Clothes Story Opens the 2025–26 Season at San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery

By Patricia Frischer

Alma Thomas (1891-1978) was the first graduate of the art department of Howard University. She was the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was part of the Washington Color School which gain notice in the 60's. Her highly colored pattern lend themselves easily to fashion 

San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery  launches its fall season with Clothes Story: Draped in History, an  exhibition  curated by Atlanta-based designer Kenneth Green. This powerful show celebrates the lives and contributions of African American women through fashion history. With almost 30 meticulously recreated garments spanning 1890 to 1963 it is especially astonishing  how lavish some of these dresses are considering the low budget and the use of dollar store fabrics and notions to recreate many of them.

Diahann Carroll was the first African American women to star in a non-stereotypical leading television role as Julia. She was on the cover of Ebony Magazine in this dress.

Opera Gown and Coat that could have been worn by Dorothy Dandridge (first black woman nominated for an Academy Award) or Lena Horne. Black fashion designer started as seamstresses and dressmakers of the early 1900's. Church elegance and the Harlem Renaissance were showcases. 

Opera Gown and Coat 

Opera Dress

This dress is a reproduction of the one that Coretta Scott King who married Martin Luther was know to have worn to perform a song. She was an educator and a major leader herself in the civil rights movement

Homage to Zelda Wynn Valdes (1905-2001), the African American fashion designer who broke fashion barriers. She dressed Ella Fitzgerald and Earth Kitt and so many more including the design for the playboy bunny!

 
Each fashion item in Clothes Story carries its own narrative—revealing details about the maker, the historical moment, and the woman who once wore it. Through Green’s work, the viewer sees fashion as a storytelling medium. The women were resilient, strong, and represent the  spirit of African American women who shaped their communities and fought for change.

This Gatsby Coat and the flapper dress below signaled the freedom from layers and layers of underclothing. The dresses had very simple two seam designs but were highly embellished. 

This detail of a intricate bedazzlement is an homage to Fredye Marshall, a celebrated singer of Opera and Broadway who performed for royalty.

 

The exhibition was built from archival photographs and research rather than museum collections. Green, whose passion for costume began with his seamstress mother, his biggest inspiration,  draws on decades of experience in dance, theater, and casting—including 34 years at Spelman College in Atlanta and his work with Disney. From the trimmings of Victorian dresses that signaled wealth, to flapper-era layers that symbolized newfound freedoms during the Black Renaissance, to the story of Dorothy the house maid, who spent 4 days in jail for speaking back to a white employer when she did not want to work an extra 4 hour per day after her usual 12 hours… these clothes trace histories of social progress.

Homage to Raven Wilkinson, the first African American woman to dance for a major classical ballet company. This dress is only one of two originals in this show and will be returned to the Atlanta Ballet Company. 

Green spent a month in San Diego, preparing the fashions for display. He revealed that each dress or coat has its own personality. Some are easy to care for, others, like Big Red seem to attract wrinkles. The tutu has to be hung upside down after shipping and each layer separated to attain its full glory. It represents one of the first black ballerinas Raven Wilkinson, passing as white to perform but hounded by racist.

Big Red

back detail, Victorian luxury

Clothes Story also uses photographs and  graphics, to tell the story, including "foot notes". For example, the Battle of Versailles is about the first time black fashion models were used for a major competition between the French and American. These models stole the show in 1973! Green envisions an interactive technology added in the future, however, the next stop for a group of dresses titled  First in Their Field is Harvard Medical School. White doctors were using black women slaves to research gynecology issue to their shame. Clothing worn by the first black female doctors and nurses are on display.  

This exhibition has toured 6 college galleries and museums on the east coast and now this west coast gets its premier at Mesa College Gallery.  This exhibition is presented in collaboration with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art and supported by the Hervey Family Fund of the San Diego Foundation.

Kenneth Green had a 12^th grade teacher who really believed in him. Through Clothes Story, he is able not only to display history but make it come alive. Go and spend time with these clothes and maybe you will make some new friends who will inspire you to believe.  

