SAQA OH and especially Sue King and Carole Staples ROCK!

Saturday,  the SAQA OH (Studio Art Quilters Association's OH branch) held a "parlor meeting" in West Chester, OH hosted by Carole Gary Staples at the West Chester public library north of Cincinnati.  Carole and OH Rep Sue King did a wonderful job. 16 art quilters gathered for a potluck lunch, show and tell, discussion of future plans, and to view "Stitched".

I must admit, I was a very rude person as Deb Bentley would make a comment about the movie and I'd say "Ohh! just wait what comes next."  Or, "get ready for this part, pay close attention."  I was  bad because this was the fourth time I had seen the movie...so I apologize to all others attending.

I had had the pleasure of meeting Carole Staples in January at the parlor meeting that Maria Elkins hosted.  Her works are joyous.  This particular piece she made for a breast cancer awareness exhibition.  The two smaller pieces she is holding in the shot above are ones which she has been making by improvisation.  She reaches into a basket of scraps and pulls out pieces to work with, not making patterns, but just composing as she goes.  I love them because they are so full of joy.

Sue King, seen here at left, has only been the Ohio representative since last year and she's been doing wonderful things.  It is really a pleasure to talk with her.  She's been working on a series of quilts done from photographs taken for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) documenting the Great Depression here in Ohio.  You can see her work here, and she is opening a solo show this week:  Re-Imagining Color and Tradition at the Southern Campus of Ohio University located in Ironton, Ohio. The exhibition takes place in the OU Art Gallery located in the Dingus Tech Building. The opening reception will be held at 6:00 PM on Thursday, June 23, 2011. The show runs through July 14, 2011.

My photos are sparse and of rather poor quality.  I'm afraid that the chemotherapy I'm on is heavily affecting my eyesight which is extremely blurry.  I had hoped to spend more time looking in depth at the rest of the works that people brought in.  Maria Elkins, another SAQA member who was there covered many of the pieces on her blog which you can see here.

I am really enjoying my membership in SAQA.  I only joined last year, which is a real pity.  When I lived in Connecticut I ran into Martha Sielman the executive director of SAQA.  It must have been in the last 1990s and she encouraged me to join.  I was greatly embarrassed..I didn't have a studio, for heaven's sakes I sewed on the dining room table...and artist???  Hmmm...while I did my own thing in quilting and rarely could follow anyone's directions (I wanted to do my own thing which was sort of a problem for some of my teachers who I took classes from)...I hardly considered myself an artist.  I was a mom...and a museum curator and a wife....and....I keep on wondering where I would be now if I HAD joined when Martha suggested it..

This last picture is of fellow Miami Valley Art Quilters Carroll Schleppi on the left who is a recent joiner, and Debra Bentley on the right who joined at about the same time I did.  They are holding one of the loon quilts Deb is doing in a current series.  I was very distracted at the end of the meeting.....All of a sudden I was getting really horrific floaters.   Deb asked me if I had had flashes of light as well, which I had when I came into the meeting at about ll am....based on her experience it could have been a detached or torn retina which scared me pretty well.  Carroll and Debra drove me to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where we sat and continued to chat until the doctors pronounced that I only had a vitreous detachment which is the least damage which could be done.  I admit, the floaters (dark shapes caused by the leakage) are quite large and distracting until I get used to them, but at least it isn't more severe damage.  Quite frankly, I'm really tired of my health dramas and would rather just quilt!