Nick Cave: A Conversation on Art and Identity presented by the San Diego Museum of Art

by Patricia Frischer

I encourage you to Watch the video of this conversation between the artist Nick Cave and the interviewer Deidre Guevara

Nick Cave is a charming speaker, authentic and one of my personal heroes. He is one of 7 boys born a year apart from each and very early on, he was no trouble because he was always drawing and occupying himself. His parents were very supportive. He went to the Kansas City Art Institute which was liberating. But at one point his mother was concerned about his pink hair. He grew out of that phase and has certainly made his family proud.

During his time at school, he learned he was able to gather people and collaborate. But after school he needed to focus. First working at Macy’s as a visual coordinator doing window displays,  then on to Hallmark which was not a good match. So, he went to Cranbrook and was near Detroit. He was committed and pushed and was immediately hired at the teaching school of the Chicago Art Institute in 1991.

The Rodney King beating happened in 1992. Harm to black bodies was not unusual, but  this  was the first incident that was seen on video…so vulgar and so violent. It was devastating and brought to his attention the need to communicate to the white world of his colleagues. The riots in LA were galvanizing and a real awakening for him. He needed to speak louder and the Sound Suits were born out of that need. He gathered twigs thinking they would be a sculpture, but then as he assembled them, he realized he could wear the sculpture and when he put it on it made sound.  He was not ready to reveal this work publicly and put a dozen of them into a closet for about a decade. He needed time to understand what he was making and why .

In these works, the wearer is covered and protected, but the shape determined what the suits became. A friend showed his work to the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. After he checked them out, he agreed to a meeting in Chicago. When ask what he wanted, he had to be honest with himself and he replied, “I want to be famous.” The gallery came to Chicago and sold out his show, but this was shocking to him. It took him awhile to ask for help, because they wanted more art. When they launched, his life changed. Success was sudden and dizzying. To take these Sound Suits out of the closet and lose the protection that his work provided, took courage. 

Discarded materials, excess, re-use, re-purpose all floated in his mind. He was really continuing his material studies. Cave was a weaver  and constructing a cloth and moving it from 2-D to 3-D  was comfortable for him. The concept of beauty from the thrown away, for him, is almost a rebellion. But a rebellion that is optimistic, hopeful and filled with forgiveness.

Most of the work is used color and pattern  His influences are self-declared Baroque as well as haute culture and decadence. Gaudy, excessive turned into fabulous are his words to describe the style of the work.

Nick Cave, Rescue, 2013. Mixed media including ceramic French bulldog,
ceramic birds, metal flowers, and barrel chair.
© Nick Cave. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Museum purchase with funds from the bequest of Dr. Janet Brody Esser, 2022.18

Rescue is his piece owned by SDMA.  This series was the first time he starting building out the idea while shopping for supplies. The Doberman was the first one he found and he knew if should be sitting on a settee. Dogs have loyalty. Pure bred dogs denote status in society. He felts he needed to create a den for the dogs, a safe space.

He obviously does not need to teach but he is interested in the next generation and wanting to make sure that those who need him are involved. He removed his own art from his teaching life which focuses on getting the students to trust themselves. His community work involves exhibitions spaces that are curated but are also flexible to the moment. He calls these call and response spaces.  He wants to empower the community not to wait for an institution to approve, but to do a project that they believe in immediately.

Nick Cave is interested in how AI is influencing the making of things and utilizes it as a tool. He makes art without limits or boundaries. That invites us to dive into the work in the same way. 

Nick Cave, live at the San Diego Museum of Art

Working Girl Musical at LJP Makes You Want to Get Up and Dance!

 By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt.

 

The World Premiere of Working Girl, with Joanna “JoJo” Levesque as Tess McGill seated in center and NYC background projection by Hana S. Kim.   (Rich Soublet) 

 

We really did feel like dancing to this hot new musical at La Jolla Playhouse that’s loaded with songs by the great Cyndi Lauper and has great singing and moves by all the performers onstage.

Based on the popular 1988 movie, it’s the story of a smart and ambitious young secretary whose one dream in life is succeeding in business. But Tess McGill has three strikes against her: 

She’s a woman in the male dominated world of high finance, she’s only a secretary, and she’s from Staten Island, which as any New Yorker knows, is a far cry from NYC. 

Her biggest problem turns out to be a new female boss, who offers Tess a collaborative relationship and responds encouragingly to her brilliant idea for a merger, but then cuts Tess out, and claims the idea is her own.

