ODACA Day Luncheon 2002: Day by Day ... a lifetime of moments

New Artists for 2002

Sharon Costello, Dianna Effner, Diane Keeler

The theme of the 2002 ODACA Day was "Day by Day ... a lifetime of moments", and was held on July 28th in Denver, CO at the 54th annual UFDC National Convention. Our elegant luncheon was held is a spacious grand ballroom well lit by fabulous chandeliers and huge wall sconces. The ODACA luncheon and sale is a great way to meet our artists. Our guests and artists shared good company and contagious smiles.

Three new Artist members were invited to join and welcomed into ODACA during the luncheon. They are Sharon Costello, fiber, Dianna Effner, porcelain, and Diane Keeler, polymer. This evaluation is the last step in the ODACA artist membership process. Congratulations to all of them.

Our souvenir artist, Patti Bibb, is well known for her wacky sense of humor which is reflected in her fun figures. They are often humanoid representations of non-human characters from fairy tales. In keeping with this trend, Patti created her rendition of the "Bluebird Of Happiness" as a souvenir for ODACA Day 2002.

Natalia Pobedina created "Celebration", a wonderful limited edition doll for our ODACA 2002 centerpieces. Natalia is a very versitle sculptor having created elegant art dolls in air-dry clay and porcelain in addition to her traditional Russian "folk dolls" in wood. Natalia's work is internationally acclaimed for originality, grace, fine sculpting and meticulous costuming. Natalia is has been awarded both ODACA & NIADA artist memberships.

After the annual business meeting, ODACA members joined their guests for a tasty luncheon with a very special guest speaker, Jean Wiley. Jean talked about her experiences based on her years as a doll shop owner and mother of two exceptional doll sculptors. Jean kindly presented each attendee a copy of her book, "Adventures at Once Upon a Time" (illustrated by her daughter, Nancy), which is the story of two little German dolls arriving at her doll shop named "Once Upon a Time".

The "Joan Ross Sweetheart Award" was presented to our long-time Aux-ODACA member and very active UFDC member, Joanne Miller, recognizing her many years spent promoting original doll artistry.

One of our early artist members, Joel Martone, was thrilled that ODACA Day had traveled to his part of the country enabling him to attend for the first time in years. He said, "ODACA Day went so smoothly and I
loved it so much. The ladies were grand and so friendly."

Of course, everyone enjoyed the excitement of our annual call out of Helper Opportunity Raffle item winners. {click on the link to see pics of the items.} The Helpers were donated donated by both Artists and Aux ODACA members. We had a lot of variety on our helper item table and the winners were really excited. Thanks to all who donated these fabulous helpers.

A monster thanks goes out to Bobby Huston and Robin Foley who coordinated ODACA Day 2002. They did a fabulous job. The luncheon ended when everyone unwrapped their annual ODACA souvenir, "Blue Bird of Happiness!". Some were quite surprised that it was not a traditional doll, but Joyce Petterson was delighted with it and complemented, "I will enjoy having her in my collection." Understandably, Joyce also loudly laughed with delight when she was one of the lucky winners of the fabulous table centerpieces: a special edition doll entitled "Celebration".

The final event of the day was the ODACA 2002 Sales Room which opened following the luncheon to the general public with good attendance. The three large rooms were filled with natural light and had ample floor space for folks to walk around and linger at each booth. Sherry Goshon stated, "people seemed to love strolling from room to room ... it looked like there were lots of sales ... which says good things for the up and coming doll market." Terry Churcher was also pleased with her sales and some potential business contacts made, so she felt it was well worth the trip from England again this year.

Sharon Costello	Dianna Effner	Diane Keeler	Joan Benzell
Bethomas & Stevi	2002 Officers: Marilynn Huston, Sherry Goshon, Ethel Strickarz, Robin Foley, Millie Wilcoxson
Dodi Becker	Ethel Strickarz	Luncheon guests
Two centerpiece winners		Jean Wiley	Maryanne & Bobby
Sandra Justiss	Robert Zacher

A brief business meeting was called to order with both ODACA Artists and Aux ODACA members present. Our new artist members were introduced. Although most committee heads remain the same. Marilyn Huston announced as the new Chiarperson of the Standards Committee/New Members. A slate of officers were voted on for the 2002-2004 session, their names will be announced next year as they enter their office.

ODACA Day 2001 started off with the new applicant doll critique, the final step toward attaining ODACA artist membership for artist members. This is the most important part of the standards committee process where the standards committee can finally inspect applicant's work up close and in person. A big thanks must be extended to our standards committee members for their long and hard work previewing slides and portfolios of the many applicants, and then making the difficult decision to determine which ones could qualify for ODACA artist membership. ODACA artist membership is awarded based solely on the quality of a large selection of an artist's doll work.

A special "thank you gift" was presented to our out-going president, Joan Benzell, for her 4 years of service. Dodi Becker was given a gift thanking her for years of dedication publishing the ODACA newsletter: Expressions. Marilynn Huston introduced Susan Welter, an aux-ODACA member, who gave a presentation about the "Kansas City Doll Fair: The Art of the Doll" which is held in March each year. Susan extended a warm invitation to ODACA.

Joan Benzell, president pro tem [replacing Sherry Goshon 11/02],  Robin Foley, 1st V.P., Marilynn Huston, 2nd V.P., Ethel Loh Strickarz, secretary, Millie Wilcoxson, treasurer

Aux Volunteers

Bobby Huston Aux-ODACA Chairperson, Lou Benzell Expressions editor, Bobby Huston 2000 ODACA Day organizer

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