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

Geoffroy Tobé: Here and There at R.B. Stevenson Gallery

by Patricia Frischer

A Frenchman comes to San Diego after a 12 year career teaching in Paris. Geoffroy Tobé finds work teaching at UCSD in 2020 and we get the benefit of this European expat. Naming an exhibition Here and There makes reference to transcontinental nature of his vision. 

The work in this show at R.B. Stevenson Gallery in La Jolla is strongly architectural and strongly colored but there is this twist of emotional brush work that gives you a strong sense of an individual personality. So the architecture not only refers to structure, it leads to shelter with all that means.  His previous show at the gallery, last May, was titled Shelter which was directly related to the work he does with the Cultural Organization for Research and Heritage in the Alps (CREHA), which is involved in modern arts in the  Alps. 

The Alps does not lend itself to thinking of building, more about landscapes, and this could be why the works seems like it could be inspired by the work of Richard Diebenkorn, the San Francisco artist who made geometric, lyrical, abstract paintings. 

Geoffroy Tobé: Here and There at R.B. Stevenson Gallery 
Oct 18 to Nov 8, 2025
Please note that Geoffroy Tobé is also included in the next group exhibition. 

Wayne Hulgin included in the Holiday Group exhibition
and is a teacher at City College. 

The next exhibition will be a Holiday Group from Nov 15 to Dec. 20 with Charles Arnoldi, Jennifer Anne Bennett, Tim Craighead, Stephen P. Curry, Alan Disparte, Jeanne Dunn, Wayne Hulgin, Frances McCormack, Richard Allen Morris, Geoffroy Tobé, and Chris Trueman. 

Holiday Group
R.B. Stevenson Gallery
Nov 15 to Dec 20. 2025
Opening reception: Sat. Nov 15 from 5 to 8 pm
7661 Girard Avenue, Suite 101, La Jolla 92037
rbstevensongallery@sbcglobal.net  (858) 459-3917
Hours: Tues to Sat from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Emergence: The Advent of AI Art, Joe Nalven and Jill Rowe at the Escondido Arts Partnership

By Joe Nalven

Jill Rowe, Selfie evokes a sense of lost identity in an age dominated by technology by placing a QR code over an organic human face, suggesting a reduction of the individual to a machine-readable digital profile. It is meant to elicit a reaction from the viewer regarding the effects of technology on human existence.

For their exhibition Emergence at the Escondido Arts Partnership (EAP), Joe Nalven and Jill Rowe decided to explore generative AI image tools, both as assisting their workflow as well as working from text to imagined imagery. Nalven and Rowe have been exhibiting their art for several decades. For both, AI is a way to explore traditional visual art boundaries.

Joe Nalven, Go ahead, ask represents the portrait that confronts the viewer. There is a challenge; it is aggressive, yet calm. The artist is as much surprised as the viewer.

Several local arts institutions are open to experimenting with new media, including AI. In 2024, EAP hosted Nalven’s overview of I Am AI, Are You? with other San Diego digital artists and photographers: Greg Klamt, Kaz Maslanka, Larry Vogel, Jill Rowe, Stephen Burns, Eric Johnson and Jack Quintero.

Nalven and Rowe decided to continue this exploration of generative AI, giving the title of Emergence to their new work that builds on several decades of exhibiting their visual art. Rowe doesn’t see AI technology as a replacement for human creativity, but rather as a useful aid to augment and enhance the creative process. “New technologies always stir controversy when they are first introduced and AI is no exception, especially with the increasingly complex relationship between humanity and technology.”

Joe Nalven, Portraiture in the 21^st century takes the time-honored practice of portraiture and reconceptualizes what it might look like with AI. Clearly eclectic. And strange. And normal, too. The collage screams, “All things are possible. All at once.”

For Nalven, working with AI is an extension of using the digital medium. He co-authored Going Digital: The Practice and Vision of Digital Artists (2005) and has published numerous articles on AI, including the use and resistance to AI in art, whether AI has consciousness, using AI as a personal tutor, analyzing its biases, crafting policy and whether a campus art gallery can help transcend academic silos.

The U.S. Copyright Office offers a legal perspective to this medium. It will award copyright to images that have AI, but will exclude parts of it:  “Copyright law has long adapted to new technology and can enable case-by-case determinations as to whether AI-generated outputs reflect sufficient human contribution to warrant copyright protection. [I]n many circumstances these outputs will be copyrightable in whole or in part—where AI is used as a tool, and where a human has been able to determine the expressive elements they contain. Prompts alone, however, at this stage are unlikely to satisfy those requirements.”

Jill  Rowe, Emergence is a visual metaphor highlighting the question of artistic authorship. The two hands, one human one robotic,  capture a core theme of the Al art debate-the collaboration and tension between human creativity and the growing role of AI tools in the artistic process.

However, questions about authenticity, originality and resistance to AI art are more about attitude. Emergence asks the viewer to think about where the human is in AI images? If there is originality in AI art, how much of it trades on the millions of images made by others as part of this technology’s training? Simply put, how do we figure out what the “goodness” is in AI art and that belongs to the artist using it?

