This is SAQA Europe/Middle East: The Romance Countries

Alex Veronelli (Italy)

I act as Product manager and Brand Jedi for Aurifil the Italian Quilt and Patchwork threads producer, and I had always been keen to support SAQA in its mission to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications, and be the  world-wide resource for information on the art quilt and the artists who create them.

I always loved to support Nonprofit Organizations related to Quilt World, currently I serve in the Board of Directors of “The Alliance for American Quilts” http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org and the Advisory Board of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum http://www.quiltstudy.org.

I am 100 % made in Italy , my family comes from the textile industry on both sides. My mother’s family produced fine Italian bed linens for several generations and my father was one of the founding members of Aurifil.

I started with Aurifil in 1990, spending the first two years working alongside employees in spinning, twisting, and dyeing sectors to learn and understand the processes.

My first approach to the market was with the kind of customer that related to Italian fashion, luxury brands, and their textile production, supporting their needs by developing threads and colors and acting as Product Manager.  

I have never really have been able to stay closed in a production building so I never neglected to develop thriving customer relationships, marketing strategies, and Aurifil brand promotion in the field.

Nowadays, with the business evolving, it has moved me away from production, where I am able just to spend few hours per week, and my main tasks are focused on the customer relationships and brand promotion.

Find out more about me by http://www.alexveronelli.com

Informal get-together for all SAQA members attending Nadelwelt, Karlsruhe (Germany)

Getting to know other members of SAQA 'for real' is a special experience, and therefore we would like to call for another informal meeting of any and all SAQA members who are attending the Nadelwelt in Karlsruhe (Germany) in May.

The meeting will take place on Saturday, May 24, at 19.30 o’clock (that is 7:30 p.m. for Americans) in the “Altes Brauhaus” close to Kongresszentrum and downtown of Karlsruhe. You can find more information on the location and how to get there here: http://www.alterbrauhof.de/

Should you be planning to join us, please send a mail to co-rep Uta so she knows whether to make a reservation, or for how many people. 
Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

There is more to see in Karlsruhe than just the main station,
but my camera's battery went dead when I got off the tram last week,
so this is all I can show right now... You just have to come and
see for yourself.

Call for members' participation at the SAQA table in Birmingham

Waiting for the doors to open... FoQ, here they come!

Hello SAQA Europe and Middle East Region member,

This is an invite to help with the SAQA stand for the Festival of Quilts – 7th to 10th August 2014. I hope you will be able to come to the show in Birmingham, England. As you may know, Martha Sielman will be at the Festival of Quilts this year. The exhibition will include some of the works which are included in her recent book "Art Quilt Portfolio: People and Portraits". Martha will also be giving lectures in the lecture room, so check your Show schedules to be sure to catch at least one of them.

I am arranging the rota for stewarding the SAQA stand this August. Some of you have kindly volunteered to steward in the past. We are looking for help again this year. If you have not helped before, I would like to encourage you to help with looking after the SAQA exhibition. It is a special time when you can talk with the public about SAQA, about the exhibition, and even talk about design and technique with the people come to view. And, too, it is a chance to get to know other SAQA members who pop in from time to time throughout the show.

If you are not confident about speaking English, we can still use your help because there are  many visitors who don’t speak English. It would be great to be able to converse with them to help them connect with the work and with SAQA.

If you can help, can you let me know what day you would prefer and what time would suit you? I am hoping to have stewarding slots of 1 ½ hours with 2 people together. 

The times will be 

10-11:30   

11:30- 1    

1-2:30      

2:30-4      

4-5:30   each day (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 

If your schedule allows you to do more than one session, that would be wonderful! There will be a Meet and Greet session on the Friday afternoon as in previous years, but I am not arranging this. However, the stand will be left to itself during that time so we can all meet together, you will not need to miss it.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you so much,

Sandy Snowden

Bracknell, UK

snsnowden@harmonyinformation.com

This is SAQA Europe/Middle East: The Middle East

Yemima Lavan

 I was born and raised in a Kibbutz in Israel. Within this form of life my personal self expression was through creation in textile.  Ever since I can remember I loved to embroider, weave and knit in classes or independently.

After I studied in "Art and Crafts Teachers College" in Givataim I taught arts & crafts for 27 years - 10 years in elementary school and 17 years in Kay College for Teachers in the Faculty of Education, Art and Crafts department" in Beer Sheba.

I was exposed to quilts in 1996 and have been working with it enthusiastically ever since. I love the feel of fabric and the wonderful vividness of colors that develops when combines many pieces into one work.

After some years of working in tradition style I started creating my own art quilt as this form of creativity provides more opportunities to express my thoughts and feelings. In my quilts I used to combine commercial fabrics with my own hand-dyed and hand printed fabrics to get textures and interested effects.

