S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today we are talking about the arts and culture that shape San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. A local author explores what a sense of home really is in a new book.
S2: When we think of home , we do think of our house , or our apartment or our trailer. And I hope this book invites young people to think of home in a in a bigger sense.
S1: Then Beth Accomando previews the upcoming San Diego Latino Film Festival. Plus , Julia Dixon Evans joins us with her weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. So what does home mean to you ? You might think about the actual physical structure you live in , or maybe you're imagining the neighborhood you were born and raised in. Well , a new picture book from award winning author Matt de la Pena asks us to think about the idea of home a little differently. Matt joins me now in studio to talk about the book. Matt , welcome.
S2: Thanks so much for having me.
S1: So glad to have you here. So your book is titled home , and it takes us through these different ideas of what home could mean and look like and feel like.
S2: Our first one was called love , and it's it's the kind of book where you are exploring an idea and not just following a single character. So we kind of wanted to follow that up with another exploration. Um , so it took a couple of years , but then the pandemic hit , and it made me really think about what home means. You know , I'm an author who's often on the road , you know , I'm going to different cities every week , and all of a sudden I was grounded. And it was it turned out to be such a gift. I was with my kids and my wife every single day. Schools shut down. So I found myself teaching my daughter how to read. And so I just started to understand the power of being in one spot , and really like the importance of being with the people you love , right ? Yeah.
S1: Well , you mentioned the pandemic , and that's a time when the earth really kind of stood still. Yeah. Um , and kind of returned to itself while everyone stayed inside.
S2: And we're also taught that it's all about ambition , trying to get to this other place , go to the best college , get the best job. And you know when you're when you're stuck at home , you have to rethink this. And another thing I witnessed was the way , you know , maybe sometimes we're living against the earth or against nature trying to like , you know , tame it so we can find our little human space. But during the pandemic , I watched the Earth reclaims so many of those spaces. There were fewer cars. It felt like , you know , some like like a post-apocalyptic movie or something , when you'd walk down the street and see no cars. And of course , the book has nothing to do with the pandemic , but it was such an important starting spot to kind of just examine what this concept of home really means.
S1: Yeah , I mean , at the time , it seemed like the air looked a little cleaner.
S2: And yes.
S1: The oceans kind of came to life a little more.
S2: It's so true. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S2: This is , um , the very beginning of home. Home is a tired lullaby and a late night traffic that mumbles in through a crack in your curtains. Home is the faint trumpet of a distant barge. As your grandfather casts his line. From the edge of his houseboat home. Is the big bellied airplanes , always soaring overhead. The jet engine shrieks as you stack blocks or push plastic cars , and the rumble you feel through the floorboards is the promise of home. But a day may come when you learn how a home can be lost. Hurricane rains flood your streets or a thick black smoke blankets the sky or Papa's garment factory closes down. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you know , it's like in your writing , you're talking about all of these sounds , and it is the soundtrack of of your life. Yeah , really. But then you go into this disruption and I want to talk about that , the idea of losing your home. Because earlier this year we witnessed the devastation caused by the LA fires and how it ravaged entire neighborhoods and displaced so many families.
S2: And one of the most important things the illustrator chose to do is on the cover of a book called home. There is no house , there is no physical structure. So even the beginning , it just sort of invites you to think a little outside the box about the idea of home. And , you know , this book does have the the disruption of somebody losing a home. And I feel like as a person who writes for the very young , I've , I've had to ask myself this question. So what is my job ? Is it to tell the truth or preserve innocence ? And so there is no black or white in those terms , but I think I would always choose to lean a little bit toward truth , because I always say , you know , as a parent myself , we can't keep our kids from hurt or harm , but we can hold them through it. And , you know , hopefully that's what a good picture book can do is hold a child while they explore a deep concept.
S1: Yeah , it's a it's certainly a needle to thread. Yes.
