Friday, May 5, 2023

Pathways to Possibility: a SAQA conference

 


Last weekend I was at a textile art conference in Toronto, with the wonderful organization SAQA. I've been a member for a couple of years, but am very much a rank beginner in this area. But I couldn't NOT go to a conference so close to me! 

It was an inspiring weekend, where I met so many creative people and learned so much from the speakers, who were all sharing such different elements of creative textile work. I didn't actually take many photos, too busy listening and talking ;) But I did get a nice photo of the small piece I made for the auction that is one of the SAQA fundraisers. 

And with the artist Nancy Turbitt, who bought my piece! 


We had a foggy, windy, rainy weekend so I was glad that much of the conference was in one place. But we also got to visit a couple of museums that were extremely close by -- the Textile Museum and the Campbell House Museum. Both had great exhibits; the Campbell House is showing Colour with a "U", a collection of textile works by Canadian SAQA artists, until June 3. Definitely recommended! 

And the conference had a Community Stitch project, where you could take and exchange bits of fabric, threads and embellishments. I didn't actually get much stitching done during the conference, but this week after coming home I've been working on putting together a little piece using the bits I gathered up from the Community Stitch table! Just testing things out and seeing what happens :) 


It was a really engaging event and I'm so glad I went. I will most definitely be continuing to primarily make and share my garments at this blog, but now and again you might also see a little bit about the artworks I'm making. 

2 comments:

  1. Stitching can take a person in so many directions, always new areas to explore. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! It is a fun direction to try out.

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