PSOA convention
 

Who among our forum friends will be attending the Portrait Society conference in Washington, DC this May ? As I'm planning to be there, and it would be an added bonus to meet online acquaintances there, if it works out. Anyone?

I'll be there!

Have you been before?

Yes, it's very worthwhile.

I will be there. I joined the PSA faculty last year, and will be doing one of the four opening night live demos, as well as participating on a discussion panel and in portfolio critiques.


You'll really enjoy the whole event, and the Thursday night demos are fun - you can move from room to room throughtout the 2-hr period. Plus there are so many fun artists there!

I'll be there also. It will be great to meet you, Richard. The program has lots of valuable stuff in it (yay,Chris!) and just being able to talk with other artists is wonderful. I'm really looking forward to it.

Of course I knew Chris would be there! (gonna bring your magic shoes?)
Is it intimate enough a gathering that you can be sure to "run into" everyone attending? It really would be a pleasure to meet the folks who post here in person!

Of course I'll be there.

Well, it depends how late you stay up arguing with people. :)

The event is actually surprisingly crowded, but there are many opportunities to sit down with an artist who knocks your socks off, buy him/her coffee, and pick his/her brain. The PSA does a wonderful service in bringing so much talent under one roof.

P.s. I plan on being there and it will be nice to see you again, Richard!

Does anyone know why they alternate between only a few locations? I would love to see them try someplace closer to my neck of the woods sometime.

I will be there, coming all the way from The Netherlands :) and looking forward to it. It will be my first conference. It is a shame they don't organize an event like this in Europe!

I feel very lucky that I could organize the trip to be there !
I hope I will have the opportunity to meet other forum members.
So exciting!

You are perfectly right, Bianca!
It would be absolutely terrific, if we could attend such an event here in Europe.
I envy you all, and I sincerely hope I can go next time, maybe in 1 or 2 years...
Have fun and please let us know how it goes!
Karine

Julie, I really don't know the answer, but I'm guessing that the East Coast is a convenient destination for people flying in from other countries. Of course "convenience" is a relative term! Last year when it was in Texas it felt horribly inconvenient and the plane connections were terrible. So I know how you feel. And the West Coast people always have a long flight. So really there is no good answer.

I'll be there.

Julie, it's a complicated issue. It has a lot to do with the concentration of members in the country (most are towards the East Coast), and very much to do with identifying facilities that can handle the special needs of a group that size in general (close to 1000 attendees now), and the needs of our organization in particular. It's a draw also to be in a city with a major museum or event going on at the same time. And, as mentioned, it has to be fairly easy for most attendees to get to.

If a location meets these criteria, and a venue demonstrates a real understanding of what PSOA needs, the tendency is to repeat at that location. The Reston facility has done so in the past, very well. But the guys in Tallahassee try to balance this with some responsiveness to members in the Midwest and West, hence the occasional forays out into other cities.

This one gathering essentially has to be successful, for PSOA to create enough revenue to cover the operating budget for the rest of the year--membership fees alone won't do the job. The planning and coordination of an event this size is conducted a number of years in advance, and the efforts toward mounting it are Herculean. Some of the behind-the-scenes stories of difficulties and risks overcome in the past will curl your hair.

All of this from a non-profit organization created for the elevation of the art and the benefit of the member artists. In short, we can't thank them enough, but if anyone attends this year, please seek out Christine and the staff and express your appreciation--it's a real boost for them to hear it. (I'm reminding myself here, too.)

Hope to see everyone there!...TE

(PS...not to add pressure or anything, but Chris's demo last year was a must see.)

Dear Richard, Michele, Chris, Alex, Cynthia, Linda, Bianca, Marina, Tom, and all,

It's official, I will join you at the Conference! I look forward to meeting all in person.

Should we gather informally for a bite, on Friday evening? I miss your former impeccable Stroke of Genius annual Dinner events Cynthia. They were always so classy, special, and memorable evenings. Thanks, again for those most auspicious gatherings.

If any are interested or in need of on-location lodging, I would not mind considering sharing my reserved room (two twins). The Hyatt is booked full now.

Can't wait for the camaraderie; see you soon!

Garth

Tom, I figured out some of that, and I know it is difficult to plan conferences of this size. But it's always at the perfectly worst time of year for any public school employee - (end of year paperwork), and it's out of reach for me financially as well, because I can't afford to fly there and pay the hotel bill at this point in time. I'd love to attend sometime, but these are pretty big obstacles. The South is supposed to be the biggest area of the country for portrait commissions, so surely there are a lot of potential attendees, no?

