It’s Springtime in paradise as San Diego’s parks and gardens are at the peak of their natural beauty. This month, join us for exciting new exhibitions and special events all over San Diego County – PLUS the exciting return of an iconic La Jolla landmark! Here are a few of our favorites to add to your “must see” list!
GRAND RE-OPENING
MCASD La Jolla is Back (and Better Than Ever!)
The Museum of Contemporary Art has reopened its flagship location in La Jolla following a four-year, $105 million renovation and expansion. The Museum now features four times the gallery space, two levels of light-filled galleries, a public park, and new seaside terraces offering dramatic views of the Pacific Coast. Experience the new collection galleries, the special exhibition The Art of Niki de Sainte Phalle in the 1960s, architectural tours of the new building and more. For added fun, enjoy a picnic in the beautiful ocean-view Art Park.
SPECIAL EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS
Art Alive 2022 / The San Diego Museum of Art
Don’t miss one of San Diego’s most anticipated events of the year – Art Alive at The San Diego Museum of Art. The Museum will be in full bloom for this signature four-day event and annual exhibition with nearly 100 floral arrangements interpreting great works of art on view throughout the Museum. Tickets go fast, so get your tickets here.
NEW EXHIBITION
Surface Tension / Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA Central)
Surface Tension is an immersive multimedia exhibition that explores our relationship with ocean environments through its consumption, degradation and beauty. Global artists will share their vision of our oceans through unique video presentations. Divided into two sections, the exhibition presents six artists who explore both our connection to and resistance to oceans. Artists bring their unique cultural identity to envision the ocean from a global perspective rather than one that functions within a local ecosystem. Runs through June 19 at the ICA’s Balboa Park location.
NEW EXHIBITION
Campus Creatives: Featuring San Diego’s Fine Art Faculty
California Center for the Arts, Escondido
Campus Creatives is a new exhibition at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum featuring intriguing contemporary artworks in a range of mediums that highlight the talents of visual artists and educators from across San Diego’s colleges and universities. Included in the exhibition is the Emerging Artists Wall, featuring student artwork selected by faculty artists to represent each institution’s art department. On display now through May 15.
NEW EXHIBITION
Niki & Mingei and Fold, Twist, Tie
Mingei International Museum
Don’t miss two exciting new exhibitions at the Mingei International Museum. Twist, Fold, Tie features whimsical and sculptural paper hats made by self-taught artist, moses. The Niki & Mingei exhibition features the work of French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) in the context of Mingei’s mission, and more specifically, how it relates to craft and design.
NEW EXHIBITION
AfroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city
New Americans Museum
Now open is the much anticipated AfroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city at the New Americans Museum & Immigration Learning Center located in the Arts District of Liberty Station. LA Plaza explores the history and contemporary experiences of Afrolatinidad in Los Angeles through art, photographs, and personal objects. In the exhibition, visitors enter a recreated Afro-Latinx home and understand how this vibrant yet underrepresented community is central to Los Angeles culture. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays fro 10 a.m. to 4 p.m by appointment.
NEW EXHIBITION
Les Paul Thru the Lens
Museum of Making Music
The Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad is excited to announce its upcoming new exhibition, “Les Paul Thru the Lens.” This traveling photo exhibit celebrates the life and career of famed inventor, musician, and icon Les Paul. Beginning April 12, NAMM’s Museum of Making Music will host the exhibit. Learn more here, and come on by and see it!
MUSEUM RE-OPENING
Welcome Back, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum!
The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum has reopened to the public. The Museum, whose mission is to preserve and celebrate Chinese art, history and culture, is located in a historical mission-style building in downtown San Diego that was designed by Louis J. Gill, nephew and protégé of famed architect, Irving Gill. On April 23, you can join the museum for a special virtual lecture, “Do it Yourself: How to Find Your 2,600-Year-Old Written Chinese Family Roots” by Ambassador Elena Wachong.
FILM SHOWING
Coronado Historical Association’s The Dragon Painter
Join the Coronado Historical Association (CHA) and the Coronado Film Festival at 5 p.m. on April 13 for a special showing of The Dragon Painter (1919). This much-celebrated film was inducted into the prestigious National Film Registry in 2014. Despite being filmed in Coronado’s Japanese Tea Garden over 103 years ago, this black-and-white film will be screened for the first time in Coronado at the historic Village Theater. This silent film is accompanied by a complete score by Japanese-American composer Mark Izu. Run-time is 53 minutes and VIP tickets include a reception at CHA post-screening.
FILM PREMIERE
Vanguard Culture’s The History of Joy
Join Vanguard Culture on April 28 for the world premiere of The History of Joy at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. Inspired by the 8 pillars of joy outlined in The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Doug Abrams, the film invites viewers to take an unforgettable theatrical journey through moments of everyday magic and extraordinary possibility. Written by award-winning poet laureate nominee Gill Sotu, The History of Joy is a four-part series of cinematic performances inspired by real-life stories of struggle, beauty and triumph. Produced in partnership with The Rosin Box Project. The film will also be available for streaming on Vanguard’s YouTube channel.
More Favorites to Add to Your “Must See” List
Yolanda Lopéz: ‘Three Generations: Tres Mujeres’ (shown top) on view at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (downtown) through April 24. This series of nearly 8-foot tall charcoal drawings features her mother, grandmother and herself. The “Yolanda Lopez: Portrait of the Artist” exhibition closes this month, so make sure you catch this entire exhibition while you still can.
“Memory Traces: Artists Transform the Archive” (shown left) at the La Jolla Historical Society until May 15 considers the archive in its traditional function and reimagines it for contemporary times. The exhibition features seven San Diego artists, working across mediums, whose practices investigate memory, history, and how meaning is created from fragments of the past.
“Monet to Matisse: Masterpieces from the Bemberg Foundation” (shown center) is happening at the San Diego Museum of Art and features more than 60 works from masters of Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Fauvism, and Pointillism. This exhibition runs through August 7 and marks the first time the Bemberg Foundation’s Impressionism collection has traveled to California.
“Encounter: Photographs by Jed Fielding” (shown right) showing at the Museum of Photographic Arts now through September. Fielding’s in-your-face street portraiture will take viewers right into his subjects’ vivid lives. Working at close range, his portraits allow people to feel these intimate interactions, moving beyond traditional photojournalism into personal encounters.
