Lecture Hall

Over a year ago I contracted with the Prairie Quilt Guild to present a lecture and workshop on Zentangle.  Who would have known that a year later, when it was time to do the presenting, that I wouldn’t have to take off from work to complete this?? Things happen for a reason, no?  I was able to do my presentations and workshops without worrying about using my PTO (paid time off).  Plus, it was a paid lecture/workshop event, so I even made a little money (good thing…bills have to be paid)!!!  The morning lecture had about 200+ people and the evening lecture had about 100+ people, so I was quite excited to expose Zentangle to this group of quilters!  A few of them had already experimented with Zentangle on their quilting and were looking forward to taking the workshops – they were very excited about translating Zentangle to their quilting craft!!

The new document camera!! Ain’t it sweet??

The program was a wonderful two-day event where I met many of the members, had the fun of enjoying the “Show and Share” – seeing quilts different members had completed and were showing off on stage, and just being in awe of the beautiful work and amazing talent I was surrounded by!  I gave a 45-minute lecture presentation about Zentangle in the morning and evening sessions on the first day, and then on the following day we held a Zentangle 101 (Beginner) workshop and, following that, Zentangle Too – the advanced workshop.  I was quite excited about presenting the workshops because I finally purchased a document camera and projector, so now my students can see me working on a tangle on the “big screen” in real time.  It is so much more fun than the whiteboard or the chalkboard!!  A picture on the left…

Beginner Tiles Mosaic

Advanced Black Tiles Mosiac

The workshops were well received.  I had 16 participants who attended both workshops.  For the beginner workshop we learned the basics and completed a tile which is shown in the mosaic on the left.  In the advanced workshop we worked on black tiles.  All I can say is ZENTABULOUS!!  The black tile mosaic is shown on the right.

Okay, so I’m getting a little better at posting these pictures, but still need to learn more about it.  I finally went to the help section on WordPress to see if I could figure out anything and I learned a teeny, tiny, little bit as evidenced in this post – the pictures are at least are synchronized with the paragraphs.  I’m still trying to figure out how to get the pictures to go across the face of the page in a row…eventually I’ll take better pictures, too, so y’all just gotta be patient with me 🙂

Tween Tangler, Holly, and Grandmom

I have to tell you a story, too!  While we were in the workshop, one of the quilt members stopped by to introduce us to her granddaughter, Holly (to show us what Holly had created).  Holly had recently attended quilt camp and had come to the meeting the day before with her grandmother to sit in on the lecture I gave about Zentangle.  After the lecture she and grandma purchased a couple of Zentangle books I had for sale.  Holly promptly went home and created a Zentangle even before she opened the books.  She had seen the pictures on the screen during the lecture and enjoyed it so much that she just stated tangling!!   This is one of the reasons I love sharing and teaching Zentangle!  You just never know who will catch the fever!

Me and Susan

AND, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to those who helped make this program possible for me – Evelyn Gernaat, PQG President; Susan McMillan, VP of Programs; Donna Loehr, Workshops; Shirley Prouse, Publicity; and Mary Ann Smith for being my helper in the workshops! Without your incredible efforts and coordination this would not have been possible! ZENTABULOUS!!!

Happy Tangling (in the Land of OZ),
Bonnie