IAAA History

Texas Eclipse Workshop 2024

Standing, left to right - Alisa Scherer, Tim Cotter, Eico Neumann, Leonard “Leo” Eric Neumann, Kara Szathmáry, Michael d’Albertis, Marci McGray, Robin Hart, Gillian Weatherley, Malcolm Currie, Karen Billick Earl Billick, Walter Myers, Jeff Zugale, Michael Mackowski, Ben Mackowski, Maura Mackowski, Ken Davy, Judy Okimura, Rod Pyle, JoAnn Davy, Pat Rawlings, Linda Rawlings
Kneeling, left to right - Mark Pestana, Daniel Dahan, Chris Wade, Amy Hofstetter, Alexandra Neumann, Aldo Spadoni, Kate Weber (not kneeling, but crouching), Fred Weber
Group Photo – Daniel Dahan

Attendees

• Alisa Scherer
• Tim Cotter
• Eico Neumann
• Leonard “Leo” Eric Neumann
• Kara Szathmáry
• Michael d’Albertis
• Marci McGray
• Robin Hart
• Gillian Weatherley
• Malcolm Currie
• Karen Billick
• Earl Billick
• Walter Myers
• Jeff Zugale
• Michael Mackowski
• Ben Mackowski
• Maura Mackowski
• Ken Davy
• Judy Okimura
• Rod Pyle
• JoAnn Davy
• Pat Rawlings
• Linda Rawlings
• Mark Pestana
• Daniel Dahan
• Chris Wade
• Amy Hofstetter
• Alexandra Neumann
• Aldo Spadoni
• Kate Weber
• Fred Weber

After a successful IAAA (International Association of Astronomical Artists) workshop in 2017 for the Total Eclipse of the Sun, in Ririe Idaho, plans were put in place for the next Great American Eclipse, seven years away on April 8, 2024. The path of totality would include a large swath of the state of Texas and Pat Rawlings, FIAAA, a local living near the town of Wimberley, Texas, volunteered to take on the mission with help from our CFO Treasurer, Kara Szathmáry, FIAAA and President (Chief Cat Herder), Aldo Spadoni FIAAA.

There were a lot of complicated logistics for this workshop from the get-go. In Ririe, Idaho all the workshop members stayed at the same resort and viewed the eclipse directly in front of their cabins. T-minus two years and counting, Pat was able to secure reasonably priced primary accommodations at the Twin Oaks VRBO and the Holiday Inn Hill Country Resort, 18 miles from the VRBO. He also arranged to have attendees view the eclipse at a private location, Moondance Ranch in Albert, Texas, about an hour away from Wimberley.

At T-minus one year, over 40 enthusiastic IAAA members had signed up on the initial list for the workshop. However, over time and within the last three months, a number of dropouts occurred due to family health issues, mechanical breakdowns on vehicles, monetary problems, and the high cost of tickets from the airlines. Since the rooms were already paid for by this time, it was decided to invite some non-members like the Space Hipsters and others to join the workshop and take up the spare rooms. Prior to the start of the workshop, Pat Rawlings did reconnaissance at the VRBO and Villas and came up with room assignments for all attendees, based on reservation priority and family needs. A daunting task indeed. Kudos also goes to Pat’s wife Linda who helped him secure plentiful provisions (including orange food: an important IAAA tradition) for the workshop, even bagels and muffins for continental breakfasts in the morning.

Thirty-three stalwart IAAA members, their significant others, family, friends and guests arrived via airlines and cars from places as far away as Germany, the UK and places near and far in the U.S.A. While this workshop was attended by many IAAA veteran members, we were very pleased to welcome several more recent additions to the tribe, participating in their very first workshop! This group included, Daniel Dahan, Alex Neumann and family members Eico and Leo, Chris Wade and his partner Amy Hofstetter, and Jeff Zugale. Amazingly Michael d’Albertis, after only two weeks post quadruple bi-pass surgery, had driven all the way from Florida with Marci McGray at the helm to attend the workshop. Also NSS Ad Astra Editor-In-Chief Rod Pyle joined us as our “embedded journalist,” along with his local friend Judy Okimura. An interesting aside, Rod Pyle and I worked for the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles during our college years in the late 1970’s. We haven’t seen each other in over 45 years, and it was fun catching up about our lives and former co-workers.

