Making the Most of Being a San Diego Resident

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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Why Don't You Spend the Afternoon Becoming More Cultured...

My sister recently visited beautiful San Diego and being the good hostess I am, I had a full itinerary planned. One of the days we ventured to the gorgeous Balboa Park. If you live in San Diego and have not taken advantage of this miraculous place, you have to be crazy. Balboa Park has so much to offer--museums, wonderful gardens, plays, events, history, and the list goes on. You could spend a day just walking around the beautiful park.

We decided to venture into the San Diego Museum of Art (http://www.sdmart.org/) because they were doing a exhibit on portraits that I really wanted to see. What a diverse and interesting museum, especially for the price ($12 for adults and $8 for students)! The magnificent architecture is a perfect home for the incredible art that lives inside of it. Although all collections seen at this museum are breath-taking, I want to focus on the two that stood out the most to me.

First, my sister and I explored the collection of Calder jewelry. Alexander Calder (1898-1976) is a fabulous American sculptor who created unique, and not necessarily practical, pieces of work. The museum offers a glimpse at Calder's incredible, but lesser-known works of art. Most of the jewelry seen in this collection was made from household items or material easily found such as brass, steel, or shards of glass, and were given to family, friends, and especially his wife. His bohemian and whimsical shapes, often inspired by nature, are also shown in photographs around the exhibit on famous people such as Angelica Huston.

The second collection that deserves mention is Richard Avedon's "Portraits of

Power." Being a fan of photography in general, this collection is what lured me into the Museum of Art. Avedon (1923-2004) used his photography career to create controversial portraits of political figures as well as leaders in media, industry, military and corporate America. What is brilliant about Avedon's minimalist portraits is the ability to capture each subjects' personality through poses and expressions. This collection brings to life what was once a intense time in politics.

Interested in seeing what Balboa Park has to offer? Visit their website: http://www.balboapark.org/

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