Joe Nalven, Semblance of mind intimates a shared understanding that only the viewer can sense, but cannot describe.

Sometimes there are no good answers. At such points, it might be just as interesting to turn to an AI avatar, such as we might find in the witty voice Dorothy Parker as suggested by Patricia Frischer from the San Diego Visual Arts Network. Here are some of the answers we might encounter from ChatGPT’s personification of Dorothy Parker.

‘Dorothy Parker’ on resistance to AI art:  Because, my dear, resistance is half the fun. If everyone agreed it was art, we’d have to find a new scandal. Besides, the whole affair is rather thrilling — machines dreaming, artists prompting, critics fainting. We’re not just showing pretty pictures; we’re poking at civilization’s soft underbelly, asking whether imagination is still ours alone. Exhibiting AI art is less about decoration and more about provocation — and who could resist that?

‘Dorothy Parker’ on the authenticity of AI art:  Ah, authenticity — the eternal cocktail-party topic. In truth, the originality of AI art lies in the hand that wields the code, not the code itself. Anyone can press a button, but it takes a human to press it meaningfully — perhaps even dramatically. The artist becomes part magician, part therapist, coaxing the machine into confessing something that feels, well, alive. So yes, the pixels may be artificial, but the yearning behind them? Entirely human, darling — and just as messy.

‘Dorothy Parker’ on the novelty and originality of AI art:  Novelty is lovely for a first date, but for a long-term affair, we need substance. We judge AI art as we judge all art — by its wit, its nerve, and its ability to make us feel slightly uncomfortable in the best possible way. The best pieces aren’t about machines showing off their tricks; they’re about artists showing us our reflection in the circuitry. In short, if it makes you laugh, gasp, or question your Wi-Fi password — it’s probably doing something right.

 

Jill Rowe, Solar Eclipse is a surreal fusion of natural and fantastical elements, highly detailed and subtly strange, conveying a variation of a tradational theme.  Technological tools function in much the same way and can be used to inspire new ways of exploring ideas.

Emergence 
Escondido Arts Partnership Expressions Gallery 
Dec. 13 to Jan. 2.
Opening reception Dec 13, 4 to 6 pm
Hours (holidays excepted): Tuesday: 11am – 4pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 11 am – 5pm,
For more information, joe.nalven2@gmail.com 760-480-4101.

Joe Nalven writes for the Times of San Diego and Minding The Campus. He has been a curator of digital arts exhibitions since 2005. His own art work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout San Diego County.

Francisco Eme: Future Rituals & La eco-resistencia at Oceanside Museum of Art

 By Patricia Frischer

For his exhibition Future Rituals & La eco-resistencia at Oceanside Museum of Art Francisco Eme has been tracking landscapes, particularly the canyon near his suburban home in San Diego for more than 5 years, recording and collecting artifacts and thinking deeply about the balance between wildlife and mankind. He has been involved in what he calls the canyon’s “eco-resistance” by nurturing native plants, removing invasive ones, and working in collaboration with scientists.

Some of those found objects have inspired fetish pieces that reflect the authenticity and depth of his feeling about the environment.

This series was first shown at Mesa College Gallery in 2023, curated by Alessandra Moctezuma. In 2024,  Francisco Eme was a SD Art Prize recipient and in the piece he exhibited at the San Diego History Center curated by Lara Bullock, Rain of Birds, a video of birds diving creates not only a background video, but can also be seen reflected as they seem to skim over the mirror surface of the pond he created in the space.  Eme poses questions more than shouting protests. Most important is the meditative quality of this work that gifts you with the time and space to think of these questions. In Future Rituals at OMA, he is suggesting a time when all we have left of birds is the recordings of their songs. By placing a metal rusted tube as an instrument in this part of the gallery, he asked, will you perform, will you become involved?

As a musician/composer as well as a fine art artist, sound is fine tuned into his work. The buzzing of insects informs the other installation The Resistance of Echoes with two videos, three tapestries and a ceramic sculpture. The video lens has been distorted, almost like we are looking at the scene through the eyes of an alien with altered retinas or maybe it is a bee’s eye view.

Oceanside Museum of Art gives us a wide variety of exhibitions (note below the line up), but in this exhibition we are reminded in a subtle and highly aesthetic way, that we share earth, not just with each other, but with animals, minerals and plants. 

 

Francisco Eme: Future Rituals & La eco-resistencia is on view until March 22, 2026.

Honoring the visionary architect of the OMA with a new exhibition, Modern Simplicity: The Architecture of Irving J. Gill in Oceanside, this show opens November 1, to April 26, 2026.

Surf Art: Exploring Southern California's Coastal Culture is on view until Feb 1 is a joyous exhibition celebration all things about our ocean waves.

2025 – 2026 Artist Alliance Biennial open Nov 22 and is on view until March 8, 2026

OMA will host an Exhibition Celebration for both on Saturday, November 22, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, where the community is invited to meet the artist and celebrate all these OMA’s current exhibitions.