Pat had rented a large van that he adorned with magnetic IAAA signs on the doors as the official workshop vehicle. He also played Uber driver to Aldo Spadoni and myself, picking us up at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when our flights got in at 6:30 pm. The main house at the VRBO was the workshop headquarters and attendees gathered that evening to go over the itinerary for the next day. We were all given Swag Bags filled with the official Eclipse workshop T-shirts that Pat designed, lanyards and name tags that had everyone’s phone numbers on the back, tourist info and goodies from Wimberley. We were on our own for dinner that night and we settled into our luxury accommodations later that evening.

We all assembled at 7:45am outside the VRBO to caravan to Pedernales Falls State Park. It would take about an hour to get to our destination. It was a pleasant sunny day with a few high clouds, and Pat had the six other vehicles line up behind us at the gate where he had paid for passes for each car. After parking we agreed to be back at the parking lot for lunch in 2 and a half hours and we then hiked down a steep trail to the eroded limestone rocks and falls below. I was glad that I had my hiking sticks with me to navigate over the interesting terrain. Everyone dispersed to explore the park, or settle down to do some plein aire sketches. I choose to wander about with my Sony camera and take photos that I might use later in paintings. The editor from the local paper showed up to interview Pat Rawlings and a few other attendees for an article she was going to publish in “The Wimberley View” about Pat and the IAAA as part of her eclipse coverage. We then converged back at the parking lot for lunch and Pat put out a large assortment of sliced meats, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, condiments and breads to choose from, along with sides like chips (many of them orange) and cookies. There was also plenty of bottled water to quell our thirst.

The next destination was Reimer’s Ranch Park, which we caravanned to in the afternoon. This area is a rock climbing mecca and the trails led down into a steep stepped canyon. A number of the hardier souls trekked down there, but having a gimpy left foot made me think better of traversing that, so I joined a number of attendees who had opted to sit at tables and benches under a shaded canopy to wait for the others to finish. We got back to the VRBO in the late afternoon in time to clean up for a wonderful fajitas dinner back at the Rawlings home at 5pm.

It was quite a fiesta with all the fixins for fajitas: beef and chicken strips, grilled peppers, guacamole, salsa, cheese, beans and flour tortillas that Linda Rawlings had prepared. Of course there was plenty of cerveza for thirsty IAAAers too, and Linda then presented us with a delicious Mexican dessert, tres leches (yellow cake with whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkled on top). Pat surprised each of us with tubes of prints of his work to take home. The next day was Eclipse day and after consulting the weather outlook, we decided to stay on plan and go to Moondance Ranch.

Eclipse day was finally here. Again we met outside the VRBO at 7:45am to caravan to Moondance Ranch in Albert, Texas, about an hour away. The skies were now overcast much to our disappointment, but with hope that things would improve later in the day. The traffic at this point was not a problem and the owner met us at the gate to proceed down a long road to our observation place. It was a typical hill country scene with green grass and many oaks and other trees. We put up pop up shades and chairs and got our various camera equipment set up, waiting for first contact. Ken Davy launched a drone to the delight of everyone. Lunch was served and the low clouds suddenly lifted to a blue sky with high thin clouds, and we could see the partial eclipse underway from our eclipse glasses and from a projection card Ken had set up. About an hour from totality, the clouds came rushing back in blocking the sun. This was very disappointing and we were all hoping for a break in the clouds during totality. As we approached zero hour, it was getting noticeably dark and colder, and when one of the people called out first and second contact, it turned dark like night. When I despaired that I wasn’t going to see anything at all of totality like I did seven years ago in Ririe, suddenly the clouds opened a little and I got about 5 seconds of seeing the eclipsed sun with a large spikey corona, then it was gone. Totality finished and the lights came back on in cloudy skies. I thought maybe I was seeing things, but others in our group captured the same corona on cameras and video. I was also disappointed that my 250 mm lens was not working properly and I could not make the camera shutter work. Little did we know that parts of Austin actually cleared for totality. You know what they say… the best laid plans.

