Minutes from May 12, 2012

Hi All. Yes, I'm tardy in posting the minutes from the last meeting - my apologies. Here's what happened:

Welcome, Intros

1. Business & Announcements: 

• We're wrapping up the entry process for our MQ show offering, "Best Foot Forward." Jennifer Conrad will deliver the works to be shown to the MQ office by the June 7 deadline. 
• There is a possibility that "Best Foot Forward" will be shown at the American Craft Council offices in Northeast Minneapolis this year. Jennifer Conrad will arrange. 
• Summer schedule meeting poll: The group elected to continue meetings over the summer, switching to the Tuesday night schedule as has been done in the past. Our next meeting will be on July 24, at 6:30pm, at The Lyric.*Note that this will probably be our last meeting at The Lyric (sadly), because Jennifer C. is moving to a new residence and will no longer have free use of The Lyric's community room. Jennifer S. can offer free meeting space at her workplace in Northeast Minneapolis, though it won't be as pleasantly appointed as The Lyric! More info at the next meeting. Anyone else willing to host a meeting should contact the Jennifers.   

     2.  Presentation by photographer Jeff Conrad: Guidelines for preparing and shooting your work, available 

          through SAQA-U, were distributed to those present. Let us know if you need copies, and we'll email     

          them to you. Jeff took us through a quick overview that included color correction, backdrops, camera 

          types, saving and transmitting files for jurying etc, and other useful info. 

(Break - 15 mins) 

After the break, artists who brought work to be photographed by Jeff assembled in an adjacent room. The rest of us, and some of those waiting their turn with Jeff, continued with discussion. 

1. "13 Blackbirds" - An exhibit of works by the Fiber Artists Coalition, inspired by the poem (previously published on this blog), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens. This show was recently exhibited at the American Craft Council offices. Jennifer Conrad is presently in possession of the artwork and shared those pieces with us, displaying them around the meeting room. We looked at the work and briefly discussed. 
2. The floor opened for discussion of future themed shows that SAQA-MN might undertake as a group.  Everyone agrees it's great to have our work out there for viewing, and our group is better represented with organized exhibits of unified work. Some suggestions for theme shows included: Maps - look at work by Valerie Goodwin as an example of how we might explore this theme. Change - Life changes, the dichotomy of constancy versus change, etc. Voice - inspired by this quote by Georgia O'Keeffe: “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.”  The group agreed that it would be important to continue implementing size restrictions as a way to unify a body of work. We also agree it's nice to have at least six months to plan and work towards a show deadline. 

Other announcements:

• Fiber Artists Coalition has a show coming up that is themed around recycling, called "Salvage to Selvedge." Stay tuned for more info. 
• Melissa Nellis is putting together a show of MN fiber artists of Finnish heritage. Contact her for more info. 
• "The Complete Photo Guide to Art Quilting" by Susan Stein is finally available at a book store near you! Congratulations Susan! 
• We need suggestions for good local photographers to document our work. If you have had a good experience with a local photographer, please let Jennifer S. know, and we will post the photographer's contact info online in an evolving list, for referrals. 

Conclusion - Thanks everyone for another wonderful gathering, and thanks Jeff Conrad for helping artists preserve and document their artwork!