I have recently returned from a 9 day trip to Brisbane, Australia to attend the Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand Symposium – Groundswell. I was invited to give a presentation and teach a workshop. It was a wonderful experience. The MAANZ members were very welcoming and enthusiastic. They were anxious to hear the presentations which included speakers from Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey as well as myself and Karen Ami, SAMA President and Director of the Chicago Mosaic School. All of the workshops were filled will students eager to learn everything they could.
In addition to the workshops, a community project, “Birds of a Feather”, was busy being created in one of the conference rooms. Members paid $25 to buy a wooden bird cutout which they would then mosaic with a variety of materials donated for use. Proceeds from the project and the finished mosaics will be donated to the local Ronald McDonald House charity.
Karen and I were jurors for the 30:30 Vision 2009 “Crusty Oceania” Exhibit on display at the Brisbane Square Library. We selected 16 works to be included in the traveling exhibit and from those, a first, second, third place where chosen, in addition to 2 honorable mentions.
My last day there, I was invited to drive into the Glasshouse Mountains with a couple of friends, MAANZ President, Nola Diamantopoulos and Rhonda Parry. The mountains were beautiful and it was a treat to get out of the city and see a little of the countryside.
The Aussies are a great group. I hope we’ll be seeing some of the MAANZ members joining us next year at the SAMA conference in Chicago.
