You mean there are more perks than just living in San Diego? Yep, you even get free admission to cool places. Every Tuesday Balboa park offers free admission to a variety of their museums. Each Tuesday the museums rotate. Today, the following museums were eligible for free admission: San Diego Art Institute, Mingei International Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Man, and the Japanese Friendship Garden. Because I was just at SDMA, I decided to go into the San Diego Art Institute (SDAI), the Museum of Man, and the Mingei Museum.
The SDAI is also known as the Museum of the Living Artist because it showcases works from local artists. The collections rotate about every 4-6 weeks. I previously did not know San Diego had a museum to showcase emerging local artists. The pieces of work were not only phenomenal, but also diverse. There are many different mediums on display and different styles of art. My favorite being Neil Greenstein's pieces done with wood bas-relief or bronze sculpting. I thought his work was so full of life. He captured intimate and personal snapshots of things that are simple, but the most important things we experience as human beings; for example, a dad teaching his child to ride a bike, holding hands, or two lovers embracing. The SDAI provides a little insight to what people around us in San Diego are creating and I believe it is so wonder
ful to get to see that.
The Museum of Man has always been one of my favorite museums in Balboa Park because I love being able to see snippets of people's life that existed thousands or even millions of years ago. Like most of the museums in Balboa Park, the bottom floor rotates it exhibits and the top floor remains basically the same. The ground floor explored Latin America as well as South America. Although these were interesting, the permanent exhibits are what really intrigue me. The "Footsteps Through Time" exhibit explores 4 million years of human evolution. The exhibit is complete with statues, hand-on pieces, and great visuals. I find it incredible the information they can gain from a piece of a lower jaw! And to believe our species has come this far amazes me. To look back on what they believe to be our ancestors is simply mind-blowing. They even go into what the future might hold for human beings. Such an exciting exhibit!
The last museum I explored was the Mingei International Museum, which
showcases cultures from all over the world. The current collections are "Indi
a Adorned," "Masters of Mid-Century California Modernism," and "Sonabai." My favorite collection was the California Modernism. They displayed bright colored decorative art made by Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman. The picture on the left is an example of one of my favorite pieces (California Poppies, Designed for Era Industries, Los Angeles, produced in Kashmir, India, 1970)
So for a day of free activities, I would say it was pretty amazing. It is all about taking advantage of what San Diego has to offer and creating your own experience. What did you do to today to make the most of San Diego?
Links
- For calendar of Museums offering free admission on Tuesday: http://www.balboapark.org/calendar/detail.php?EventID=370
- SDAI http://www.sandiego-art.org/
- Museum of Man http://www.museumofman.org/
- Mingei Museum http://www.mingei.org/
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