August 2015 Atelier Meeting

I apparently suck at keeping a blog.  My excuse is that so much happened at our February meeting I was overwhelmed trying to write about it!

Today was the end of our second year of meetings and discussion of what we want to cover in Year Three.

Here is what we've done in the last two years:

Sept 2013	First meeting of Atelier – Documentation and Research class (Doug), researching on the internet
Oct 2013	introductions, elevator speeches, and demo speeches (Helene)
Nov 2013	Exhibition practices as they related to SCA Demos and Displays (Cecily)
Dec 2013	A&S resumes and "brag books.  Preparing and teaching a class (Amata). Trello and “Shading with Gouache” class (Osana)
Jan 2014	Feedback on documentation and displays for upcoming A&S events (Candlemas or Kingdom A&S). Judging using judging forms. Discussed documentation versus research papers.
Feb 2014	Presentation/debrief of the doublet tailoring workshop (Simona)
Mar 2014	Gulf War debrief (Madalena discussed dyeing classes). Created list of GW A&S feedback for Amata to send to Laurel List.
Apr 2014	Simona's tailoring class.  Brainstorming newcomer class ideas with Cecily.
May 2014	KC Class previews (Helene - bullion, Elen/Helene – Designing with Dover)
Jun 2014	KC Class Previews (Elen – veils).  Discussion of upcoming A&S opportunities, current projects, etc.
July 2014	KC Class Preview (Simona – tailoring).  AHSS Class Preview (Elen – how to put together a beginner's scribal kit)
Aug 2014	Set up of LPT displays and acting as "Laurels" for one another so as to work on our speeches about our art.
Sep 2014	Debriefed LPT and came up with feedback for the event organizers. Reviewed our activities from last year and came up with ideas for future meetings. Everyone shared their goals and how we can help each other with various activities/guilds, etc.
Oct 2014	Reviewed Handbook for Artisans of Ansteorra,  Ansteorran Arts and Sciences website and a brief overview of the steps in doing an A&S project (research, make, document, display). Also discussed shadow judging.
Nov 2014	Research and documentation class (Doug), discussed displays and used the kingdom judging sheet to judge an item.
Dec 2014	Creating an Internet presence – (Helene/Elen)   Class covered a number of sites and services, and how to make them interact with each other to create a cohesive online presence.

A major decision we made today is to continue our once a month morning meetings but to add an evening meeting for artisans who haven't been able to meet during the day.  We identified some artisans we'd like to invite and set about asking them. So far the response has been very positive.  Our first evening meeting will be September 7.  We also set a schedule of our morning meetings for the coming year. Looks like exciting times are ahead:

Sept 9 2015	Special meeting for LPT prep.  Set up displays and serve as Laurel “interrogators” (ha-ha) for each other to practice our self presentations.
Sept 23 2015	Regular monthly meeting.  LPT post-mortem.  Planning for Fall Event A&S Salon.
Oct 21 2015	Round table on “taking commissions “.  How do you price your work? Negotiate terms? etc.  Come prepared to share your tips, best practices and stories.  Elen will also share her “project post-mortem” checklist.
Nov 18 2015	Linden -  discuss setting up a Wiki for the group and what kind of information she will need. Judge Elen’s previous Gulf War entry using the Gulf War judging form and compare with the scores she received.  Discussion. (Linden will try to also get a copy of the Trimaris judging form)
Dec 9 2015	(Meeting moved to earlier in the month)   Party in garb. Bring food.  Gift exchange with your secret Atelier partner.  Pictures will be taken for the Wiki.
Jan 20 2016	Candlemas/KAS Prep. Brag books and resumes up-to-date.
Feb 17 2016	Candlemas/KAS post-mortem (Amata will post research papers prior to March meeting – judge a paper with the kingdom judging form prior to March meeting)
Mar 16 2016	(Meeting moved later) Gulf War post-mortem.  Discussion of research papers and supported research.
Apr 20 2016	KC Class previews
May 18 2016	KC Class previews
Jun 15 2016	KC post-mortem plus?  KAS2 prep??
July 20 2016	LPT prep. Brag books/resumes up-to-date.
Aug 17 2016	Set next year’s agenda

January 2015 Atelier Meeting - Candlemas Prep

Candlemas is just around the corner.  This annual event held in Bryn Gwlad includes classes and competitions for Baronial Artisan and Baronial Bard.  Occurring a week prior to Kingdom Arts and Sciences, it is also a good opportunity to get feedback on an A&S entry and make final tweaks before the kingdom competition.  At our January meeting, Simona shared her work on her tailored doublet entry and Ladawna previewed her ideas for a ginger bug/root beer class.

Watching Simona's progress over the last year in the area of tailoring has been pretty exciting. She went to a Modern Maker's Workshop (http://www.themodernmaker.net/) led by Mathew Gnagy and was quite excited to learn about the differences between dress making and tailoring.  She shared what she was learning with a tailoring class at King's College and has continued to experiment and refine.  Her entry will be a woman's doublet. She brought her prototype blue outfit which is detailed in her blog (http://lavorodellaluna.blogspot.com/).  The Candlemas entry is still in the progress of being sewn.  Feedback included the suggestion to make an "anatomy of doublet" diagram for her display which will show the stitches used and parts of the doublet as the doublet will be lined which makes it difficult to see the interior detail.  She also has several examples of stitches and slashing to include in the display.

Ladawna joined the Atelier in September and it was exciting to see her up in front of the group asking for feedback and sharing her excitement for brewing (in this case, making a ginger bug. See http://wellnessmama.com/8942/ginger-bug/ for an example of how to make a ginger bug).   One of the real benefits of our monthly meetings is the opportunity to get feedback on classes to be taught - it helps us anticipate the kinds of questions students may ask, tighten up the material to be shared and gives us ideas of what would be helpful to include in a handout.  The ginger bug class promises to be interesting and students will also be given some root beer to enjoy. (I am hoping for a sample, too!)

Next month our meeting will be about common questions that artisans have on the path to Laurel and what would be helpful to know about being a Laurel in Ansteorra.  My hope is that we can compile a kind of on-line handbook.  Not sure if it will be an easy task or a daunting one but hopefully we'll get a feel for it next month. Stay tuned!

December 2014 Atelier Meeting

December's Atelier meeting was led by Helene and Elen who spoke to the group about presenting yourself and your arts on the internet.  We learned about integrating the various tools/platforms (Blogs, Flickr, Pinterest, Facebook, etc) to present ourselves in the best light, to create a brand, and  to develop a following.

The discussion included talk that Laurels are "old" and don't readily use the tools that younger people are more comfortable with.  They are lucky I developed a thick skin during my progression in the arts ;)  This blog is this old fart's attempt to learn about these new tools.  I may require them to follow it as payback...