Maximal: Palette 2 Palate

Many of you don’t know that I am a working artist. I make very complex detailed painting and sculptures with lots of color and details. I might aspire to make minimalist art, but that will have to wait for another life time.

For the promotions I do for SDVAN, I know that I get what I think is a good and simple idea, then somehow it always gets turned into a giant project with hundreds of moving parts and a large group of artist involved. In other words, what I do for SDVAN imitates what I do for my own art.

So for example, for the past few years we have been putting on Eat Your Art Out dinner parties. These are simple parties for no more than 12 people around a theme of the artist choice and a way to get artists and art patrons to move past the opening reception chit chat and have real conversations. Art Patrons in San Diego really love to meet real artists.

SDVAN’s tenth anniversary is this year and so 10 tables instead of one table seemed like a lovely idea. We teamed together with Synergy Art Foundation who put on a silent auction of small canvases to support their wonderful work for artists in need. So from a little acorn a giant tree is blooming on April 27^th. About 30 artists will host over 60 patrons with themed table top décor and a gourmet 5 course meal. That will be followed by a dance, the auction of art by 120 more artists and even a boutique of food related craft items.

I think this will be a fabulous evening but I don’t know if people have any idea how much creativity it takes to put on such an evening. The committee for this project is now working full time to present the artists in the best possible light and to make sure that the public has the most amazing time. The artists have gone out of their way and over the top to out do each other and make us proud. They are creating work in honor of a pair of organizations that want nothing more than to help the general public value what they do.

The VIP dinner for this event sold out in the first month, which was immensely gratifying. We have no limit on tickets to the second part of the evening when the silent auction takes place and we can get down and dirty with Ruby and the Redhots.  So please join us to celebrate 10 years of prosperity in San Diego.  PALETTE TO PALATE  Sat April 27, 2013.

San Diego: Identity Crisis or Identity Opportunity?

The whole world is also tussling with art issues. The new Pope Francis had, in his past, called for censorship of contemporary art. Kate and William (future king of England) are considering buying contemporary art to make royalty appear less stuffy. What a boast to the art market would that be. The Los Angeles MOCA has turned down a financial rescue package from LACMA. I sometimes wonder what sort of affect San Diego will ever have internationally.  

I attended the panel discussion at the beginning of March presented by the Ilan-Lael Foundation’s at the Mingei International Museum. These are ongoing Conversations on Beauty and this one focused on San Diego in Search of Its Identity.

I have recorded the sounds bites that each of the four participants produced. I think this short summary presents some of the history and wishes of our beloved city.  But each of us must use our own imagination if we want to avoid a SD identity crisis.

James Hubbell, artist and social commentator Ilan-Lael Foundation  - A large vision is important for San Diego which includes the Navy, Baja, Pacific Rim, and High Tech industry. We should let Balboa Park and the Bay creep back into the city. We need to remember to be happy with what we don’t know.

Mary Walshok, author, head of UCSD Extension and industrial sociologist – In the 1890’s,San Diego was attractive as a clean and open city at a time when other cities were perceived as diseased and dirty. It was built almost entirely from federal funding. But there raged a battle here between the industrial capitalist and the art and crafts movement often called smokestacks or geraniums. The city is divided 60% as private space and 40% public. 

Rob Quigley, architect of the new Downtown central library – We have a very engaged community but very risk adverse.  Let’s not have form follow fear. We have to consider emotional functionality.  It is all about being good ancestors. 

Howard Blackson, urban planner – San Diego has the most beautiful outside so we need to get people outside more. Cultural value creates economic gain. Change can not always be seen to be bad. The things you love should be renewed. 

To read an article full of quotes from the evening check out this City Beat link.

Palm Springs Art Fair

Palm Springs Art Fair at the Palm Springs Convention Center (277 N Avenida Caballeros, Palm Springs CA 92262) from Feb 14 -17.

Plus a bit about The Galen (new satellite of the Palm Springs Museum of Art) in Palm Desert and Imago Gallery

What a treat to see the new Palm Spring Art Fair now run by the Hampton Expo Group who also show at Houston, Aspen and of course the Hamptons. They were assisted in PS by Susan Myrland from San Diego who handled out reach.

