The Morning Report
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In the middle of the 20th century in American art, abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock and the great pop artists like Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg reigned supreme. Fine art was a man’s domain.
The Mingei, which has long championed craft in addition to fine art, just opened a brand new exhibition at the Central Library downtown. Presenting works culled exclusively from its permanent collection, “Crafting Opportunity” is a curated installation of design, furniture and textiles.
“I really wanted to bring out as much as I could — with our own collection — this idea of this being a movement that was open to women, when so many careers were just not as welcoming, in the arts in particular,” said curator Barbara Hanson Forsyth, “especially fine arts in the midcentury era, like abstract expressionist and pop art. Those were really closed off to women, very kind of macho, masculine movements. And women had a really hard time participating in them.”
This domestic design and crafting movement hit America when it was primed and ready for such a renaissance, said Forsyth, with housing and domestic spending on the rise, plus a renewed influx to higher education spurred by the GI bill.
“The housing boom post-war created a lot of demand, so there was a lot of opportunity to make a living, because there was a need to furnish all these homes,” said Forsyth. “And because the homes themselves were these tract homes — this was when the tract home came into being — people wanted to distinguish their homes with unique pieces.”
Post-war optimism not only thrust art and design into the middle class, it also provided a market for the types of pieces women had been already making.
“They’re oftentimes designing for the domestic sphere, and that was maybe less threatening,” Forsyth speculated.
When piecing together the exhibition, Forsyth noticed the prevalence of creative marriages. In one case, textile designer Berta Wright enlisted her husband, a trained chemist, to help make dyes and test fabrics to keep up with demand for her work.
In another, Ellamarie Woolley often worked with her husband, Jackson. Of the vividly colored sun mosaic acquired by the museum, Forsyth said, “She’s the only one who signed it, but he still might have worked on it. They’re a quintessential San Diego design couple.”
And, of course, there’s Ray and Charles Eames. Ray Eames’ fame was largely overshadowed by that of her husband during their working lives as well as posthumously, but their creativity and business came from an equitable partnership, with credit attributed to the pair rather than individuals. The Mingei’s exhibition includes several Ray and Charles Eames pieces, including one of their hallmark molded-wood chairs (“That chair was an absolute collaboration,” said Forsyth), and some design-based children’s toys.
Forsyth pointed out that Ray Eames is beginning to see the recognition she deserves. “But … people hear Charles and Ray Eames and they think men. It’s that simple.”
Forsyth pointed to the existence of some experimentation and counterculture departures from the movement’s functional origins, including a Marcia Lewis cape and clasp (“Maybe more Burning Man aesthetic than midcentury,” said Forsyth), and a Beatrice Wood sculpture, “The Superior Masculine Mind,” which makes a feminist and Dadaist statement with a male figure standing on a woman.
“On the one hand you do have these really functional pieces, but then you also had — starting in the ‘60s or maybe even a little earlier — is this movement that was coming out of the universities, with people feeling too constrained by making functional pieces and are really pushing, exploiting the medium to make art,” said Forsyth. “And in turn the pieces could appeal to a broader market than the edgier art. You can imagine a middle-class buyer just buying for their home.”
“Crafting Opportunity” is the newest exhibition from the Mingei during the major transformation of its Balboa Park home, which has displaced the organization since December. Several locations around the city, including Arts District Liberty Station and now the Central Library’s art gallery, have provided a home for exhibitions during the renovation.
It’s a silver lining. Getting the work of the museum out into the community is also one of the hopes for its transformation, too: Admission to the main floor will be free when the renovated museum opens in mid-2020.
- “Museums by the Yard” is an associated lunchtime lecture at the Central Library hosted by the Mingei on May 30, and focuses on textile designers of the era.
Coming of Age, Tap Flash Mobs and More News for the Culture Crowd
- MOPA screens “Alive Inside” on Friday as part of the five-week Coming of Age Film Festival, dedicated to “promoting, reinforcing and celebrating power of aging.” This week’s film delves into how music can work with dementia patients.
- When I read this piece about Balboa Park’s disrepair by California columnist Joe Mathews, I was torn between concern and Who does this big-city, out-of-town reporter think he is? Balboa Park is pretty and I won’t stand for this! And then back to concern again.
- Tap shoes are optional at a Civic Dance Arts-sponsored flash mob for National Tap Dancing Flash Mob Day this Saturday at Balboa Park. (But, if you do own tap shoes, and I hope you do, you’re likely to always be looking for an excuse to wear them out in public). Show up at 9:30 a.m. at the Recital Hall in the park to learn the moves.
- Art Produce hosts its next all-ages, pay-what-you-can “Make it Yourself” community workshop this Saturday, on mobile making.
- This weekend kicks off the eight-week Jewish Arts Festival at the Lipinsky Family Center, and here’s a primer on Yale Strom, composer, SDSU professor, Crawford High School alum and world-renowned kletzmer ethnographer. Strom’s work will be performed by the San Diego Ballet on Sunday. (U-T)
- Teatro Máscara Mágica, the longstanding theater company known for its annual “La Pastorela” Mexican Christmas production, plans to renovate an old San Ysidro church as its new home. (U-T)
- Loved that Weird Hues gallery in Chula Vista got cover-page attention on the latest CityBeat. And I also love this in-progress picture of those featured paintings by Fifi Martinez, which were created on the spot (via the gallery’s Instagram).
- On Tuesday, May 28, UCSD hosts a digital humanities, social justice and 3D publishing lecture by Dr. Angel David Nieves.
- The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is the latest museum to go admission-free.
- Call to artists: submit a request to meet one on one with Brunno Silva during his residency at the Porto Vista Hotel with 1805 Gallery. The residency runs through the end of July but artist submissions for a studio visit are due May 31.
- SDMA’s new exhibition, “Art and Empire: The Golden Age of Spain,” just opened. (KPBS)
Closing Soon
- “Eccentricity Has Room,” an MCASD Downtown exhibition of UCSD MFA student work, will close on Monday. These images of the exhibition on the UCSD Visual Arts department Instagram page are a nice teaser.
Food, Etc.
- On Sunday at Balboa Park, the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages will host an Ethnic Food Fair. Sounds like some December Nights food potential without all the crowds.
- Lucky Escondido. This new gelato cafe embraces extremely local farm-to-gelato-cup philosophy, pulling ingredients from farms within a pretty small radius. (Edible)
- I almost didn’t include this roundup of the best San Diego patio dining spots because it includes one of my favorite hidden gems (and my go-to bring-the-out-of-towner pick), Caroline’s by the Sea, which is practically inside Scripps Institute of Oceanography and riiiiight on the beach. (Pacific)
- I’ve tried these Dark Horse “coffee bags” before and felt super cool. And then extremely caffeinated. (Edible)
What’s Inspiring Me Right Now
- Everybody loves book cover design! Jon Gray, who has designed books for Salinger, Zadie Smith and more, dishes on the process. (It’s Nice That)
- The most recent Electric Eel newsletter from Electric Literature features a fascinating look at the nail art of Mei Kawajiri (“Instagram’s most famous nail artist”), race, gender and expression. It also includes a few related articles, including an older U.S. Sport History piece about Flo-Jo.