I was lucky enough to attend the SAQA annual conference in San Jose a couple of weeks ago. It was fabulous! We had wonderful presentations from Pokey Bolton, Lisa Congdon and Valerie Goodwin, fabulous lightning talks, a very inspirational and emotional keynote speech by Joan Schulze and several amazing panel discussions.
Pokey spoke about her journey from teacher to magazine editor to her new role as an independent business owner:
Valerie spoke about her laser-cutting technique:
Joan Schulze spoke about innovation and discovery in a time of great personal turmoil. And showed some really delicate, delightful quilts:
We explored San Jose. I had never been there before. One highlight was the Japanese Garden. It included not only beautiful flowers, but some beautifully textured rocks and bark as well:
I enjoyed walking around downtown San Jose. The streets were filled with art:
And of course we had to visit the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles:
The SAQA exhibit, H2Oh! was showing there. The quilt below is by Judith Content:
Nearby, at Works/San Jose Gallery we went to see Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth, a seven regional SAQA Exhibit. The quilt below is by Betty Busby:
And we thoroughly enjoyed the local restaurants. This Greek place was particularly good:
Sunday featured a tour of several local artists' studios. I LOVE studio tours. The first was the home and studio of Judith Content. Her house was an amazing explosion of color and carefully curated displays:
But the best part of any conference is spending time with friends:
I always buy at least one piece in the "Spotlight Auction," which raises money for SAQA programs. This year I bought "Integrity and Compromise" by Kathy Suprenant.
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