SNAG Conference in Seattle

Team Metals from ASU promoting the 2012 SNAG Conference in Phoenix, AZ!

From left to right: Lynette Andreasen, Becky McDonah, Tedd McDonah,

Katie Poterala, Victoria Altepeter, Michelle Startzman

I had a really great time at the SNAG Conference (Society of North American Goldsmiths) that was in Seattle this year. The SNAG conference is a gathering of metalsmiths from all over the world and is held every year in a difference city. This was my first conference, and it was both inspiring and overwhelming. There was a lot going on and it was hard to see everything over the 4 days, but there were some really good speakers, particularly Lola Brooks, John Grade, Masako Onodera and Heidi Schwegler, among others, all of whom I found to be very interesting and inspiring.

Slide from John Grade's presentation

Slide from John Grade's presentation

Slide from Masako Onodera's presentation

There were also some amazing exhibitions that were shown! I didn't have time to see all of them, but the ones I did see were very impressive. The Geography show was absolutely stunning. I was also very impressed with the exhibitions at the Facere Gallery and Fancy Gallery.

Hotel where the conference was held - it was very tall and the elevators were a nightmare with all the people at the conference! There were over 900 people who attended this year, making it the largest conference in SNAG history!

View of the Seattle Space Needle from our hotel room.



We arrived in Seattle a day early to do some sight seeing, and we rented a car to drive around the Olympic Peninsula. We stopped to see the Olympic National Forest, a rain forest in Washington. It was beautiful! (And of course raining)

We also saw this beautiful beach, but it was way too cold to touch the water!

Driving along we came across this lake, which was gorgeous with the clouds settling into the hills.

My traveling companions: Lynette Andreasen, Katie Poterala and Logan Woodle

The city of Seattle was also fun to walk around and explore with the little extra time we had.

Band playing in front of the original Starbucks

Pike's Place Market

I had a lot of fun at the conference and gained some inspiration, but it's nice to be home again. I'm ready to get back into the studio and start making again!