Bad things keep on happening, but since this show, like the original movie, is a comedy, Tess’s drive, plus the helping hands of her best friend and other co-workers who become her accomplices, manage to make her dream come true in the end.

And we loved Hana S. Kim’s imaginative projections, which greatly enhanced the look of the production, but as we were unable to get any photos, you’ll have to go see for yourself.

This Working Girl could use some weight loss: the songs all have the same high-energy level, and a few could be eliminated, along with a fair bit of the script by Theresa Rebeck, since making it shorter than 2 hours and 20 minutes would make it sweeter. But the show, like Tess herself, has real possibilities, and we wish it well.

This is the final production directed by Christopher Ashley, who has been LJP’s wonderful Artistic Director for 18 years and is now heading off to New York. He will be missed but we wish him well too.

And happy Thanksgiving to working girls everywhere! May you be appreciated for all the good things you do!

Working Girl
La Jolla Playhouse
Mandell Weiss Theatre
Closing Dec 14, 2025 

 

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Many Hands Make Lightscape Work at San Diego Botanic Garden

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt.  Photos by Maurice Hewitt. 

 

Walking along Lightscape 2025.

This is SDBG’s fourth annual Lightscape, seven weeks of illuminated installations accompanied by music that turn the Garden into a magical place for a night-time stroll that welcomes the holiday season.

The displays, created by artists from around the world, are all new, except for two old favorites: the Winter Cathedral and the golden poppies of Floraison.   

To prepare for the November 14^th opening, work on Lightscape 2025 began well before Halloween. And this year, for the first time, Maurice and I got to meet some of the people whose weeks of hard work make the magic possible.

Production Manager Ian Xavier is used to producing large-scale environments at music festivals and other major events, but he especially loves doing Lightscape.

“This garden is the most beautiful place in the world to work,” he said, and he and his team do a fair bit of heavy lifting each year to turn the beautiful garden into an eye-and-ear-popping evening extravaganza.

 

Ian Xavier (back right) and his crew at work, including Danni G (far right), who does all the sound for Lightscape--148 speakers!

One Sunday, we met Jasmyn “Jazzy” Birdsong, who is Head Electrician for Lightscape San Diego and supervises a team of 11. She’s been here, as have most of the Lightscape workforce, for all four years, and we followed her to the parking lot she calls The Boneyard.    

Jasmyn Birdsong in The Boneyard.

“This is our working compound, where we have all our tools and machinery,’’ she said. “All the lighting starts here, and we get deliveries from all over the world.”

We saw some of her team attaching pixel tape to metal rods which would become giant lit-up snowflakes in the Snowflake display. We also watched Glenna Corrall stringing flowers for Floraison.

 

Glenna Corrall, stringing the flowers she calls “Bud Lights.”

“Installment of anything that plugs in--that’s my team’s job,” Jasmyn said. “It’s cool getting a chance to install art that’s impactful to people. A lot of folks who know me don’t know that I do Lightscape, so it’s fun when they tell me they just saw this terrific thing at the Botanic Garden and I say ‘I did that!’ ” 

Another afternoon, we met Hannah Kendall, who was giving electric cables some protective covering. Originally from England, she has lived in many countries, and now lives in Baja, staying with friends on this side of the border while she’s working at Lightscape. “It’s hard work and long days, but it’s like working with family!” she said.

 

Hannah Kendall, covering cable.

Here are a few of our favorite things at this year’s Lightscape, to give you a look before you go see for yourself.

 

Waterfall 

 Waterfall 

One Small Thing

Fireflies  

Lightscape is on view evenings from 5-9 p.m. through January 4. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are not refundable--rain or shine. For all info:  lightscapeus.com/san-diego. 

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

 

Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson at the La Jolla Historical Society

by Patricia Frischer

 Patricia Patterson

Husbands and wives who are both artists can be fascinating. Debbie and Larry Kline work so closely together that you can tell who does what in their art. Deanne Sabeck and Jeffery Laudenslager work separately but occasionally some of Deanne glass will appear in a kinetic sculpture and you can see Jeffery’s skill set has a big influence. Jean Lowe and Kim MacConnell have separate places in the art world and besides bright colors their work is very individual. The same is true with Patricia Patterson and Manny Farber. They shared their living space and marriage, but the works do not really cross over except in the expected ways of sharing an environment.