This new fair in it's second year is heads above the older ones that I visited in yesteryear. Very large booths, good lighting and a large quantity of blue chip art makes the difference. This fair is attended by the wealthy and art loving community of Palm Springs and benefits from a large tourist population that is escaping colder climes.

Mel Ramos the featured artist of this year's fair gave a charming interview and mentioned that last year's honoree was Judy Chicago, the feminist artist. Ramos is about the furthest thing away from that with his some say, "exploitative" views of lovely ladies.  He would say these are appropriated images and this second hand use gives him some distance from the exploitative label.   

Mel Ramos

Mel Ramos first super hero painting, Batman. He is still painting this in a series he calls The Lost Painting as he can't find the originals.

Mel Ramos, Key Hole light boxes at Imago Gallery, Palm Desert

Installation view of Mel Ramos at PS Art Fair

Mel Ramos

Mel Ramos inspired cookie, retitled Shattered Dreams when it failed to arrive at the fair in one piece .

  

Jim Dine at Jonathan Novak Gallery, NY. This and the following  "Heart" Dine which was priced at $130,000 which seems very reasonable for a master work. I found out from the dealer it is because these are recent works straight from the artist's studio. He has not raised his prices but you will have to pay lots more for those from the 1960's and 70"s. Dine is still working but for how long?

Chuck Close Tapestry at Melissa Morgan Gallery Palm Dessert. A very large impressive work and a good reason to check out this gallery

Kenneth Noland stunning bullseye from Yares Art Project , Santa Fe Mx

Jeffery Laudenslager Kinitic Sculpture and Morgan Erwin paintings at Sergott Contemporary, Rancho Santa Fe.

Michellle Kurtis Cole glass works at Sergott Contemporary, Rancho Santa Fe

Installation view at Sergott Contemporary

Morgan Ervin's Marilyn composition using JFK coins and even some of the medicine that killed the star. at Sergott Contemporary

James Verbicky at Madison Gallery La Jolla

Charlotte Jackson Gallery, Santa Fe

Chul Hyun Ahn at  C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Md

Devorah Sperber, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, Az

Eric Fostermann Eckert Gallery NY.. I include this image as my husband Darwin commented that it reminded him of a very early Duchamp ready made photo of clothes on a line drying in the breeze.

Gregory Nowell at Lisa Sette Gallery Scottsdale, Az. This does not look like much in this photo but it is a image of a room and in the middle is a video and every few minutes a man walks into the painting and changed the image in the middle. The images then moves, like a flickering Frank Stella changing colors

Jill Levine, George Gallery Laguna Beach, CA a very complex sculptural  piece with bright colors

Marc Sijan Peter Marcelle Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY. Life size really compellingly ugly nude sculptures

One of my favorite set of works are these by Mark Whalen  Merry Karnowsky Gallery, LA These were covered in resin and super shiny surfaces

Nick Georgiou, Etherton Gallery Tuscon Az, Robin Lipman is a proud new owner of one these works

Peter Blake Gallery, LA

Mary Giles at Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, Mo. A very complex textured  work

I have added in this image of a video of small animals inside their nest surrounded by still shoots. This piece always had a crowd looking at it. The image was not that different than what you might find on Animal Planet, but it seemed to please lots of folks. I think this is a good sign for what the DNA of Creativity team, Urban Succession,  will be presenting at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Amy Galpin, Amy Britt, and Alexander Jarman from the San Diego Museum of Art at the PS Fair Opening

John and Mary Ann Eger, and Joyce Gattas at the PS Fair Opening

A little mutton dressed as lamp at the Art Fair opening

A little lamb undressed at The Galen show on appropriated images in art Beg Borrow and Steal.

Helene Galen was honored as the Patron of the Year on the first night of the fair and we went to visit The Galen, which is an adjunct building to the Palm Springs Museum of Art. Helene Galen started the drive to have this resource in Palm Desert with a $1 million donation.  But we were very underwhelmed with the gallery. It is  small, divided into even smaller cubbies each with a patron's name (not a bad idea) but a lowered ceiling above each with lights and vents is the first thing you see. This is a case of too much architecture (and not very good architecture) and too little art. For $6 million I feel they could have made more changes to this existing building and made it spectacular. 

