NCAGG at FOBA 2010
By Sue Somerville, NCAGG Member

As we have done for so many years, NCAGG participated in the Festival Of Building Arts at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC on October 9, 2010. FOBA is one of NCAGG's outreach activities and one of the most enjoyable to participate in according to our members.

Several NCAGG members, assisted by family and friends, participated this year: Fran Asbeck, John Henderson, Sharon Hogan, Viki Keating, Jean Lee, Claudia Lipschultz, Leah Powell, Lynda Slayen, Christine Smith, and Sue Somerville.

There were many new activities by our guild this year as we expanded from stained glass to fused glass, cast glass and other glass art techniques. They were all big hits with kids and grown-ups alike!

We had a new kids' activity, making fused glass sun-catchers designed by Sharon Hogan. Sharon made all 288 fused pieces with beads provided by Jean Lee, Sue Somerville, Viki Keating, and herself. Jean and her team, sister Linda and mother Florence, along with Sharon, and Bill from the National Building Museum ran our kids' activity; they were hopping all day. We weren't sure that we had enough, but it was perfect.The last sun-catcher was finished at 4:15 pm. They were a huge hit with everyone!

Our other activities were big hits too. Claudia Lipschultz showed her awesome sand-blasted glass. Christine Smith showed cast glass which was also a huge hit with the kids. Leah Powell showed beautiful fused glass and fired pieces in a kiln. Betsy Mead demonstrated photo transfers to glass that were captivating. Fran Asbeck brought his wife Kathy and built a wonderful Tiffany-reproduction lamp. In the afternoon, Fran moved his operation onto a stage and demonstrated soldering which was projected to a large screen for easy viewing. He was such a pro and made it look so easy. I made 3 copper-foiled dogwood flower sun-catchers which I took home. Our floaters, Lynda Slayen and John Henderson and his mother Valerie, and Christine Smith's husband Steve provided much needed relief and company. I estimate that we had a crowd of about 3,000.

Thank you for participating in FOBA this year. Thanks to all for your generous donation of time and energy to this amazing and fulfilling event. Special thanks to Leah Powell for taking pictures of this event, Jean Lee for preparing our name tags and to all who helped with the Abstracta. Our members willingness to share their time, supplies, artistic skills and expertise is what makes NCAGG great.

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