We Did It Again!

Free Associations by Regina Marzlin 2019 (fragment) 

SAQA Atlantic had another great retreat/conference, this time on the beautiful Minas Basin in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.  It was a perfect balance of excellent professional development, catching up on each other's work, comfortable surroundings and delicious food.  
We were delighted to welcome two new members, Darcy Hunter and Cathy Nunn.

Lightning Talks

Helene Blanchet persuasively described the benefits of working in a series to fully explore a concept. She described the process of preparing and finding venues for her Calgary Days series as well as two new series underway.   

two pieces from The Pond series by H. Blanchet, 2019

Dress (de)Code, was a project designed and led by Regina Marzlin to empower young women through expressing themselves in fibre art. The results she showed us were impressive.    

Laureen van Leirop talked about the importance of a sketchbook as a regular practice. Laureen’s broad definition of a sketchbook includes drawings, clippings, writing and snippets of embroidery.

fragment from the triptych 3 sneezes by L. Van Lierop 

Kristi Farrier continued the fascinating story of her exploration of making paper using cotton and flax fibre.   

Curating and Jurying

Susan Charles, the Director of the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia, was the highlight of the weekend.  She drew from her long experience in a lively presentation on the broad responsibilities of curators and jurers.  Some key take-aways for artists are: to carefully meet all the requirements of the call for entry; to not scramble in an entry at the last minute; and to send a good, professional photograph of the artwork. Susan emphasized  that a work could be rejected for many reasons that may have little to do with the quality of the art, so don't give up!  

Later, the SAQA-designed exercise in being a jury quickly taught us how hard jurying can be.

Writing About your Work

In a panel discussion, Laurie Swim, Ann Morrell Robinson, Helene Blanchet and Darcy Hunter shared how they have published their own writing about their artwork, or had it written about. There are so many possibilities, such as magazines which invite submissions on specific topics. A growing number of on-line publications are always looking for material.  Big take-away: build and use your creative network!

Next year’s retreat is already in planning!

Autumn by the Lake by Darcy Hunter 2018