CONCERTS
Jazz, Chamber, New Music & Acoustics
San Diego New Music will present a public reading session of new works by selected high school students in the Emerging Composers Workshop at the AAC. Also, the Barbara & William Karatz Chamber series concludes with the New Orford String Quartet presenting works by Mozart, Dinuk Wijeratne, and Beethoven. Violinists Andrew Wan and Jonathan Crow, violist Sharon Wei, and cellist Brian Manke form an ensemble of four elite orchestral leaders and soloists who perform chamber music at the highest level. The Toronto Star describes them as “nothing short of electrifying.”
LECTURES
Art History, Music & Architecture Lectures
Please join us for a panel discussion with the members of Harvest & Gather. They will share a special presentation on their Athenaeum show, missed connections, and how it connects to their careers and processes. Harvest & Gather is an experimental, nomadic curatorial project founded by mika Castañeda & Cat Gunn in 2023. With an emphasis on creating makeshift spaces for art anywhere at any moment, the project exists beyond traditional galleries and museums through pop-up shows in various locations.
ART CLASSES & LITERARY CLASSES
Spring & Summer 2025 Sessions
The Spring & Summer 2025 art classes are now available for registration. Explore Plein Air Workshop: La Jolla Village on location with Pat Kelly. Learn Fundamentals of Watercolor: Still Life & Landscape with Stan Goudey in the La Jolla Studio. Discover Life Drawing with Jean Krumbein in the AAC Art Studio. Join the School of the Arts Book Club with Anna DiMartino in the Jacobs Music Room. Learn Drawing from the Masters―Toned Paper with Stephanie Goldman online via Zoom. 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 and art history 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
Harvest & Gather is pleased to present missed connections, an exhibition that facilitates collaboration between artists who might have once worked together, but the stars did not align in their favor or their spirits could not quite connect. Each invited artist has selected another artist to exhibit with, thus fulfilling their missed connection at the Athenaeum. Moving beyond an exchange of glances but nothing more and the “you-smiled-at-me-on-the-subway-platform” prose of personal ads, Harvest & Gather seeks to allow the exhibiting artists a working opportunity to intimately connect with another artist’s work and practice. Artists are Deanna Barahona and Susan Aparicio; Katie Delaney and Elaine Fisher; Maria Antonia Eguiarte and Liz Nurenberg; and Stephen Rivas and A.R. Tran.
The show will be on display in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery and the Carolyn Yorston-Wellcome Rotunda Gallery from April 26 through July 19, 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!
