2022 Exhibitions

The La Jolla Historical Society is proud to present The Smallest Show on Earth: Paper Theaters Explored, which celebrates the long history and recent creative innovations in this unique art form. Paper theatres, also known as toy theatres, originated to promote productions in Victorian Era London. They were printed on paperboard sheets and sold as kits at the concession stand of an opera house, playhouse, or vaudeville theater. Aspects of set design were shown on the posters along with representations of actual actors of the company (shown in costume from a specific production). Condensed scripts were included in these poster kits and paper doll players were soon seen in lively productions on a tabletop at home, with many aspects of theatre arts being introduced to producers and performers of all ages. These paper theatre hobbyists ended up learning a great deal about scenic design, lighting effects, sound effects, musical underscoring, acting, directing — all through a paper theatre toy. The theaters gradually declined in popularity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries but have enjoyed a resurgence in interest in recent years among many puppeteers, filmmakers, theater historians, and hobbyists. This exhibition will introduce new audiences to this playful and engaging craft and offer the opportunity for a wide range of theatrically themed, complimentary programs.

Curated by Scott Paulson

Funding for this project generously provided by Barbara Freeman, Ann Craig, UC San Diego Library, and Mark and Kathryn Muñoz. Institutional support provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and by the Members of the La Jolla Historical Society. Opening Reception sponsored by Wheat & Water.

Opening Reception | June 3 at 6pm | Opening comments by Dr. Stan Rodriguez | Bird Singers & Dancers

The La Jolla Historical Society is honored to present an exhibit of contemporary art created by Native Americans from the reservations of Southern California where San Diego County is home to eighteen reservations - more than any other county in the United States. Southern California Natives live both on and off the Rez, upholding historic culture and traditions while concurrently inhabiting the modern world. In this exhibition, ten artists reveal images, ingenuity, and unrestrained voices divulging their stories and communicating opinions through artistic expression. The medium for powerfully affirming their voices is through painting, drawing, sculpture, fashion, beadwork, mixed media, narrative writing, song and performance. Works from these artists break through stereotypical barriers and open a path to share their strength, perspectives, and influential experience.

Featured artists: Chuck Contreras, Gail Werner, Gerald Clarke, Gordon Johnson, James Luna, Jamie Okuma, Johnny “Bear” Contreras, Robert Freeman, Sandra Okuma and Tracy Lee Nelson (Mataweer).

Curated by Dana Hicks, PhD

Funding for this project generously provided by Patsy and David Marino; an anonymous donor; and the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. Institutional support provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and by the Members of the La Jolla Historical Society.

Memory Traces: Artists Transform the Archive uses the La Jolla Historical Society’s holdings to consider the archive in its traditional function and reimagine it for contemporary times. The exhibition features seven San Diego artists, working across mediums, whose practices investigate memory, history, and how meaning is created from fragments of the past. These artists will mine the Society’s archive of photographs, ephemera, and objects, and select material to take as a point of departure for making new work. Their resulting projects will be installed in the galleries alongside this source material. The exhibition draws its title from a 1925 essay by Sigmund Freud, in which he explored the way remembrance functions. Observing memory’s natural inconsistency, Freud used the term “memory trace” to signify a note made to serve as a future reminder, an aid to maintaining a clearer picture of the past. An archive has, traditionally, been considered to function similarly; it is a collection of materials, compiled over time, thought to constitute an accurate representation of history. Together, these materials —or memory traces— establish a kind of collective memory. And yet, we have increasingly come to understand that the archive is always assembled by individuals, canonized from a particular perspective and set of experiences. Memory Traces operates from an understanding of memory, and the archive, as unstable, and the impossibility for such records to represent an absolute “truth” about the past. The exhibition proposes that the archives’ contemporary value may, in fact, lie in its malleability. It can be a site for critique, for expanding understandings of experience and of history, for transformation, and the creation of new narratives. The works in Memory Traces activate the La Jolla Historical Society’s archive with imaginative and diverse interpretations that affirm the fluid relationship between past and present.

Curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge

Funding for this project generously provided by the Sandy and Dave Erickson, Bo and Anita Hedfors, and the Florence Riford La Jolla Community Fund at the San Diego Foundation. Institutional support provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and by the Members of the La Jolla Historical Society.