2013 Additional Conference Activities

Gift Bag for You

Every conference attendee will receive at check-in a take-home Gift Bag stuffed with mosaic goodies and freebies, all courtesy of SAMA’s great sponsorship family. So leave a little room in your suitcase for product samples, money-saving product coupons, magazines, brochures and catalogs, and other promotional items.

Tesserae Brown Bag Exchange

Saturday, April 13th 11:00am.  Convention Center, 3rd Floor Foyer

Give and get a tesserae surprise! Participate in SAMA’s annual brown bag exchange and return home with new materials and a new friend. Bring a small bag filled with tesserae from your own mosaic supply, materials you would be excited to receive. Maybe the tesserae are significant to you, rare or unusual, or particularly beautiful. Consider choosing materials indigenous to your region, found on a trip, or unique to your mosaic style. Your offering may spark a colleague’s creativity or just make her smile. Your tesserae must fit in a brown paper lunch bag. Double-bag your pieces for extra strength, and wrap any items with sharp corners so that the bag does not tear. Please include a slip of paper with your name and street or email address and a note telling why you selected the tesserae. At conference registration, a SAMA volunteer will take your bag in exchange for a ticket to be redeemed for someone else’s bag during the exchange.

What are the guidelines for the Brown Bag Exchange?

• Use a lunch-sized paper bag.
• Be thoughtful with the tesserae you select to go in your bag. Give items that you think might inspire someone, or that have a special meaning to you. This bag will be a gift to whomever selects it – make sure the contents are something that you’d like to receive. This is not an opportunity to give away your discarded bits and pieces.
• The bag doesn’t have to be full to the top. Don’t make the bag really heavy – remember that the recipient will be packing in their suitcase to carry home.
• Wrap the items tightly or put them in a sealed plastic bag inside the paper bag. The bags get tossed around quite a bit and you don’t want your bag to tear open.
• Put a note with your name inside the bag or insert a business card. It is fun to know who contributed the bag, and the recipient may want to send you a note. It is a nice way to meet someone new (if you don’t already know them!)
• Seal the bag with staples, tape, string, or ribbon so that the contents don’t fall out.

What are the logistics for the exchange?

• When you arrive at the conference, take your bag to the SAMA registration desk, hand it over to a volunteer, and receive a claim ticket in return. Make sure to put that ticket in a safe place (like your neck wallet). That’s your ticket to be able to pick out a bag for yourself on Saturday morning.
• On Saturday morning volunteers will arrange all the bags on tables in the Convention Center ballroom foyer. The paper bags may be simple brown bags with a stapled top and some may be colorful bags all closed up with tape or ribbon. Inside each bag is one artist’s offering of meaningful mosaic pieces to another mosaic artist. You don’t know what is inside until you open it!
• Participants who want to select their bag from a full array of offerings do start lining up earlier than the opening time of 11am.
• The orderly selection process will begin at 11am. Participants present their claim ticket to a volunteer and then are allowed to select a bag.
• You can eye the bags but you cannot pick them up nor touch them. Go with your instinct and pick a bag!
• Find a nearby spot to open your bag and admire the contents.
• It is a lot of fun to watch other participants open their chosen bags to see their expressions of surprise and delight.

Mosaic Arts International 2013 Gallery Talks

SAMA is proud to offer another free opportunity for conference attendees who are looking to gain a greater understanding and access to collection of work in this year’s Mosaic Art International exhibition. Exhibition Committee Chair and SAMA President Emeritus, Karen Ami, will lead open and informal discussions about selected works in the show. Participants will have an opportunity to have a lively critical discourse about the exhibition and hear different perspectives on individual works. This is a great way to be introduced to the exhibition and to gain insight into works of art that may be challenging or sublime.

To take place at Museum of Glass
• 2:00pm – 4:00pm Wednesday, April 10
• 9:00pm – 11:00am Thursday, April 11
• 9:00am – 11:00am Saturday, April 13

SAMA Store

Be sure to stop by the SAMA Store INSIDE the Vendor Marketplace! You’ll be able to purchase past exhibition catalogs and posters, back issues of Groutline, mosaic guide books, and collectible logo items from past conferences. Renew your membership, update your contact information, or just stop in and say “Hi!”

Raffle

Saturday, April 13th in the Convention Center Ballroom CD.

Each year, thousands of dollars in merchandise, goodies, and gift certificates are donated by our generous sponsors and vendors and given away in a pulse-charging raffle, making this a must-attend event.    It’s a surprise a minute and a fun and exciting way to wrap up a day of inspirational and thought-provoking presentations. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of taking home one of the coveted prizes. You must be present to WIN!

2013 RAFFLE GRAND PRIZE!

Weeklong stay in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at Hacienda Mosaico and Carol Shelkin’s workshop – ‘Make your own Workshop in Realism; Landscape, Figure, Flowers & Faces”

Tickets will be available at Registration and at the SAMA Store booth in the Vendor Marketplace.

Explore Seattle and Tacoma, Washington!

There are several enticing sites to see in this very unique corner of the United States!   Make sure to make time to enjoy what the Pacific Northwest has to offer!

• The Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center has an excellent PRINTABLE PDF listing of Restaurants and Night Life in Tacoma!
• The Hotel Murano has several local attractions, restaurants and shopping highlighted here on their website.
• Visit the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau of Tacoma, WA website for information on attractions, transportation, side day trips in and around Pierce Country and more!
• Start your exploration of Seattle with the Seattle Convention and Visitor’s Bureau site.  There is more to see on Seattle’s South side as well as several tourist attractions in and around the city.
• Too busy taking workshops to go on our Mosaic Tours?  Look for the Seattle and Tacoma Mosaic Guide in the SAMA Store during registration!  We finished them early so you can plan your trip to several mosaic sites ahead.