From the official press release:

MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL APPOINTS TWO TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO
COMMISSION FOR ARTS AND CULTURE

January 25, 2010 – San Diego, CA – Mayor Jerry Sanders announced the appointment of two new Commissioners to serve on the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. “We acknowledge and appreciate these individuals and their willingness to give their time, talent and expertise to serve the City of San Diego,” said Sanders.

Larry Baza is a professional arts administrator with more than 32 years experience in advocating for the arts at the local, state and national level. He was recommended by Councilmember Marti Emerald and will replace Claire Anderson.

Baza has served on the boards of various non-profit arts organizations and provided his expertise as a panelist for arts commissions and foundations. In his professional career, Baza has directed and managed San Diego arts organizations and businesses including Centro Cultural De La Raza, Sushi Performance and Visual Arts, Fingerhut Gallery and Community Arts of San Diego.

His wealth of knowledge and experience includes affiliations, consultancies, site visits and panel participation with various arts organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, California Association of Local Arts Organizations, Chicano Federation of San Diego County, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture and the San Diego Community Foundation.

Currently, Baza is a partner in Noel-Baza Fine Art Gallery in Little Italy. He lives in North Park.

Todd Figi has a long and distinguished career as an arts and culture patron, advocate, entrepreneur and civic leader. Through his career in the art, gift and design industries, he became affiliated with many business and trade organizations and was recognized as a leader and generous donor including being named Man of the Year by the Young Presidents Organization and Man of the Year in the Gift Industry by amfAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research.)

His lifelong interest in the arts led him to be an avid collector of Latin American paintings, drawings and sculpture from masters including Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Locally, he has served on the boards of the San Diego Museum of Man and the Museum of Contemporary Art, where he served as President from 2008-09.

Figi was nominated by Councilmember Kevin Faulconer and will replace Courtney Ann Coyle. He lives in La Jolla.

The mission of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture is to vitalize the city by integrating arts and culture into community life while supporting the region’s cultural assets and showcasing San Diego as an international cultural destination. For more information please call the Commission office at (619) 236-6778 or visit the Commission website at www.sandiego.gov/arts-culture.

Right on, Lynda!!
 

So, how is it that, when it comes to art education, California comes in dead last out of all 50 states – even below Guam? According to State Councilman Bobby Shriver, California’s public schools no longer even offer arts education. … If art means as much to you as it does to me, or even if you’re just exploring the art world for the first time, I invite you to turn off the boob tube, pry the Wii controllers from your kids’ hands, and drag them to a museum….

Read the original:
Lynda Resnick: Why Art Education Matters

San Diego’s North County Times published this great summary of the Museum Month opportunity in San Diego this February with discounted admissions to museums of all kinds across the county.

Museum Month, allowing visitors to most museums in the county to receive half-off regular admission prices, began in 1989, and is going stronger then ever. Last year, more than 19,000 visitors took advantage of Museum Month — double the number of visitors only four years ago.

 
While you can find full details online at www.sandiegomuseumcouncil.org, check out this list of museum participants– we love the near universal participation in this promotion for improving access to our cultural treasures at a time when more potential audience members than ever are feeling the pressure to reduce expenditures on entertainment and enrichment.
 

Participating museums and historical sites:

Adobe Chapel Museum

Barona Cultural Center & Museum

Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Bonita Museum & Cultural Center

California Center for the Arts, Museum (Feb. 13-28)

Coronado Museum of History & Art

Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum

Heritage of the Americas Museum

La Jolla Historical Society

LUX Art Institute

Maritime Museum of San Diego

Marston House

MCRD Command Museum

Mingei International Museum

Mingei International Museum North County

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego – Downtown

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego – La Jolla (Feb. 21-28)

Museum of Making Music

Museum of Photographic Arts

Oceanside Museum of Art

Old Town San Diego Historic Park

San Diego (Quail) Botanical Gardens

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

San Diego Air & Space Museum

San Diego Archaeological Center

San Diego Automotive Museum

San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum

San Diego Historical Society Museum & Research Archives

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

San Diego Museum of Art

San Diego Museum of Man

San Diego Natural History Museum

Tijuana Estuary Visitors Center

Timken Museum of Art

USS Midway Museum

Veteran’s Museum & Memorial Center

Water Conservation Garden

Whaley House

Women’s History Museum & Education Center

 
Way to go, San Diego museums and cultural institutions!

Thank you again, Los Angeles Times Culture Monsters:

Here's the latest installment in the courtship of Eli Broad — and the art museum he aims to plunk somewhere in the Los Angeles Basin, complete with big-name architecture, a spiffy $200 million endowment and the 2,000 works of contemporary art held by his Broad Art Foundation.