Half of the space is taken up with offices and the supposed Annette Block Education center but a Saturday afternoon in February and there was absolutely nothing going on in rooms that looked quite sterile. Where were the kids taking classes and getting messy and making a noise? That is how I remember Saturday afternoon art classes. 

They could take a leaf out of the book of the Imago Gallery and paint the whole thing dark and then great light would make it very dramatic. These white spaces in the desert can be very glaring.

Helene Galen being honored as Patron of the year at the PS Art Fair

Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden

Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden

Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden, David McGary

Not the Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden, but another appropriated piece from the show Beg Barrow and Steal

 We rounded off the visit with a trip to Imago which is a better space than most museums. Michelle Kurtis Cole was with me and she was in seventh heaven. Both the PS Museum and Imago show stellar glass sculpture.

Rachel Lee Hovnanian Installation with video at Imago

Rachel Lee Hovnanian Installation with video at Imago

Rachel Lee Hovnanian Installation with video at Palm Spring Art Fair. This was a working cafe but the windows were videos of landscapes

closer view of video installation as a cafe diner

Chihuily still fabulous at Imago

William Morris still fabulous at Imago

Corporate Collecting Book Review

 Corporate Art Collections  by Charlotte Appleyard and James Salzmann

Lund Humphries/Ashgate Publishing Group in association with Sotheby’s Institute of Art

In the past, art was commissioned to support a religion or a cultural paradigm, but corporations can not be seen to do that. They generally avoid nudity, religious and political subjects. A stodgy law firm might have a few hunting prints in the waiting room and some portraits of the founder in the board room. But in 1960 companies were ready to step it up.  The Whitney Museum in New York held a unique show Business Buys American Art. Corporations bought art to use in their advertising campaigns, color brochures, annual reports, as limited edition gifts to its stockholders and clients, and presented art as awards. Modern art on the walls of their offices gave a view of their company as up to date and even go ahead.

In 2011 there were 900 serious American corporation collections. In China, 5% of the GDP has been promised to go to cultural development by 2016. They see art as a “new pillar of industry.”

How are these collections operated and run and what drives the collection is covered in the insightful book by Appleyard and Salzmann. They looked at what they considered important collections only and recognized that things could and will change, but they define three major areas of corporate collecting.

Curatorial collections that are chosen by one person to enhance the experience of staff and clients are labeled here as “Environmental Enrichment” “Emblematic” collections are those that mainly reflect the identity of the corporation. “Patronage” collections are those that serve the community showing a social responsibility to support the arts. Some of these collections have become galleries separate from the corporation or give an annual art prize. Corporation can also sponsor exhibitions we see in museums.

Collections often have overlapping parts of all three. And they often deal with some of the same issues.

• The art is there to fill blank places.  The art work has to fit the space although in special cases, the space is made to fit the art.
• Corporation use advisors, either hired or in special cases, in house, but one person in the corporation is the driving force for acquiring art and helps set the annual budget.
• The art is expected to be inspiring to the staff and clients and not only bring out their own creativity, but also be an ice breaker for networking occasions. In the best cases, artists are brought in to talk to employees so they can engage and relate to the works. In even rarer cases, the staff is allowed to choose which of the art in the collection is displayed in their own offices.
• Both public relations in terms of community outreach and publicity for the company are impacted by the art. Both can enhance the corporation’s image and aid in branding. Art can be a point of differentiation between companies and help define its message. Art from emerging countries might be perfect for companies selling bonds from emerging markets or cutting edge art for companies trying to attract the most creative of a young workforce.  
• Art has to be able to stand up physically and emotionally to the office environment.  The setting is not the same as a museum who supply with the best lighting, temperature control, security and un-interrupted background.
• Collections do have investment potential and prestige value connected with monetary value. But they represent a tiny percentage of the budget of the company. Most companies declare that their choices are not monetarily driven, only quality drive.
• Should the collection be private or do they have a duty to make it available to the public with all the expense and worry that involves?
• If the corporation spend vast sums on the art collection, how is that perceived by the employees and stock holders especially in hard times?

The book is packed with examples that are well presented and fascinating. Each company has a distinct personality formed by many of these criteria and it is fun to read about each and see the illustrations of the actual art work. They use the old fashion way of grouping all the color photos in sections which is too bad, as it would be good to see the art works next to the descriptions. As a visual aid, these are very high quality images by wonderful artists.

