Dear friend,
There is so much that I want to share with you about my trip to Tennessee. I'm going to write a few posts about it so that way I don't leave anything out. Now, starting from the beginning the question should be: why did I go to Tennessee in the first place?
Well, because I met the wonderful Shelley Thornton on the internet and as the President of NIADA at the time, she invited me to be the keynote speaker at the NIADA conference this year. I said yes because I just knew from the bottom of my heart that I needed to take some distance from my super duper busy life and because I knew that this was going to be a very special and important experience to me. And I couldn't be more right :)
Shelley in the center, her doll and I at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
Shelley is an amazing artist with a solid career, she has been a doll maker and illustrator for many years. You have to see her work in person to believe how unique it is. Like the doll in the picture above for instance. Can you believe that she's made all out of cloth with embroidered face?
Shelley and I organized the whole trip via e-mail and suddenly, there I was hugging her in person. I felt as if I have known her for so many years. The internet can make magic sometimes. Now I consider Shelley a dear friend and I can't wait to see her again.
The Location
The NIADA conference takes place in a different location each year. This time it was the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in the middle of nature. Such a beautiful and quiet place, I loved it. Above you can see a picture of the building where I stayed.
Margie and I were supposed to share a room but unfortunately she couldn't make it to the conference because of important family reasons. I missed you so much my friend! (I wanted to tell you that I still stayed in the room with the 2 twin beds. My lucky suitcase slept on your bed everyday :)
So, the second question should be: But what's exactly NIADA?
NIADA: The National Institute of American Doll Artists is a worldwide organization of doll artists, supportive patrons and friends whose purpose is to promote the art of the original handmade doll. Isn't that a unique organization?
NIADA was founded in 1963 by someone that I am absolutely sure it was a very special person and her name was Helen Bullard. Above you can see a doll made by her. The body was made out of carved wood. For some reason I think that I already met Helen Bullard in another life, her name sounds really familiar to me :)
Above you see the place where we ate everyday. The atmosphere was great and I got to meet someone different each day during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everyone was really friendly and easy to talk with. I also have the best memories about the food (yummy :) Specially the deserts, they all looked and tasted like home made.
I observed that the majority of the NIADA members at this conference were women but there was also a small group of wonderful men. The artists were all amazing regardless of the gender. They have really taken the art of handmade dolls to a very high level. But there were also the students, that in my opinion were artists as well, many of them will be official members of NIADA one day. So, when we say NIADA, we're talking about a tight community of unique creative people. And the word unique is really perfect here because each artist in the NIADA group has developed a unique style. You can identify each one of them just by looking at their dolls.
Do you see how much green there is in the picture above? I still feel like I am right there....sigh..... :) You can also see a few of us walking from the dormitories to the conference room. Now that I'm back home I feel so lucky that I got to be part of the NIADA gathering this year. I will never forget this unique experience.
But I still have a lot more to share with you about this trip, let's meet here next week for more :)
Have a great Friday my friend and a wonderful weekend!
Elsita :)
