The mural revamping effort in Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park continues to catch attention. And the characters painting there are often as colorful as the famous murals themselves.
Like Felipe Adame, who’s repainting the ceiling of the park’s “kiosko” bandstand from a wheelchair decades after the first time he painted it. Adame was attacked in the 1990s while painting a mural in Mexico City and his injuries led to rheumatoid arthritis, according to a KPBS television piece this week.
But he’s not feeling sorry for himself. It’s easier to wheel around than to stand and paint, he told KPBS. “I can still see and I can still paint. Thank God for that.”
We featured the revitalization effort last week with interviews, photos and video if you missed it.
Artist Todd Stands helped add new paint to one of the 18 murals getting revamped. Stands says he considered it humbling to paint amid “such a great collection of history” and to be included “in the impressive roster of artists that have worked there.” (Agitprop blog)
You’re reading the Arts Report, our weekly compilation of the region’s arts and culture news.
In the Family
• Two of famous playwright Horton Foote’s children are currently performing in The Old Globe’s production of his play, “Dividing the Estate.” Onstage, the characters portray a family’s “talons-baring tussle” over thousands of acres in Texas. “But behind the scenes,” writes the L.A. Times, “the story line is just the opposite. There, the agenda is a family’s unified, concord-filled effort to keep a theatrical legacy intact, celebrate it and carry it forward.” (U-T San Diego and LAT)
• Several La Jolla galleries synchronized their watches this weekend and opened their doors for new exhibits on the same Saturday night. The team-up from Joseph Bellows, R.B. Stevenson, Quint Contemporary and Scott White Contemporary art galleries drew a crowd. (CityBeat and U-T)
Were you there? What’d you think of the cooperative effort? Leave us a note.
• Lots of local theater luminaries are working with La Jolla Playhouse for its upcoming “Car Plays” — mobile pieces of theater that play out in motor vehicles. (U-T)
• Local musician A.J. Croce, son of the late Jim Croce, performed a tribute concert to his dad’s legacy as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. He’s planning a tribute tour this summer. (U-T)
Happening Here
• This week’s events include symphonic samba, a reprise of a provocative modern dance performance and a dark comedy opening about a man searching for his missing hand. (North County Times)
• Need legal help? A program at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law aims to give free legal help to artists and art organizations. (Mo’olelo blog)
• The attorney whose penchant for drama we featured recently wrote in to say this past weekend’s “Hamlet” shows sold out. “The entire run was the best theatrical experience I’ve had,” he wrote me.
• Feel targeted? The Athenaeum, Lux Art Institute and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego all have specific programs for patrons under the age of 45.
MCASD’s Jeanna Yoo says she hopes younger patrons stick around. “We engage them now through Avant Garde and down the road they’ll be more committed to the arts, moving up the ladder in terms of their philanthropic involvement.” (La Jolla Light)
• The latest praise for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s big “Phenomenal” show (see our photos) comes from national arts writer Tyler Green.
The show “is a thrilling triumph,” he says, revealing “the depth and wow-factor of the ocular confusion created by artists out of light, space, often a range of plastics and sometimes a few other materials too.”
The La Jolla piece of the three-venue exhibition will be closing next Sunday. If you’ve procrastinated going, now’s the time to catch the show.
• Bloodthirsty opera fans may find it handy that the San Diego Opera published the recipes for the three types of blood (two are edible!) used in the opera’s upcoming production of “Salome.” (Aria Serious? blog)
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Kelly Bennett is the arts editor for VOSD. You can reach her directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531. Or you can keep up with her on Twitter @kellyrbennett or on Facebook.