S2: Well , first of all , you have to like I always think about it like a volume level , like you turning it up or turning it down. So if it's a scary idea , I turn the volume down a little bit with the text and give the illustrator a note that maybe we're going to do this in the visual story. Um , and then of course , if if I'm not exploring that tougher time , maybe I kind of turn the volume up a little bit with the text and try to create a musicality and tell the story that way. So there there's that. That's something important to share. I also think the concept of hope must always be there on every page , even if it on the most difficult page in the book , there has to be some form of hope. So in the book there is this loss of a home. But if you look at the illustration , the family is together. They're very tightly together , holding on to each other. Even the little dog is right there. So I think that suggests that even though this family is going through a very difficult time , they've lost their home to a hurricane , to a fire , whatever it may be , they're still together. And even if the kid can't see that at the moment , viscerally , they can feel it , right.
S1: I think that's such a smart approach to because at certain points in the story , you'll let the picture tell more of the story , or the words tell more of the story. And I think that gives a child the chance to sort of receive what they're ready to receive.
S2: That's exactly right. Yeah. Yeah. I'll expand on that with our first book , love. There's this very challenging moment where a boy is hiding under the piano while his parents are arguing , and I do. I turn down the text there , and there's really , like , staccato , you know , rhythm , just a few fragments of sentences. And when we were out on the road for that book , I remember I was in Colorado and this reading specialist came to me and she said , I've read this book to all the grades at our school , and I want to tell you something I noticed she said when I read it to the kindergartners and the first graders , they said , oh , I think they're playing hide and seek. She said , then when I read it to the second and third graders , they said , we think there's been a fight. And then the oldest grades , they said , oh , miss , we think they're getting a divorce. So just exactly the way you put it. These kids are entering at different stages of their development , and they're pulling different things from the text and illustration combination.
S1: That's great. Tell me , because you're from National City. Yes , but have experienced San Diego in so many different ways.
S2: You know , I have grandparents that are from Mexico , so they have experience coming across the border. My dad grew up in National City. My mom grew up in National City. They're of different races. My dad's Mexican and my mom is white. So this is where I was born , and this was a big part of my childhood. And then I moved to North County , and I saw a totally different part of San Diego , and I was meeting kids for the first time who had parents who went to college. So when I sit down to write a book , I do just kind of catalog through images from my childhood , and I'm trying to pull on those different settings and I'll share one thing with you. I had a very working class father. He was a very quiet man. He , you know , he worked his working class job , never took a sick day , but he was pretty quiet , man. But every once in a while , he would take me and my two sisters to the park , and we'd. We'd walk. And I remember this specific memory of walking across this bridge on the way to the park , and he suddenly just stopped us. And he pointed to the sky , and there was a hawk circling around , and he didn't say anything , you know , and I'm a young kid. And I was thinking at the time , why is my family so weird ? Why are we staring at this bird while , you know , all these cars are streaming by us ? But what I realized he was doing is he may not have had the language for this at the time , but he was saying , stop ! Look , the world is so interesting and beautiful. You have to notice it. And in a strange way , that memory from San Diego is really what I try to do when I write books. I'm basically saying to any reader who's going to pick up one of my books , stop ! Like , look at the world.
S1:
S2: It's that.
S1: You know. Yeah , well , let's talk about your craft. So there are two approaches to picture books , the idea book , and then there's the character book. Yes. And you mentioned home is more of an idea book.
S2: Right. Okay. So it's kind of like , um , it's like you draw up a play in football and now you have to figure out who's the best at executing this play. Like , who am I going to hand the ball to ? The same is true for the form I'm going to use. Um , so I come up with an idea. The first thing I have to decide is will this be best as a novel , or will these this be better as a picture book that will have a visual story alongside of the text ? So when I come up with an idea first like love or in this , this case home , you know , I think of it as like , okay , I've now got to figure out a way to arc the story when we're not following one particular character. So the way I perceive it is I have a cast of characters , but they all combine into what I call a collective contemporary American childhood. And then I can I can ask that , you know , like , how does the concept of home change in a child's life over time ? And in this case , the arc is going from , you know , home being paired with something physical and even industry , you know , making a new building , aspiring to living in a bigger home or , you know , a big new building. And ultimately the the arc of the story is now the child over time , possibly because of a disruption of losing a home or moving , you know , or your family changes. Now the child is looking elsewhere and maybe seeing that community is a form of home , but more specifically , my own family , you know , whoever is raising me , my siblings , my school. And then there's one final turn in this book , and this is the one that is directly sort of inspired by the pandemic. This turned to the grand sense of home , which is the natural world , the earth , and how this world is our home and what are we going to do to protect it ? But also , what are we going to do to try to live in harmony with it instead of living at it or against it ? Yeah.
