Oceanside for Art, Music & Goodbyes

Oceanside is one of those places for me and when there are new exhibits, Oceanside Museum of Art is a must-visit detour.
Today, there were three new exhibits we were very excited to see.
Hands On Design pays homage to the rich craft traditions that flourish in San Diego and celebrates the skilled hands and creative minds of the Allied Craftsman of San Diego.
This juried exhibition presents work that exemplifies the diverse materials, expertise, and strength of creativity of these Craftsman, the oldest professional organization of craft artists in Southern California, in addition to contributing to a broader community appreciation of contemporary craft. Wow, I'd say!





I wish I could write about each of these amazing works of art. You'll just have to get to OMA before the exhibition closes in August.
I do have to mention Judith Christensen's Definitions and Descriptions. I mean it's crafted from coffee filters! According to her artist statement, "What we do every day matters. Every day I have my morning coffee, scroll through the news, then empty my coffee grounds into the compost, keeping my coffee filter to create another page for this installation."
She continued, "Communication also matters. Many of the words we use to talk about the environment are 'loaded,' carrying associations beyond the word's actual meaning. 'Coal' to an environmentalist can connote something quite different than what 'coal' implies to a coal miner. When these associations are very disparate, communication is difficult to impossible. As I began to question my own preconceptions and associations, I felt it was essential to start at the most basic level of communication, word definitions. And that is what each of the coffee filters does. One week I focused on botany, another on passive solar architecture, or physics, or chemistry. So many disciplines contribute to our understanding of caring for this Earth we inhabit."


Several works encouraged us to "Broaden Your Experience". I loved being allowed to touch stuff. When does that happen in an art museum? Fun!



How about Mary Cale Wilson's Rug. She wrote, "In this project, I am exploring the interplay between contradictions and dualities. I am particularly intrigued by opposites such as hard and soft, welcoming and unwelcoming, and fragile yet sturdy."
..."My creative work thrives on defying norms by using functional materials in unconventional ways. I aim to provoke thoughtful contemplation by transforming ceramics into representations of materials like rugs. This process reflects the notion of memory and captures moments frozen in time."




Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! by David Fobes evoked nostalgia in a way. He took a vintage paint-by-number painting and turned it into a collage. According to David, "The concept of this work is a simple manipulation of the original serene paint-by-number image of two fishermen turns a peaceful moment into one of surprise and trepidation. I fear we are in a delusion of serenity in this time of climate change, and by the time we finally take serious notice, we will be in the whoa! moment."

..."Collage has been an ongoing part of my practice since I was at least twelve or thirteen years old. I have developed a unique process of working with these very delicate paint-by-number works from the 1950s and 60s. To achieve the desired result requires a high degree of patience and skill." So dang creative!
"Founded in the mid-20th century, the Allied Craftsman of San Diego emerged as a collective dedicated to preserving and advancing traditional crafts. This exhibition is a testament to their commitment to artisanship and the timeless artistry of working with one's hands. The wide range of works and stories presented here highlight the vibrant and dynamic crafts community present in San Diego." –Juror Guusje Sanders
COASTAL EXPOSURES: 10 years of Photography at The Osider Magazine. For over a decade, this awesome, local publication has documented and told the stories of the Oceanside community in a photography-based print magazine. Co-founder and professional photographer Zach Cordner has curated the finest and most unique images of the city of Oceanside for this exhibition. The backbone to each issue is the fine photography showcased within the pages, shot by an eclectic group of Oceanside photographers who tirelessly document the city’s rapidly changing beauty. This is a collection of images that stand out over the last decade.
I was drawn to a kind of 'shrine' to Bruce, the Trench Coat Guy. Surf towns are full of characters. Spend enough time in any beachside community and you’ll surely find them, especially in one with the kind of waves that makes people want to set roots and stay for a while.  Oceanside’s Bruce Parker is one of this surf town's staples.
Retired USPS employee, 73 year old Parker has been patrolling the Oceanside pier for years, donning his trademark trench coat with a camera and phone in hand. He posts videos from the beach, reporting on conditions and spreading good vibes on the internet. His coat is not just a gimmick. It weighs as much as 75 pounds when wet but that hasn’t stopped Bruce. In fact, it’s a necessary piece for him to enjoy the ocean as much as he always has. He adopted the look because of a battle with melanoma. I have never met Bruce but because of this exhibit, I hope to one day.
There were dozens of images documenting the true uniqueness of this seaside oasis. Fun stuff!


VING SIMPSON: INSIDE OUT: Art from the Oceanside Studio, 1994-2023. I was delightfully surprised by this colorful mix of symbolic forms, representations of abstract thought, and expressions of shared universal mysteries which are at the heart of the work by Ving Simpson.
Created for more than twenty years at the artist's Oceanside home studio, this installation is a "nonlinear representation of years of creative artistic endeavors, processes, and materials crafted with primal and soulful qualities. A central focus of the gallery is a recreation of the shelves that lined the artist’s studio, displaying an array of small, emblematic sculptures. The objects and compositions are minimal in form, often consisting of repeating patterns in rows and columns. They are constructed from a variety of traditional and non-traditional materials including silver, bronze, wood, metal, tar paper, found objects, and glazed and unglazed clay bodies."





After all the incredible art, we had a meetup with incredible local, Brady at Stone Brewing Tap Room.
Toe tapping music was provided by the fantastically entertaining Johnny Deadly Trio. With influences based in American roots, surf, dark blues, jazz, and wild rockabilly, this is a group I'd go out of my way to see perform again. WOW.
"For they (art and music) are not the thing itself;
they are only the scent of a flower we have not found,
the echo of a tune we have not heard,
news from a country we have never yet visited."
-C. S. Lewis

posted under |

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Get new Blog Posts to your inbox. Just enter name and email below.

 

We respect your email privacy

Blog Archive


Recent Comments