To give you a brief idea of some of the nuggets of information that I gleaned:

• Successful investment is about being able to embrace uncertainty. Cutting edge art embodies that idea.
• Many employees and visitor turn out to purchase works by the same artist shown in the corporation collection.
• One company named all of it conference rooms after artists.
• Corporations that serve the arts have a vested interest in growing a collection. Art insurers, art shippers, art legal services and art accountant.
• A few corporation have the advantage of being able to produce a product collaboration with actual artists (Like Louis Vuitton handbags with Murakami’s faux Vuitton logo pattern)
• Cost cutting choices encourage buying local to save on shipping, displaying less expensive works on paper and photographs which is often safer as the work is behind glass or plastic.
• One now defunct collection allows for a corridor of controversy for those works that were rejected by the staff. Allowing these works to remain was a clever way to create talking points about the work.
• We need to guard against corporations, which see loans of art as an inexpensive way to decorate.

The book makes mention of the tax laws for what is deductible in term of devaluation and donation and also touches on de-accession. There is a very short section on a few things to consider when starting a collection, but this is not a “how to” book. Maybe that is a pity as we should be trying to encourage more corporate collections. Will, expertise and funding rarely come together, but this book is a showcase for those corporations that have created added value through collecting art. The alternative is blank walls and what does that say about any business?

Art of Science, Science of Art

 The La Jolla Playhouse presented some brilliant local scientists in their Art of Science, Science of Art panel. We hope they hold many more of these events which prove not only that there is a close connection between art and science but also that we have top brain power right here in SD.

It turns out that scientist spend a lot of time and have great respect for the arts. They often try to analyze how it gives them a higher level of focus. They have to be performers themselves when they make presentation for grants or lectures to colleagues. They struggle just like artists to find funding and their process of creation is even longer than most artistic ventures. A play can take up to 10 years from book to script to stage, but research often needs to be funded for 40 years or more. They want to shorten the learning curve but have to contend, as doctors, with every patience being a new canvas. They are working to combine the experience of the old guard with the innovative nature of the young bucks. They all seemed to agree that the most progress is made with a totally interdisciplinary team.

Someone in the audience suggested that large sums of money should be thrown at those projects that have the most chance of succeeding, but Dr. Gerald Joyce (Professor, UCSD-Scripps Institute, Molecular Biology and Chemistry) gave a very succinct reply when he said that  the dinosaurs would have had been funded if we had gone that route millenniums ago. It is better to fund a spread of projects large, medium and small and best if these are chosen by peer groups.  

Dr. Daniel Einhorn, Moderator, Endocrinology Scripps-Whittier) was the moderator for the evening and endured himself when he spoke of that special moment when only you know about an imminent discovery. That is a sweet moment but that isolation which is a factor in a scientist’s life is another reason they look to art to offer a sense of intellectual community. 

Dr. Santiago Horgan (Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery, UCSD) spoke movingly of the changes from a time when the "bigger the scar the better the surgeon” to the current minimalist approach. He is actually able to do an appendicitis operation through the mouth with no scar at all.

Both Dr. Thomas Albright (Vision Center Laboratory, Salk Institute) and Dr. Pamela Itkin-Ansari (specializing in diabetes and pancreatic diseases) contributed in many other ways and were equally impressive.

On the art side were Des McAnuff, Director of the new play, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (using the music and inspiration of the band, The Flaming Lips). He reminded the audience that experimentation is the cornerstone of creativity and being able to fail is allowed as long as there is authenticity about the process.  Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director, La Jolla Playhouse, gave a wonderful description of how an usher watching a rehearsal gave him the insight into how to fix an ineffectual scene and add layers of meaning when she suggested that a white man and black women raised all sorts of issues outside of the direct dialogue.

Joe Nalven of DAG seems to think that the event was put on to “close the gap between town and gown, talk up the new play, avoid the politics of other art institutions and artists.” I am just grateful that there was standing room only and a very appreciative crowd in attendance who are curious about the art and science combination.

Watch the video of the entire panel at this link.  

