Artful Adventures with the Glendale Quilt Guild

Earlier this month, I flew down to Glendale, CA to lecture and teach for the Glendale Quilt Guild.  As my flight took off from San Jose International Airport, I was struck by the colorful salt evaporation ponds along the South San Francisco Bay (while wondering why I have never noticed these ponds on previous flights?!?)

Salt Evaporation Ponds Get Their Bright Colors from Micro-Organisms

This particular trip was extra special thanks to my amazing host, Cindy, who managed to pack in a number of art-filled adventures during my visit.  Later that evening, I was treated to an a la fresco dinner prior to presenting my Challenge Yourself! lecture/trunk show.  What a treat to present in such a beautiful set up complete with a huge screen and four of my quilts on display for the membership.  After the meeting, Cindy and I took an evening stroll in search of some much needed ice cream!

The next day, we visited the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens for a treasure trove of beauty and inspiration.

Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens

There was so much to see and experience starting with the gorgeous grounds.  One of the first sights we encountered was the Orbit Pavilion--a spectacular structure that doubles as a soundscape as a variety of sounds picked up from satellites are emitted from inside the structure.

NASA's Orbit Pavilion 

120 acres of the 207-acre estate are dedicated to the Botanical Gardens which include a few principal garden areas including a Desert Garden, Palm Garden and Japanese Garden.  Here is a small sample of the beautiful colors, shapes and textures I discovered along the way.

Feast of Floral Beauty

The Japanese gardens were especially gorgeous and included sculptures, architecture and spectacular landscaping.  Beauty and serenity to be found in every direction!

Beautiful and Tranquil Japanese Gardens

The next day, I walked over to check out the Museum of Neon Art for some brilliant color and whimsical designs.

Afterwards, we were off to LA to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  The campus is packed with art installations and sculptures including:

• Chris Burden's Urban Light--202 restored cast iron antique street lamps (left) 
• Tony Smith's Smoke sculpture (top right)
• Large balloon sculpture Monkey Business (bottom right)

One of the first exhibits we visited was David Hockney's 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life.  I had so much fun walking around the room to learn more about the 82 friends, colleagues, staff members and family that posed for each portrait.     

Here are a few more inspirational pictures taken at LACMA:

• Joseph Alber's series of Homage to the Square (top left)
• Robert Irwin's Miracle Mile (top right)
• Chris Burden's Metropolis featuring a city built out of building blocks and Legos, with moving highway of toy cars, miniature trains and subways.  You can see the staff member crawl inside to activate all the controls that bring this scupture to life (bottom)

I was especially excited about seeing the Upright Citizens Brigade for a viewing of "Baby Wants Candy" a completely improvised musical based on an audience suggested title.  One audience member suggested the title "The Sound of Mansplaining" which made for a hilarious performance by this uber-talented improv troupe.

Say "Yes And" to Upright Citizens Brigade!!

My visit concluded with a sold out Walking Foot WOW! workshop!  What an enthusiastic group of quilters as I got a kick out of their chorus of oohs, ahhs and ohhhs whenever I pulled out quilted samples!!  Even better was watching everyone learn and create all new designs that could be stitched using their walking foot!  I was delighted to receive an email from Cindy sharing some of the lasting effects from the workshop:  discussion and sharing of quilting ideas among attendees, increased confidence and readiness to apply the designs to their own quilt tops!!  Yay!!  I am so honored to have shared a few days with this talented and passionate group of quilters who give so much back to their community.  Many thanks to Cindy, the GQG Board and membership for a super fun visit!     

Walking Foot WOW With Lots of Ooooh's, Ahhhh's and Ohhhh's!!!