AK SAQA February 2017 Meeting



Our Feburary 2017 AK SAQA Regional Meeting was held on Tuesday February 14th at the Kaladi Brothers on Brayton. We had a great turn out—Maria Shell, Cat Larrea , Diane Melms , Carrie Payne, Gail Ramsay, Jan Wallace, Jeannie Bench, Bonnie Riveria, Gene Looman,  and Kate Beebe. We also welcomed new member Gene Looman and guest Karen Fogarty.

We discussed our upcoming member’s show at the Girdwood Center for Visual Arts   Members Gail Ramsay and Carrie Payne are planning to hang the show on March 1. The opening reception for the show is Saturday March 4, 2017 from 6PM - 8PM at the center. 



Diane Melms has a solo show opening at the Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer, Alaska the same weekend. She shared her maquette of the show which was really interesting to see.


AK SAQA member Mary Gerken (not present) met with some of the Hawaii SAQA members to continue to move the concept of a joint show forward. We have settled on the size 12’’ x 24’’ or smaller and the theme Non-Contiguous. 

Amy Meissner is continuing to work with Diane Melms (who coordinated our previous shows) and the Blue Hollomon Gallery to make a November 2017 Alaska SAQA juried exhibition happen. It will be called Art Cloth North III. We are looking at an August 15th deadline for submitting work. Each member may submit three pieces for consideration. Work should not have been exhibited in Anchorage before. Complete details will be announced at up coming meetings. 

Show Tell was great as always.

Cat Larrea shared her new work that just got into the SAQA traveling exhibition Textile Posters.  


She wasn’t ready for us to share the quilt on the blog yet, so only those of us who were at the meeting got to see its amaziness.



But as you can see, Cat is very happy to have gotten into the show.



Gene Looman shared a collection of his handmade jackets.


Jan Wallace continues her exploration of working 3-D.


Kate Beebe is experimenting again—this time with lots of glitter.


Bonny Riveria shared new work. 


Jan’s guest and now new SAQA member, Karen Fogarty shared her beautiful dolls. 


She also gave us a bit of insight into how she builds one.


Jeannie Bench showed her latest bead work on “quilts”. 






Gene Looman and Diane Melms have both completed Spotlight Auction Quilts for the upcoming SAQA conference. 





We hope you will join us for our meeting. It will on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 from 10AM to 12PM at the Kaladi Brothers on Brayton. Many members will be on spring break, so this is an informal get together without a agenda. It is always good time!