S1: Well , you currently teach writing at San Diego State.
S2: You know , I can think of two authors right now that are born and raised in San Diego , and they're writing incredible novels that are set in San Diego. One is right on the border , and I think my job now as an elder or an old person , um , you know , I've had many years to be out on the road sharing my books , and I'm going to continue to write books. But it's so fun now to work with the voices of tomorrow and see what somebody's going to do that maybe update something you did years ago. I have one novel called Mexican White Boy. It's about growing up mixed race. But to think that that's like the seminal story of the mixed race experience in San Diego is silly. You know , there are so many versions of that story , and every year they change. So the voices of tomorrow are writing a different you know , they're exploring it in a different way. And it'll be fascinating to see what comes of that.
S1: Very interesting. Well , I mean , is there anything else you want readers , young and old to walk away with , at least when it comes to how they're thinking about their home.
S2: Yeah , I just think we don't often move beyond our physical structure. When we think of home , we do think of our house or our apartment or our trailer. And I hope this book invites young people to think of home in a in a bigger sense , and to actually explore the earth and how , you know , being at the ocean you mentioned earlier , you know , looking at the ocean , this ocean has been here forever. It has seen everything during the pandemic. When I would take my son to look at the ocean , you know , I was scared , like , what's going to happen ? My kids can't go to school. And I'd look at the ocean. I'd be like , wow , it's seen so much. All of our , you know , worries are quite trivial when you think about it in the context of the ocean. And I think , you know , for me , San Diego is so beautiful. You know , I , I love the ocean. I love when I listen to the tide coming up over the rocks and then retreating back in to itself. I love how that can sort of slow down the heart rate. So , you know , I'm thinking the older I get , the more San Diego the city is , is my home. And I hope that young readers will explore , like , what's the bigger sense of their home.
S1: Right ? Well , we are all in a place that is a nice place to call home for sure. I've been speaking with children's book author Matt de la Pena. His new book , home , is out now. Matt , thank you so much for joining us.
S2: Thanks so much for letting me share with you.
S1: Up next , a preview of the San Diego Latino Film Festival. Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition , I'm Jade Hindman. Next week , the San Diego Latino Film Festival returns for its 32nd year. It's a celebration of Latino cinema culture and creativity. This year's theme is all about cinema Without borders. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando sat down with the festival's founder , Ethan Van Tilo , and filmmaker and actor Giancarlo Ruiz to talk about what audiences can expect. Here's that conversation.
S3: Ethan , we are on the eve of the 32nd annual San Diego Latino Film Festival.
S4: We started this as a small student film festival , and now look at us 32 years later , we have our own nonprofit organization. We have our own movie theater. We teach kids how to make films all year round. And then were you expecting over 120 movies this upcoming film festival , five days of cinema , close to 100 actors and filmmakers coming from all over the US , Mexico and Latin America. So super excited to once again bring Latino cinema to San Diego. And I believe the 32nd edition is more important than ever. And we're definitely in a situation now in our current political climate. We're just constantly hearing the negativity and the stereotypes about the Latino community , about immigration , about the border. And so I really try to always have a film festival that really shows a more accurate portrayal of Latinos and a more accurate portrayal of our border region. We know we live here in San Diego and in Baja , and we know what the border is really all about. And so I want the festival to break down walls , break down barriers , invite people in to learn about each other , watch these incredible movies that we have from all over Latin America and Mexico in the US.
