I was lucky enough to visit Quiltfest Oasis Palm Springs - the Mancuso show inits third year at the Palm Springs Convention Center last weekend. It's a show that features international winners from the Mancuso's other shows as well as a lot of traveling exhibits from smaller art quilt groups and quilt guilds. This year there was a competition featuring Modern Quilts in conjunction with a Modern Quilt Symposium. 

It's a pleasant venue and it was an interesting show with a lot of variety. Three of my pieces were included... one each in Quilts On The Wall Fiber Artists exhibits "Maps" and "Shadows" and one in the Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds show "California Hues, Tints, Shades and Tones" featuring art quilts from members of southern California quilt guilds.  Below I'm pictured with my quilt in the Shadows show "Shadowlands".

I would only wish that the Mancuso management would take more care with the condition of the traveling quilts. So many folds and creases marred the beauty of some amazing work. It seems they unpack everything and put them folded into huge heavy piles. Few quilts emerge unscathed. 

Enough of the negative. Below are a few stunning pieces - my favorite from the exhibits.... 

"Mont St. Michel" by Linda Schmidt 

It fairly shimmered! 

A wonderful colorful quilt from Australia's Lisa Walton 

An amazing pieced and appliquéd quilt made from men's silk ties by "Moonshadows" by 

New Zealander Anne Joule. Stunning! 

An amazingly graphic owl from the Modern Quilt Competition. I'm so sorry I missed 

the name of the artist.  Does anyone know? 

From a wonderful group of quilts based on the color spectrum from a small art quilt group. 

Loved these little quilts and the way they were displayed. Again, I neglected to take a photo 

of the label.  My apologies to the artists! 

Many of these same exhibits will be shown at Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara the end of this week. Hope you can get there to enjoy them. 

The following day my friend Roberta and I alone with our husbands visited the small satellite location of the Palm Springs Museum of Art in Palm Desert where we viewed a wonderful art jewelry exhibit. Below is my glamorous friend lounging in the exhibits. 

Yes, we were !

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"Reigning Men" exhibit at LA County Museum of Art - a must see!

Just read a Facebook post counting out the six great rules of blogging.  The second is "Be Consistent - Get in front of your audience often and consistently."
 I guess following quickly on a post from November 2015 isn't good enough! Many excuses, none of them interesting to you, so let's just go on as if this never happened. 

Los Angeles has so many wonderful opportunities for art and culture and recently I've been to the same one twice - The "Reigning Men" exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which features men costume from the 18through 21st centuries.  What a gas! A new and unusual take on the evolution of costume. Everything from the incredible hand embroidery on 18th century waist coats and banyans to Rudy Gernreich silk kaftans and 1960s Cardin fashion forward tweed suits and military uniforms.

I was tickled by the description on the Cardin tweed suit in the photo above, second from right, to find that it had belonged to and been donated by a long time friend. The fabulous Sulka silk dressing gown and an evening suit were his, too. I called him and he said he purchased it in Paris in the 1960s and actually wore it often. Very far from his conservative and buttoned up, but  elegant image today. He was happy to donate trunks of his former New York clothes to the museum. LACMA must have been thrilled! So many of their bountiful costume holdings are for women.

The exhibit is beautifully presented on very individual looking mannequins with very impressionistic hair I've lately learned was made from hair canvas - the stuff they shape men's suit fronts with.  It continues at LACMA until August 21st. Well worth a trip!