Hello Gentle Spiders,
I just came back from my first ever Lace Day organised by the Chesapeake Region Lace Guild, and, as Mary Tod and Laurie Hughes have said, it had been a splendiferous occasion.
We started it with a breakfast - lots of sweet stuff, gotta get that adrenaline flowing - followed by the business meeting, followed by 3 hours of demonstrations, inspecting the wonderful Cone Collection of Lace and the "Inspired by Lace" textile installations of Piper Shepard and inspecting the goodies both at the vendors' stalls and in the Museums shop. These delights were followed by more: a lecture by Ilske Thomsen ("At a Glance: Lace in Fashion"), followed by a - sweeet - reception (gotta replenish all that adrenaline <g>)
Laurie has already talked about the exhibit itself (though she didn't mention spotting one hankie mounted with the raised work "face to the wall <g>), and I second all she'd said. It was lovely, the lace was of excellent quality and, although as usual I felt I could have spent *more* time studying the pieces (at least the BL ones, which are have more personal appeal), at least I didn't feel like I should have got a permission to pitch my tent in the Museum for a couple of weeks. The amount of lace displayed was was "almost doable" even in the short time I had, and would have given a non-lacemaker a good overal introduction to different techniques at their best.
I considered getting lunch on the premises (Devon had kindly offered to tack me onto her reservation as had my hostess, Vicki)) but decided that having a couple of cigarettes instead would be both cheaper and faster; I was nervous about being on time for my demo hour, especially since I had to assemble my table (I'm just too short to work at those provided). And I was a little nervous about demonstrating at all; this was only my second time, and the first time, I positioned myself "strategically" - slightly behind Cay and Louise (Hume), so as not to be too easily accessible for questions :)
This time, I also did my best, but my best wasn't good enough <g> Aurelia (Loveman) had her dream fulfilled - there were many and many of us showing that lacemaking, in all its forms, was definitely *not* a "dying art". But that also meant that, whichever door the museum-goers used to move from one part of the Museum to another, they were likely to see us; we were - literally - all around (a glassed-in atrium, which, under different weather conditions would have given us spectacular light, but, despite the rain gave perfectly good one) :)
I managed to arrive almost half an hour early and assembled my table without any trouble (for once <g>). Unpacked all my paraphernalia, unpinned my covercloth, untethered my bobbins and plunked my plaque next to me. The plaque said: "We don't make mistakes; we do variations" and the lace I was demonstrating is a simple, two-colour edging which will go around it (one day in a distant future <g>) Perhaps the plaque was a mistake - people noticed it, and laughed, and would start asking questions the moment they read it.
I only managed to do one repeat in the 80 minutes (at home, it takes me about 45; I timed it, and a good thing too, since people asked about *that*). And, towards the end, I'd have sold my (non-existent <g>) soul for a glass of water - it seemed to me that I talked, and talked, and talked, almost non-stop, and I'm not used to that.
But the questions were intelligent and sensible, and it turned out I was able to answer most of them although, in many cases, I'd refer them to the exhibit (either: "go see it" or: "go back and look again", depending on what their answer to my "have you seen it?" was) for more illustrious illustrations of what I was doing and talking about. Only once or twice did I stumble over vocabulary - I learnt lacemaking in English, so Polish words don't come to mind first, unbidden, the way they do in other circumstances. Only twice was I asked "where do you come from?" and, as both times, the comment was: "I love your accent", that was OK. Only once did I see a roll of the eyes and an overdone shrug of indifference - from a 16-17yr old male, in response to his mother's? excited: just look at that! She stopped and watched and asked questions, he propped the wall "patiently" waitng for her to be done. I suspect he must have had plans for that Saturday other than going to a Museum :)
To compensate, I got one - maybe 20-22 - young lady who was so fired up, she took the CRLG leaflet onto which I tacked on the Arachne address (just in case you find a teacher but she can't answer your questions fast enough, because you're only meeting once a week). *And* I got *lots and lots* of positive comments on my "a la Rosalibre" pin - both from lacemakers and the general public. General public was immediately referred to the exhibit to look for other examples of 3-dimensions in lace, lacemakers to the vendors' room for the book :)
By ten-to-two ("Mrs Duvall, it's time to pack up, take your equipment and put it on the dolly to be taken down to the meeting room" from a staff member), I was totally wrung out, weak at the knees and sore in the upper body from tension, but also exhilarated. Aurelia had been right - I did enjoy myself :)
If it hadn't been for the 200 miles drive to the area and 200 miles back (no fun both ways), this demonstrating "thing" could become addictive :) Especially since it would be nice, I think, if there could be demos organised (and advertised) for *every weekend* that the exhibit is in place (till Sept 23). Maybe not as many people as there had been on Saturday - can't imagine it being possible to sustain those numbers - but 2-3...
Many thanks to Aurelia Loveman who conceived the idea and pushed for it. And to Mary Tod who took care of much of the nitty-gritty, and who "liased" with the textile curator of the Museum. And to all the regular members of CRLG who pitched in. And, most of all, to my hostess, Vicki Bradford, who made it possible for me to come - she "overnighted" me on both Friday and Saturday evening, dined (and wined <g>) me extremely well, and drove me to and from the event, letting me enjoy myself, instead of having to navigate Baltimore... Many thanks to all of you.
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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