I hope everyone is taking their friends to see the great Highlights Guild exhibit at the Museum of Photographic Arts. Dammyer Gallery. It remains on exhibit until March 9. Artists in the exhibit please mark that date for art pick up. Catalogues are still available in the MOPA bookstore. Mark Elliot Lugo has placed six copies at the Central Library which will allow artist biographies to be accessible on the library site. Kudos to Mark! The video of the exhibit is now available on YouTube. A second video will soon be posted focused on the indelible footprint of Guild artists on the San Diego cultural landscape. We are hoping to continue to feature Guild artists in the studio, etc. over the coming years. Many thanks to Leslie Pierce for featuring Guild artists regularly on Instagram and Angelica for posting the regular ZOOM discussion group artists on Facebook.
If you are not in that show the Guild offers another opportunity with the recent release of the prospectus for the Phes Gallery Exhibit for Guild members only. This is an excellent Carlsbad venue, but space is limited so get your work in soon. Deadline is March 31,2025 and the exhibit will be up from April 6-May 31.
Our Online International Exhibition is planned for August -September 2025. This is open to all artists. Finally, Angelica has come though yet again for us and has scheduled an exhibition for Gallery 21 in Spanish Village. Stay tuned.
A few months ago, the Board approved an effort to create an Atelier/ Workshop Initiative. Thanks to the assistance of Lucas Perez-Museum Artist Guild Liaison. we have received permission from the San Diego Museum of Art to use a space in the MOPA building. We held our first session, and it was attended by 13 artists. Leslie Pierce led the group with an Expressionist group design session. Jim Bliesner and Mario Torero Acevedo presented an update on the Sherman Heights Mural/community engagement project being conducted with the participation of Deidre Guevera, Director of Community Engagement for the Museum. Discussion regarding the involvement of Guild artists followed. That was followed by a discussion about future “pop up” exhibitions or collective installations.
The room is available for one day per month, with additional time available. We will split the time between using the space for a workshop (ie life studies, various painting, sculpting and printmaking methods etc.) and using it to develop group conceptual art projects and exhibits. Currently we do not have a hook up for zoom participation, but we are working on it. If you are interested in attending the February 20 atelier/workshop message me.
Jim Bliesner -President
jdbarte@gmail.com
