The PCA TX Annual Meeting began Friday, March 8 at Houston Studio Glass http://www.houstonstudioglass.com/ where members watched Guest Artist Damon MacNaught http://www.dmacnaught.com/index.html/ create a millefiori paperweight.
Though Damon explained every step in the process, watching a beautiful paperweight emerge
from fire is still magical. After the demonstration, 23 members enjoyed dinner at Chatter’s
Café & Bistro.
Saturday morning, 38 members and 4 guests convened at Four Leaf Towers. At 10AM,
President Allen Boyd called the meeting to order welcoming Alan Kaplan, Damon MacNaught,
and new members Margret and Ben Fields.
Treasurer and Membership Chair Jan Whitley reported the balance in the Sunny Lu Peer
Memorial Scholarship Fund. And that membership stands at 75 representing 36 cities and
11 states. Jan thanked members for sending in their 2019 dues so promptly!
Facebook Chair Ruth Glover announced that 2019 “likes” have already surpassed the 2018
total. She thanked Christopher Cooke for helping her with technical aspects of the page.
Our website, www.pcatx.org, has a direct link to our Facebook site PCATX on Facebook
on all pages of the website plus links to Pinterest and Twitter.
Website Chair Sam Terry reminded members that the complete catalog of the PCA TX Library,
histories of past meetings, informative articles and links to many educational videos of
artist demos and are posted on the website.
Show and Tell was next with participants including Christian Cook, Christopher Cooke and
Terri Taylor.
Our paperweight dealer for the meeting was our friend Alan Kaplan of Leo Kaplan Ltd. http://www.LeoKaplan.com/. Alan presented “The Second Church Weight”-
a follow-up to the “Baccarat Church Weights” article by Art Elder that was published
in the February newsletter. Kaplan’s story of a second 1853 dated Baccarat church weight
was set in the 1990s. It was a fascinating tale with a cast of characters including
himself, the heirs of a Baccarat factory artist from the 1850s, a prominent collector,
a curator from the Baccarat Museum in France, and the director of the Corning Museum of
Glass where this rare weight finally found a permanent home.
After the lunch break, winning names for door prizes were drawn by Madelyn Enriquez and
Christian Cooke.
Guest Artist Damon MacNaught began his presentation of “Millefiori Paperweights” by
announcing that he was celebrating his 10th Anniversary making paperweights. Though he
has been working in glass for 25 years, when he started making paperweights he did not
know their history or the necessary techniques. He became friends with artist Jim Brown
at the Appalachian Center for Craft and it was Jim’s mentoring that drew him into the art
of the paperweight.
Damon explained that in making millefiori paperweights, he is “melding new techniques
with old processes, but the process is always evolving.” As both an artist and a college
art instructor, his experience with repetition and pattern continues to influence the
overall balance of his designs.
Saturday evening, members were treated to a happy hour and delicious dinner with great
city views at Kathy Poeppel and Dick Moiel’s beautiful home.
The warm hospitality continued at the weekend’s finale—a tasty Sunday brunch at
Terri and Mike Taylor’s splendid new home in a country setting.
