Sunday, July 31, 2011

IDAL Convention THE Place to Be!

IDAL Convention:
The IDAL Convention was a huge success!  (Attendance UP over 50%!)
Congratulations to Linda Banning outgoing president of IDAL and Julie Stonehouse, current President of IDAL!!!  The energy, abilities and focus of the attendees, teachers and vendors kept the convention BUZZING along nonstop!

See Pat Ganino creator of the Faux Forum and editor of Artisphere online magazine and friends in the photo below painting a mural in the exhibit hall.




In between meetings and classes and set up and happy hour and late gab sessions to early class starts, all of the attendees were in a continual state of motion

Melanie Royals in action

Faux Effects had a very fun and interactive art puzzle that attendees were contributing to while at the Expo.  Every where you looked, something was going on.


Online meets in person:
With all of our social media communications and friends, it was really fun to see people meeting for the first time.  I could have sent a crew around to film Regina Garay of Fauxology with her many meet and greets... "Oh you're Regina, great to finally meet you. Love your site!..."

Regina, meeting Kass Wilson, meeting Kathy Carroll at a Teachers' Meeting

Fauxology Contest:
Go online now to Fauxology and Vote for your favorite photo. 
Winner to receive $200.00 of Faux Impressions products
from their local Sherwin-Williams store!

The Lobby was also abuzz!
While all of the activity was happening in classes and the Expo, there was also the painting of the philanthropic mural going on in the Convention hall lobby.  Kate Cahill and team knocked it out during the busy 3 days and made their noon Saturday deadline.

See below:


Personal Challenge:
This Convention meant a lot to me personnaly as I was going to be put on the IDAL Board of Directors and I was going to teach a class.  Both very serious commitments and when you think of the cailber of the membership and organization a bit of a daunting task!  As we are all busy and over committed, it was challenging for me to "get er done" in time for show opening. In a perfect world, I would have completed everything in time to ship it from my studio in Chicago to Hampton, Virginia...

Driving South:
I completed all Expo display boards for the Sherwin-Williams booth and finalized the boards for my class.  then it was time to pack up the Pro Dryer Box, drying racks, paint, plasters, tools, prepared sample boards, large display boards and a suitcase or 2. (Also my new travel Mix CD from my daughter)  Kathy Carroll was driving the same route a day later with her full load.

Class set up:
I lucked out and was able to set up my room a day in advance!  Couldn't have accomplished all that we did in 2 half days without the Dryer box! (upperright corner in photo below)


Board Meeting, Not bored!
Before classes started, I had the pleasure of sitiing in on my first Board of Directors meeting and got to know my fellow board members well through a productive day long meeting and dinner.  We all work well together and I expect that we will continue to ramp up our efforts to achieve our goals this year.  My main work portfolio is Membership, so let me know how we can better serve and grow our numbers!

The Annual Board Meeting was exciting and we all got to enjoy a great keynote address from Pierre Finkelstein.  Tremendous man!

To Bed Early:
Events and meetings ended at 11:00 PM and then the late night gab sessions began.  I had an early class to teach so it was off to bed "early!"  (I was called a light weight by many, but I had some HEAVY lifting to do the following morning)

Teaching my first class at IDAL was a nerve wrecking experience for me.  I felt a sincere level of responsibility to all who signed up for my class and for the organization at large.  I wanted my students to get what they had hoped for and more!  I also, knew that these students would be inspirational and talented and hoped for a communal spirit.  (Earlier to bed but tossing and turning!)

The IDAL staff was there at 6:30AM, ready to go and they welcomed me in and unlocked my classroom.  Thankfully that first half day, my students and I, (our class family) unlocked a lot of possibilities!!!  We had a tremendous group effort to teach and learn together. 

After the first 4 hours, I could wait for the 2nd day to start.  I spent the afternoon, preparing and basecoating "extra credit" boards. 


Day 2:
My group was very talented and we needed time and space for some "free play" and exprimentation.  We focused on Metallics, crackle, metallic plasters and Venetian.  Take a look at the results...


Making use of floor space for Venetian Plaster. 
The walls were "taken" with the classes many artistic pieces








What a great group!!!


Inspired by ColorMix 2012
My classmates inspired me and have me carving out more studio time to work on what they shared.

The original color and trend inspiration for the finishes that I presented at the Convention were inspired by the newly released ColorMix 2012. 

The original soft launch of ColorMix 2012 was in Chicago in June at NeoCon.  Our full blown presentation begin this week as part of Las Vegas Design Week.  Look for a presentation coming near you. 

Check it out online at: 


Jackie Jordan, Director of Color Marketing for Sherwin-Williams

I hope to speak with or see you all soon!


Thanks

Ed

@FauxImpressions on Twitter



Information on IDAL at:

2 comments:

  1. Ed, it was so great meeting you at convention. What a great re-cap. Until next year....

    ReplyDelete
  2. You have created beautiful finishes Ed!

    It was a treat to see your class in action as I was capturing some of your class creations on film for IDAL.

    ReplyDelete