CONCERTS
Jazz, Chamber, New Music & Acoustics
Superstar cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia returns to open our Barbara and William Karatz Chamber Music Series with a dreamy duo program of French sonatas, unique transcriptions, and Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne (adapted from his ballet Pulcinella). Cañón-Valencia will be accompanied on the piano by Victor Santiago Asuncion. Also, the Athenaeum’s jazz program returns with a four-concert series this fall, starting with the Kris Davis Trio, featuring Grammy Award–winner Davis on piano, Robert Hurst on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums.
LECTURES
Art History, Music, Film & Architecture Lectures
Matt Rich will give an artist talk discussing his career, recent projects, and his newly completed mural, Ampersand, for Murals of La Jolla, offering insight into his broader practice and inspirations. Rich’s mural is an energetic collage of materials, forms, and colors that reflects the formal and conceptual threads of his practice, where elements converge and intertwine to reveal new relationships and possibilities. Rich’s use of the & character emerges as a signature motif, serving as both a visual anchor and a symbolic gesture toward openness, continuation, and exchange.
ART CLASSES & LITERARY CLASSES
Fall Session
Fall art classes are now available for registration! Join School of the Arts Book Club in the library. Paint Halloween Decorations in Plein Air on location with Kevin Inman. Discover Landscape Painting: Problem Solving and Critique with Pat Kelly in the La Jolla Studio. Learn Creative Freedom in Acrylics with Stan Goudey and Paint–overs with Lisa Bebi in the La Jolla Studio. Celebrate Still Life Workshop: Holiday Still-Life Soirée with Pat Kelly and create Book Arts: Maps of the Imagination, Narratives of Space & Time with Sibyl Rubottom in the La Jolla Studio. Register today!
The Athenaeum offers a wealth of resources that are unique to this region. The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, has an outstanding and ever-expanding collection of books, periodicals, reference material, CDs, DVDs, sheet music, and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists' books in Southern California. Members have access to a wide variety of materials that range from rare, historic items to the latest in video technology.
Explore the concerts and lectures the Athenaeum has to offer. Enjoy intimate jazz, chamber, and new music concerts, as well as artists’ talks, art history lectures, and music lectures.
The Athenaeum Art Center (AAC) in Logan Heights has four exhibition spaces, an event space, a fully equipped print studio, a kiln, and art studio. It offers a unique set of bilingual programming that includes the exhibition of national and international artists, music concerts showcasing the distinct sounds of our binational region, participation in community festivities, free after-school art programs, art classes, and a variety of unique experiences in collaboration with local organizations.
Exhibitions
One of the most prestigious juried shows in San Diego, the Athenaeum’s 33rd Annual Juried Exhibition will be on view this summer and fall. This year 315 artists entered about 900 works for consideration. Juror Malcolm Warner, art historian and curator, selected the final 29 artists and 29 works to exhibit. Prizewinners, including the recipients of the Leslie Von Kolb Memorial Award, were announced at the opening reception. Free and open to the public.
The show will be on display in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery from July 26 through October 18, 2025.
Murals of La Jolla is a project of the Athenaeum. The mural project enhances the civic character and vitality of the community by commissioning public art projects on private property throughout La Jolla. Each work is on view for a minimum of two years. Since 2010, thirty-seven large-scale artworks have appeared in a variety of locations throughout the village of La Jolla, some prominently displayed while others are tucked away in more discreet locations.
The Athenaeum's
Erika & Fred Torri
Artists’ Books Collection
Artists' books are works of art in book form. They are published in small editions or as one-of-a-kind objects. The Athenaeum's artists' books collection has become one of the most important collections in its holdings and is a driving force in the library's development. Among its holdings, it contains the complete collection of artists' books by Ed Ruscha, Ida Applebroog, Allen Ruppersberg, John Baldessari, Bruce Nauman, and other artists.
Join the Athenaeum
Becoming a member is the best way to enjoy everything that the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library—San Diego's only membership library—has to offer. For only $50 a year, members may check out materials from the library, receive exclusive discounts on our programs, and more! An Athenaeum Music & Arts Library membership supports art and music in San Diego.
The Athenaeum is supported by members like you!
