President’s Statement -May 2026
Time goes fast in the Guild world. I sat down to write the April president’s statement and realized it was already May. It’s time for our annual member vote on board appointments. Be on the zoom call Saturday June 9th 10:00 and cast your vote and support this hard-working board. Committee volunteers are requested. Officers will be selected by the board following this election.
April has been productive. The opening of the exhibit “One Day in the Life of Imperial Avenue” at Gallery 21 in Balboa Park was well attended and provided a second venue for the atelier artists to exhibit their work. Given the expanded space, each artist contributed one additional commission on the subject. Copies of the unique catalog of this conceptual art intervention designed by Denise Stram, Jennifer Byrne and curator Jim Bliesner were made available. Thanks again to an anonymous $1200 donation from a Guild artist. The exhibit was created in partnership with the nonprofit Barrio Artists Partnership. Atelier artists will be looking for future community engagement intervention opportunities throughout the region. All Guild artists are welcome to join this experimental laboratory.
Guild board members Angelika Villagrana, Mark Lugo, Jody Abbsy, Leslie Pearson and Jim Bliesner joined the Museum in their Centennial celebration in front of the museum staffing a booth with our newly printed Guild tote bags. Leslie and Mark launched from there to investigate multiple future Guild exhibit venues applying scrupulous and insightful standards. The exhibitions committee reviewed their recommendations and settled on the Shift Gallery in Ocean Beach (Nov,2026) for a membership small image exhibit and the Escondido Arts Partnership (April,2027). In addition, the Guild will be presenting the International Online Juried Exhibition and are considering one additional exhibit space for 2027.
Leslie has set the house on fire in building, single handedly, the Art of Now exhibit, scheduled June 5th to the 28th at Union Hall in Golden Hill. To date over 182 (and counting) artists have submitted installations, sculpture, collage, photos and oh, did I mention, paintings! Max Presnell, Director and Head Curator at the Torrance Art Museum is the curator that gets to ponder all the great and diverse entrees.
Kevin Inman has inaugured an experimental special project in pursuit of our goal of creating opportunities for Guild artists to exhibit and sell work. He calls it an Artists Incubator Project and has secured two galleries with the San Pascual Winery opening on May 17, 1-4PM. Complimentary wine tasting activities are included. Kevin is also heading up the Life Drawing Sessions at the SD Museum of Art (May 19 and June 16, 1-3 at the Museum School classroom beneath the El Prado restaurant.
The Guild board voted at its May 5th meeting to submit a proposal to the San Diego Art Museum to inaugurate a 10-year biennial exhibit as a part of its centennial celebrations. Ideally the biennial would become part of the programming for the proposed new museum edition dedicated to community engagement. Our proposal includes a recommendation to hold 3 exhibits/auctions in the next 4 years to raise funds for the new addition. It also includes a request to have the Guild partner with the Museum nonprofit on grant opportunities. The proposal has been sent to CEO Roxanne Velasquez
We are committed to creating and managing opportunities for Guild artists. Last month board members provided 638 volunteer hours for Guild activities. We, as artists, are all in this together. Check out our web site for more detailed exhibit details.