Oceanside Museum of Art 
704 Pier View Way, Oceanside 92054 h
Wednesday, through Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm
First Friday of Every Month - Extended hours 11:00am-8:00pm

The World According to Lynn Schuette: A Must-See at PHES Gallery

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 

Always Wear Lipstick #1

The title of the new Lynn Schuette show at Carlsbad’s PHES Gallery is Always Wear Lipstick, but that, as the artist said when we were lucky enough to be there for the hanging, was just for fun, to see how people would respond.

For 45 years she has painted large-scale canvases that express how she feels about society, the environment, and whatever else comes to her mind. In 1980 she founded Sushi Performance and Visual Art in a downtown warehouse, where she lived, did all the necessary work, and featured provocative, cutting-edge artists for 15 years. Then she left to work on her own art, which has been included in museums and private collections around San Diego County and beyond ever since.

This current exhibit includes several of the projects she’s been working on over the years.

“We start with Stagnation, and move into Revival,” she said. 

The front room in the gallery features pieces from her Stagnation Series, the beginning of her Covid-era work.  She’d had a feeling of some calamity coming, and then the pandemic happened, followed by lockdown.

Just When You Thought You Were Safe

 

She started ripping up old paintings to throw out but decided there was something else she could do: use the fragments to create new artworks instead. All the pieces on view here are “cut-ups”, some painted over, some not.

Study for Slipping Beauty and Study for WooHoo.

 

In the next room there’s Essential Décor--eight pieces sold together as one piece. A significant part of this is a portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi, a 17^th century Italian painter who managed to become a celebrated artist despite a violent rape and living in an age when there were virtually no opportunities for female artists.

The artist holding her Artemesia. 

Another part of Essential Décor: an illustrated James Baldwin poem.

 In an adjoining space is the One Dozen Roses Project, started in the late 1960s as a tribute to anti-war protests and created from photos she had made of aging roses. It’s an ongoing project: when a work is sold, she does a new painting to keep the dozen complete.

One of the One Dozen Roses: Je Suis Fatigué de Sang (I Am Tired of Blood.)

In the last room is Schuette’s Revival, a large scale three-panel portrait she made of a photo of dancers from the company of choreographer Pina Bausch, a photo she loved and kept in her home studio.

“I never paint figures, but I decided to do it,” she said. “It was sort of like shedding my skin… a revival.”

Revival. 

As her exhibit was being hung by gallery owners Paul Henry and Ellen Speert, she was not just an observer; she and her assistant, Lauren Nett, found plenty to do.

Lynn Schuette and Lauren Nett at work at the hanging. 

“It’s fun,” she said. “I don’t want to just scribble something down; I do it all. I like the whole process.”

This exhibit can be a full-on experience. Seeing these works in person and taking your time with them you really feel the spirit of the artist coming through.

It’s not about lipstick; it’s about life.  Don’t miss this show.

Lynn Schuette: Always Wear Lipstick
PHES GALLERY
On view through December 14, 2025.
2633 State Street, Carlsbad Village 92008
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 2-5 p.m., and by appointment.
info@PHESGallery.com

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

Fiber Art Now: ARTwear and Interpretations 2025 at Vision Museum of Textile Art at Liberty Station

 by Patricia Frischer

Denise Yaghmourian

For those who subscribe to Fiber Art Now, this small selection of artists in the ARTwear exhibition were all  juried into a print exhibition included in the fall 2024 issue of that magazine.  Beth Smith, Managing Editor and Exhibitions Director of Fiber Art Now was a previous director of the Vision Museum of Textile Art (MoTA). MoTA Curatorial and Education Manager Armando Garcia-Orso made the selection for this display which is small but focused. As the title suggested all the works are made to be worn although maybe some for very special occasions.

The selection of just five of the works below are not clothes that would find a way into a closet, perhaps, but seem very at home in a gallery. Denise Yaghmourian gives us a patchwork of  patches. MartyO takes the humble twist tie and Frankensteins it into a blouse. Amy Seeler’s necklace/scarf/albatross would certainly keep you anchored. Omar Antonio gives us a Met worthy Halloween costume.  Jesse Aviv presents 21^st century amour and Gitty Duncan’s shoes would make Fred Astaire’s day. 

MartyO

MartyO, detail

Amy Seeler

Omar Antonio

Jesse Aviv

Gitty Duncan

The museum’s juried biennial, Interpretations 2025, has more than 40 artists included and continues to elevate the textile art form. Jurors include Holly Brackmann, Luisa Gil Fandino and Paula Kovarik. The selection below does not include any of the award winners, so there is plenty more to see in this show which covers an enormous variety of techniques and materials. The choice before was made with criterial of what seemed the most unusual and was photogenic. 

Maggy Rozycki Hiltner

Maggy Rozycki Hiltner - detail

Rebecca Edwards

Meredith Strauss

Meredith Strauss - detail

Diane Melms

Diane Nunez

Hanna Wojdała-Markowska

Fiber Art Now – ARTwear  
Interpretations 2025  
Vision Museum of Textile Arts
Both on view Oct18 to Jan 31, 2026
2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100 | San Diego, 92106
Wed /Thurs. 10 am to 2 pm, Fri/Sat 10 am to 4 pm