Mesa Southwest Museum - Jazzy Wall Art Makes for Soulful, Expressive Exhibit

Mesa Southwest Museum - Jazzy Wall Art Makes for Soulful, Expressive Exhibit

Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and other giants of
jazz have been immortalized many times and in many ways. But this time,
visitors to the Mesa Southwest Museum will have the opportunity to
experience the jazz world recreated with fabric and thread.
Award-winning Santa Fe, NM, artist Lauren Camp created a series of 20
unique quilted artworks that convey the essence of the music, the sound and
the soul of jazz. Each piece is accompanied by one of Ms. Camp's original
poems.
Lauren Camp's "The Fabric of Jazz: A Tribute to the Genius of
American Music" will open November 12. The Arizona Quilter's Guild is
sponsoring this special exhibit that will run through April 12, 2006.
Ms. Camp is a self-taught fiber artist whose quilted images and
companion pieces have been exhibited in various museums and galleries
throughout the United States and Europe. Many of her works are housed in
numerous private and public collections, according to Rita Blocksom,
president of the Arizona Quilter's Guild.
"I took a very special trip recently...to Paducah, KY, to view 'The
Fabric of Jazz' exhibit at the Museum of the American Quilters Society,"
Ms. Blocksom said. "It is truly an amazing exhibit and I feel so
privileged and proud to have been able to see it."


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Arizona's premier natural history museum, the Mesa Southwest Museum,
explores the Southwest's history from the time before the dinosaurs to the
present day. See the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the state,
visit a Spanish mission, look for the lost Dutchman's treasure, pan for
gold in the History Courtyard, experience the diversity of Arizona's
earliest inhabitants, see beautiful examples of Native American pottery,
"star" in a made-in-Arizona movie and much more. Things are always
changing in the museum's temporary exhibition spaces that feature
exceptional exhibits on art, culture, history and science from around the
world. The museum, located at 53 N. Macdonald Street in downtown Mesa, is
open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
The museum is closed on Mondays and all City of Mesa holidays. Admission
is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors (55+) and students with ID and $3 for
children 3-12. Museum members and children under 3 are free. Please call
the museum at 480.644.2230 or visit our Web site at
www.mesasouthwestmuseum.com for more information.
The Mesa Southwest Museum is a program of the City of Mesa's Arts and
Cultural Division.




Cynthia L. Diaz
Marketing Coordinator
Mesa Southwest Museum
City of Mesa
(480) 644-4040 tel
(480) 720-4720 cell
(480) 644-3424 fax

Current exhibits:
Tusks! Ice Age Mammoths & Mastodons, March 5 through September 10, 2005
(held over)
Whales: The Inside Story, May 14 through September 4, 2005
Navajo Saddle Blankets: Textiles to ride in the American West, May 20
through September 18, 2005
Coming soon (some exhibit dates and titles tentative):
When Crocodiles Ruled, October 1, 2005 through January 6, 2006
El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), October 8, 2005 through
November 2, 2005
The Fabric of Jazz: A Tribute to the Genius of American Music, November
12, 2005 through April 2, 2006
From Above: Images of a Storied Land--Adriel Heisey, January 28, 2006
through April 23, 2006
Roadside Shrines: A Photographic Journal by Dick George, April 15, 2006
through October 22, 2006
Mesa Grande and the Salt River Valley: Ancient Urban Archaeology, May, 2006
through November, 2006
Life on the Border: US Soldiers an