SDMA Artists Guild at Museum of Photographic Art @SDMA

by Patricia Frischer

Scott Bruckner  - look close, it is black and white wood hangers

It is a really big deal that  the SDMA Artists Guild  is having their very first exhibition at Museum of Photographic Art @SDMA in Balboa Park on display until March 9th. 

The group of artists that started the SDMA museum in 1926, first showed their work in the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.  Those local artists were involved in the design, façade and its early collections of the new museum. To this day, the Artists Guild continues its support of the museum including financial support. 

Currently with 112 members, 45 are represented in this showing that has been curated by Hugh Davies, retired director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. This is amazing as the artists have not really shown at the Museum for a long time. And yes, it is the Museum of Photographic Arts that was taken over by the SDMA of art recently, but it is still the MUSEUM!  

Many art professionals have curated shows for the Guild, for example Alex DeCosta of Hyde Gallery, Nancy Lim, Associate Curator San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Katie Dolgov, Director of Exhibitions and Collections Oceanside Museum of Art and the quality of the work, though varied, is improving as it is in other art associations, like the Oceanside Museum of Art Artists Alliance. (Read Seen and Unseen at Oceanside Museum of Art by Patricia Frischer).

The small selection below includes art by James Bliesner  who is the new president of the Guild.  As you can see below it is a wide selection of styles and mediums, which one expects when a show has no theme. On the occasion of the very first exhibition a SDMA Artist Guild video has been created by James Halfacre with an introduction by Roxana Velásquez, the Maruja Baldwin Executive Director and CEO at The San Diego Museum of Art.

Rosemary KimBal - Dancing Brush, Zen brush painting

Angelika Villagrana - membership chair of the Guild board 

James Bliesner - president of the board Guild

Kevin Inman - vice president of the Guild board

Mark-Elliot Lugo

Jeff Crusberg

Kelly Davenport

True Ryndes

Julie Weaverling

Vicky DeLong

Their next exhibition which will be held at PHES Gallery in Carlsbad has an entry date of March 1 and will be on display from April 6 - May 31. We look forward to new directions from the SDMA Artists Guild.

SDMA Artists Guild at Museum of Photographic Art @SDMA
On display until March 9, 2025.