Creatively Inspired By...Sarah Ann Smith

While it is often a challenge for me to attend lectures and classes, I have the pleasure of belonging to a long established quilt guild in my hometown that brings in top-notch talent. Talented guests usually lecture to the group during the monthly evening meeting and follow up with a class the next day. An added bonus for me is my shop's close proximity to the meeting venue. I open my classroom to the guild board to host a quick and casual dinner prior to the meetings - and that means that these wonderful women and (sometimes men) visit my shop!

This month the guild welcomed Sarah Ann Smith to lecture and teach. I wasn't too familiar with her work prior to her lecture, but was immediately taken by her warm and outgoing personality. She talked a bit about her journey to art, which was not immediate, but via a professional career in the foreign service. During her lecture she mentioned that she was not an immediate, natural artist when she was younger, and learned to draw as an adult. I could totally relate! And then she began her show and tell - amazing art quilts, many pictoral. She had her own techniques for Hawaiian inspired quilts, (which is what she taught.)

During the meeting break I asked her about learning to draw and she recommended some online sites and courses (which I immediately went to visit and will mention in another post.) Sarah took a non traditional route to becoming a quilt artist - and after a different career! She inspired me to keep learning and trying new techniques - it is NEVER to late to become an artist!

Find out more about Sarah Ann Smith on her website here. Keep on creating! Johanna