Well there was no toasting with Corona beer this time like in Ririe, but kudos to Pat for such hard work planning all of this for us. We packed up and started our return to the VRBO headquarters, encountering quite a bit of stop and go traffic in the town of Blanco. I was in the rental van with Pat driving, his wife Linda in the front seat riding shotgun, and 11 of us passengers doing the thing that always makes IAAA workshops fun, joking around, laughing hysterically, and sharing each others good company while we waded through traffic.

We finally made it back to the VRBO and I quickly sketched what I had seen of totality for a digital painting I plan to do after I got back to California.

Mike Mackowski wanted us to get real Texas barbeque takeout for dinner and tried several restaurants to no avail. There were too many folks eating at those restaurants for the staff to answer the phone, so we ended up ordering take out pizza and salad and feasted on that for dinner.

On Monday evening, veteran concept designer Jeff Zugale gave us a slide show and presentation of his amazing work in the video game industry. He also demonstrated some innovative illustration techniques, using custom brushes in Photoshop. Then we hung out until bedtime, some people, especially the younger ones in the group, doing sketches.

The plans for the day were to go to Enchanted Rock in the morning, traveling an hour and a half to get there, hiking and scaling a granite dome 450 feet high. This was one of the tallest places in the region. The incoming weather front had other ideas about that. The forecast called for severe thunderstorms, golf ball sized hail, and a tornado warning for the area around Austin and Wimberley. Enchanted Rock being the tallest hill in the area, is the last place you want to be in a thunderstorm. So it was decided to cancel the trip to Enchanted Rock and instead have a tourist morning around the town of Wimberley. One of the groups included Aldo, Walt and I, because the board decided to give Pat and Linda Rawlings a $100 gift certificate to their favorite pizza restaurant, for all their hard work and generosity for this workshop in Texas. We gave him a card with the certificate inside for a job well done!

After lunch at the VRBO we once again caravanned by car to Austin for an appointment at 4pm with the folks at ICON. We were met at the facility by ICON Vice President Evan Jensen. There we were shown their amazing large concrete 3D printing machines on cranes, that make buildings and houses, and had a tour of a large printed building about 30 feet tall. We were then taken inside ICON’s facility to see their plans for building habitats on the moon and Mars, (as they have a contract with NASA) and had a look at robotic arms that would use lasers to melt the regolith on the moon to build landing pads and habitats for a future moon colony. This they say will happen in just a few years. After the tour, Evan Jensen took us to a brewery down the street to spend some time casually conversing and having a cold IPA. By the time we were ready to leave some ominous looking clouds were starting to build up around Austin. We got back to the VRBO without incident and made dinner from all of the lunch goodies we had left, so we could use them up, since this was the last official day of the workshop. After dinner Alexandra Neumann made a presentation and gifted all of us with commemorative lanyards. Alex was going to be going to Houston after the workshop and take the posthumous IAAA 2018 Lucian Rudaux Award for lifetime achievement that had not been presented to Alan Bean’s widow due to the pandemic. The award was a beautiful dichroic glass plate designed by BJ Johnson and Joy Day. We all posed for a group photo in front of the Rudaux Award and some other materials that Alex had laid out on the table. Also Ken Davy’s wife JoAnn, gave Pat Rawlings a lovely framed commemorative sun design that she printed with her Cricut machine at home in New Mexico. We also got a visit from planetary scientist and IAAA member Pascal Lee, who arrived by motorcycle and shared some coffee with us. Pascal was very busy as a guest at several other eclipse related events in the general area. He managed to depart our VRBO before the storm hit.