Holistic Education

 Holistic Education: Civic Innovation Challenge for the Innovation Incubator

The US is 26^th in the world in average internet speed. We look out at a powerful ocean but do not harness its energy to be relieved of the need for fossil fuel or convert it to make us fresh water independent. Our infrastructure would be devastated when a large earthquake strikes our region.

The challenge of finding solutions for these problems depends on our creativity and the ability to work as a team and stop political posturing and greed. We do need to develop the ability to really communicate and collaborate.

My civic challenge is how we restructure our educational system in such a way to teach holistically instead of teaching subject by subject. How would the curriculum change, how would the schools physically need to be altered, how would teachers need to communicate in a new way, how would standards need to be responsive to needs instead of an ideal set of criteria?  

San Diego is still like the Wild West, fluid in its development and not as set in its ways as any other large city. That is why it is possible for this to happen here. San Diego could finally take pride in a really remarkable achievement which could be a pilot for a new way of educating in our future.  We could lose the fun and sun only label and take pride in our community on every level.

It appears that many San Diegan have the idea that if we were to become more advanced, we would lose our small town feel and all the cozy comfort that provides. But I see a future where we still have our small communities but we also have the advantage of a true big city. Sophistication does not need to be “either or”. It can be “and”. We don’t need to choose one or the other, but we can be amongst both. For my challenge local and region wide educational bodies would come together. Schools teachers, advisors, administrator, school boards, advocacy group and students and parent would all be impacted.

A small example of a solution would be to devise a way for art studios and science labs to share the same space. Start teaching these subjects together instead of separately. Stop assuming that some people are artists and some are scientist. Both subjects can be learned and learning them together will aid the creative flow.  Working together means solutions to the multitude of large challenges facing us becomes a hopeful activity. 

Do you have a Civic Challenge for innovation? If so, submit it here.

San Diego Steps It Up

 San Diego Steps It Up: Watch for these future arts projects

San Diego Arts Entertainment District (SDAED) is a neighborhood revitalization project for the North Broadway corridor (Front St. to 10th Avenue and Ash S. to E St.) of Downtown San Diego promoting our vibrant arts industry. The district will create activities through art festivals, concerts, holiday events, cultural events, outdoor films, and most importantly though an innovative signage program. . SDAED will support the countywide artistic community through public displays of all types of art and through marketing support that will help drive awareness to showings within the arts community.  Private funds from a revenue share of district commercial signage will be reinvested into the district for the betterment of the local community. This was a process that worked very well in the Denver Theater District and is especially suited to downtown San Diego with its very stringent rules on commercial signage.

But this is not a done deal until its proposal with the City Council Land Use Committee in November and with City Council in January 2013 is approved. We can expect the start of this scheme if all goes well by April of 2013.

The district will be managed by Finwater Municipal Marketing through David Ehrich. The company is a partnership between Finwater Advisors LLC and Marston+Marston, Inc. Several national media companies will provide various forms of signage including LED screens, banners, and flags that will generate district revenue. A local board of directors, comprised of representatives from the City as well as arts groups and private business owners, will govern the district. This Board will review and make recommendations to the City Planning authorities related to all district signage to ensure that the signage meets appropriate public interests and standards. We believe that they will encourage innovative and creative photos and videos and that will help make the signs not an eyesore, but a wonderful added element of art that is constantly changing and spreading the word about arts in our region. Public displays of art will be a hallmark of the SDAED. These displays will provide valuable exposure to arts groups within and outside of the district boundaries.

National Science Foundation awards a $2.6m grant to the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership to lead a national innovation incubator project integrating arts-based-learning and STEM (What we in SD call STEAM). We heard more about the innovation Incubator grant program at the  Reuben H. Fleet Science Center Community Forum when San Diego Innovation Alliance members were invited to join a special informational meeting with Harvey Seifter, Art of Science Learning founder and the project’s director and principal investigator.

