2014 Benefit Auction

SAQA’s signature fundraising event starts Sept 15!

This is your chance to own beautiful, unique art quilts by some of the world’s finest artists. Plus, your purchases help increase the recognition for art quilts and the artists who make them while supporting SAQA’s exhibitions, publications, and education outreach. Thanks to our donors and bidders in 2013, the Benefit Auction raised over $65,000.
See the Benefit Quilts

SAQA members were invited to select 6 of their favorite benefit quilts an curate them as "dream collections." The selections are really beautiful.
See The Dream Collections

Look at your own benefit quilt or quilts sent in by friends at this link:
Artist List and Quilt Details

Let us share our KY and TN quilts in the Benefit Auction. Let me know about your benefit quilt and I will post it here on our blog so we can all enjoy it and see our region's work.

 "Life in Our Family" by Sharon Buck

News From West TN

I think it will be fun and help us get to know each other a little in our wide spaced region if we can share some of what we are doing. I hope to get lots more information from you all soon so we can share our stories here on our blog spot. I am excited to share with you Paula Kovarik's beautiful quilt images from the SAQA "Earth Stories" show. She is a JAM of SAQA and lives in Memphis. These are her quilts "Stream of Consequences" both of which were created for this show.

Here is the summary from the SAQA site:

 Juror: Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Managing curator: Leni Levenson Wiener

 There are many stories of hope across the globe. Both individuals and small groups are working on projects that, when added together, make a positive impact on increasing the quality of life on this planet. Earth Stories celebrates the stories of people or projects that enhance the planet, make a significant difference in restoring and/or protecting the environment, increase sustainability and otherwise improve the earth we all occupy. Twenty-four artists from around the world were chosen to interpret a "story" of their choice, in two quilts each (72x72 and 12x14 inches).

Here is Paula's artist statement: It comes from the country, courses through the suburbs, and wraps around the city of Memphis. The Wolf River, a small spring fed river of 90 miles, is one of the great arterial systems of the Mississippi River and all the life that it nurtures. As it flows, it filters, it floods, it captures and distributes. It is a filament that takes everything that flows downhill and sends it forward. It is the meandering collector of last resort for runoff, sprawl, industry and agriculture. Efforts to control it, channel it, or deny its value nearly led to its ruin—until it gained an advocate. Since 1985, The Wolf River Conservancy has protected and defended the river in the face of development and abuse. The group has cast the Wolf as a community treasure that physically weaves the region together. They know full well its vital function and spectacular potential. They understand it is a pattern that connects.

New Co-Rep for our Region

Hello from your new co-representative for Kentucky Tennessee SAQA region. My name is Sharon Buck and I live in east TN. I am excited about being your representative but scared to death too hoping that I can do a great job for you. SAQA offers us so many resources, I want us to try to take advantage of as many of them as we can. I will be sending out newsletters and I hope you will email me with all your news about shows in your area, great places you love to find fabric, art you are doing, your blog or website, or anything pertaining to our art quilt world. It will be fun to get to know everyone and find out more about what you are doing. I have not used this blogger page before so I will have to figure things out as I go along. I do have a website and blog myself with weebly, and invite all to stop by for a visit! sharonbuckart.weebly.com

News from the Region. "This is a Quilt" Trunk Show was received in the Kentucky Tennessee Region and made it's first debut at UnCommon Threads Quilt Guild in Germantown, TN. About 50 quilters looked at the 30 pieced and went through an exercise designed to increase critical looking. Many members said they like it and found their initial impression was deepened by asking questions and hearing others comments. Next the Trunk Show is going to Jackson with an event at Sew Many Ideas quilt shop. Then on to Knoxville at Smokey Mountain Quilters guild meeting and on to the Regional Meeting in Louisville and an evening art event at Sew Memphis, the new sewing studio in Memphis. Not only a great way to experience looking a terrific way to let artists, quilters and others know about Studio Art Quilt Associates. Regional Meeting in Louisville. There is a lot to look forward to... viewing the trunk show and it's 30 pieces will be the main focus in the morning. After the lunch break we will have an artist panel followed by a time for participants to share their work and ask questions. This event is free and open to anyone, member or non. It is scheduled for Saturday June 9th from 10 - 4 at Mellwood Art Center, Louisville, KY. http://www.mellwoodartcenter.com/directions.html Perhaps you would like to host a parlor meeting in your area? Ask us how! Looking ahead there will be another trunk show in 2014! So we should begin to look for places and events in Kentucky and Tennessee to use it! Any suggestions let us know.

