Health, Healing and Hope at Oceanside Museum of Art

by Patricia Frischer

 

The Art of Autism Post for Healing

There is a gathering of exhibitions at the Oceanside Museum of Arts that are in this year's theme Health, Healing and Hope for April Arts and Culture and Creativity Month for the State of CA , 

The Art of Autism: A Different Lens 
Matt Devine: Walk With Me 
May Jhun: In Losing Sleep, I painted.

The Art of Autism: A Different Lens at Oceanside Museum of Art
April 5 to July 27, 2025

Every person has a different lens to view the world. The special skill artists have is to communicate their unique view of the world visually. What is being showcased in this The Art of Autism: A Different Lens exhibition is neurodivergent artists. Yes, that is a different lens, but it is what every artist does.  In fact, as John Ruskin wrote, “The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.”

I have chosen to shed some loving attention on each one of the artists included in this show so beautifully presented, as always, by the Oceanside Museum Staff and curated by Debra Muzikar. But hopefully this will bring your attention to the some of the challenges and some of the advantages that this group of artists have. The exhibition has been outfitted with advice by neurodivergent consultant Alexander Plank to make life pleasant for those viewers who might need more quiet or a place to regroup in their own way.

Sensory issues are varied while some are distressed by too much light or sound,  others are synesthetes and see a vast array of colors and are inspired by music.  Some autistic people are non-verbal and what better way than visual art for them to express themselves. We like the idea of a social model of disability where we don’t see people as if there is something wrong, but accepts the diversity of all of us creatures. And just a note: all Autistics are neurodivergent, but not all neurodivergent people are autistic.

There are seven Peace and Healing Posts in this exhibition. The posts created previously express issues common for autism spectrum: Overcoming Depression, Coping with Anxiety, Diversity and its Connections to Health, and Understanding Autism made with Temple Grandin, a leading advocate for Autism.  The three made for this show are with; Teri Inc. headquarters in Oceanside and with a campus in San Marcos and dedicated to elevating the life of the disabled; D'Vine Path with a mission to transform neurodivergent people's lives by providing vocational and life skills training in agriculture, hospitality; and the arts; and the curator of the exhibition’s non-profit organization The Art of Autism  (the central post). Take some time and watch the video Joel Anderson from D’Vine Path compiled about the making of the posts. He used footage from Post for Peace and Justice leader Kira Carrillo Corser who also contributes to Compassionate Arts. Both Kira and Debra work out of Fallbrook.

 Post for Peace and Justice Post, all on healing subjects

 Post for Peace and Justice Post, all on healing subjects 

Jeremy Sicile-Kira - see color halos around people and 
used that to inspire his art

Brendan Kerr -  his tapestry is an interpretation of landscapes and is brilliantly displayed  between two photograph.

Clark Warren - lamps and only lamps are the recipients
of his found object treasures assemblages

Madison Ross - the granddaughter of Kira Corser and just one of the artists
who have an amazing loving family to support them.

Nicholas Kontaxis - maximal effect from color makes this large canvas pure joy and why this artist is well appreciated and acquired.

Kevin Hosseini - the son of curator Debra Muzikar, this cityscapes was inspired by all the books and exhibition he was more than eager to see. 

Carissa Moderno Paccerelli - portraying her brother who is also neurodivergent, with the loving care deserved by all. 

Alex Nichols - these tapestries incorporate 3-D objects. He has been commissioned to make commemorative tapestries for loved ones using their own mementos. 

Alex Nichols, detail

Alex Nichols - shows us a truth about how he sees himself. 

Joel Anderson - an impactful display of the objects this artist cherishes in the large tribute pop art like paintings.

Austin John Jones, digital works - on the left A Piece of Mind, on the right Hollow - body and soul.

Austin John Jones - those smiling teeth hide a world of hurt.

Spencer Brown - normally very quiet, Spencer Brown is able to speak articulately while talking about his own artwork. 

Sydney Edmond - an artist and a poet and deserving of the
gold that surrounds her images. 

Noise cancelling headphones and touch boxes scattered through the gallery space

A room to rest and regroup

Matt Devine: Walk With Me on view until July 6 at Oceanside Museum of Art

There is a lot to see at the Oceanside Museum of Art and I suggest you see this display last. It will quiet your mind and ready you for the outside world again. Matt Devine used to live and work in San Diego in studios in Barrio Logan. He has since moved to rural Oregon where the accompanying video shows his retreat with long walks into the county side with his dogs through the seasons.  

At first glance you might think this is corporate art and it would indeed be much needed and appreciated in a business setting. But for Matt Devine this is survival art. His is  on a “personal journey of overcoming anxiety and depression.” You must move close and look hard for the words below inscribed in his white and blue disks. You must quiet your mind to see the subtle shift of shadows in the bright blue suspended rods that reflects the amount of rainfall nationally and locally. You can stand quietly under the exquisite flight of birds and marvel at the angles of their movement. You can lose yourself in the interlocking twigs and twisted metal. Or maybe you can find yourself there!

