Thursday, September 21, 2023
Reception at 5:30 PM; Lecture at 6:30 PM
Please join us for an artist’s talk by Kim MacConnel, an internationally renowned artist who lives and works in San Diego. As a seminal figure in the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s, he created a unique visual language, drawing inspiration from wide-ranging and multicultural sources such as textile arts, found graphic images, and Henri Matisse.
MacConnel was born in 1946 in Oklahoma City. He received his BFA and MFA from the University of California, San Diego, and taught in various capacities in the UCSD Visual Arts Department between 1975 and 1980 and as a professor of art from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. His fun and playful style incorporates bright color and creative patterning and design, and he is known for painting on unconventional materials, including fabric and bed sheets.
MacConnel’s mural, The Girl from Ipanema, installed in 2010 at 7724 Girard Avenue, was the first mural created for Murals of La Jolla and was one of the few painted directly on its site. MacConnel says, “The building called for a sinuous undulating pattern to offset the structure, and the color helps to offset its location in an alley.”
MacConnel’s paintings, drawings, and sculpture, including furniture, have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including the Whitney Biennials of 1975, 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1985; the Museum of Ghent, Belgium; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; PS 1, Long Island City; the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, among others. He is featured in many permanent collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Mural Members and Makers attend FREE and will receive an email to RSVP for the lecture.
Artist Talk Tickets: $15/20/5
The lecture will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for this event. Your name will be on an attendee list at the front door. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Seating is first-come; first-served. This event will be presented in compliance with State of California and County of San Diego health regulations as applicable at the time of the lecture.
Masks optional. If you have a fever, cough, or flu-like symptoms, please stay home.