQA members in writing articles for magazines and making a living by presenting workshops and teaching. Terry and Sue also toured the Denver Art Museum and enjoyed walking throughout the downtown area, viewing the prolific public art and of course shopping in a variety of boutiques. A high light was the tour to Golden Colorado where we visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum to view a stunning exhibition of the work of the Front Range Quilters. We additionally met our National SAQA leadership including Martha Sielman and Patricia Gould. Everyone was friendly and quite approachable. We also met some of the big name quilters in America and found them to be just as nice and willing to share. We both heartily recommend that SAQA Ohio members attend next year's convention which will take place in Philadelphia.

The Big Blue Bear at the Cenver Convention Center

Native American Woven Rugs at Denver Art Museum