S3: And you mentioned this is five days in the past , the festival has been longer than that.
S4: But also , you know , there's a changing landscape within the film festival world in general , right , where we're seeing that mainly people are comfortable just staying at home watching films on Netflix and Amazon , whatever it might be. And so we're trying to really look at the film festival as something new in the sense like , well , how do we get people out to come out and leave their homes and experience film again in the movie theater ? We want to really encourage people to celebrate a moviegoing experience and see it on the big screen with a wonderful sound , and not only see it on the big screen , but also meet filmmakers. So this film fest was going to include many filmmakers coming from around the world to be here , to be a part of Q and A , and so it's really an event that's really special. And so , yeah , so with the mall going through construction , you know , we couldn't do everything that we want to. But still , for the five days you're going to come to the film festival. There's going to be a stage , there's going to be dance performances , live music. We have a retail space that were taken over and turned into an art gallery with DJs every night , so we're still trying to make it the same experience that you had for the past 32 years. But just give me a little short and do the construction and just changes.
S3:
S4: Our film festival is really known over the years to be bringing a Mexican talent a lot , sometimes talent that maybe it's not really known here in the US yet. But to opening night , March 19th , we're going to show a comedy , Mesa , that Carlos from Mexico was Jose Eduardo Derbez. He's the son of Eugenio Derbez. So it's a super fun comedy. We want everyone to come out and enjoy it.
S3: So you're going to give us some joy to begin.
S4: You know , the festival is really about celebrating the Latino community and all the experiences , but we definitely try to diversify the genres and the and the topics of the festival. So yes , you have comedies , you have shorts , you have docs. But at the same time , you know , we're also dealing with many important topics. As I mentioned , we're trying to like look at our border region , look at really the politics that are currently happening. For example , we have an amazing documentary about the Friendship Park on the border that's screening the final day of the festival.
S5: Fisher Park is a space that embraces humanity as a space that embraces families. It's a space that embraces the coming together of experiences. From the South to the north.
S6: Friendship Park is a symbol of the border that never gets talked about.
S7: People come to this park to be able to be face to face with their loved ones.
S6: In friendship parks , all the beautiful things about the US-Mexico border and sadly , the those beautiful things about the US-Mexico border just hardly ever make the news.
S4: We also have an incredible documentary called Kumeyaay Land. It's about the Kumeyaay community here in this region who are on the other side of the border in Baja. Imagine this wall that was built that really doesn't take into effect that , you know , the idea that the community is really one region. Right ? And so Kumeyaay Land is a documentary I'm really excited to see.
S3: And you also have a documentary on Raquel Welch. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So we try to celebrate us Latino filmmakers , international filmmakers. But this is kind of a neat thing that I am. Raquel is celebrates an actress who lived in San Diego for many years. Many people might not know that.
S8: The women's lives say all that. I'm exploiting myself as a sex object , and I say yes and happily so , you know what's the matter with it ? It's a terrific thing.
S9:
S4: We have Gregory Nava , another great filmmaker , local San Diego filmmaker who is in the film. It talks about her , and he's going to introduce the movie and have a Q&A after the film.
S3: And one of the films you have , Broken Borders , features an actor who has been showing short films and features here at your festival. Talk a little bit about this kind of longevity the festival has , and your ability to see filmmakers kind of develop and evolve.
S4: So again , we started 32 years ago. It started as a student film festival. So , you know , early films by Alfonso Cuaron , even , you know , when they were at film school and Mexico City. So yeah , super excited to have a John Carlos graced the screens on the big screen as an actor , started as a short film maker , won awards here at the film festival. And that's what the film festival is all about. We have a whole section called Frontera Filmmakers. We want to support local filmmakers , the production of local films on both sides of the border. We have two workshops that we invite filmmakers to come out. One is about distribution , getting your films into film festivals , and the other one is about fundraising. Like how do you fundraise ? So encourage people to come out and learn about the workshops and meet the film makers. Any emerging filmmakers that are watching this right now , come on and enjoy the festival.
