Arts & Culture

San Diego weekend arts events: PST ART weekend, poetry, folk dance and 'Tres Minutos'

By Julia Dixon Evans / Arts Reporter/Podcast Host

Published November 21, 2024 at 2:32 PM PST

"Suspended Healing Garden" by Pantea Karimi, part of San Diego Museum of Art's "Wonders of Creation" exhibit, is shown on Sept. 7, 2024.

PST ART Weekend

Visual art, Music | The Getty's PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative, which launched this fall across Southern California, will celebrate all the San Diego exhibits this weekend with local events and programs.

For the full schedule, visit the PST ART site here. And here's a quick guide to some of my highlights:

San Diego Museum of Art: Free 'On The Steps' event

Saturday afternoon, SDMA offers free museum admission — including the special exhibit, "Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World" which is usually an extra fee. The "Wonders of Creation" exhibit is an excellent and wide-ranging collection, spotlighting several striking contemporary installations alongside ancient art, objects and texts. The event also includes performances by Middle Earth Ensemble, Felukah and West African drummers Dramane Koné and Djelia Kadi. The drummers will perform works based on the indigo exhibit at the Mingei.

Details: 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. SDMA, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. Free.

Mingei International Museum: Artist talk

Zapotec American master dyer and artist Porfirio Gutiérrez will hold a lecture in correlation with the "Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo" exhibit. The Mingei is also participating in the SDMA "On The Steps" event on Saturday.

Details: 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22. Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. $15-$25.

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: Performances, tours and PST Art Party

Home of the astonishing "For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability" exhibit, MCASD will offer a series of free sonic meditation and workshop sessions with music professors and scholars Amy Cimini and Charissa Noble, based on the work of composer Pauline Oliveros. 3-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23-24.

A series of drop-in public tours are offered in the main exhibit on Saturday: 11:20 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

From 5-9 p.m. on Saturday, the museum will come to life with a party featuring DJs James K and Atrevido, extended gallery hours, vendors, food and drink. Free with RSVP.

Details: Nov. 23-24. MCASD, 700 Prospect St. La Jolla. Free.

San Diego Central Library Art Gallery: Family Day and DIY Native Seed Bombs

As part of its "Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work" exhibit, the San Diego Central Library Art Gallery will hold a family day. Guests can create seed-infused paper to scatter in open spaces and propagate native plants.

Details: 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. San Diego Central Library Art Gallery, 330 Park Blvd., downtown. Free.

Oceanside Museum of Art: Art for All workshops

OMA will host two Art for All workshops connected to their "Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean" exhibit. On Saturday artist Marcos Lutyens will guide participants using clay to mimic oceanic forms. The second workshop, on Sunday, is with artist Ana Andrade, who will teach participants how to use the photomicrographic technique to create images of their microscopic environments.

Details: 12-3 p.m. Saturday (Marcos Lutyens) and 12-2 p.m. Sunday (Ana Andrade), Nov. 23-24. OMA, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. Free.

California Center for the Arts Escondido: Aquaponics and Permaculture Design Museum Talk

CCAE artist-in-residence Michael Nauert will lead a discussion on sustainable growing methods and a "gallery feast" inspired by the work of Helen and Newton Harrison currently on view at the CCAE museum.

Details: 2-3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24. CCAE, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Free.

Birch Aquarium: Indigenous Ocean Day

In conjunction with the "Embodied Pacific: Ocean Unseen" exhibit at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, this event includes storytellers, birdsinging, activities and a community tule boat construction.

Details: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. Birch Aquarium, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla. Free with admission ($24.95-$29.95).

Become a KPBS sponsor

An undated photo of poet Karla Cordero is shown next to the book cover of her poetry collection, "How to Pull Apart the Earth."

Karla Cordero Poetry Reading and Folk Dance

Poetry, Visual art, Dance | Part of the Ilan-Lael Foundation's "Power of Place" exhibit, one of the artists-in-residence, poet Karla Cordero, will read her work in the exhibition space. After the reading, Brennan Hubbell, son of the late artist James Hubbell, will lead a participatory folk dancing session.

Details: 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. Union Hall Gallery, 2323 Broadway #201, Golden Hill. Free.

Performers from "Tres Minutos" are shown in an undated production.

'Tres Minutos' / Border Angels

Theater, Music, Film | Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch's operatic work, "Tres minutos," is informed by the three-minute family reunification policy at the U.S.-Mexico border and shares the story of two siblings on either side of that border. A small ensemble of members of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra will perform. Prior to the performance, the short film based on the work of Border Angels, "Love Has No Borders," will be screened on loop.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 at Jacobs Music Center, 1245 Seventh Ave., downtown. $35+.

Nathalie Miebach's 2018 work "<i>The Burden of Every Drop</i>" is shown in a previous installation. Miebach's exhibition "Restless Waters" is on view at ICA San Diego-Central from Sept. 21, 2024 through Jan. 26, 2025. — Nathalie Miebach's 2018 work "*The Burden of Every Drop*" is shown in a previous installation. Miebach's exhibition "Restless Waters" is on view at ICA San Diego-Central from Sept. 21, 2024 through Jan. 26, 2025.

C You Saturday: Nathalie Miebach and Project [BLANK]

Music, Visual art | Artist Nathalie Miebach's "Restless Waters" is the centerpiece of November's C You Saturday, the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego's monthly art party. Miebach, who has a long artistic history of working with contemporary composers, has collaborated with composer Natalia Merlano-Gomez and experimental music group Project [BLANK], and the piece will be performed at 5:30 p.m.

Details: 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. ICA San Diego-Central, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Free.

The "Winter Cathedral" installation in San Diego Botanic Garden's "Lightscape" is shown in an undated photo.

Winter holiday events

We are inching towards December and the influx of holiday activities has begun. Find our roundup of top arts and culture holiday events here, or check out our community calendar listings for more ideas here.