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Artist James Hubbell is shown in an undated photo.
John Durant
Artist James Hubbell is shown in an undated photo.

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

Visionary local artist, sculptor, architect, designer and naturalist James Hubbell passed away on Friday, May 17. He was 92. Hubbell's artistic touch is all over San Diego and beyond, with countless stained glass, mosaics, sculptures, gates and more peppering local libraries, churches, nature preserves, schools and other public spaces.

A young James Hubbell is shown with a work of stained glass in an undated photo.
Courtesy of Ilan-Lael Foundation
A young James Hubbell is shown with a work of stained glass in an undated photo.

Hubbell was born in Mineola, New York and moved a lot in his youth. In 1958, he landed in Julian, CA, and lived there with his wife Anne in an extraordinary home and studio property nestled in the picturesque and wild mountains of San Diego County.

The region's wilderness and nature was more than an inspiration for Hubbell's work — it was essential.

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Marianne Gerdes is a filmmaker and executive director of the Ilan-Lael Foundation, an arts education nonprofit founded by Hubbell and his wife Anne in 1982. Gerdes said that his relationship with nature touched everything — from botanical stained glass to sculptures on trailheads to architectural ideas of livable environments, education, peace and more.

James Hubbell's Ilan-Lael property in Julian, CA is shown in an undated photo.
Chris Henry
James Hubbell's Ilan-Lael property in Julian, CA is shown in an undated photo.
James Hubbell's Ilan-Lael property is shown in an undated photo.
Courtesy of Ilan-Lael Foundation
James Hubbell's Ilan-Lael property is shown in an undated photo.

"He didn't copy nature in his art, but he certainly took the lessons he learned from his lifetime's devotion to it — and expressing it in his form and in the way he would blend materials. He would point out that in nature, a tree and grass will grow next to a rock. They don't keep separate. And so when he worked with materials, he would put, you know, brick with mosaic with stained glass… a floor becomes a wall, a wall becomes a roof in his designs," Gerdes said.

James Hubbell is shown in 1968 with the Ilan-Lael Big Studio under construction.
Photo courtesy of Ilan-Lael Foundation
James Hubbell is shown in 1968 with the Ilan-Lael Big Studio under construction.

Hubbell's art can currently be seen in a major four-part exhibition that's on view at four San Diego-area libraries. "James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation" includes a retrospective survey exhibition at the expansive 9th floor Central Library Art Gallery downtown, plus unique satellite exhibits at Scripps Miramar Ranch Library, Mission Valley Library and Otay Mesa-Nestor Library that each touch upon a distinct aspect of Hubbell's career — from his home to the Pacific Rim Project to his work in Baja. The work will be on view through Aug. 4, 2024.

Peace and activism was pivotal in Hubbell's practice. In a 1989 documentary series produced for KPBS, Hubbell spoke to how he viewed the role of the artist.

"The artist is the kind of person who, we all, when there's problems we suffer with them, but the artist is the kind of person that has to make something from that. And so what he functions as is sort of the raw nerve for the culture, and he transfers that change which is going about into an object. Whether it's pollution or overpopulation or war, he needs to — to reinterpret the myth of the culture. The problem that we've had is that the — we've treated the artist so much as a play toy to the rich that we haven't made use of the gifts that the artist can give to all of us," Hubbell said.

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James Hubbell is shown in an undated photo.
Don Musial
James Hubbell is shown in an undated photo.

Gerdes said that peace and activism were important in his work, but so was making art accessible and egalitarian. He worked tirelessly creating public art, or installing art in schools and libraries. He also spent about three decades building a school in Tijuana's Colonia Esperanza neighborhood.

Hubbell worked until his death, painting every day as an almost meditative practice — "His prayers," Gerdes said. As his illness took hold, he could no longer physically create sculptures or mosaics, but he still worked with his team to design. The most recent piece to be installed just opened last month at the Alpine Library.

Artist James Hubbell and filmmaker Marianne Gerdes, executive director of Ilan-Lael Foundation, are shown working in an undated photo.
Laurel Costa
Artist James Hubbell and filmmaker Marianne Gerdes, executive director of Ilan-Lael Foundation, are shown working in an undated photo.

In Gerdes' 2019 documentary, "James Hubbell - Between Heaven and Earth," Hubbell reflected on a remarkable life's work.

"I think my life is really about maybe bridging things, but it's also just about making things," Hubbell said. "I think artists are born with a certain vocabulary in their head and they just — you follow it or you get a chance to follow, and you're lucky. I don't think you have to know where you're going, but I think you have to set a direction towards something. And hopefully it's big enough so it'll last your whole life, and even after."

James Hubbell - Between Heaven and Earth

Gerdes hopes Hubbell's legacy will stretch beyond his art.

"Jim's art is more than just an object. It has a message behind it, which is about peace and beauty and the importance of all of us understanding and appreciating and hopefully seeking — as he did — seeking beauty in our own lives, opening ourselves to the possibilities of our own creativity or our own potential and and just embracing one another, you know in friendship because that's what he did every day," Gerdes said.

Where to see Hubbell's art in San Diego, an incomplete list:

For more places to find Hubbell's work, check out Ilan-Lael Foundation's list here.

Visitors browse the exhibition, "Architecture of Jubilation: The Art and Vision of James Hubbell" at the downtown San Diego Central Library Art Gallery, on view through Aug. 4, 2024.
Katie Gardner
Visitors browse the exhibition, "Architecture of Jubilation: The Art and Vision of James Hubbell" at the downtown San Diego Central Library Art Gallery, on view through Aug. 4, 2024.

Julia Dixon Evans writes the KPBS Arts newsletter, produces and edits the KPBS/Arts Calendar and works with the KPBS team to cover San Diego's diverse arts scene. Previously, Julia wrote the weekly Culture Report for Voice of San Diego and has reported on arts, culture, books, music, television, dining, the outdoors and more for The A.V. Club, Literary Hub and San Diego CityBeat. She studied literature at UCSD (where she was an oboist in the La Jolla Symphony), and is a published novelist and short fiction writer. She is the founder of Last Exit, a local reading series and literary journal, and she won the 2019 National Magazine Award for Fiction. Julia lives with her family in North Park and loves trail running, vegan tacos and live music.
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