This project will take place over three years. The first phase is a planning year when a curriculum will be designed to help the teams and those  teams will be formed through a network of advisors and mentors, faculty and corporate sponsors. Each city will choose a civic challenge and the teams will self form and generate their own themes. The second year will put the 300 team members divided amongst three cities to work. Each city will have 5 teams working on school programming and five teams working on projects with products or services.  At least 20% of those teams will be students. The results will be documented and an exhibition is planned to show case all of the teams in all three cities starting at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

There will also be an independent research project with a control group and one which has undergone about 12 hours of the curriculum instruction. They will then be asked to generate solutions for the same projects that the teams have worked on. This will generate statistics, hopefully, confirming that students that study the arts outperform those who don’t and scientist who participate in the arts are higher achiever than those who don’t. That study will involve both high school students and early career STEM professionals.

They also want to foster engagement through a series of public programs. Of course they will have an evaluation assessment. The main push with this project is to enhance cross discipline practices, strengthen creativity in the sciences and generate innovation. This will hopefully fill the gap in communication skills and facilitate greater teamwork skills. Both of these along with enhanced creativity have been identified as needs to jump start our innovative economic progress.

We also hear rumors of a performing arts annual Fringe Event which will have visual arts component. AND don’t forget the San Diego View Art Now (SDVAN) app coming to you later this year. Produced and sponsored by San Diego Visual Arts Network, this app will pin point events near you on a Google map and be searchable by date or region of SD including Baja Norte.

Art Spaces for Art Places

 SDVAN was invited to attend a meeting with Victoria Hamilton, director of the SD Commission for Arts and Culture, to discuss a more successful way to obtain an Art Place grant. The previous year, San Diego organizations submitted a joint grant application which was not successful.

ArtPlace is a collaboration of ten leading national and regional foundations, eight federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and six of the nation’s largest banks to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S. Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation and an anonymous donor. Funds committed to ArtPlace are overseen by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a nonprofit lender and financial consulting organization. ArtPlace is also supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions We have been fortunate to have Carole Colleta, president, Art Place attend meetings in SD. And she will be again a participant at the Culture of Innovation global forum (more info below) Letter of inquiry open on  Sept 4, and close Nov 1. On Jan 2, 2013 finalists are  announced and grants on awarded in June 2013.

This year it was decided that individual organizations should be encourage to apply separately and the commission would try to supply help in terms of professional editing. The groups applying will also communicate with each other and make sure that any cross over is considered as a collaboration in hopes of making both applications stronger

Art Spaces who might apply include but are not limited to:

 David Malmuth with partner Pete Garcia through  I.D.E.A has placed a flag in the earth by acquiring a space between 13^th and 14^th and F and G for $1 a year for 2 years. This will be a great place for pop up events, art labs and artists installation. David is also behind the Culture of Innovation global forum held in Balboa Park Sept 5/6. Partnering with the Urban Land Institute (SD/TJ branch) and the Aspen Institute, the program will consist of keynote addresses, plenary sessions, in-depth discussions in small groups, workshops, artistic and cultural events, and the showcasing of creative and innovative experiences at the intersection of technology, culture, and business. It will close with a visit to the New Art City Art San Diego Fair for the VIP opening reception.

Lynn Susholtz’s Art Produce Gallery now includes the new garden and stage as she continues her innovative programming.  The gallery is being reconfigured into a larger gallery space adjacent to what will become a new Swoon Dessert Bar at Art Produce. The garden is open every Thursday from 4-6 pm.

Cheryl Nichel and Ruby Cougler from Space4Art  are looking for funding for new classroom in the short term and will be looking for an entire new space eventually. They want to stay in East Village if possible, and so the connection to I.D.E.A might make for a great collaboration.

Leticia Gomez Franco helped us understand more about Front in San Ysidro part of Casa Familiar, where emerging women artists are about to start on a repurposing bus project to use as a traveling art lab. Working with USCD Calit2 and their giant multiple video screens is one of their big advantages, bringing communication into the community and the community into the university.

Justin Hudnall of So Say All of Us is now working on East County rejuvenation and concentrating on programming geared for new population of first time home owners. So Say All of Us is bringing Arab American Film Festival to Santee, working with local historical societies and publishing stories about The Far East AKA El Cajon with the help of the Catalyst grant from the SD Foundation.

There are many other organizations that should be encourage to apply including Alan Ziter from  The NTC Foundation (where are meeting was held) whose goal is to build an art community, David White and Agitprop and Zack Nielsen from Sezio.

For an example of a successful program we were guided to check out Intersection Art Five M in SF Founded in the early 1960’s and incorporated in 1965, Intersection for the Arts cultivates inclusiveness, builds community, and inspires social change through art.

