Found!!!

Yes, the 14 boxes of special exhibits missing from Quiltfest Oasis in Palm Springs have finally been found after three weeks of searching! Word came from the Mancuso organization yesterday that, as originally suspected, the pallet of boxes had been misdirected by a truck freight warehouse to another location - I'm told about 60 miles away. I'm assuming they sat on some loading dock for three weeks until someon noticed.... Because the individual boxes still had UPS labels on them, UPS was contacted and yesterday they arrived back at the Total Expo (the decorating company that works on the Mancuso shows on the west coast) warehouse from which they will be returned to us.

I had thought this would be the eventual scenario all along - I could not bring myself to believe that they had been stolen, just misplaced. However, when the Mancusos announced they were starting the insurance process and suggesting we start combing EBay, Etsy and post our quilts to lost quilt websites, I began to worry and started getting the word around. 

David Mancuso and his staff worked tirelessly to find this missing shipment and my thanks go out to them and all of the quilters around the country who shared my blog and Facebook posts to help get the word around. Thanks, too, to everyone who has sent comments and emails of gratitude that all has been found. We are a truly caring community

Further to "Mourning My Quilts"

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to read and comment on my blog from the other day about the loss of over 100 quilts prior to the Mancuso Quiltfest Oasis n Palm Sprimgs. I truly appreciate your good wishes and hope that all the quilts will be found soon.

Just a few points.... UPS was in no way nvolved here. I use UPS all the time for shipping my quilts and the antiques from my real business. Have never had a problem. All the quilt exhibits had been shipped to the warehouse by UPS and had been received and signed for. We know that. The misdirection/loss happened at the trucking terminal warehouse.

To answer the question about police involvement... The Mancuso organization was told that they could not enter a police report because so far there has been no evidence of a crime. So far, th belief is that the pallet was "misdirected".

I've been out of town for a week, but have managed to get one of the quilts on the Lost Quilt web page. The other will be added in the next few days.

The  Mancusos are searching the Internet for the lost quilts. In fact, their search yielded my blog that someone had posted to their website. I received a very cordial letter from David Mancuso saying that my blog was"right on point" but that they were deleting it from their page saying  "Please accept our sincerity that there is no intent of malice. We have removed your post from our Facebook page for the simple reason that it will not be instrumental in recovering the exhibits." 

Thank you David... But I am doing exactly what you have suggested the artists do.. Just trying to get the word around in case someone sees my quilt and can help solve this mystery.

Mourning My Quilts

Some of you may have heard…. A group of 8 different traveling loan exhibits went missing from the Mancuso Quiltfest Oasis show in early October  and were never hung. They included two exhibits from Quilts On The Wall Fiber Artists, one from the Southern California region of SAQA and five others. I had pieces in both of the QOTW shows – Maps and Shadows. 

All 8 of the individual exhibits were shipped via UPS to the Mancuso’s decorating company in California and were delivered and signed for. It is believed that all 8 were put on the same pallet to be trucked to the Palm Springs Convention Center for the Show which opened on October 10, 2015. They never arrived. 

My husband and I drove from LA to Palm Springs to see the show and my pieces in it, and we were very disappointed to find the photos above. I visited again the following day, but still no quilts. By the end of the weekend, the quilts – approximately 100-120 of them were still not hung. Four of the shows were to be sent north to the Mancuso’s Pacific International Quilt Festival, but were not hung there either. 

"Nightshadows", 2014  - Ribbons of hand dyed gray to black along with accents of opalescent organza, quilted with silver thread. Traveling in the Quilts On The Wall exhibit "Shadows". Disappeared from Quiltfest Oasis, October, 2015

"A La Carte",  2013  - Printed imagery of Le Chateau de Vaux Le Vicomte  over a plan of Le Notre's famous garden. Fused applique with sewn embellishments and three dimensional leaves.

Disappeared from Quiltfest Oasis, October, 2015

To date, none of the 100 + quilts have been found.  Warehouses , trucks,  freight  terminals and the Convention Center have been searched.  Security footage has been scoured. The Mancuso organization has offered a $5000 reward to the employees of the decorating company and the freight terminal  in hopes they will turn up. So far, nothing. It now seems that no system of bar coding was used, making an electronic search impossible.  We have been told that all 8 boxes still had their original UPS labels and tracking numbers intact, so if someone finds any of them they might get back to their owners. 

Meanwhile the Mancuso organization is beginning the insurance process, though at this point I’m not sure what that will mean to individual artists. They also suggest that artists search Ebay and Etsy and post their quilts on websites devoted to finding lost and stolen quilt websites.  

I am rather surprised that there has not been more discussion of this issue on the net. No one involved has posted to the SAQA group or to Quiltart that I have seen… The safety of all our artist’s work  is of utmost importance and I thought might have started a lot of dialog.

To say that I am disappointed, heartbroken and angry is, of course, an understatement.  I am mourning my lost quilts, but hoping beyond hope that they will still be found. Whenever I send an art quilt – a piece of myself  - off to a show or exhibit, my heart is always in my mouth until I know that it has arrived. As artists, we have to trust the organizations to which we send our pieces to use all care and diligence in safeguarding them. What happened in this case, after the pieces arrived at their destination is unknown, but it certainly makes me think about to whom I will trust my work in the future