Mike Maxwell’s art collection demands a different ratio than hanging one or two paintings per wall.
Nearly every inch of Maxwell’s East County home is covered with art, much of it acquired in trades for his own pieces. You can see some of his collection for yourself, including pieces from some of Maxwell’s mentors, Shepard Fairey and Mike Giant.
Previously in our “What’s On Your Wall?” series, we’ve visited artist Kim MacConnel and gallery director Ben Strauss-Malcolm.
You’re reading the Arts Report, our weekly rundown of news and stories about arts and culture from all over town. The links below come from our own arts blog, Behind the Scene, and other publications around San Diego and beyond. What do you think of it? Is it too long? Too short? And how about the mix of stories we’re telling in the arts blog? We’re coming up on six months and we’d love to hear from you.
Posing and sculpting:
• Federal authorities charged a Rancho Santa Fe woman in connection with a fraud scheme last week, saying she posed as a “countess” and a Guggenheim representative, the Union-Tribune reports. (U-T)
• What’s in a chainsaw-wielding sculptor’s fridge? An Encinitas art institute brings in artists for month-long residencies a few times a year. We showed up on the first day that artist Alison Saar got to Lux Art Institute to catch her while she settles in for a month of work on a sculpture: a five-and-a half foot tall wooden sculpture clad in copper.
• “Public art is where the people get together.” Robert Storr, dean of Yale University’s art school, was in town to give a lecture Friday, and he praised UCSD’s Stuart Collection of outdoor sculpture as “exceptionally good.” (U-T)
• Just for including the word “boustrophedonically,” (meaning alternating between right to left and left to right), I have to link to Richard Gleaves’ post about Jenny Holzer’s neon sign on the front of the downtown campus of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Gleaves’ blog for the U-T tells the stories of the public art in San Diego’s landscape.
Dancing in San Diego:
• Ballet isn’t a kind art form for many dancers once they’re out of their 20s. But local dancer Maxim Tchernychev “is about to mount his own challenge to ballet’s age barrier,” writes Janice Steinberg for the U-T. Tchernychev, who turned 40 last week, will dance his first lead role in nearly a decade next weekend, as Romeo in San Diego Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet.” (U-T)
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• UCSD’s combined dance/theater program “may be the only graduate program in the country focused on the hybrid form of dance theater.” (U-T)
• And UCSD’s drama and dance department founder is 87-year-old Arthur Wagner, who’s lived much of his fascinating life in the theater. (La Jolla Light)
Life in the Spotlight:
• Some Broadway heavy-hitters are making the hit film “Little Miss Sunshine” into a musical, which will have its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in a little over a week. The theater opened a rehearsal last week to media and I went with NBC San Diego to bring you a sneak peek for Behind the Scene TV.
• What’s it like to sit onstage while the more-sordid details of your mom’s early career are explored in a musical? We asked blues singer Candye Kane’s son, drummer Evan Caleb. “I’m not like most kids,” the 30-year-old said, “and we’re not like most families.”
• The third-largest theater in San Diego County is Lamb’s Players. Facing a deficit of $400,000 last year (its annual budget is $4 million), the company laid off five staff members and sold some property. The U-T’s James Hebert weaves the story of the “spiritually inspired” Lamb’s, at a transition point after four decades. (U-T)
Old Gigs and New:
• A local artist, art teacher and mom made a line of organic art supplies and sells them at the Leucadia Farmers Market. (Encinitas Patch)
• UCSD’s Steven Schick, a renowned contemporary percussionist and conductor who spoke in that brain/music forum we featured recently, has been appointed artistic director for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. You can read more about his new gig in the ensemble’s press release. The U-T interviewed Schick late last week about the importance of composer Iannis Xenakis, whose piece the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus played this weekend.
• Gustavo Dudamel re-upped his contract as the conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic through the 2018-19 season (LAT).
• “Drawing and learning how to draw is very important in my work. When it comes to creating a finished piece, the drawing is the most important part,” local illustrator Matt K. Smith tells the Drawn In Black blog in a Q&A about his work. (Drawn in Black)
• One of our arts insiders, local singer Patricia Minton, dropped us a line to tell us about the artsy crowd that used to converge on the Vons at 30th Street and Howard Avenue in North Park late at night, once rehearsals for theater and choirs were out for the evening.
Please contact Kelly Bennett directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531 and follow her on Twitter: @kellyrbennett.