
How will we know it's us without our past?
2017 Exhibitions
Judith Dolan: On Broadway
September 23, 2017 - January 21, 2018

This exhibition presents the work of artist-scholar Judith Dolan, theater costume designer and Distinguished Professor of Theater and Dance at the University of California, San Diego. Dolan’s designs have earned accolades on Broadway and off, including the 1997 Tony Award for Candide. With a MFA in Costume Design and a PhD in Directing and Design from Stanford, her designs have been seen at numerous companies in the United States and Europe, including Dublin’s Abbey Theater, London’s Old Vic, The Kennedy Center, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Shakespeare Theater in Washington DC, and the New York City Opera. Her professional practice includes extensive historical research, the use of collage and storyboarding, and the creation of hand-drawn sketches and renderings. This exhibition surveys Dolan’s creative process across nine theater productions over two decades—creative accomplishments concurrent with her rise to Distinguished Professor rank at UCSD—including The Winter’s Tale (2014 Old Globe, San Diego), A Room with a View (2011 Old Globe, San Diego), Travesties (2014 Alley Theater, Houston), Parade (1998 Broadway), MacBeth (1993 Alley Theater, Houston), Candide (1997 Broadway), LoveMusik (2007 Broadway), Paradise Found (2010 London), and Fool (2014 Alley Theater, Houston).
Major funding for this exhibition was provided by Dr. Michael A Bernstein and Ms. Patti Harp with additional support from Crystal and Jeff Anderson, Weston Anson, ArtWorks San Diego, Robert Pascale and Sara Bauer, Gail and Ralph Bryan, The David Copley Foundation, Martha and Edward Dennis, Patricia and Jack Fisher, Marcy and Jeffrey Krinsk, Margret and Nevins McBride, Wendy Nash, Colette Carson and Ivor Royston, Marilyn and Michael Yeatts.
Artistic sponsorship by Lynelle and William Lynch.
Corporate support provided by Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP.
Institutional support provided by the City of San Diego’s Commission for Arts & Culture and by the Members of the La Jolla Historical Society.
Weather on Steroids: the Art of Climate Change Science
La Jolla Historical Society February 11 - May 21, 2017
San Diego Central Library Gallery June 10 - September 3, 2017
Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach CA October 24, 2017 - February 28, 2018
Weather on Steroids: the Art of Climate Change Science explores the question of consequences, challenges, and opportunities that arise from the changing climate on our planet. The exhibition merges the artistic and scientific to create a visual dialogue about the vexing problem of climate change, explores how weather variability affects the day-to-day life of local communities, and investigates Southern California vulnerability to climate change. It draws on the region’s scientific expertise at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, whose La Jolla-based investigators are at the forefront of climate research, reflecting on humanity’s role in our changing environment, and envisioning new possibilities for a sustainable future. Science serves as the inspiration for the creative responses from visual artists, who merge subjective images with empirical observation to reveal how climate variations upset the planet’s balance with extreme weather impacts. By illuminating the reality of climate change, Weather on Steroids aspires to proactively stimulate public dialogue about one of the most important issues of our time.
Participating artists include Tiersa Cosaert, Judit Hersko, Cheryl E. Leonard, Dana Montlack, Lilleane Peebles, Oscar Romo, M. Luna Rossel, Eva Struble, Paul Turounet, Ruth Wallen, and Allison Wiese.
Contributing scientists include Michel Boudrias, Michael Dettinger, Alexander Gershunov, Kristen Guiguis, Ralph Keeling, Manfredi Manizza, Art Miller, Walter Munk, David Pierce, Richard Somerville, and Shang-Ping Xie.
Curated by Tatiana Sizonenko with Science Consultant Alexander Gershunov.
Major support for this exhibition provided by Climate Education Partners (CEP), which is funded by the National Science Foundation, and by the Reuben H. Fleet Foundation, Ray Thomas Edwards Foundation, Donald G. Yeckel, Chairman. Additional support provided by IS Architecture, the Samuel I. & John Henry Fox Foundation, the Florence Riford Fund of the San Diego Foundation, Walter and Mary Munk, Jeffrey and Joy Kirsch, and ArtWorks San Diego.
Media Sponsor
PROGRAM PARTNERS
Fleet Science Center
Birch Aquarium
Jean Isaac's San Diego Dance Theater
Vanguard Culture
The Museum of Making Music
Belle Baranceanu: the La Jolla Murals

June 10 - September 3, 2017
A recent acquisition to
the La Jolla Historical Society’s archival collection, a cartoon of preliminary
drawings used by Belle Baranceanu to create The Seven Arts mural at La Jolla High School in 1939-40 under a New
Deal commission. The mural, done in
fresco, was lost when the building was demolished in 1975. The full-scale
cartoon consists of nine panels and various fragments done in wax pencil on
brown paper. The cartoon panels are the
fullest and most expressive surviving representation of the lost mural by the
hand of the artist. Some of the original
panels will be exhibited and the remainder presented in a scaled photographic
format. The presentation will include
related paintings, sketches, and photographs as well as information about the
conservation of the cartoon. The
exhibition will also present material related to the 1935 Scenic View of the Village, Baranceanu’s mural that survives in
situ at the La Jolla Post Office. Curated
by Jennifer P. Hernandez, Ph.D.
Major support for
this exhibition was provided by Sandy and Dave Erickson with additional
support from Bram and Sandy Dijkstra, Joseph and Linda Marrone, Seonaid
McArthur and Barry Bielinski, Gillian Peoples and Steve Younes, Margie Warner
and John H. Warner Jr., ArtWorks
San Diego, and the
David C. Copley Foundation.
Special thanks to John W. and Kathleen Howard for their donation of the Seven Arts mural cartoon to the La Jolla Historical Society.