Geographic areas served: Southern California
Programs:
The California Center for the Arts, Escondido's Center Museum curates and presents on average, eight exhibitions annually showcasing Southern California’s established and emerging contemporary artists, while occasionally incorporating international artists who have great impact in this region. The Museum will publish its 14th catalogue this season, Patricia Patterson: Here and There (February 12 – July 4, 2011).This year’s schedule:
Exhibition Round 1, August 14 – December 31, 2010 Muerte de todos ofrenda de participación (Death Comes to Everyone, a Participatory Offering), November 1 – 8, 2010: Center staff and local high school students come together to plan and conduct a free, unique, fun, and educational Day of the Dead event for the entire community.
The 2010/2011 Center Museum Exhibition Season opens with Leveled: an Interactive Experiment in Art (August 14 – December 31, 2010) which is an innovative, evolving exhibition of cutting edge installations of four local artists. Wes Bruce, Doris Bittar, Imgram Ober and Marisol Rendon explore various interpretations of the word green – from ideas of hope, hunger, immigration and the environment to the psychology and life. Each of the four artists have their own gallery space to install their work. Taking leave from traditional roles, patrons are invited to interact with the artwork on display and alter it – whether adding drawings, paintings, or moving sculptures during the first two months of the exhibition. The purpose is to inspire interactions where reactions, ideas, and innovations of all involved parties are put on the same level. In the end, everyone will have had the opportunity to participate in new ways, giving them deeper insights and a more developed relationship with art.
The second exhibition, Patricia Patterson: Here and There (February 12 – July 4, 2011) is the first retrospective of a nationally recognized San Diego artist. Her theatrical installations and sumptuously painted snapshots offer a series of individual glimpses into the lives of others - facets of domestic and outdoor life on Inishmore (one of the Aran Islands located off the western coast of Ireland) and her home in Southern California. Considering the size of both staff and budget, it is not often that the Center Museum has access to an artist the caliber of Patterson and the ability to mount an exhibition of such scale or of such academic and art historical importance.
The Center Museum offers educational programs that deepen the audiences’ understanding and appreciation of the visual arts. Interactive Gallery talks and lectures are led by curators, scholars, and artists. Artist demonstrations feature one of the media from the exhibition and provides invaluable interaction between local artists and the community. Docents trained in the Visual Thinking Strategies method (an art teaching technique designed to increase participation and critical thinking skills) offer guided tours to develop the visual literacy of Museum patrons. Tours are customized for K-12 schoolchildren, college students, and adults. The K-12 tours include special interpretive hands-on art activities that meet California Visual and Performing Arts Standards. ArtSmart is a monthly program for parents/guardians and tots
