James Hubbell: 'Architecture of Jubilation'

Arts & Culture

Iconic artist James Hubbell leaves behind a legacy of art across San Diego

Julia Dixon Evans

Listen • 14:49

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 2024 from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m

Exhibition on view through Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. Please check Gallery hours before visiting!

"James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation" will be showing concurrently at the locations below:

• Architecture of Jubilation - Central Library

• A Mountain Home & Studios - Scripps Miramar Ranch Library

• Pacific Rim Project - Mission Valley Library

• Lado a Lado - Otay Mesa-Nestor Library

In southern California, between the influences of San Diego, Tijuana and the Pacific; among mountains, manzanita, boulders and oaks, lives a man who builds a world he wants to live in - where the aesthetic is a reflection of nature - and philosophy and art are a way of life. Artist James Hubbell has a 70-plus-year career as a contemporary master who expresses himself through nature-inspired art, architecture and functional objects and spaces. Using stone and glass, paint and pen, wood and steel, his works are natural and unconfined. His human and nature-centric design places art in walls, roofs, floors, and furnishings, not separate from, but as extensions of life. In Hubbell’s world, the everyday is elevated to art, and art is for every day.

Hubbell recognizes that it is our cities, buildings, structures - our treatment of our environment -that are perhaps our truest expressions of our views and values, our understanding of the ordering of the universe in which we live. Without great fanfare or financial reward, James Hubbell, the non-architect builder, personally led the design and construction of multiple architectural and fine art projects that accomplished meaningful social and educational transformation in Tijuana and San Diego.

Architectural designer, sculptor, painter, stained-glass artist, community activist - James Hubbell is one of San Diego’s most prolific artists. His Architecture of Jubilation - is an invitation for all of us to create the world we want to live in.

The Opening Reception will feature musician Pablo Dodero! Pablo is a producer, DJ, and writer originally from Tijuana, México. He is currently working on his PhD in Music at UCSD researching Mexico's electronic music history. He has been involved in the DIY music scene in Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles for over two decades and currently performs experimental electronic music under the names Adiós Mundo Cruel and Les Temps Barbares.

This exhibition was made possible by a collaboration between the San Diego Public Library, the San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, the Library Foundation SD and the Ilan-Lael Foundation. This Project is an official community initiative of the World Design Capital San Diego/ Tijuana 2024.

Featured programming will be occurring throughout the exhibition run. Take a look at www.mysdpl.org/visualarts for more information.

Visit all 4 locations and collect commemorative stickers!

Featured Programming

• Film Screening - James Hubbell: Between Heaven & Earth directed by Marianne Gerdes
  Tuesday, March 19, 2024  | 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. | Register Here
• Dave Hampton on “James Hubbell at Midcentury: His Early Years in the San Diego Art Community”
  Monday, April 22, 2024 | 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. | Register Here
• Keith York on “James Hubbell and Sim Bruce Richards: Collaborations”
  Tuesday, May 21, 2024 | 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. | Register Here
• Ilan-Lael Docent Tours. Registration Required.
  
  • Thursday April 18, 2024 – Morning Tour - 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, April 27, 2024 – Afternoon Tour - 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, June 22, 2024 – Morning Tour - 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• Stained Glass Workshop with ArtReach SD
  Friday, May 17, 2024 | 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. | Register Here

Gallery Hours:
Monday and Tuesday, 1 – 7 p.m.
Wednesday – Saturday, Noon – 5 p.m.
Sunday, 1 - 5 p.m.