Floral Designers to Interpret Quilts in Exhibit

Vibrant designs on quilts, an art in themselves, are being taken a step further at a museum fund-raising event called Art in Bloom.

For the exhibit, local floral designers will create flower arrangements that intrepret the 34 quilts currently on display in “Who’d a Thought It: Improvisation in African American Quiltmaking” at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

The three-day event will include two lectures and a floral arrangement demonstration.

Art in Bloom will open with a party at 7 p.m. Friday for a floral preview and cocktails. A dinner at 8:30 p.m. will feature authentic African cuisine served under the stars. Cocktail or ethnic attire is requested, and tickets are $90.

On Saturday, Graham Stanley will lecture on “Drought Tolerant Garden Design” at 10:30 a.m., followed by a lunch at 11:30 a.m. and a demonstration at 1 p.m. by Shirley Kerins titled “Creative and Colorful Flower Design.”

Stanley, a resident of Seal Beach, is a landscape architect specializing in residential designs. Kerins is a horticultural consultant to the Huntington Library Botanical Gardens.

On Sunday, landscape designer John Schoustra will speak at 1 p.m. on “Day Lilies and Other Easy Perennials.” Schoustra is a landscape designer and co-owner of Greenwood Day Lily Garden in Whittier.

The lectures and demonstration cost $10 per person, and the Saturday lunch is $12. Reservations must be made by calling the museum at 439-2119. The Long Beach Museum of Art is at 2300 E. Ocean Blvd.

The museum galleries will be open for public viewing of Art in Bloom from noon to 5 p.m. daily. Non-members are charged $3.

Art in Bloom is sponsored by Phoenix, a support group for the Long Beach Museum of Art. Proceeds will benefit the museum and its exhibition and education programs.