SDVAN/Synergy 20th Anniversary Celebration HATS ON!

Purchase tickets HERE

Our Double Decade Celebration promises a magical evening loaded with art, dance, DJ, Live music, silent auction and many more surprises…

Delicious food, fun and frivolity with purchase of your ticket. 

Beer/wine $7 per glass/ bottle of wine $25 (Venmo/cash/credit card and ID please)

Valet Parking available on ticket site or at the venue ($10)

San Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN) and Synergy Arts Foundation (SAF)

are inviting you to celebrate our 

20th Anniversary Celebration

on Saturday, September 16th, 2023 6 pm to 10 pm 

at Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego North

Rustic Garden Setting. Adults only, please. 

1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas 92024

 SDVAN and SAF combined to create the San Diego Synergy Arts Network in 2006, but they both started as non-profits in 2003 using a fiscal agent.  SDVAN is a cheer leader for all things visual and SAF promotes artists helping artists in need.  We have worked closely together and want this event to mark that extraordinary sisterly relationship. 

We hope you plan to attend. Purchase tickets HERE 

We are also looking for VOLUNTEERS to help with our plans to have a fabulous party on the night. Contact Patricia or Naomi or go directly to the Sign Up Genius  if you want to become involved.

We have so many surprises in store for those who attend. Jefferson Jay, creator, collaborator, promoter & producer of so much music in San Diego will be our master of ceremonies to welcome:

Paella being prepared by Chef Javier Rubio from San Diego Chefs Foundation.

There is a memorial art show of the work of Dan Adams. If creativity is making something original and if an artist is someone who thinks outside of the box, if the quality of creativity is judged by authenticity, then Dan Adams is the consummate artist. Many of Dan’s very special small canvases will be for sale.

Israel Maldonado our DJ and there will be dancing to his live band Puente, featuring Brazilian, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban beats, and traditional Latin dance rhythms

 Litvak will perform a live duo dance. “LITVAKdance is committed to growing the arts, particularly dance, in the NorthWest region of San Diego.  This is our home; we live here, we teach here, we work here, we were educated here, and we want to give back to our communities through the stories we tell with our moving bodies.”

You can participate in creating an interactive painting with Patty Rangel. Patty is passionate about ARTivism and empowering Indigenous Nations. She has been involved with Global Ecovillage Network since 2007.

 

Entertainment Café  will enliven the scene with special costumes. They specialize in performance  art European-style street theater

Wear your favorite chapeaux or try on one from our Hat Boutique.

We are grateful for all those supporters who contributed to our Silent Auction. 

More surprises in store.  Come and see…

 San Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN) and Synergy Arts Foundation (SAF) 
20th Anniversary Celebration 
Saturday, September 16th, 2023 6 pm to 10 pm
Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego North
1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas 92024

Purchase tickets  HERE    Volunteer  Sign Up Genius

SD Public Art County Wide

I have been attending the newly formed San Diego County Arts and Culture Commissioner meetings, which are open to the public in person or by zoom, and it has been so interesting to learn about the county’s policies on public art. (You can sign up to get emails about these meeting.) There is a document called F-23 Inclusion of Works of Art on Certain County Public Buildings which is sunsetting this December and the commission has the opportunity to make suggestions on revisions to that document.

Right now, a half of one percent of the budget for a new county building worth over $10 million is allocated for art works. That is not to exceed $500,000. Public art is deemed to be all sorts of mediums, but they must be able to be seen by the general public and not, for example, stuck away in a private office.

Director of the Department of General Services (DGS) plus the architect and one member chosen from the project-sponsoring department of the new building are on a committee to make decisions about the art chosen. They usually hire an outside art consultant and, in the past, have just used a few of these on a short list. There has not been an open call for art consultants to aid in this process. But the projects undertaken have been varied and excellent.

There was a good presentation made by the DGS explaining the existing policy and even answering, in advance, questions that might come up with this open discussion. But many more questions and suggestions were made. It was reassuring to see that the new office of arts and culture was involved in this process. An ad hoc committee has been formed to make suggestions which are due in mid-September.

Another interesting learning experience was to find out that this is not the only way that public art is generated at the county level. The County Parks and Recreation department have their own policy. Plus, there is a policy on private donations of art to the county. Funding can come from the state or federal government for projects as well as funding from private donors.

We absolutely  love this new series on KPBS called Art in the Open: Exploring public art across San Diego . They have covered some of the biggies in the SD County Civic Collection, but let them know by going to the link, which works you love that they might have left out. There are over 800 in the city of San Diego alone. In the last five years, $10 million in state and federal funds have come to us for public art. Grants for public art are not evenly distributed throughout the county. Unsurprisingly, the City of San Diego received the most funding from the California Arts Council, totaling $5.5 million between 2018 and 2020. That’s almost five times all the other cities in the county combined. For example, Chula Vista, the second largest city in San Diego County, only received $18,500.

We all hope that the new Commission for Arts and Culture might help to address this unbalance. But it is up to all of us to get involved.

