Five Sizzling Exhibits: Oceanside Museum of Art presents an eclectic mix

By Lonnie Burstein HewittFirst posted in the La Jolla Light

If you’ve never been to the Oceanside Museum of Art, now is the time for a visit.

Glass artist Vicki Leon with her giant kaleidoscope, ‘Photoscopia,’ one of several pieces she created for the DNA PAMM project, celebrating the nine muses. ‘This is the best of my work in the best venue ever,’ she said. ‘I’m really thrilled.’

There are currently five varied exhibits on display — the eye- popping pop art fantasies ofJean Wells (including a giant, walk-in Hershey’s Kiss); the shapely drawings and sculptures of Kenneth Capp; the bold, black- and-white graphic images of John Daniel Abel; the weird, welded steel pieces of Roy Rogers (the living North County artist, not the long-gone singing cowboy); and the imaginative, art-meets-science displays called The DNA of Creativity, the culmination of three years of collaborative projects sponsored by San Diego Visual Network.

The DNA of Creativity, a venture spearheaded by the San Diego Visual Arts Network, brought together four teams of artists and scientists to design unique projects.

Michelle Kurtis Cole under the glass waves of her sea sculpture, ‘Fragile.’ ‘It took a month to make each wave!’ she said. Photos by Maurice Hewitt

• Sea Changes features cast-glass waves and corals and an underwater video installation;
• PAMM (Poly-Aesthetic Mapping of the Muses) shows glass sculptures inspired by team leader Kaz Maslanka’s re-imagining of the nine muses;
• Urban Succession created sculptural homes for urban settings; and
• View Art Now introduced a mobile app for finding countywide art events.
The mega-exhibition reception on April 12 drew hundreds of art-lovers to OMA, but the works will all be on view through mid-June, with several of the exhibits running longer.

■ IF YOU GO: Oceanside Museum of Art is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday- Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday at 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. Admission: $5-$8. (760) 435-3720. oma-online.org