Rudeness

Last evening I attended a meeting of the local quilters' guild.  I stopped attending meetings over a year ago, as I had been very upset at the rigidity with which the Guild, as a group, tended to reject Art quilting. This particular Guild has gained a National reputation for being very, very traditional.  At the same time, they will invite teachers who are more "arty" in their work, and show respect to individual members who do original work. My distress had been a result of quite a number of comments made by several members, to me and within my hearing, disparaging any form of "art' quilting, during the Guild's very large bi-annual show, in April of 2012.

Last evening's Guest speaker was an art quilter, with fairly strong traditional roots, who had been invited to the area to teach free motion machine quilting. She was presenting a trunk show that demonstrated her traditional roots, but showed how both her interests and skills had grown.  She has now exhibited and taught all over the country.  I was appalled at the rudeness demonstrated by many of the guild members, talking loudly enough, during her presentation, to create problems hearing for others.  ( There was also a bit of difficulty with the sound system that aggravated the problem)  Despite complaints about not being able to hear, and even a couple of loud "shssss's",  this irritation continued for most of the presentation. The situation was further aggravated by one member of the audience who took exception to the techniques being described say, quite loudly,  and heard by many, "Those aren't real quilts!"  During a lull in the proceedings I asked her what she meant, and she told me that the quilts didn't have "two layers of fabric around a layer of batting, and they aren't big enough".

Well, while most definitions of quilts require "at least three layers with stitching through the layers", I've never heard of any requirement for "batting".  Nor have I ever heard of any minimum size requirement.  The speaker said more than once, that what she was showing were teaching samples of specific techniques. Small just made sense.

I had a very specific purpose in attending this meeting ( a reconciliation with a good friend), but I have to wonder how I can continue to socialize with a group  that shows so little respect for the work I do, and by extension, so little respect for me.  Again, individual members of the group have proven themselves true friends, and, after my absence, I was well greeted and acknowledged by several of them.  But, when they are together, "group think" seems to take over.  The guest speaker is an acquaintance, and a fellow member of FAN, but I don't know how I can face her after this rude treatment.