Kentucky Opportunity

There is a new opportunity for Kentucky Textile Artists... at Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea Exhibit - Call for Entries Due June 30, 2012 The Threads that Bind Textile Works by Kentucky Artisans Sept. 1, 2012 – Feb. 23, 2013 Exhibit Description Using a variety of fibers and techniques, textile artists create a wide range of work including clothing, jewelry, wall art, sculpture, quilts and more. This exhibit will look at a variety of textile expressions by Kentucky artists. Works submitted should be composed primarily of fabric/fiber/thread, with significant use of thread/fiber strands to weave, embellish, construct, shape, quilt or otherwise create the design. Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is a state center that displays and sells the works of over 650 Kentucky artisans and promotes cultural heritage travel in Kentucky. The Center, located just off I-75 at Berea exit 77, annually welcomes over 270,000 visitors. Requirements/ Restrictions Entrants must be residents of Kentucky. Up to three entries may be submitted. Works that are designed to hang on the wall must be prepared for hanging and include any needed rods/hangers. Size of work is limited to 20 pounds in weight and 4 feet in height or width. Works selected can be shipped or hand delivered to the Center. Shipped works must be sent in a re-usable container with return postage provided. Sales Works must be for sale and will be consigned, with the artisan receiving 50% of the retail price when the work sells. Works leave the exhibition when purchased and the Center may ask for replacements if available. Exhibition Calendar June 30 Entry Application and images due at the Center (postmarked date) July 18 Results of jury will be sent to artisans Aug 13-18 Works must arrive at the Center (shipped or delivered) Sept. 1 Exhibit opens Sept. 9 Meet the Artisans Reception (Sunday, 1 - 3 p.m.) Feb. 23, 2013 Exhibit closes March 5-9 Works must be picked up (or return shipped if shipped) How to Enter To enter, submit a completed entry form, an artist biography or statement, images of up to three works, and a short statement about each work. Images must be of the actual works that would be on exhibit if selected. Images should include one overall image per entry and detail images (close ups that show interesting details, and/or craftsmanship) Color photos, slides, or digital images will be accepted. Digital images must be in JPEG format, at least 300 dpi, and submitted on a CD. All images must be numbered to correspond with the number on the entry form. SEND ENTRY TO: Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea ATTN: The Threads That Bind 200 Artisan Way Berea, KY 40403 For more information contact Gwen Heffner Information Specialist gwen.heffner@ky.gov Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea

This just in... Check out our member in a show.

Parallel Lives : Art from 2 minds, 4 hands
Cooper Young Community Association offices (CYCA)
2298 Young Avenue, Memphis TN 38104

May 20 – June 11, 2011
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: Noon – 5pm, Tuesday: 12:30 – 6pm, Closed Friday.
Call 725-0308 for private showings

Opening reception: 6-9pm, Friday, May 20, 2011

Playful fabrics and edgy toys on display at CYCA
Textures, toys and stories will be on display at the CYCA offices from May to June. Parallel Lives captures the spirit and sense of two Memphis artists. Jean Holmgren and Paula Kovarik have both worked as graphic designers but find art in odd and different directions. The work includes Toys from the Other Side by Jean Holmgren, art quilts from Paula Kovarik and Conversation Piece an installation revealing their collaborative process.
Jean Holmgren, an award winning graphic designer, exercises an “artists with other jobs” pathology in a collection of sculptures and mixed media pieces inspired by Tom Waits lyrics and life’s lessons on how to be a girl.
Paula’s medium is fabric and thread. Her nationally recognized award winning quilts reveal a quirky doodle-strewn DNA. She surfaces what lies beneath in streams of threads, colors, and patterns. In the new medium of art quilts, her work is a storyboard of complex systems: cities, gardens, and global systems.
Both artists have roots in traditional women’s genres, but with all the twists and edges that they have captured in their lives as designers, artists, and women.


Paula Kovarik
paula@sogray.com
Online gallery: PaulaKovarik.com





Jean Holmgren
jean@pgdg.com

Why Art? Why Bother?

I often wonder what difference 'this' will make. 'This' being whatever I happen to be engaged in, creating art, doing hair, cooking diner -- what difference will this make in the world, in the bigger picture. I struggle with this as an artist, I struggled with it in my former career as a cosmetologist.
I have found few answers.
Then, wile doing hand work (not my favorite, but the time I catch up on viewing things like TED.com videos) I came across this great talk by JR.

He talks about just that -- making a difference in the world WITH ART! Inspiring and motivating. Give it a look!