CONCERTS
Jazz, Chamber, New Music & Acoustics
The 25th Athenaeum Summer Festival, a series of four Sunday concerts in July, will feature virtuoso pianist Gustavo Romero performing the complete piano repertoire of Frédéric Chopin. Also, the jazz summer series continues with another all-star band, the Chris Potter Trio, featuring Potter on tenor sax, Matt Brewer on bass, and Kendrick Scott on drums. Grammy-nominated Potter has emerged as a leading light of his generation. His music showcases limitless creativity and a vibrant sense of swing.
LECTURES
Art History, Music & Architecture Lectures
The 18th annual Flicks on the Bricks series returns this August. Film critic Beth Accomando has chosen four political comedy films. The open-air theater will feature four memorable films: The Great McGinty (1940), Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Candidate (1972), and Election (1999). Also, Roman de Salvo will give a special presentation of his career, process, recent projects, and 2019 mural McCairn for Murals of La Jolla. De Salvo is a sculptor and conceptual artist who reinvents ordinary materials through playful innovation.
ART CLASSES & LITERARY CLASSES
Summer 2024 Session
School of the Arts’ Summer 2024 art classes are now for sale! Enjoy Adventures in Drawing: Exploring Portraiture with Jean Krumbein or learn Photography Summer Workshop: Digital Negatives + Cyanotype + Gum Printing with Suda House in the La Jolla Studio. Create Grabado en Relieve: Relief Printmaking with Kelvin Lopez in the AAC Print Room. Discover Plein Air Techniques: Drawing and Painting the Figure in the Landscape with Pat Kelly on location. Enjoy Drawing from the Masters—Toned Paper with Stephanie Goldman on 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 special 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
The Athenaeum is pleased to present Unconscious Research, an exhibition by Maria Takal.
Unconscious Research features paintings and sculpture in which Takal explores exterior and interior expressions of the self. Predominantly working with oil on canvas, the paintings represent a shift in her work as she fully embraces the elemental language of abstraction, while her sculptural works showcase a collection of more linear and legible subjects. A Rolodex piece will be included in homage to the Athenaeum’s card catalogs, inviting visitors to peruse lists of personal feelings, collected from Takal’s friends and colleagues.
The show will be on display in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery and the Carolyn Yorston-Wellcome Rotunda Gallery from April 20 through July 13, 2024.
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!