S3: All right , well , once again , I am looking forward to the Latino Film Festival here. And thank you for talking with me.
S4: Thanks for your support. Nos vamos and Lenny.
S3: That was Ethan Brown , founder and executive director of the San Diego Latino Film Festival. He mentioned Giancarlo and that's filmmaker Giancarlo Ruiz , who began making films while living in Tijuana before moving to LA. And now he's back in San Diego. I sat down with him at the Digital Jim Cinema and asked him to share a little of his history with the film festival.
S10: I would say that for me , this festival is like home field advantage for sure. Growing up in Tijuana and coming to the film festival at a young age , I guess , you know , when it was barely starting and always was exciting to see , you know , what was out there. And then at some point , I get to be part of the festival with my own work as a director and as an actor as well. I've been part of the festival now over 25 years , probably the 2004 when they did the first award season or the fourth one awards my film insect , the one best experimental film. Yeah , it's been great. It's been great to see the growth and and how it's evolution through the years and the type of filmmakers that they bring. So it's exciting , obviously.
S3: And I've known you for almost 25 years as well. I got to see your work at Southwestern College. So talk a little bit about going through that film school experience here in San Diego and how that helped you.
S10: Yeah , well , growing up in TJ , we didn't really have like a film school. It's access to equipment was very limited. So the next best option was sort of Southwestern College , in a way , and having access not just to equipment , but to classes and to other like , like minded people was really something that set me off to think like , oh , maybe I could do this. This is like something very I feel very comfortable. It's very creative. And I think that if I learn all the right steps or the or the way how to tell a story , then I'll be fine. And , you know , I learned from basically cutting from film to three quarter decks to linear to non-linear , what I mean , so it's been I've been through the whole sort of transition of filmmaking as well , which has been nice.
S3: That group of students who came through there , I showed a lot of the student films. You guys were so experimental and really pushing the envelope in a lot of ways.
S10: I think , you know , the the group of us that were doing things , we were all we all had like like minded ideas. We like the same type of directors , and usually the directors that we like were very like a tour directors , you know , David Cronenberg , David Lynch. May he rest in peace. Poor guy. I think it was the city itself. I think Tijuana is a very in a sense , it's got an experimental DNA in it. You know , it's always evolving. It's always there's like a lot of things happening and it's a city full of chaos as well. There's nothing in order. So that that idea of nothing in order , nothing like here in San Diego , you know , allowed you so much freedom also that we would shoot without permits. So , you know , we were we were like , really like a wild bunch down there. And we were just closed streets. We would do whatever we need it and we would do it without permits. I remember people would be like , how'd you guys do it ? We're like , I don't know. We just do it. You know ? That's how you can do it down there. So that freedom , I think , also allowed us to experiment with the medium and try to find our own , unique voices.
S3:
S10: Obviously , they have a the Frontera filmmaker section , which is really nice because it allows filmmakers from the United States as well as from Mexico , specifically from the border , to showcase their work , which is very unique because that that gives you an opportunity to be part of the festival , to network , to take some of the workshops , and also to have that cross-pollination of the culture between the US and Mexico , which I think is really important. You know , you get to meet filmmakers from here , from other parts of the world that are here at the festival. I think it's like a big pot of gumbo , right , of information and of people that you can kind of steer around. I think the festival has that , you know , it has like this possibility of growing. They just like , yeah , you know what I mean ? Like I just feel their very positive with with what you bring. And they're very accepting. They're tolerant as well. You know they're tolerant with the work because not all the work is you know some stuff is a little bit crazy. But still , you know , I think they do a good job in curating and choosing the work.
S3: And this year you are not presenting a film that you've directed. You are actually acting in one. So tell us what this one's about.
