Gallery Visit and Quilt Critiques with Sandra Sider

I’m a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and I share the role of Representative for the Northern California/Nevada region with Sandy Wagner. I had the pleasure of hosting Sandra Sider, President of SAQA, at my home earlier this month. She was in town for other business and graciously offered to conduct a session of critiques for members in our region during her visit.  Sandra is also Consulting Curator for the Texas Quilt Museum, currently teaches undergraduate courses online in art history for the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, has been published extensively and is a working quilt artist. I was thrilled to coordinate this opportunity!

The day of the critique session Sandra and I met five more SAQA members at a nearby restaurant for lunch, then we went to Creative Framing & Gallery to see my solo show. Pictured are (from left to right):  Kris Sazaki (SAQA VP), Deb Cashatt (SAQA Exhibits Coordinator), Paula Chung , Jenny Lyon, me, Sandra Sider and Sandy Wagner.

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised when Sandra began speaking about the pricing of my work and her assessment of the saleability of individual pieces. She felt that Fall Ginkgos would be the most saleable quilt because of its size (the viewer could easily see it hanging their home), use of color and perceived complexity.

Leaves II, which entailed much more work and variety of techniques, she felt would be perceived as less complex.

The few minutes we spent at the gallery were fun and educational! We all thanked Heather Piazza, herself an artist and strong supporter of the arts, who opened her gallery especially for our visit.

The critique session was next. In addition to those who had quilts to be critiqued, 15 observers were there. Sandra led each critique touching on history,  principles of art and how saleable each piece was. Viewers were encouraged to share their thoughts as well. She did a thorough job with 11 quilts in just 2 hours. We were in awe of her knowledge and the depth that she shared with us. I was in awe of her stamina!

Here is Sandy Wagner sharing details of the work in progress she brought. Sandy creates a lot of her own fabric with dye and applique work. She creates wearable art regularly so she is completely fearless. The section she is pointing to was created by hand appliqueing the red-orange fabric strips over the mottled yellow. There was much discussion about the central orange feature. Whatever she does, this will be gorgeous when it’s done.

This is the second time that Robin Cowley has hosted the same event at her home. She and her husband are uber gracious hosts and their home and garden are simply incredible works of art. Here are just two of the fabulous art installations in their back yard:

This is what I wanted to do when I got home from such an exciting day!