Kenneth Green, curator and passionate organizer of this collection

Alessandra Moctezuma, Director, Mesa College Gallery who introduced Kenneth Green at his talk about the show. 

Wonderful mix of all ages and colors attending the talk

Entrance Display: all the clothes in Clothes Story are Draped in History

Clothes Story
San Diego Mesa College Gallery
August 25 - October 16, 2025
Curated by Kenneth Green
Fine Arts Building, Art Gallery, FA103
7250 Mesa College Dr. SD 92111
Closest entrance is through Marlesta/Genesee.
Gallery Director, Alessandra Moctezuma  619.388.2829
Mon – Thurs 12 to 5 pm

The Heart is a Winner at La Jolla Playhouse

 By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt.

 

A welcoming sign in the theater lobby. (Maurice Hewitt)

 

Attention Theater-Lovers! If you haven’t yet heard, this is the world premiere of an extraordinary one-act musical, THE HEART,  whose hero is a travelling body part that keeps on keeping the beat. 

It’s based on a 2013 novel by Maylis de Karangal titled Réparer Les Vivants (“Mend the Living”) about a young man who dies in a car crash and his parents’ tough decision about what to do with his still-beating heart. The novel apparently had a second life in French as a 2016 film a.k.a. Heal the Living, which was shown at the 73^rd Venice International Film Festival.

Onstage at La Jolla Playhouse, and now set in San Diego, the young man is a 19-year-old surfer who crashes on his way home from a great sunrise surf session and ends up brain-dead in a hospital emergency room. When his parents are contacted and have to face dealing with the terrible news, they’re immediately asked to donate his healthy organs, the most important one being his heart, which could save someone’s life but must be transplanted within 24 hours.

This theatrical version, featuring a cast of nine gifted performers who sing, dance, and take on multiple roles as doctors, hospital staff, and family and friends of the surfer and his designated organ recipient, is a work of collaborative genius like nothing you’ve ever seen before.  And it shows how collaborative a process the work of getting a beating heart to have a new life in a new person can be, and the generosity of spirit it requires from everyone involved. 

An early set rendering from Robert Brill. (Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse)

The look of the show is a main contributor to its success. The striking set by Scenic Designer Robert Brill and the brilliant lighting design by Amanda Zieve add continual arrays of color and spirit to The Heart. Photos aren’t permitted during performances; you’ll just have to see for yourself.

 Tech photo by Samantha Laurent, courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse.

The man behind this unique collaboration is Christopher Ashley, the multi-award-winning director who has been La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since 2007 and is leaving in 2026 to become Artistic Director of Roundabout Theatre in NYC. Don’t miss this special event that’s packed with great music, visuals and feeling. You’ll be so glad you were there. 

THE HEART at the La Jolla Playhouse
Book and Additional Lyrics by Kait Kerrigan.
Music & Lyrics by Anne Eisendrath & Ian Eisendrath.
Choreographed by Mandy Moore.
The Heart runs through October 5 at the Potiker Theater on the UCSD campus.
2910 La Jolla Village Drive.
For tickets and information: lajollaplayhouse.org

 

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

A Farewell to WNDR

by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 

The Fortune Teller at WNDR.

I’d always meant to go down to the Gaslamp to visit the museum called WNDR, since opportunities to experience wonder--even without its vowels--have always been attractive to me. But somehow I never managed to get there until I found out they were leaving San Diego September 1^st.

So on what turned out to be an unusually stormy day in late August, Maurice and I made our way downtown from North County and into the WNDR museum.

There weren’t a lot of people there on that rainy Thursday, but there were some of all ages interacting with the changing colors, shapes and sounds on the two floors of installations, expressing their own curiosity and creativity, getting their fortunes told, leaving their personal words of wisdom alongside many others and (like us) taking photos.

 There are other WNDRS still open in Chicago and Boston, but since you can no longer visit WNDR San Diego in person, we’re sharing some of our favorite visuals here.

