Monday, February 20, 2006

News from the Desert

Time seems to fly by here although we don't seem to be doing a lot other than lying by the pool and Jim is golfing 3x a week. I had a couple of great rounds but overdid it and now my arm is sore so I'm taking a break. Gives me a chance to go shopping and browsing in all the shops I wouldn't be able to drag Jim into.

This whole week is devoted to Modernism for the first time. Usually they have an exhibit but this time there are lots of interesting events. We're taking in the premiere here of the first feature length film mid-century architecture. It's called "Visions of Utopia" and sounds like it will be very good. Huxley spent time in this area (he did know how to pick the good places!) so Jim is already figuring out a course he could offer. He has had some encouragement and there is continuing education too which offers some courses we'd be interested in taking like "The Ladies and Gents of American Jazz" and "Picturing the Land: A History of Landscape and Photography". The Palm Springs Art Museum also has weeklong workshops with various artists throughout the season.

We attended the Modernism Exhibit at the Convention Centre. The Convention Centre is a work of art in itself. My photos don't do it justice but it copies the mountain landscape and coming out the mountain are beautifully framed. Goodness...what price they want for some of this stuff. Things our parents threw out are going for thousands. One fellow had art deco radios (not quite mid century but he said they had been encouraging him to come) starting at 1800 - 8,000. They are like jewels.

We also took in the Palm Springs Art Museum this weekend. Some Picasso and Miro and some wonderful Henry Moore sculptures...why do these sculptures seem to fit perfectly in any landscape. At home here as in Paris. Permanent collections had glassworks by Chihuly, lots of native stuff, desert paintings, cowboy stuff, and modern things etc. There was a super special exhibition of photography of the desert. Could only take photos of their permanent collection so can't show you those.