I am back from Denver where I taught a seminar on juried exhibits (4 times in 2 days) at the annual SAQA conference. It was great fun, insightful, enlightening and exhausting all rolled up in one tidy 5 day package.
Last spring SAQA put out a call for teaching proposals at their 2011 conference to be held at the Brown Palace Hotel. Having taught solely at the regional level, I applied for my own artistic growth. My proposal was accepted and I was elated.
I delivered this same PowerPoint in the fall at the Petaluma Art Center; the class was 45 mins. Shortly after I heard from SAQA that my seminar was to be 90 minutes! So I procrastinated for at least 3 months and finally fleshed out the talk to double the length and triple the information. Ah success.
It all went well. I addressed a wide range of audience from those who had never entered a juried art quilt exhibit to those whose work hangs in NY galleries. I enlightened some while others enlightened me. It was overall a wonderful experience.
In between I re-acquainted with friends and other artists and met new ones. I really enjoyed deep discussions with two artists who have done or are about to do the same courageous and creative excavation work than I have in my TG series. I listened to some powerful lectures & interesting panel discussions and gleaned from my roomie Franki Kohler some of the nuggets she got from the breakout sessions she attended. The theme for the conference was visioning. Speaker after speaker addressed their own process for their creative vision. 
I gained incredible insight for the future of my Tall Girl exhibit. For some time I have grown weary of telling the tale but still feel the work has importance and carries a good social message; it needs to be out in the world yet I have no desire to accompany it.
So I decided to develop a DVD that is circulated to school districts. A brilliant and doable idea! All along I have felt a calling to share this powerful work. Further I am going to research donating the entire series to a museum when I am through exhibiting it.
As one who sets annual art goals I was quite smitten with the report on Regina Benson’s marketing strategy. It seems she set her long term goal and continues to make, show and market her work from that point to the present. In other words, making an end goal rather than an annual goal. As I ponder that I realize some of the things I do now might not really serve my long-term goal! Brilliant.
As a long time believer in creating one’s own reality I found this topic fascinating. And if I had not actually believed it I had an instant reminder.
Saturday afternoon when my last class was finished and the adrenaline left my body, I was exhausted. My eyes were aching/burning and my body just spent. I had however been drinking gallons of water to keep hydrated at the high altitude so I was in basic good shape, just pooped. I predicted to my roommate that before I got home I imagined I would either burst into tears or sustain an injury.
Careful what you envision…after arriving at Oakland airport I slung my heavy bag into the trunk because I was too impatient to wait 30 seconds for my husband to walk around the car to help me and pulled a muscle in my back. :0(
So this week, beyond the icing I need to ship the Tall Girl exhibit off to OH for its next exhibit, see a guy about a new knee and get back into the studio. I am so ready!
The photos are for those who care only about the weather!!!
Carol – I enjoyed your awesome workshop, “REJECTED: Common Mistakes When Entering Juried Exhibit”. The conference was great, and your talk was one of the highlights for me. As one of the people who haven’t had much experience with juried shows, your talk was just what I needed to hear. Your powerpoint presentation and examples really helped illustrate your points and make me aware of what I need to do and pitfalls to avoid. Thanks!!!
Thanks so much Priscilla! It was a tough crowd because of the breadth of experience…but I worked it! Were you in the group where the woman repeatedly bragged she had never been rejected from a juried exhibit? I knew it then and later she acknowledged that she had never entered one! Everyone who has entered has been rejected!
It was great to meet you in Denver! Sorry about your back – I came home and took a good hot bath to help my back relax again. Your workshop was excellent – the fact that 20% are rejected because the entry isn’t complete is mindboggling! I will be extra cautious in the future and double check everything. Take care – Jeanne
thanks Jeanne!