 

This large room was WNDR’s point of entry: intricate patterns of light on the floor kept changing as we walked or danced around, and mirrored walls reflected the changes.  Like most of the installations, this one included music, and we enjoyed the experience so much that we went back again before leaving.

 In another room, there were cascades of colored fiber-optic lights we could walk through and around. Fun!

 

WONDR’s Light House, in its black-and-white time, with me on the inside and Maurice on the outside looking in.

A couple, changing the images they were seeing on the screen with their movements.

The two of us, immersing ourselves in mirrors.

The Wisdom Project: A chance to leave some wise words of your own on the wall. I’m pointing to mine.

 

A young visitor, getting into the large-scale pinboard sculpture in WNDR’s lobby.

 We definitely enjoyed our visit and wish San Diego’s WNDR-workers Bon VYGE wherever they go from here.

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

Three Shows to Admire at Visions Museum of Textile Art

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt.  Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 

Going Up and Down a Pyramid by Joao Rodriguez from Sonora, Mexico. A loom-woven piece made of wool dyed with natural color

It’s always a pleasure to drop in at Visions in Liberty Station and see what interesting things they have on view. Here are a few of our favorites from a recent visit.

From We are Voices of Other Voices: A collaboration between makers of traditional wool textiles in the Zapotec community of Teotitlan del Valle in Oaxaca, Mexico, and eight contemporary artists.

Sawfish by artist Ana Hernández, born and based in Oaxaca. Hemp thread on treadle loom by artisan Luis Lazo.

                                              

Series steps 3 by Ricardo Pinto, a prolific visual artist based in Oaxaca who experiments with textures, prints, and architecture.

Chinese Dog by Miguel Castro Leñero, from Mexico City. Wool dyed with natural color.

From Human Affects: 7 pieces by artist Laura Forster Nicholson, from New Harmony, Indiana, all dealing with climate change and ships that contaminate our oceans.

MV Express Pearl by Laura Forster Nicholson. An actual container ship that caught fire in Sri Lanka, spewing poisonous chemicals and and plastic pellets into the sea. Handwoven wool, mylar and cotton.

From  Intika: Men in Textiles.  Intika is an island in Peru where men work on textiles. This exhibit includes artists from various parts of the U.S.A., two artists from Mexico, and one from Peru.

 

More Than Words by Carl Brown, from Palm Springs, CA. A fiber art composition that uses strip-piecing collage and includes words, letters, and numbers.

Sunshine Smile by Timothy Emerson Hinchoff, from Fallbrook, CA. Composed of mountain pine pitch, beeswax, acrylic and nylon yarn, and plywood.

An excerpt from Timothy Emerson Hinchoff's poem, included with his artwork:

“Feel blessed by the sun
Take a moment to feel his rays.
A great big sunshine smile
To fill up all of our days.”

 

These three exhibits will be on view through October 4, 2025.
They’ll be followed by one big event starting October 13: Biennial Interpretations. 
But don’t wait that long to visit Visions…you’ll be happy to see what’s there now.

Visions Museum of Textile Art
2825 Dewey Rd. #100, San Diego 92106
HOURS: Wednesday/Thursday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Friday/Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
619-546-4872.

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

Alex Katz: Theater and Dance - A Shift in Perspective at The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego +.

 by Patricia Frischer

Originally 38 of these cut out dogs placed on the stage 
had to be navigated by the dancers.

Alex Katz: Theater and Dance, a comprehensive museum presentation of the artist’s work with the performing arts on view until Jan 4, 2026 at The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. 

Most who know Alex Katz’s large scale flat painted compositions are familiar with his portraits and landscapes. His subjects , in general, are everyday modern life. His works, made when the art world was diving into abstract expressionism, pretty much ignored that movement by staying figurative and are considered a precursor to pop art and color field genres. Of course, the work has abstracted components from real life with paired down choices for line and color. But in the representational work it has gesture, the basis of most figurative work, and in real life physical gesture is dance. 