White:
I am trying to breath, but I feel so fucking shaky.
I don’t want to die. I like it here.

Matt Devine - Lost Orbit, Celestial Return

Blue:
You are not alone, and where you are meant to be
You are strong, beyond what you think. 

Matt Devine - Lost Orbit, Celestial Return

Matt Devine

Matt Devine - detail

Matt Devine, detail

May Jhun: In Losing Sleep, I painted. 

May Jhun: In Losing Sleep, I painted. On exhibition until June 15

The delightful thing about May Jhun is she seems to dream in the Art Nouveau meets Steam Punk style. We all wish we could dream in a favorite style and though her sleep is s struggle, she presents us with a flowing, flowering installation of images and objects. This is reflecting her relationship with equipment meant to help her, but which has become a burden. We see characters’ faces and bodies with the full range of emotions and terrors.  Then what looks like mad scientist’s chemistry lab  is complete with a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. 

Mary Jhun

Mary Jhun

Mary Jhun

Mary Jhun, room right

Mary Jhun, room left

Allison Renshaw

Allison Renshaw's painting is just one work from The Stories that Connect Us: Selections from the OMA Collection on view until August 31st. This work from the permanent collection won't be on view until the new building (in the old firehouse) is funded and built. Ethel Green, Jen Trute, Duke Winsor, Gail Roberts....so many delightful images. 

Marshall Toomey

Marshall Toomey: Black Americana, a last view as this show is closing but so much fun. 

Oceanside Museum of Art
704 Pier View Way, Oceanside, CA 92054
(760) 435-3720
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00am–5:00pm
Extended Hours on First Fridays11:00am–8:00pm

Fashion Redux 2025: A Legacy of Fashion & Philanthropy at the San Diego History Center

 By Patricia Frischer

Take four fashion design students from Mesa College Fashion Program and expose them to some of the fashion designs and designers that draped society women from 1940 to 1988 and you get an exciting mix of old and new. The Historic Textile Collection of the SD History Center is a treasure of dresses worn by those attending the charity balls of San Diego elite through this period. Gladys Scott San Diego Designs was a local designer but  othersdesigners include  Norman Norell, Bob Mackie, Irene Sharaff, and Zandra Rhodes(who had a studio for several years in Solana Beach).  

All of the student made statements about their creation but the dress Between Heaven and Earth by Troy Munsey and his words about it stuck a cord with me. The Zadra Rhodes fashion that inspired him is called Chinese Squares. He tried to blend ”historical Chinese aesthetics with spiritual symbolism.” The mist of the mountains and the sheer overlays of tradition Chinese court dresses for funerals are overlaid on a figure hugging contemporary under garment.

The students Vanessa Felix, Genesis Yanez, Edwin Alba, Troy Munsey were aided by models Nicole Camaratta , Vanessa Trejo, Elece Marie and Zofia Prieto who showed off their creations at a lovely preview event which you can see on the Fashion Redux 2025 website. This is the 14th year of this collaboration and you can see all past years on the site as well.

Philanthropy is as in important as ever in today’s art world.  It is important for student to recognize that fact as they work on their own creativity. Make sure and visit Fashion Redux 2025 at the SD History Center in Balboa Park. 

Vanessa Felix in front of  Norman Norell  and inspired by him
as well as Bob Mackie, and Zandra Rhodes. 

Edwin Alba in front of and inspired by  Bob Mackie. 

Genesis Yanez  in front of Irene Sharaff, inspired by Gladys Scott.

Troy Munsey in front of and inspired by Zandra Rhodes. 

Some appropriate accessories

Gladys Scott of Gladys Scott San Diego Designs

Fashion Redux 2025:  A Legacy of Fashion & Philanthropy
San Diego History Center
on view until August 31st
1649 El Prado, Suite #3
San Diego, CA 92101
info@sandiegohistory.org
619-232-6203
Wednesday through Sunday, 10am – 5pm

A PHES-tival of SDMA Artist Guild Artists in Carlsbad

by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, photos by Maurice Hewitt

TAIYO, acrylic on canvas by Pamela Nigro.
Taiyo means SUN in Japanese.

April 6^th was opening day of an exhibition featuring selected artworks from members of the Artists Guild of the San Diego Museum of Art at PHES Gallery in Carlsbad.

Members were allowed to submit several images for consideration, and from over 120 submissions, 25 were chosen by gallery owners Paul Henry and Ellen Speert, whose initials form their gallery’s name. The project was originally proposed by Julie Weaverling, a member of the Artists Guild’s Exhibitions Committee who would like to see the Guild’s reach expand into North County and thought PHES would be a great place to start.

