March 11–May 6, 2023

Gallery Walk-through: Saturday, March 18, 1 PM

Join artist Andrew Alcasid for a guided walk-through of his new exhibition, Turning Pages. Free admission.

JOSEPH CLAYES III GALLERY & ROTUNDA GALLERY

ANDREW ALCASID: Turning Pages

In homage to the Athenaeum's beginnings as the La Jolla Reading Room, Andrew Alcasid presents Turning Pages, a collection of figure drawings depicting his partner, Aubrey Mejia, reading at their home. 

After being diagnosed with cancer in 2019, Alcasid began to draw small still lifes. Mejia, a floral designer, would bring a variety of blooms to the hospital and home as Alcasid underwent chemotherapy, resulting in a series of watercolor florals he called Get Well Soon. The Turning Pages series began in 2020 while the artist was convalescing at home during the pandemic, creating these quiet studies of their shared love of reading and writing. 

Andrew Alcasid is graduate of the museum studies program at San Diego Mesa College and previously studied figure drawing at Miramar College and North Park Drawing Group. He has held artist residencies at Bread & Salt and (now-shuttered) Helmuth Projects. As a mostly self-taught artist who started by experimenting with street art, Alcasid has over sixty works displayed on San Diego electrical boxes. His public murals include the "Omega Mural" in Mira Mesa and “Cube, Palm, Orchid” at the corner of Adams and Hawley in Normal Heights.  

The exhibition can be viewed in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery and the Rotunda Gallery at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA 92037) during open hours, Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.