This One's for You, Robin

I woke up bright and early this morning, and C begged me to try to nap a bit longer. When he finally got up at about 6:30, this was the view from our room at the Marriott. It was a lovely cool morning.

I zoomed in a bit to get a little closer view of Country Club Plaza for you:

There is a very nice 1-mile loop across the street from the hotel in a park which houses this lovely fountain. We have been walking there in the early mornings, and then going to Starbucks for a coffee and breakfast. Did you know that KC is known as the 'city of fountains'? We learned that last night at the baseball game.....of all places!!!

I attended two morning sessions at the SDA conference. The first featured Jerry Bleem, speaking about "Unconscious Advice for the Self-Conscious". Fr. Bleem is not only a Roman Catholic Priest, but he is also an artist who teaches in the school of fiber and material studies at the Art Institute of Chicago AND, AND, AND: he is hilarious! What a great way to start the day: laughing and learning! I met up with Gerrie and also my friend Margaret, and we headed on over to the KCAI campus to hear Jane Dunnewold talk about "Soy Wax Three Ways". Fantastic!! ........and then the SDA conference was over for me. I loved it, and can hardly wait for the next one in 2011 in Minneapolis!!!

C and I enjoyed an incredible lunch at Gates BBQ. We split the ribs......

.......and the onion rings.
I'm happy to report that we couldn't finish either one! But, they were wonderful!

OK, now here's the part for Robin! You may recall that C and I visited several Fay Jones Chapels last Fall on our trip to Ft. Worth. Robin actually instigated that chapel pilgrimage, and we were so thankful for his introduction of Fay Jones into our lives. When Robin learned that we were going to KC, he quickly suggested that we visit the Powell Gardens and the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel there, another of Fay Jones' incredible creations. Well, we couldn't wait!

the diamond motif is a recurrent theme




I love this quote from the architect, Fay Jones:

This is the fountain just beyond the front doors of the chapel


So, as you can see, we had a fine, fine day!

PEACE!!!

KC, more to see

Yesterday was so much fun! SDA treated us to an afternoon of gallery tours, and it was fantastic! Gerrie, Deborah, and I met up with none other than Carol Soderlund, and then we joined a bunch of our Texas friends and enjoyed lunch at Acorn.

Here's Jean:

and here are Deborah and Carol:

After lunch we headed for the Belger Arts Center, where we were treated to "Surface Matters", the SDA Member Show, plus several other great exhibits, including many of Alice Kettle's pieces, works by Ray Materson, an exhibit of several pieces by El Anatsui, and "Small Wonders, Secrets of a Collector" by Jennifer Angus.

Alice Kettle:

Jennifer Angus:

El Anatsui:

Here is Gerrie's wonderful piece from the Members' Show:

After the Belger, we walked to the Byron C. Cohen Gallery to view the Regina V. Benson show, which included many wonderful discharged rayons and rusted silks:

Just about then, C called to say that he was arriving at the hotel, so I departed the Gallery Tour and went back to meet up with my man. So, I left Deborah and Gerrie to their own devices and desires and took the bus back to the Marriott.



C and I decided to make an early tour of the Members' Trunk Show and then head on out to dinner at Lidia's


C is a real train buff, having spent the previous night in Karney, NE watching the trains, so we opted to dine on the patio and watch the rail cars roll by:


I attended several interesting lectures today, and then we headed out to a Kansas City Royals baseball game. As you can see, they were honoring the Negro League, and wore uniforms similar to those worn by that league.





We treated ourselves to some Kansas City BBQ for dinner:


KC lost to the White Sox 5-3..........which should make our friend Bob very happy!

PEACE!!!

Names & Faces

This will be another primarily pictorial post. Classes are over and the seminar has begun. More on that later........maybe tomorrow?

I passed this bus several times a day, going to and from my classes. I thought you might enjoy it!

and this wonderful car, covered with mosaics, was sitting in the parking lot outside of our classroom:



wonder what kind of gas mileage it gets?

We had 'show and tell' yesterday afternoon at the close of class, and I tried to get photos of most of my classmates, with some of their work.

Sharon:

Here is Ruthie Powers. She is not in my class, but came to visit. I loved her shirt and had to snap a picture of her.
This is Mary Ellen.....looks like she has a split personality, or something, doesn't it? She does wonderful work!

Ramona sat next to Mary Ellen, and somehow I never got her picture. Sorry Ramona!

This is, of course, Kerr Grabowski, our fantastic teacher:

This is Katie:
As you can see, Katie is very young, extremely prolific and creative in her art work, and we all wanted to mother her!

This is Karen:
Here is Jean, our teacher's assistant. I love, love, love this woman and apologize for not getting a better picture of her.

This is my buddy Georg!
I sat across the table from Diana Parkes, a delightful New Zealander. I loved the work Diana did, and found it difficult to post only one picture to share.
Here is Diana:
This is a beautiful piece of work done by another of my good buddies, Deborah. Sadly, I don't have her picture.
This is Darlene, describing some of her beautiful pieces:
This is Dana, an artist from Canada:
Another picture of Dana.......she is always smiling and peaceful!

This is Ann, another of my tablemates. I loved this first piece that she created!

PEACE

just pics

It's early, my internet is still not cooperating, and we are off to breakfast, so I'm posting a few pics from yesterday afternoon. The first three are my work, and then a few class pictures. It's been a wonderful class. I'm hating the thought that it ends today. Take a class from Kerr: she is delightful and oh so knowledgeable!

PEACE