MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OPENS SWEEPING EXHIBITION ABOUT SAN DIEGO’S POSTWAR CRAFT SCENE AS PART OF PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
DATE: Sep 8, 11
San Diego, CA — On October 16, 2011, Mingei International Museum will open an original exhibition
that documents a fascinating, inspiring and overlooked chapter of San Diego’s recent past. San Diego’s
Craft Revolution – From Post-War Modern to California Design will reveal the important contribution of
San Diego craftsmen to the post-war Southern California art scene. The exhibition is part of Pacific
Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. This unprecedented collaboration, initiated by the Getty
Foundation, brings together more than sixty cultural institutions from across Southern California for six
months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it
became a major new force in the art world.
From the postwar period beginning in the 1940s up through the 1970s, San Diego’s Craft Revolution
will explore the progression from sleek modernism to unconventional handmade objects of use such
as furniture, doors, jewelry and ceramics. Over 60 artists will be featured in the show, including Toza
and Ruth Radakovich, Rhoda Lopez, Jack Hopkins, Arline Fisch, Martha Longenecker, Ellamarie and
Jackson Woolley, Larry Hunter, Kay Whitcomb and James Hubbell. Many of these San Diego-based
artists received national attention and participated in major Los Angeles exhibitions, including the
California Design series held in Pasadena and Los Angeles.
“The diverse work of so many original, highly creative people, presented in this exhibition is an
inspiring revelation and likely to be a source of growing identity for San Diego,” said Rob Sidner,
Director of Mingei International Museum.
San Diego’s Craft Revolution – From Post-War Modern to California Design will highlight many of the
personalities and institutions in San Diego that fostered this creative community, including San Diego
State University and the Allied Craftsmen. The Allied Craftsmen (AC), a membership organization for
local craft artists, came to represent an extended family of San Diegans who would help define the
concept of California Design in the 1960s and 1970s and gain widespread recognition in the areas of
enameling, body ornament, architectural crafts and furniture design.
“The Allied Craftsmen laid the foundation for a community that flourished and then changed radically,”
said Dave Hampton, guest curator of San Diego’s Craft Revolution, “from the essential forms of the
mid-century modern years through Abstract Expressionism, late 1960s psychedelia and beyond.”
As a companion to the exhibition, the Museum will publish a 178-page exhibition catalogue with over
200 full-color images including art objects, invitations, snapshots and ephemera from the period. This
publication includes a substantial essay by guest curator Dave Hampton, tracing the emergence and
evolution of the Allied Craftsmen organization and contemporary craft in San Diego.
An opening celebration for Museum members will be held on Saturday, October 15. The exhibition
opens to the public on Sunday, October 16.
Additional programming related to San Diego’s Craft Revolution includes:
- Sunday, September 11th: a cocktail reception at the stunning Wallace Cunningham designed home of Barbara Saltman from 5-8pm. This event will benefit Mingei International Museum and the exhibition, San Diego’s Craft Revolution: From Post-War Modern to California Design.
- Friday, October 21: Early Evening @ Mingei, an after-hours party from 6-9pm at the museum in Balboa Park featuring live music, beer and wine, local food and more.
- Sunday, November 6: “San Diego Craft, Then and Now,” a panel discussion from 2-3:30pm, with three premier Southern California furniture designers on the history and future of craft and furniture design in San Diego.
Underscoring the collaborative nature of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980, the six-month
cultural event beginning in October 2011, participating institutions will develop distinct regional
weekend programs of exhibition openings, tours, performances, and special admission offers. The
San Diego regional weekend will take place from November 3 – 6, 2011, with events, symposiums and
special offers at both Mingei International and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s (MCASD)
downtown and La Jolla locations. Mingei International and MCASD are the only two San Diego
institutions participating in Pacific Standard Time.
San Diego’s Craft Revolution – From Post-War Modern to California Design is organized by Mingei
International Museum and has been made possible thanks to funding from Supervisor Ron Roberts and
the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture,
Premier Sponsor Audrey Geisel and donors Norman Blachford and Peter Cooper, Dr. Roger C. Cornell,
Joan Eichen, Danah Fayman, Maureen and Charles King, Pat and John Seiber, Rob Sidner, Suzanne
Temple, Terri Zimdars, UBS Financial Services - La Jolla, Ryan Prange – Falling Waters Landscape, Inc.
ABOUT MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM
Mingei International Museum exhibits folk art, craft and design from all eras and cultures of the world.
Its museum in Balboa Park features Southern California’s largest collection of mingei - art of the people. A non-profit institution funded by admission, individuals, and community support, the Museum offers inspiring exhibitions and diverse educational programs to more than 100,000 visitors a year.
Institutional support for Mingei International Museum is provided by the City of San Diego Commission
for Arts and Culture.
ABOUT PACIFIC STANDARD TIME: ART IN L.A. 1945-1980
Pacific Standard Time is a collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern
California, which are coming together for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world. Each institution will make its own contribution to this grand-scale story of artistic innovation and social change, told through a multitude of simultaneous exhibitions and programs. Exploring and celebrating the significance of the crucial post-World War II years and beyond, Pacific Standard Time encompasses developments from modernist architecture and design to multi-media installations; from L.A. Pop to post-minimalism; from the films of the African-American L.A. Rebellion to the feminist happenings of the Women’s Building; from ceramics to Chicano performance art, and from Japanese-American design to the pioneering work of artists’ collectives.
Initiated through $10 million in grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time involves cultural institutions of every size and character across Southern California, from Greater Los Angeles to San Diego and Santa Barbara to Palm Springs.
Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.
