At SECAC in Winston Salem North Carolina, the Winston Ballroom in the Conference Center had many small tables set up so people could relax between sessions. Long tables were set up down the center aisle of the room which had a wide array of art books for sale. Stella Alberaéz Tascón found a book that showed how to mix your own pigments by finding the natural plants and crushing pigments using a mortar and pedestal. It took a Herculean amount of self control for me to resist getting some more art books to fill out my art book library. I walked down this aisle multiple times between session flipping through the selections.
On the far wall of the room away from the entrance doors were long tables full of coffee’s, Teas and pasties. Since my hotel didn’t have any breakfast options, I came in here each morning to grab a power bar. I resisted caffeine.
Here and the main entrance hall were the min social areas. Many professors researchers and artists had clearly been her at SECAC many times before and they would shout out in joy and hug when they spotted a friend from past years. This was all new to me and it was an uncharted adventure to learn what I could from as many lectures as possible.
I would enter this central conference room between sessions and sit down to figure out what I needed to see next. The titles of the sessions could be long and esoteric so choosing just the right talks was a guessing game. Sessions were organized into categories such as, Studio Art, Art History, Studio and Art History, Graphic Design, Art Education, and Interdisciplinary. I tended to want to see sessions relating to studio art, but almost all of the sessions were also related to art education.
Towards the end of the conference, I just started wandering into sessions with no preconceptions and I was never disappointed. Since I am endlessly curious and rushing to complete a sketch, there was never a moment to slow down and be bored. I honestly can’t imagine anyone being bored with so much research and artistic expression being shared.