Downtown L.A. is officially making a play, courtesy of the Grand Avenue Authority, which today authorized negotiations with Broad toward a possible deal that would wrest the museum from Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, which are also in the running.

After a closed session today of the Grand Avenue Authority, L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry, a member of the joint city-county authority that's overseeing development of vacant land and parking lots in the heart of downtown's arts district, said it will deploy a negotiating team “to proceed with discussions with the Broad Foundation to consider his proposal and reach a mutual agreement.”

The Grand Avenue project, of which Broad himself has been a leading advocate, is considered the centerpiece of downtown's revitalization. Designed by Frank Gehry, it includes two towers, condos, hotel rooms and a shopping center….

Regular readers know that this is one of my favorite art related blogs for its deep thoughtfulness and uncommercial concerns in discussing the modern museum experience. Rock on, Museum 2.0!

One of my favorite theoretical constructs is “social objects” –the idea that the most consistent social and dialogue experiences are mediated through shared experience of artifacts, stories, or images.
 
In 2005, Jyri Engestrom coined the term “social objects” and the related “object-centered sociality” in the context of designing successful online social networks, and I’ve been applying the idea in the physical design of exhibits. The basic idea is that by providing tools for people to discuss and share objects, they can come together in collective experience.
 
In a physical setting, I’ve found that successful social objects tend to be provocative, relational, active, or personal. Dogs and stuck elevators are social objects. Exhibits that visitors point at or photograph themselves with are social objects. Exhibits that ask visitors to work together or compete are social objects. Social objects help us connect with others, and they become focal points for conversations with friends and strangers alike.
 
Today, a colleague introduced me to a different description of social objects, one that comes from the world of poetry instead of technology. The term is “the third thing”…..

Continue reading here:
A Poetic Take on Social Objects: The Third Thing

Are you free from 5-7pm tonight in San Diego? Because both branches of the Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla and downtown are– read more about the monthly MCASD open house on the MCASD website.

From the official press release:
Movers & Shakers 2: Who’s Who in the San Diego Visual Arts World
Local Artists Portray Local VIPs

Reception: Thursday, Jan 21 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
Show continues until Saturday, Feb 6, 2010
Art Expressions Gallery: 2645 Financial Court, Suite C, SD, 92117
Exhibition hours: Monday – Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm
Info: Patricia Frischer 760.943.0148 or Patricia Smith 858.270.7577

Visit the Movers and Shakers website for Artists and Movers and Shakers biographies as well as VIP views of their visions for the future of the visual arts in San Diego in Part One and Part Two of this project. The website is sponsored by SDVAG. Part Two will be completed by January of 2010 and on display at Art Expressions Gallery. We are delighted to present a Catalog of Portraits of Part Two.