Dan Adams: Time to Go

 

Creativity as a human attribute is relatively new as a concept starting after World War II. There was no IQ or SAT for creativity. DanAdams was a self-proclaimed formally untrained artist. But if creativity is making something original and if an artist is someone who thinks outside of the box, if the quality of creativity is judged by authenticity, then Dan Adams is the consummate artist. However, I mainly think about Dan and the life he led as work as play and play as work. There was seemingly no division.

Luckily, I have only been to a very few funerals. They are always going to be emotional roller coasters as we remember the good experiences and we regret lost future times. But we also learn more about the deceased as friends and family gather to rejoice a life.  We in the art world are especially lucky as the talent that infused our lives is on display, with singing and music and poetry as part of the tools of our trade.

Dan's love for Anna Zappoli Jenkins was a beacon and harbor for him. Her son gave full force to this during his memorial by quoting the famous song:

My funny valentine.
Sweet, funny valentine.
You make me smile
with my heart.

Your looks are laughable,
unphotographable,
yet you're my favorite work of art.

Is your figure less than Greek,
is your mouth a little weak,
when you open it to speak,
are you smart?

But don't change your hair for me,
not if you care for me.
Stay, little valentine, stay...

Each day is Valentine's Day.

Anna Zappoli Jenkins

Anna's son Pall Jenkins

Sarah Knapp

Pavel

Ted Washington

Chris Vannoy 

Philip Petrie

Jimmy Jazz

Michael Klam  

 

Dan and his dog picture by Majorie Pezzoli

Studio picture by Majorie Pezzoli

Chet Baker, one of Dan's favorites singing My Funny Valentine

New Spring Exhibitions

By Patricia Frischer with an assist from the SD Museum Council Lots of things conspired to keep me inside in March and April including nursing duties for my dear husband, lots of cold weather, an actual cold which is still plaguing me. So as a one time additional promotion from SDVAN, here is a preview of the May events. I am celebrating a big birthday in May and I hope to see some of these exhibitions if health  and pollen from May flowers permits. Happy Mother's Day to all of us who are mothers to the arts in San Diego.  Don't forget to check out our calendar of events for a large selections of workshop and our RAW column to read what's what in the arts including all the latest opportunities.   JP Wackenstedt, the 2023  Business of Art Scholarship recipient.  She will be exhibiting at the Mission Fed ArtWalk from April 29th & 30th, 2023 in Little Italy sponsored by SDVAN. More info: Sandi Cottrell The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library  in La Jolla is presenting  Marcos Ramírez ERRE Artist Talk on Tuesday, May 2. The artist will discuss his career, process, and recent projects, as well as his newest mural for Murals of La Jolla. ERRE was one of the first SD Art Prize recipients.  The reception begins at 5 PM, with the talk to follow at 6 PM. $20 nonmember, $15 member, $5 student.  More info: 858) 454-5872 Walk in Art, also known as First Thursdays in Hillcrest's Mural Alley on May 4, is held directly behind The Studio Door art gallery and studios. The gallery remains open until 9 PM while the festivities outside continue until 10 PM. Makers Arcade Spring Fair Mother’s Day Weekend at San Diego Made Factory on May 13-14 from 11 to 6 pm with 100 makers food, drink and music. The first 100 people to arrive each day will get a swag bag filled with handmade items! $6 online, $7 at the door. More info: Brittany Wiczek  619.817.5517 San Diego Public Library Art Gallery (330 Park Blvd. downtown) presents Good Natured opening on May 13th from 3 -5 pm and running until July 29th. This exhibition explores the laws of nature. Can we be both the problem and the solution? In North County, The San Dieguito Art Guild hosts their 26th annual Mother’s Day Weekend Art, Garden & Studio Tour. This is a self-guided, driving tour on Sat. May 13 / Sun. May14, from 10am to 4pm each day. Tickets are good for both days and homes may be re-visited. Tickets are $35 at the Off Track Gallery (937 South Coast Highway 101, Suite C-103, Encinitas), at OffTrackGallery.com, or at each home both days of the tour. For more info: SanDieguitoArtGuild.com, pr@sandieguitoartguild.com, 760-805-0434. The San Diego Watercolor Society proudly presents Climate of Change, juried by  Carolyn Dubuque. The water-based media exhibition runs April 30-May 27, 2023 at the Gallery in The ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station. The Opening Reception is Friday, May 5, 5-8pm with over 95 ready-to-hang original paintings plus refreshments and the fellowship of other art enthusiasts.  The paintings can also be viewed and purchased online.  SHELTER paintings by French artist Geoffroy Tobé at R.B. Stevenson Gallery in La Jolla opens on April 29. URPFLANZE painting by Donald Martiny at Madison Gallery in Solana Beach opens May 6. Wayfinding in Suspended Times paintings by Kathleen Kane-Murrell at Sparks Gallery downtown SD opening on May 7. Showing also their annual minis 2023 with over 60 works 12”×12” and under selling for $500 and under. The Glass Guild Art Glass show in Southern California is all about your local Art. You will see beautiful art representing many techniques, including blown, fused, torch, stained, cast, etched and mosaic art glass, all available and created by San Diego Glass Artists. May 13/14 from 10 am to 5 pm.  We love cross pollination in the arts. PHES Gallery  (in Carlsbad) invites you to the opening reception of Story Quilts May 21, 2 – 5 where you will have a chance to contribute ekphrastic poetry (poetry written in response to art). Submission accepted until June 11 and then prizes for poems awarded on June 25, 5-7. If you can’t get there, you can go online and then send poems to info@PHESgallery.com The Studio Door presents Works of Excellence a new exhibition of exceptional artists from across the county. Juried by local museum directors, Maria Mingalone - Executive Director of Oceanside Museum of Art and Megan Pogue - Executive Director of Timken Museum of Art as well as Sparks Gallery owner and curator Sonya Sparks. Reception May 20th.

