A little more from NAEA 2014

On the last day of the conference, I decided to get some hands-on time in the vendor exhibits.  I was enjoying myself so much that I ended up skipping a couple of workshops that I planned to attend that day.  I think I was just so overloaded and overexcited from the conference that it was  nice to just sit and play with paint for a while.  Besides, my feet hurt!!!  Anyhow, at the Dick Blick booth, we glued an ink nib on the end of a large feather, and then painted and embellished the feather with cording, wire, and beads.  I was so happy that mine made it home safely in my suitcase! Here's a few feathers made by other participants while I was painting.

Look at the heart that we found in our paint at during feather painting!

Below, left is blogger Tracy, and the gal on the right - oh gosh I can't recall her name but she had wonderful lime green Nike running shoes and a great spirit.

 

I also attended a free hands-on workshop sponsored by Michael's.  (I must live in the only place in the USA that doesn't have a Michael's store, but that didn't stop me from attending their workshop.) We used a fun new product called Cool2Cast, a porcelain-like casting medium that we used to make pieces for jewelry.  When I finally finish painting my pieces and turn them into something, I'll share them here on the blog.  Thank you to Michael's for providing these free workshops for conference attendees.  It was a pleasure!

Other workshops - wow - so much to absorb and consider that I'm not going to even try to report on them here - but I'll mention that I attended a workshop about masks, another about Rube Goldberg machines, and another abound sculpting with wire.

Home, and finally feeling better after serious jet-lag and body-fatigue, I still have 100's of photos to sort through.  By now you know I am an avid photographer, so I didn't just bring one camera.  Besides my phone, and my iPad, I also had my Sony point and shoot with an awesome zoom, and my Nikon DSLR.  And organizing the photos from all of them is proving to be quite a large challenge. I have tons of shots of flowers from the botanical garden at Balboa Park, but I have a lot of editing before I can share them.  So instead...

 

Is there anyone who went to the conference who DIDN'T take photos of this cool view coming down the escalator?  As a matter of fact, the whole San Diego convention center is a beautiful structure, I think the loveliest convention center I've been to, with architectural shapes that echo those of waves and sails, perfect for it's placement right near the waterfront.  So even though I'm sure you'd rather see more conference photos, first here's some more from the convention center.

 So much of this building would be perfect for use when teaching perspective!!

 

And I love the patterns of the shadows.

 

I attended inspiring talks by a couple of artists that I was excited to have the opportunity to see and hear in person.  What a terrific part of the convention!

Deborah Butterfield

One of Deborah Butterfield's amazing horses

I've always been intrigued by the work of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, but other than knowing she was Native American, I knew very little about her.  But seeing her talk was at the very top of my list of conference must-do's.  Inspiring woman!

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

She had so much to share that she moved through slides her work and that of other Native American artists very quickly and I had trouble photographing (or at least identifying who's work was in the photos I took).  Nevertheless, she was truly inspiring.  I wasn't disappointed.  If you were at the convention, I hope you got to see this amazing woman!

I also met some new people at the conference, including my new friend Liz who's been reading my blog for a while.  Boy is it exciting to be recognized by someone who knows you from reading your blog!  I spent some time relaxing and chatting with Liz and I think it's terrific that we have young enthusiastic art educators such as Liz. 

Below, here is Cassie in a really fun pencil dress, that she wore when a group of us went out for Saturday night dinner. 

Later that night, after the hat party, we stopped in the Ghiradelli chocolate store for a treat, still wearing our glamorous hats. We met other art teachers wearing fancy hats too.  If you are in this picture, please let me know; I'm terrible about remembering names, though I know that's blogger Rina on the right, and Pinterest gal Donna in the center next to me.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I saw my son and his girlfriend.  Crazy that he lives a 4-hour drive from us, but I had to travel 3000 miles to have breakfast with him and his lovely girlfriend!

Home with my feather - enough from the conference for now.

NAEA2014: meeting some rock stars! - updated with links!

So let me start by saying this: my iPad charger isn't working so I've only got a few minutes for this post.  But I promised I'd blog from the conference, so I just wanted to take these moments to share the amazing rock stars that I've had the privilege of meeting, talking to, dining with, making hats with, and just generally enjoying over these past 2 days.  If photos are wackily sized and arranged, I can't fix it tonight!  Oh well...

Getting to meet these friends has been, in some cases, a wait of a three or four years!  First, below, me with the amazing Cassie Stevens, and a familiar face to you all, Nancy Walkup from School Arts magazine! I spent pretty much 1/2 my day with Cassie, my fabulous like-minded new bestie.  I adore you, Cassie!!  Cassie has been the hit of the convention, being stopped every 10 feet to have her picture taken, I swear.  So it was a real honor that she likes to spend time with little old me!

And below, back row: Cassie, Ian Sands, Jessica Balsey (the Art of Education), Donna Staten (Pinterest!), Ted (Mr. E), Amy (Artful Artsy Amy); front row: Nic (Mini Matisse), Rina (K-6 Art), me, and Tracy (Do Not Drink the Paint Water).  

And what a treat to eat dinner with this gang pictured below, including some of the above, some new friends, plus Patty Palmer (Deep Space Sparkle)!

Below - me, Patty, Rina, Cassie, Donna. Rina has been a fabulous host to me in her beautiful hometown of San Diego.  I feel like I've known her for years!

Below, me and the amazing Patty Palmer, who first inspired me to begin blogging!  I am in awe...

And I've had a mutual admiration friendship with fabulous Amy (below) since practically the beginning of my blog.  Yippeee to finally meet you for real!  Amy is everything I imagined!

Below, my terrific new blogger friend, Tracy.  So glad to meet you!

 

And just for fun, a hat photo; me, Donna, Rina.  
More to come when I'm charged up again.