List of Artists with Movers and Shakers 2

James Aitchison – Anita Edman, Director, Solana Beach City Hall Gallery
Joseph Bennett – Irène de Watteville , Board member Synergy Arts Foundation and Tile Heritage Organization
Nancy Bergmann – Carolyn S. Mickelson, Chair of the City of Oceanside Arts Commission, Vice-President of Oceanside Museum of Art, President, Creative Designs, Inc.
Jenifer Broomberg- Ian Ashley
Ashley Blalock – Carol McCusker, Ph.D., Curator of Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
Alberto Caro – Ernest Silva Professor of Visual Art, University of CA, San Diego
Josue Castro – Deborah Klochko , Director, Museum of Photographic Arts
Petyr Cirino – Mollie Kellogg , Coordinator, UU Art Guild and Bard Hall Gallery
Renee Corwin – Dottie Stanley, President, Patrons of the Prado
Marianela de la Hoz – Pierrette Van Cleve, Director, Van Cleve Fine Art
Mireille des Rosiers – Sharon L. Gorevitz, Producer, Talmadge Art Show and Corporate Development Executive, KPBS, Steven Nossan, Director, Front Porch Gallery and Creative Director, Studio Masern Claire Slattery Vice Chair, Board of Directors, San Diego Art Institute
Ellen Dieter – Andrea Chamberlin, San Diego Art Department, Tim Field, President & CEO, San Diego Art Institute, Kerstin M. Robers, Director of Admin, San Diego Art Institute
Max Dolberg – Jerry Waddle, Ducky Waddle’s Emporium
Shahla Dorafshan – Andrea Chamberlin, San Diego Art Department, Tim Field, President & CEO, San Diego Art Institute, Kerstin M. Robers, Director of Admin, San Diego Art Institute
Renee Bonorand Fleming – Ron Jessee, Visual Arts Coordinator, Region 9 VAPA Lead, San Diego County Office of Education
Will Gibson – Abraham P. Ordover, Owner The Ordover Galleries, Solana Beach/SD Natural History Museum
Vero Glezqui – Rachel Teagle, Executive Director of The New Children’s Museum
Brian Goeltzenleuchter – Teri Sowell , Director of Exhibitions and Collections, Oceanside Museum of Art
Michael C. Gross – James Skip Pahl – Director, Oceanside Museum of Art
José Alfredo Gutierrez – Jimenez Julio Rodríguez Ramos and Cecilia Ochoa V. Co-Director, Entijuanarte
Michèle Guieu – Lynn Susholtz, Owner, Stone Paper Scissors and Art Produce Gallery
Becky Guttin – Ron Newby , Curator, The Bronowski Art & Science Forum
Norma Brown Hill – Erika Torri, J oan & Irwin Jacobs Executive Director of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
Georgia Hoopes – Robert C. Wright, Founding Member Wright & L’Estrange
Suda House – Jennifer Spencer
Jeffery Laudenslager – Patricia Frischer, coordinator, San Diego Visual Arts Network
Ron Lemen – Sebastian Capella, Master teacher
Vanessa Lemen – Jim Gilliam, Arts Administrator, City of Encinitas
Mary Margaret – Paul Vauchelet
Kelly Mellos – Debra Turner-Emerson, MBA, Executive Director, St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center
Richard Allen Messenger – Andrea Chamberlin, San Diego Art Department, Tim Field, President & CEO, San Diego Art Institute , Kerstin M. Robers, Director of Admin, San Diego Art Institute
Irina Negulescu – Sandi Cottrell, Managing Director of Mission Federal ArtWalk and Art Walk on the Bay
Herb Olds – Mark-Elliott Lugo, Library Curator, San Diego Public Library/Visual Arts Program
Stathis Orphanos – Charles Bronson, Vista Art Foundation
Julio Orozco – Luis and Gerda Ituarte, Consejo Fronterizo de Arte y Cultura (COFAC)/Border Council of Arts and Culture
Tony Peters – Patti and Coop Cooprider, art collectors and advocates
Lee Puffer – Karen McGuire, Curator of Exhibitions, City of Carlsbad’s William D. Cannon Art Gallery
Deanne Sabeck – Ted Washington, Pruitt Igoe and Puna Press
Cheryl Sorg – Angela Carone, Arts and Culture Producer at KPBS
Jennifer Spencer -Suda House
Dottie Stanley – Vicky DeLong , Executive Director Bonita Museum & Cultural Center
Michael Steirnagle – Joanna Bigfeather
Kim Treffinger – Gerrit Greve, Arts for Healing and Board Member, Synergy Art Foundation
Fritzie Urquhart – Joni Miringoff , Co-Founder of ArtSplash
Brian Weisz – Kathy Rubesha, Board Chairperson, California Center for the Arts Escondido
NC Winters – Melissa Inez Walker, Director, Distinction Gallery and Artist Studios

This happened two days ago, but its worth a mention given the circumstances and the quick response of the art community to do something of immediate benefit– nice work, LA! (Thanks again, Los Angeles Times) Culture Monsters:

Eleven Los Angeles art galleries are coming together tonight to hold an auction intended to help victims of the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake.

The silent auction will take place at the Mandrake, located near Culver City, starting at 7 p.m. Promoters of the event said all funds raised will go directly to the Red Cross and are 100% tax-deductible. Bidding on items will start as low as $100.

Participating galleries will auction off work by emerging and mid-career artists from around the U.S. The galleries include: Zach Feuer Gallery, Kim Light/LightBox, Honor Fraser Gallery, Patrick Painter Inc, Ooga Booga, Kinkead Contemporary, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, Robert Berman Gallery, Marc Richards Gallery, Kopeikin Gallery and Cherry and Martin Gallery.

Thank you again, Los Angeles Times Culture Monsters:

Several museums and art institutions, including the Orange County Museum of Art, are saying that the Judith Rothschild Foundation has failed to make good on 17 grants awarded for 2009.

The total amount of money in question reportedly amounts to more than $100,000. Some of the arts organizations have filed a formal complaint to the New York attorney general’s office.

A spokeswoman for OCMA said today that it has received a letter from the foundation stating that the grant money will be paid. The museum added that its grant from the foundation was for $4,000 and is intended to go toward costs associated with the works of Florence Miller Pierce in an exhibition titled “Illumination”…..

Read the rest online at LA times Culture Monsters