Blogs

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A talented team of staff and volunteers has been working to install the second annual "Sculpture in the Gardens" exhibition at Quail Botanical Gardens. This morning (August 19th, 2009) Kent Kraber and his glorious 2009 Urban Tree "Imagine if there were dragons" was installed into a beautiful leavy gardenscape just across from the Bamboo Garden. The 9' tall copper dragon has a swiveling head and golden eyes, beautifully wrought and bursting with character. The dragon and the Garden transformed when the piece was set into the ground in that setting. The following are a few photos of the installation. For more information on the exhibition, click here.

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Have you ever asked yourself the question“what is art?” I mean have you really sat down and pondered this question thathas occupied the attention of thinkers for thousands of years? If you’re like me, you may have spent many hours debating the definition with friends, drinking beers, raising your voice, even crying. But, perhaps I simply disclose too much about my own personal tendencies. Nevertheless, I’m not the only one who obsesses on this and, if you are reading our website, it’s likely you atleast have formed some opinions on the subject.

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What makes art important? Why do we do it? Why do we look at it? What happens when time passes, times change, life moves on... what remains to remind us of what came before?

I am a believer in the value and importance or art because it is what makes us human. Like fish swimming through water, we swim through the culture of our time and place without being aware we are doing it. The art history of our particular moment is being created around us. Like the fish in water, it is sometimes difficult to be aware of and to respect the importance of what is happening around us. 

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Last night's Ray at Night art walk was a buzz with beautiful, bright, strolling art lovers. The popular North Park art walk draws hundreds of people every second Saturday. Gustaf Rooth and Anjela Piccard, whose gallery Planet Rooth is the heartbeat of the street, hosted the SDFAS - City Beat exhibition of "Lost + Found: The Prodigal Son in Art". CityBeat was present to take the ballots and show their support as art lovers cast their vote for the piece that they thought best interpreted the theme, or moved them most, or that they simply enjoyed the most. 336 votes were cast - here they are:

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Big thanks to everyone who came out to Lost + Found: The Prodigal Son in Art on Sunday afternoon. Ann Hoehn's lecture was truly engaging. My sincere thanks go out to our gallery partner Planet Rooth Studios, whose valiant owner Gustaf Rooth - with gallery manager Anjela Piccard - have contributed so much to the North Park art scene.

Above - SDFAS Executive Director with lecturer Ann Hoehn, Planet Rooth Gallery owner Gustaf Rooth, and artist and gallery manager Anjela Piccard.

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Wall Street Journal

April 17, 2009

By ALEXANDRA ALTER

Last
month, artists Michael Di Liberto and Sunia Boneham moved into a
two-story, three-bedroom house in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood,
where about 220 homes out of 5,000 sit vacant and boarded up. They
lined their walls with Ms. Boneham's large, neon-hued canvases, turned
a spare bedroom into a graphic-design studio and made the attic a
rehearsal space for their band, Arte Povera.

The couple used to live in New York, but they were drawn to
Cleveland by cheap rent and the creative possibilities of a city in
transition. "It seemed real alive and cool," said Mr. Di Liberto.

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Whether you are religious or not one can't avoid the emotional pull of Spring - the sense of renewal, regeneration, the excitement and readiness for something new. We tend to feel good, and begin to shed the gloom of winter. There is optimism in the air.

We are feeling very optimistic here at the San Diego Fine Art Society. Lecturer and curator Anne Hoehn has agreed to offer a lecture exploring the artist interpretations of the Parable of the Pridigal Son throughout art history to the present time. Along with this lecture will be an exhibition of works of art on this theme by Contemporary San Diego artists.

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ArtExpo New York is a phenomenon. It is a serious trade show for the art business community. Its interesting for the general public I'm sure, but this is where the rubber hits the road for artist career advancement. Galleries, publishers, agents and art entrepreneurs of all kinds are scouting for whats hot and who's hot.

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We highly recommend this TED Talk segment....

About this talk

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the
impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the
radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of
us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

About Elizabeth Gilbert

The author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and
hard about some large topics. Her next fascination: genius, and how we
ruin it.

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February 15th, 2009 - The female nude inspires musicians, artists and poets as much as it does lovers. Last night's lecture, "History
of the Female Nude", gave us a chance not only to examine and
discuss the changing role of women in art history over time and across cultures, but to look at original works of art by living
San Diego artists and think about them in the context of art history.

This is one of the many crucial roles of art - and why regional fine art is so important - to serve as a document and a voice for the time and place from which it comes. Depicting the female nude can't help but illuminate our subconscious attitudes
and feelings and bring them to light where they can be examined
with the conscious mind. This is how art helps us see and understand
the world around us.