S10: Okay , so I'm in the film called Broken Borders. It's directed by Rodrigo Alvarez Flores. He's also a filmmaker from Tijuana. This is his first feature film and it's doing pretty good. Won a lot of awards. And it's I think it's touch like a nerve in the way the with the storytelling. Maybe it's a story about a family and their own personal lives outside the house. So the story is told , the three points of view basically. So it's a mother and two kids , and you see what happens to them during their day individually , and then they come home. And the climatic or what happens in the film is happens like in one day. So everything kind of crosses. So it's very like a modest Burrows , kind of like Inarritu storytelling , very non-linear , very interesting , like points of view. And I think it's very fresh. I'm very excited and proud to be part of the the film. Obviously , I always try to support local filmmakers. A lot of them , you know , offer me roles or they write stuff for me and I'm always I'm always ready to , you know , hold the flag and be like , yes , you know , because , you know , I think it's important to look back and see who's doing stuff now and champion them and sort of look , hey , how can I support this person to become a success ? Right ? So I've received so much through the years through different people and organizations and opportunities. It's great. I'm really happy for Rodrigo. He , he This. This film took a while to to make , so for him , it's been cathartic , I think , to have all this experience. And he's , you know , he's traveling all over the world and , you know , it's amazing. It's so happy for him.
S3:
S10: It gives you opportunity to tell stories that you probably wouldn't see in a movie theater , that nowadays we all know that the movie theater experience is going extinct. You know , not just the polar bears , but also movie theater. So it's really special to be able to go to movie , sit down with other people , see it in the dark place where you should like in a movie , like just the way it should be. And this festival gives the opportunity to films that otherwise would not have that chance right specifically now with all the other digital platforms , all the possibilities. But I think just the narrative of cinema itself has changed so much in the last. I say 15 years , and the way we consume media that any time that I can go to a festival and sit down in a movie theater , or anytime I can go to a movie theater and sit down and watch a movie , it's one of the best experiences. And I think this festival offers that to films that will not have the opportunity to be shown in a in a movie. Yeah.
S3: Well , you talk about yourself as an artist. Not only do you direct and write films and act in them , you are also creating.
S10: So I wrote this graphic novel. I wrote it 14 years ago. Okay. And that was I was working with this artist from Taiwan. His name is Charles , is a collaborator of mine that I've worked with in many projects. It's a graphic novel , and we're going to release it in issues. So we have issue number one already. We have 15 more to go. That's another way that I that I've able to satisfy my need to direct without having to go through the whole process of making a movie , because , as we know , to make a movie takes hundreds of people and a lot of money. And so it's frustrating. So for me , writing that graphic novel was a big way to sort of like , oh wait , I can also do this. I can grab my scripts and create them into kind of like storyboarding. Also , I don't know if you know , but there's also within the festival , there's a the art exhibit. I have pieces as well , I guess I am an artist in general , but.
S3: A very diverse one. Yes.
S10: Yes.
S3: Well , it's been wonderful reconnecting with you after all these years and look forward to having your film shown.
S10: Thank you Beth.
S1: That was San Diego Latino Film Festival founder Ethan Van Tilo , along with filmmaker and actor Giancarlo Ruiz , speaking with KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando. The festival runs from March 19th through the 23rd at Digital Gym cinema in downtown and at AMC Mission Valley , you can purchase passes on the San Diego Latino Film Festival's website. Still to come , if you're looking for something to do this weekend , stick around. Julia Dixon Evans has your weekend preview. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman in our weekend preview. We have new paintings informed by sleep apnea , plus a memoir , music and cherry blossoms to tell you all about. Joining me with the details is KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.
S11: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: Always great to have you here. So , local painter Mary Jane has a new exhibit opening at Oceanside Museum of Art. It's all about sleep. Sounds very interesting. What is she trying to convey with this art ? Right.