I am a member of the Israel Quilt Association (IQA), SAQA and also belong to "Encounter" group of art quilt artists. I have shown my quilts in 6 solo exhibitions as well as participated in group exhibitions both in Israel and abroad.

My inspiration sources are mostly from my close-by area and from many trips I take in Israel and abroad. Other quilts depict the landscapes of Israel or represent impressions of my own personal environment and the culture surround me.

My quilt "Sunset in the Woods" is part of a series I made after visiting Ghana where I saw lovely forest reserves alongside vast fallows that once were rain forests or luxuriant jungles rich with birds, insects and different animals, but now are useless badland.

"My Parents' Library in Two Chapters" represents a personal, very emotional, event for which I wrote the following:

Today with a click on a keyboard, one can obtain all the information he needs. Various ideas, discoveries and emotion can be sent or received within seconds from any spot in the universe.

So who is interested in accumulating and taking care of old books?

When I was a child, a book was an asset. In my parents` tiny apartment in the Kibbutz, the bookcase filled up a whole wall. But when my parents passed away, I found myself surrounded with piles of boxes of books in which nobody showed any interest. These books were the essence of my parents` life and in order to acquire them they had to give up many other pleasures.

These quilts are an example to the various opportunities for self-expression through fabrics.

ymlavan@gmail.com

This is SAQA Europe/Middle East: The Middle East

Shoshi Rimer

I was born in Israel in the year 1958.

I have been exposed to quilting in 1995 during my studies in "Itzuvim", Combined Art College, in Jaffa, Israel. The course, which focused on traditional techniques, introduced me to the centuries-old basics of quilting. Therefore, the quilts of the first years were based on traditional techniques. I used it to create a quilt, but the only self-expression was through the fabric choices.

Later, I studied with various teachers and artistic quilters in Israel and abroad, thereby learning a number of innovative techniques. Gradually I developed a more personal way of expressing myself. I used the acquired techniques as a foundation while letting my imagination run free as I design my works. For me quilting is a wonderful evolving art form, offering infinite creative possibilities and learning opportunities. The Inspiration for my quilts comes from a variety of sources. It can be nature, an expression, a color, a word and I tend to collaborate with artists of other media.

Shadows by Soshi Rimer

I have had three solo exhibitions abroad and one in Israel. I participated in various group exhibitions in Israel, The Netherlands, England, Switzerland, Austria, France, Taiwan and the USA.

I am a member of the Israel Quilter's Association (IQA) since 1997. In addition I belong to two art quilt groups: “Encounters” a group of 15 Israeli Art Quilt artists and "Voyage" an Internet art quilt group of artists drawn from around the world.

Burning Fields by Soshi Rimer

_

My website is: www.shoshir.co.il

SAQA Meet and Greet in Prague

Sponsored by the PPM organizers, a number of SAQA members (including newly signed-up member Martina from Germany on the far left in the picture) gathered for a lunch-time Meet and Greet at the 8th Prague Patchwork Meeting on Saturday.

The SAQA Meet and Greet  at Prague in front of the SAQA exhibition Deux 

Getting to know each other, announcements of a few business items for the region Europe/Middle East and enjoying a sandwich and a cup of coffee or tea were the items on the agenda.
The next possibility for a personal meeting in the context of a major quilting event is coming up in May, at the Nadelwelt Karlsruhe. Look out for announcements here on the blog and in the newsletter.

Greetings from SAQA Past President Sandra Sider

5 April 2014: Greetings from lovely Prague!  

Sandra on the banks of the river Moldau

I am here to attend the 8th annual Prague Patchwork Meeting, enjoying some fine traditional quilts as well as the numerous studio art quilts on view in several exhibitions, including spectacular solo shows by our own Britta Ankenbauer, Jana Haklova, and Uta Lenk. With more than 6000 square meters of space, this event has become the third largest permanent quilt event in Europe. The two Czech challenge shows are "Mother Nature" and "Applique," and I can't wait to find out who the prize winners are this afternoon. Prague Patchwork Meeting whets our appetite for the next two major European quilt events this year, the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham and the Carrefour in Ste Marie-aux-Mines. Look for my article on the PPM in Quilters Newsletter later this year.

Dr. Sandra Sider, Curator
Texas Quilt Museum
SAQA Past President

SAQA in Prague

The 8th Prague Patchwork Meeting is on this weekend, and SAQA has a good presence - Deux will be there, and several members have quilts on display or offer workshops (Britta Ankenbauer, Romana Cernà, Jana Haklova, Barbara Lange, Uta Lenk,  Irena Zemanová).

If you are not dependent on the German airline on strike, why don't you come to Prague this weekend? Information can be found here.