The rain and clouds disappeared and today was absolutely delightful, despite the demeanor of the Crying Giant. I got to have an extra hour of sleep as I was given the morning off from the registration table. Yesterday was quite grueling as I had to stay in registration for most of the day and I missed some of the sessions. I did enjoy a picnic with every one on the lawn of the KCAI and dessert and the Vendor Fair at the Marriott.

Today we had a great speaker in the morning, Ray Materson, who started doing embroideries in prison using the yarn from athletic socks. He makes the tiniest most intricate scenes. He told his life story of becoming a drug addict and how the craft turned his life around. This afternoon, we took a bus to the Crossroads gallery district where most of the galleries had fiber art. What a treat. Here are Judy and Carol Soderlund waiting for the bus with me. I have enjoyed getting to know Carol.

Our first stop, after lunch with my new friends from Texas, we headed for the Belger Art Center. A huge space that held 4 of the SDA shows — the member’s show “Surface Matters”, Alice Kettle, Ray Materson, Jennifer Angus and an installation by an Asian artist, whose name has left me. It was a thrill to see my piece hanging in the Belger: (bottom right)

Here are some shots of the space:

Rayna’s piece: (on the right)

And Natalya Aiken’s: (top left) I love this.

We took a freight elevator up to the third floor to see these pieces:

An installation of hanging consisting of tiny bits of found and recycled objects such as twist ties and bottle caps that are connected with bits of wire.

Alice Kettle’s amazing machine embroideries, all done from the back side.

A room totally decked out in patterns created from insects.

And houses, a church and a school all bedecked with bugs. Amazing!

We arrived at the Cohen gallery just in time for Regina Benson’s talk. I am a big fan of her work and it was great to find out how she produces this beautiful stuff.

We also enjoyed the encaustic work of Daniella Woolfe:

And this exhibit – I forget the artist’s name. This was dyed and screenprinted scrim.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the member’s trunk show – some really beautiful work. Judy’s husband arrived this afternoon so I was left all alone. I joined some friends from my workshop last week and we had dinner at the Kemper Art Museum cafe. I must say that I had the best time that I have had since I arrived. We ate and drank and talked and laughed and I feel happy. I need to get some sleep – sorry for the lack of links. Night.