It turns out that Katz was a social dancer with his wife Ada. When he was introduced to the modern dancer Paul Taylor by Edwin Denby the poet and dance critic, Katz was impressed with his athleticism, intellectual intent and skill. They went on to create 15 productions together. Their collaboration invented a new way of conceiving of modern dance.  

When Taylor choreographed, he would put the same dance to different music scores. He considered the  stage a frame. Katz  consider that the energy of the dance could also break the frame. Shapes are made in space but are also flat. And everything that moves is a sort of choreography. When we watch, we undergo a constant shift in perspective.

Katz invented ribbons, sticks, discs, cut outs and even cube structures for the dancers so they related to the space and brought it alive as a component of the dance. Paul Taylor was open to this so in the truest sense there was a cross collaboration.  The sets had flat cut outs of objects on painted floors. The lighting flattened the figures and the color blocked costumes gave endless visual variation as the dancers gestured and rotatoed.  In an interview at Colby College in 2022, Alex Katz said, “Paul said, Alex makes obstacles and I overcome them…I give Paul a chance for greatness.” 

Born in Brooklyn, to Russian immigrants, Alex Katz studied at the Cooper Union School of Art, New York, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine. Katz is now in his 90’s and has worked with a number of different choreographers (Yoshiko Chuma, Laura Dean, William Dunas, and Parsons) and is still painting portraits of  dancers. The exhibition, organized by the Colby College Museum of Art (where there is a wing devoted to his work)  and the American Federation of Arts solely concentrates on Theater and Dance, but Katz has engaged in numerous large scale public art installations with cut outs and paintings. A retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in 2022 filled the entire building.   

This exhibition enables you to see a side of Alex Katz work never before exhibited with sketches from his private collection. It can be viewed as a capsule experience on a smaller scale, which gives so much more  insight  to his entire body of work. Alex Katz was not trying to sum up an entire theme in a painting, he was trying to capture that one moment of interaction between the subject and himself. 

Detail showing the way the cut outs are layered together to make this composition. 

Detail showing how the front and the back of the costumes were different.
Each turn of the dancer made for a different composition. 

Edwin Denby

Paul Taylor

A sketch for the following painting

It was intentional to cut off the foot, to tilt the figure as if she might fall

Theatrical lighting informs this close up

Economy of line and color allows the works to be upscaled

Amy Crum, Associate Curator MCASD, along with Kathryn Kanjo,
MCASD David C. Copley Director and CEO guided us through the exhibition

As was commented the Alex Katz works in this exhibition are small scale compared to the monumental even billboard size of most of Katz’s work. There is an economy of mark making used at that size, which is totally different to the huge works in the next gallery space by Yan Pei-Ming.  The entire room is filled with these three monumental paintings Yan Pei-Ming: A Burial in Shanghai. The first in honor of the passing of his mother, the second is a modern reinterpretation of  Gustave Courbet’s  A Burial at Ornans (1849-1850). The third representing the heavenly realm. These works debuted at Paris’s Musée d’Orsay in 2019, and this is the first showing in the United States. You have to be in the room with these works to experience the artist's intent of displaying his reaction to the death of this most important person in his life from tribute, to ceremony to after life. 

This is a tribute to the artists mother, who passed in 2028

The burial

The heavenly realm

Just a brief mention for another La Jolla stop. Visit the 33rd Annual Juried Exhibition at the Athenaeum Music and Art Library, jurored by Malcom Warner. It is on view until Oct 18 in the large Joseph Clayes III Gallery

Amy Rosenberg, The Circus Master (1st place)

Lori Mitchell, Waiting (3rd place)

Alex Katz: Theater and Dance, 

Yan Pei-Ming: A Burial in Shanghai 

Both on view until Jan 4, 2026  
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
700 Prospect St., La Jolla, 92037
Thurs - Sat, 11am - 7pm, Sun 11am - 5pm

33rd Annual Juried Exhibition 
Athenaeum Music and Art Library 
on view until Oct 18, 2026
1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, 92037
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am – 5:30pm