The commission itself does give out grants in this same area Creative Community grants from Commission of Arts and Culture .

Curated Exhibitions/OMA New Director

It is with unbridled joy that we pass on the new of the new director of the Oceanside Museum of Art. Daniel Foster is a long time friend and advocate for San Diego Visual Arts Network as one of the founders of the site. His time at the San Diego Art Institute followed by a position as Director of the Riverside Art Museum and President/CEO of The Community Foundation of Riverside has more than prepared him for this position. He has a vision and we are excited to see what the future will bring and looking forward to working with him again.

Oceanside Museum of Art
Facing West / Looking East
August 12 - Jan 13, 2013 at Bob and Estelle Gleason Gallery

I see a lot of art. I go to exhibitions, I subscribe to art newsletters, I look at art magazines, I view artist’s websites. I try to follow trends and I am always looking for some organized way of looking at art. That is one reason I am so passionate about supporting curated art exhibitions. Having an intelligent and dedicated professional gathering works together to illustrate a specific viewpoint is a delight for me. It helps cut through the masses of images that I bombard myself with daily.

So when I viewed the Facing West/Looking East show recently at the Oceanside Museum of art, it was a relief to have someone as intelligent at Richard Turner as a guide. The show has two premises. The first is that California is a state of mind recognizing that all minds are individual entities. The second is that of the artist creating in California, many are” in the west but not entirely of the west.” They have Asian heritage or are world travelers, or simply have an affinity for things of the Far East. Reading Turner’s introduction to the show with its lack of art speak showed the roots of this show in his love for a TV show of his youth Kung Fu. I was charmed.

Having said all that, it was really my viewing of the show with none of this explanation that made me want to know more about the curator and the show’s heritage. I walked into the space after an invitation to a private cocktail party hosted by Mickelson Capital Investing. They very cleverly used the museum to attract the people interested in their direct lending strategies to help get the economy moving while making income for investors. My interest is in getting the art market moving while educating viewers on the value of having art in their lives.

The entire show is worth viewing but I made a choice of works that spoke to me below.

Brian Doan

Jacci Den Hartog

Kara Tanaka

Kim MacConnel

You have a few more days to check out Cruisin' Califas: The Art of Lowriding ending Sept 30, 2012 in the Singh Family Gallery at OMA. This is a smart, exhibition curated by local San Diegans Carlos and David C. de Baca that drew a record new Latino audience to the museum. Califas is a slang term that refers to California amongst the Latino culture with roots that going back to the mythological land of Calafia that inspired the naming of California.

Jesse Valadez

D.A. Garcia

Now I am looking forward to the next show which is curated by OMA Interim Executive Director, Tara Smith. YOU: Investigating Identity runs from Sept15 - Nov 11, 2012 and is displaying artworks by seven contemporary San Diego and New York based artists Alida Cervantes (SDVAN’s New Contemporary), Trish Stone, David Adey (SDVAN SD Art Prize), Kelly Schnorr, Lea Dennis, Cathy Begein and Melissa Cooke.

We also welcome the innovative projects emerging at the UC San Diego University Art Gallery (UAG) under the artistic guidance of Curatorial Fellow Michelle Y. Hyun. Hyun is the first recipient of the UAG Curatorial Fellowship award. This two-year paid Fellowship allows emerging curators to produce a series of exhibitions and projects for the UAG while participating in the intellectual and creative life of the visual arts department. The UC San Diego Visual Arts Department is one of the few in the country to blend graduate research in both art history and art practice in a single scholarly community.

San Diego Mesa College offers San Diego’s only hands-on program in Museum Studies and Gallery Management. Their next show is Seven Deadly Sins with a reception and lecture on Sept 6 from 5-7 pm. In this exhibition seven accomplished artists reinterpret the Seven Deadly Sins and contextualize them for the 21st Century. San Diego based artists Marianela de la Hoz and Alexia Markarian are joined by Phyllis Davidson, Gene Flores, Doug Sutherland, Henning von Berg and Peter Zokosky. Art history professor Beate Bermann-Enn curated the exhibit. For more info: Alessandra Moctezuma 619.388.2829