We were then treated to a Texas sized storm outside that reminded me of my childhood on the East coast. It was extremely humid and there was lightening about every few seconds; cloud to cloud and strikes to the ground to the east of us. Pat mentioned that a lot of this weather often skirts by Wimberley and heads North.

Luckily we did not get hail or a tornado, but the Doppler weather app on Pat’s phone looked positively scary. The rain fell like a monsoon and a bunch of us sat on the back screened porch for hours enjoying the lightening show. About midnight I finally decided to go back to my house (I was staying in the 3 bedroom one next door) and pack as I was flying out the next morning. I had a fitful night sleeping as the storm lasted well into the night and the thunder kept waking me up.

Because of the bad weather that was heading east, Michael d’Albertis and Marci McGray left the evening before, and so did Kara Szathmáry, to each drive back to Florida. Kara made it back in 13 hours and surprised his wife in the middle of the night! Mike and Marci hit some bad weather, but managed to get home safely.

I woke that morning at 0:dark-thirty, (about 5am). I had a 9:30am flight on Southwest Airlines departing Austin-Bergstrom Airport to Sacramento International Airport. Once again Pat Rawlings was willing to take me to the airport and picked me up at 6am. He had heard on TV that the airport was going to be a zoo, so he wanted to get me there to Austin by 7am. He dropped me off outside the airport and I gave him many thanks for the Rawlings’ generous Texas hospitality. Lucky for me it was early in the day, because it took me no time at all to check my bag in at the counter, get my ticket, and the TSA line was only 15 minutes long, giving me plenty of time to get to my gate. I boarded my flight and had an uneventful trip back to Sacramento. My husband picked me up and I was home in Grass Valley by the afternoon. At this point all of us were still connected via text and we were getting updates on all those leaving for the airport or driving to their destinations by car. Aldo had a later flight at noon and caught a ride to the airport with one of the people who were driving through Austin. He let me know at the board meeting that it took him over an hour and a half to get through the TSA line, just in time to catch his flight back to the Palm Springs Airport. Walter Meyers didn’t fare so lucky. His late afternoon flight home to Chicago was delayed due to a mechanical problem and he was stuck there in the crowded airport for six hours until another plane could be found. Everyone else reached their destinations safely and another successful IAAA workshop was in the books. I am so glad that I could attend this one and enjoy my time with some of the tribe members in person!

-- Robin Hart, IAAA Vice President (Assistant Cat Herder), Pulsar Editor-in-Chief

Thank you also to Chief Cat Herder Aldo Spadoni for providing me with some of the details for this article.

Official IAAA Van – Photo Aldo Spadoni

Twin Oaks VRBO Workshop Headquarters – Photo - Robin Hart

Pedernales Falls State Park – Photo Aldo Spadoni

Kara Szathmáry doing Plein Aire – Photo Robin Hart

Reimer’s Ranch Park – Photo Walter Myers

Fiesta at the Rawlings, Hospitality Texas Style – Photo Aldo Spadoni

Set up at Moondance Ranch – Photo Robin Hart

Waiting for Totality – Photo Robin Hart

A Few Seconds of the Eclipsed Sun During Totality – Photo Ken Davy

Clouds Block the Sun During Totality – Photo - Robin Hart


Riding in the Official IAAA Van – Photo - Aldo Spadoni

Jeff Zugale talk – Photo Aldo Spadoni

Wimberley Silo - Photo - Mike Mackowski

ICON Cement Printing Machine – Photo Aldo Spadoni

Lightning Storm at Twin Oaks VRBO – Photo JoAnn Davy

The remaining attendees on the last evening of the workshop pose with the 2018 Rudaux Award for the late Alan Bean – Photo Daniel Dahan