In the show Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson at the La Jolla Historical Society, we get a small glimpse into their home and studio spaces from photos by Rebecca Cohen. We see a selection of still life and botanical materials that ended up mainly in Farber work but also can easily have influenced Patterson. All the works on view are from their life after they moved to San Diego in 1970 and, most importantly,  we get to see the works side by side.

 Patricia Patterson

 

Manny Farber

Manny Farber

A selection of still life objects and botanicals from their shared home

A selection of photos, sketches and notebooks

Manny Farber

Manny Farber

Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson
Wisteria Cottage Gallery of La Jolla Historical Society
November 8, 2025 - February 1, 2026
Wed-Sun 12-4PM Admission is always free
780 Prospect St., La Jolla, CA 92037
info@lajollahistory.org

Nolan Oswald Dennis, Demonstrations at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

 by Patricia Frischer

detail

This exhibition by  Nolan Oswald Dennis, Demonstrations at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library and the commissioners of it i.e.  INSITE are thinking on multiple levels. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the labels on the wall, but you are actually given permission in the notes to make your own decisions about the works on view.

The globe drawing and sculpture makes a point of showing that world views are endlessly varied and should be examined from all sorts of perspectives. Missing, lonely, sold, alien worlds at all times of the day, night, month, year. We are invited to take strings of words and rearrange them in all sorts of combinations so they connect and overlaps all these views.

It is easy to be intrigued by the digitally printed rocks displayed as a “Black Earth Library” on the shelving stretched from corner to corner of the gallery space. Watching one of the rocks being printed in real time brings home the synthetic quality of first impressions. Even the large rock at the entrance is a faux printed bean bag…a place to listen and contemplate. But these rocks represent those gather from all over the world. The display Isivivane, has been shown as part of INSITE Commonplaces in Johannesburg, Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, Netherlands; the Swiss Institute in New York; and Gasworks in London. The artist Nolan Oswald Dennis was born in Zambia now based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The concept of wounds is examined. Wounds cause damage. You recover but you are changed. The world is continually being wounded, but although it may or may not recover, it does change and sometimes adapts. The grief of a loss we feel when wounded never goes away, but is integrated into who we are. 

The closing of the exhibition on January 17 will be celebrated with the presentation of INSITE Journal__08: Reverse Forward and All at Once. The publication comprises documentation and essays related to the INSITE Commonplaces project curated by Gabi Ngcobo in Johannesburg, with commissioned work by participating artists Nyakallo Maleke and Nolan Oswald Dennis. Commonplaces is a curatorial platform established in 2021 for producing work with artists and communities commissioned locally in different regions of the world.

Nolan Oswald Dennis:  Demonstrations
Octo 24, 2025 until Jan 17, 2026
Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
Joseph Clayes III and Carolyn Yorston-Wellcome Rotunda Galleries
1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA 92037
Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Kate Breakey: In Pursuit of Light at Joseph Bellow Gallery

 by Patricia Frischer

Joseph Bellows Gallery is focused on photographs, but in these works from  Kate Breakey: In Pursuit of Light, the surface of the photograph has been hand-painted. That is why each enhanced image draws you in and is mesmerizing.  The colors and patterns, the hairiness, the glow that is created around the outline are all very carefully designed. The sheer increased size of the moth specimens is impressive.

Did you know that moths are in the insect Order Lepidoptera, and share this order with butterflies. There are some 160,000 species of moths in the world, compared to 17,500 species of butterflies. In the United States alone, there are nearly 11,000 species of moths.

The artist states, “My fascination with moths began long ago, perhaps because they go unnoticed and are somewhat unloved. They are primarily nocturnal and often drab—not as colorful or iconic as butterflies—but they are staggeringly beautiful if you look closely enough”. 

Illustrations of these species have a long history, but we see them with brand new eyes in this series. They advocate for conservation, yes,  but they reveal the sheer beauty of the moth which is no longer the butterflies ugly sister, but a star in her own right. 

Kate Breakey: In Pursuit of Light
On view until Nov 11. 2025
Joseph Bellows Gallery
7661 Girard Avenue, La Jolla, 92037
(858) 456-5620 info@josephbellows.com 
Hours Tue, Wed, and Fri, 10am - 5pm
Monday, Thursday and Saturday, by appointment

There is also a terrific online exhibition of botanical by Tine Poppe: Gilded Lilies 
On view Nov 4 – Dec 31, 2025