A number of the artists were present at the opening, and Paul and Ellen were happy to guide visitors through the show. Julie Weaverling provided refreshments and also had a painting on view. 

You can see photos of eight of the pieces here, and if you walk by the gallery some evening, you’ll see several artworks through the window, all lit up. But it’s best to see them all, face to face, inside the gallery, and the show runs through May 31^st.

Waiting for the CT Scan, oil on canvas, by Cecelia Anastos.
“I did this painting while waiting for the results of a blood test
I took that could have been very bad news,” the artist explained.
“It took weeks for the results to come back, and I was losing my head,
so I have no head here.”

Ladder to Nowhere, by Scott Bruckner.
Douglas Fir on Parota Wood base. Height: 96”.

Size Matters! A bronze 11x12x12 Oreo cookie by Maidy Morhous.

Solo Flight, by Rosemary KimBal.
Four brush strokes on handmade rice paper. “Two strokes, then
I saw the bird,and I added two strokes for a beak,” said the artist,
a master of the ancient art of Zen painting, which values
a piece whose essence is revealed in the fewest strokes possible

Awakening, by Julie Weaverling.

Anticipatory Anxiety, by Vira Ustianska, oil on canvas. After coming here from the Ukraine with her young daughter, she set herself a goal: “I want to paint a thousand pictures of flowers, a long-term goal that reminds me: Don’t give up! Survive!”

Hercules Aloe, by Will Gibson. A pigment print shot in daytime with infra-red photography.

Selections from the SD Museum of Art Artists Guild
PHES Gallery
2633 State Street, Carlsbad, CA, 92008
through May 31, 2025
open from 2 - 7 p.m. - Thursday - Saturday
and by appointment: (760) 696-3022 

 

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

Art, Poetry, and Surf Music Celebrate "Save the Ocean 5" at Front Porch Gallery

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

Paradise Lost in a Sea of Plastic by Ron Yeo.
Best in Show for Art & Poems
Our favorite piece by Ron Yeo is the pelican beside
his full-size prize winning artwork, which is really 20’’ x 20” but we’re sharing
the poem here too since both so well express the show’s theme.

Ron Yeo’s Starving Pelican.

 On March 29^th, Carlsbad’s Front Porch Gallery celebrated its 20^th anniversary with its fifth Save the Ocean exhibition, a collaboration with the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project. The juried show featured pieces by 83 So Cal artists and 20 poets, with surf-rock band Tower 7 providing live music out on the street.

 
“Being close to the ocean is a significant part of our gallery experience,” says Cathy Carey, Front Porch Gallery Director. “We want to amplify the voices of creative professionals who are dedicated to raising awareness of environmental issues and fostering positive action so that the ocean can provide a place of beauty, solace and rejuvenation in the 20 years to come.”
 
The exhibition will run through May 28^th, so you have time to get up close and personal with the artworks and pay a visit to the ocean, just a few blocks away.

Galatea by Christina Rosenthal.  First Place Award for Art.
This Carlsbad-based artist has two other artworks and a poem in the show. We particularly loved her portrayal of the sea nymph in Greek mythology who fell in love with a human.

Endangered by Laurie Mika took Second Place, but we were equally impressed by her
Navigateur.#5.
 

Navigateur by Laurie Mika

Third Place in Art went to this Water Bear Egg by Brett Wallerstein 
but the 12” x 12” x 12” sculpture is a massive look at a microscopic creature.

Under the Sea:  A large-scale piece by Tanis M. Galik.

Sea Nymph, a bubble-wrap ball-gown by Kathryn Peterson.

Golden Summer Shore, an eye-catching oil painting by Cathy Carey, Front Porch Gallery Director, whose artworks can be seen beyond our shores in Santa Fe, Scottsdale and Taos.

Front Porch Gallery
2903 Carlsbad Blvd. Carlsbad, CA 92008
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday: 12-4 p.m.
760-795-6120

Surfing Madonna

About the Surfing Madonna:

Mark Patterson, the Leucadia-based artist who created the 10’ x 10’ mosaic, spent years doing sketches of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a surfboard saying “Save the Ocean.” Finally inspired to create a mosaic, he completed the piece on Good Friday in 2011, when Good Friday and Earth Day happened to fall on the same day--a rare occurrence. Later that day, he and his friend Bob Nichols quietly installed it under a railroad bridge in Encinitas, where it could be easily seen. After some controversy, it was relocated to a spot across the street on the corner of Encinitas Boulevard and South Coast Highway, close to Moonlight Beach.

In 2013, he and Nichols created the non-profit Surfing Madonna Oceans Project, which has since donated many thousands of dollars to worthy causes. Patterson died in 2023, but his artwork lives on. Check out the full story It’s seriously interesting!   

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