I'll be thinking of you all that go, and wishing you the best.

I am really looking forward to meeting you all. Garth, I'd like to "second" your motion to meet on Friday evening . . . it would be my great pleasure !
I've never been there, so your suggestions for a meeting place, etc. would be most welcome.

Julie--

You're definitely not alone in raising these questions.

I don't know if they've actively considered Atlanta yet, but to your point, it would surely be worth a look.

Maybe we'll meet when some of us come down to the High Museum for Cecelia Beaux...

Best--TE

Thanks, Garth! I'd love to do another one like the last one in DC. It was the best and the food was awesome. Prior to that, I did the dinner in the restaurant, but the group became too large for that - which led me to do a catered event in a private room. But, I have to tell you that it was a lot of work to put together - planning the menu, handling all the emails back and forth, collecting the money, dealing with last minute attendees at the event. We had 46 attendees that year - I did send out an email to ask who was interested for one this year - tho I didn't mail to all the Forum members - just made a post - so the response is lower. I think the large turn-out year before last was because I did email all the Forum members. Bottom line is that to have a catered event, they require a minimum number of attendees or I get stuck with the difference. So, I'm thinking just to keep it smaller and in the restaurant because of time constraints this year - unexpected funeral, unexpected dental work and more. I expect to make some kind of a final decision in the next week if I can get myself together enough over here.

I do believe I made a separate post regarding a dinner if you all will look for it an express your interest over there.

The thread regarding a dinner is here: http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=7666 Please state your desire to attend over there.

Right now, I see 22 say that are coming. Not enough for a catered event, but hopefully not too much for the restaurant.

I think it would be great to get a chance to meet other members of the forum and having diner together on Friday evening, but I think I would also like to attend the art speak bonus program on Friday evening, would that coincide with diner?

Oh Bianca,

Let me tell you, the SOG Dinner is always the Real Bonus Program!

Garth

:)

Its a fun time, but I think that next year it should be in Vegas.

Though I would normally moan over the great distance from Florida, my son has just taken a head chef position in Vegas at the Venetian. So, I'd get to see him! ;)

I just received an email about the conference and read that you can submit your portfolio for display throughout the weekend. I was wondering, is anyone else going to do this and as a result do you carry another one with you? I would like to submit mine, but I only have one so it would mean some work if I would want to take two portfolios.

Hope to hear from you.

Home safe, and very gratified by the whole conference experience.

Cynthia, thank you so much for hosting the dinner Thursday evening. It was my great pleasure to meet you and those in attendance in person, it will add an enjoyable dimension to this online correspondence.

Hi there! I am home save too, arrived this morning. I really had a great time, learned a lot and met many interesting people. I was really impressed with how the conference was organized; I thought everything went very smooth. I went to al the lectures and demonstrations and liked them a lot, it is interesting to see that everyone has his or her own unique style. I had a portfolio critique with John de la Vega and Michael Shane Neal, they were very useful and gave me tips I could really do something with.

Cynthia, thank you so much for organizing the dinner, it was great to meet people from the forum. I promoted it to as many people as possible while I was there, there are still a lot of them out there who want to join, but seem to think it is difficult! So hopefully some of them will!

So now I am going to do some work, it is 10:30 pm, during the dinner last week I could barely keep my eyes open around this time and now I am to awake to sleep!! Oh well, these are the hardships of a world traveller...lol

Hopefully see you next year!

Richard,

You're very welcome. It was wonderful to see old friends and get to meet new ones.

Who's going in '08?
 

I'll be going to the Portrait Society event in April in Philly. I know Chris Saper will be there (since she's on the agenda!) Who else is planning on attending?

I'll be there....

Hi Michele,

It will be great to see you and Chris in Philly! It's my home town, so of course I'll be there. Anyone who wants an open-sunroof-sight-seeing tour in a vintage Mercedes is welcome, just let me know.

Garth

Hi David, I look forward to seeing you too.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there again...it's a high point in my year.

I don't think I will be able to go, it is quite a trip for me. Though I am entering the portait competition, so who knows....I might have to go! Otherwise, have a great time!

It's during my school system's spring break, so I'll finally get to go. Looking forward to meeting you all in person!

It's my home town, too, so I'll be there. Sorry you won't be able to make it, Bianca. But I'm looking forward to seeing all of you who will be there.

See you all in Philadelphia
 

Life and work have calmed down a lot lately so I will be able to attend this year. I look forward to seeing you all!

Karin ,

What a treat to be able to see you!!

I'm coming, and I'm looking forward to seeing all of you who can attend this year !