SD Museum Council’s The Big Exchange gives members of participating organizations reciprocal FREE admission at more than 50 museums, historic sites, gardens, and more throughout San Diego County. It is coming May 1 – 18. Just use your museum membership card to visit more than 40 participating museums.  Here are some of the Museum Council's recommendations:

 

Opens May 13 San Diego Museum of Art Balboa Park Experience more than 100 works by two of the world’s most iconic modernists—American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and British sculptor Henry Moore. Opening May 13 at the San Diego Museum of Art, the groundbreaking exhibition O’Keeffe and Moore unites these artists for the first time and re-creates their studios with original contents of found objects, tools, and furnishings.  Learn more at a special symposium featuring an array of scholars on Friday, May 12 at 4 p.m. with in-person and virtual tickets available here. Get your in-person exhibition tickets here.   Fun Tip: Add some music to your experience with an Art of Elan concert inspired by O'Keeffe and Moore on Tuesday, May 16 at 7 p.m. Get tickets here. Pictured: Georgia O’Keeffe, Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory, 1938.

 

 

Post-Columbian Futurism ICA San Diego/Central Balboa Park See how the De La Torre Brothers' exhibition 𝙋𝙤𝙨𝙩-𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙢 has transformed ICA San Diego/Central into the site of an epic battle for the future of humankind. The exhibition is free and open every Thursday through Sunday at noon to 5 p.m. Learn more here.

 

 

25 Million Stitches Mingei International Museum Balboa Park In this exhibition 25 Million Stitches, guest curator and fiber artist Jennifer Kim Sohn looks for a way to make the unfathomable figure of refugees around our world more tangible by marking a displaced person with panels of hand-sewn stitches.   Each panel is unique, some documenting personal narratives, others showing solidarity with the refugees. Kim Sohn and her passionate team of volunteers crowd-sourced 2,300 stitchers from all 50 states and 37 countries worldwide. Get ticket information here. Fun Tip: Every fourth Thursday, join the Mingei sewing circle. On April 25 at 5 p.m., be inspired by 25 Million Stitches to create your own embroidered work. Register here.

 

 

ICA San Diego/North Narsiso Martinez & Edra Soto  Encinitas Here's your chance to explore the work of two inspiring artists at ICA San Diego/North in Encinitas. Oaxaca-born Narsiso Martinez (shown above) presents Rethinking Essential, tapping into his experiences as a farmworker. The exhibition includes powerful multimedia installations and runs through June 4. Artist in Residence Edra Soto presents Graft, featuring site-specific installations. You can speak with the artist and even contribute to her current project (inspired by the all-black Puerto Rican flag) at various dates through May. Get more information and tickets here.

 

 

Una Storia Segreta New Americans Museum Arts District Liberty Station During World War II, Italian Americans were designated as "enemy aliens" and subjected to discriminatory treatment, including forced relocation, internment, and surveillance. At its new exhibition Una Storia Segreta, the New Americans Museum explores this period of fear and uncertainty through powerful photographs, documents, and personal stories. Tip: Be among the first to see this new exhibition at the opening wine reception on April 27 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Register for this FREE event here.

 

 

La Jolla Historical Society In Praise of the Torrey Pine Open through May 28 Rare Trees & Sacred Canyons: Torrey Pines - San Diego's Symbol of Preservation is now on view at the La Jolla Historical Society. The exhibition chronicles important events in the history of what is known today as Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. San Diego's coast is one of only two places in the world where the endangered pine grows in its natural habitat. Learn more here. Fun Tip: Take the Secret Garden Tour for a peek behind the garden gates of La Jolla's loveliest secluded gardens on May 20. Get tickets here.

 

 

Comic-Con Museum Cover Story & The Animation Academy Balboa Park The magical world of animation is now open at Comic-Con Museum with The Animation Academy: From Pencils to Pixels. The interactive exhibition allows visitors to create, experiment, and explore animation and storytelling from traditional hand-drawn cels to exciting breakthroughs in stop-motion and CGI.   You can also check out Cover Story featuring the 50-year history of Comic-Con International with illustrations by some of the most famous comic book artists. Get your tickets here.