S11: So this is Mary Jean. I've been following her work for a while , and she always has these , like , incredible , fragmented , fractured , like a silhouette of girl's faces in her art. And she's been doing this , this like motif in her painting for 20 years. She calls them the girls. And , um , they're very surreal. There's a bunch of , like , machinery , uh , even botanicals that sprout out from the girl's heads and sometimes even , like , houses and buildings coming out of their their silhouettes. It's incredible work. I love her work. She is an incredible local artist , and these girls have always been linked to her dream life. Like she's always had these vivid dreams and those inspire her paintings , quite literally. And then her paintings and things that she has painted in the past will show up in her dreams. But last year she was diagnosed with sleep apnea and started using a CPAp machine. This is like a mask that's connected to a machine that literally sends air directly into your airways to help you sleep , and she said that when she started using that , her dreams completely stopped. No dreams , no girls. And as an artist , she was was really struggling with how to find her way back to her creative muse.
S12: In wanting to have sort of a better relationship to sleep health. I was losing the thing that gave me gave me my paintings , which was dreaming. So I didn't know how to have a relationship with with something like that. And this was a series that sort of explained that sort of intoxicating relationship to the thing that you love most as well , which is like , I love being able to dream. So I actually said to myself for a few seconds , like , well , maybe I don't need , you know , sleep aids , I don't need any of that. And then I went into the realization like , well , the challenge is having both. How can I , you know , how can I trigger my brain to dream again ? How can I get everything back and also still be in a good sleep ? Health. What do we choose ? Do we choose a thing that kind of ignites our creativity or our health ? And I feel like a lot of artists go through that all the time , no matter what the topic is.
S11: And she eventually made her way back to her dreams and started a series of paintings about this very thing. I got to visit her recently in her studio , and then again when she was installing and painting site specific murals directly on the wall at Oceanside Museum of Art. The CPAp masks and the tubes , they're literally part of the paintings. They're kind of like interwoven into the girl's silhouettes and the backdrops , and she has a ton of new paintings , some diptych , like two paintings that are of the same subject , and also those huge murals. And it opens on Saturday and will be on view through June 15th at Oceanside Museum of Art. And also while you're there , there's also another really great new exhibit on view. It's Matt Devine. He has a new exhibit of sculptures that are inspired by nature and also anxiety. It's incredible and soothing and thought provoking and kind of is a weirdly nice complement to Mary Jane's exhibit. And there's even one of his pieces that's interactive and musical. So if you want to play with art there , you can.
S1: Wow , sounds really fascinating. Speaking of music , the La Jolla Symphony is partnering with the San Diego Children's Choir for a special concert.
S11: They're also playing Margaret Bond's Montgomery Variations. This was composed in 1964 , and bonds is a black woman composer , and she wrote this really like , sweeping piece. It's seven Variations on a spiritual , and it's inspired by the Montgomery bus boycotts. And this is that piece. And they're also playing a piece of music by African-American composer George Walker and then Icelandic composer Anna Thorvald Sutter's Meta cosmos. This composition has such a powerful build up. There's so much layering and all these different threads until this big crescendo towards the end. And so the symphony is having two concerts Saturday evening and then Sunday afternoon. This is at Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD.
S1: All right. Actress , content creator and now author Dylan Mulvaney is coming to town to launch her new memoir , Paper Doll.
S11: This chronicled her transition in like , really honest and raw detail. This went super viral , over a billion views across all different platforms. And she is also known as the actress who , as an influencer , Bud Light , sent her some product and she posted she made a post of her with the Bud Light , and there was this huge anti-trans backlash against the brand and a bunch of hate towards Mulvaney. And so this book talks about her whole journey doing the Days of Girlhood series and just going through that incredibly difficult chapter of her life. And yeah. Meet Cute Bookshop is sponsoring this event , and it'll be held at the Downtown Libraries Amphitheater this Friday at 7:00. And you can buy tickets there , $28. But they do include a signed copy of the book.
S1: All right. And it is cherry blossom season , which means the annual festival at the Japanese Friendship Garden is happening now.
S11: It runs from Thursday through Sunday and throughout the day. There's performances every hour. Each of the four days , there's going to be opera , sumo , traditional dance and music with traditional folk instruments. Also , vendors , crafts , a bunch of food and drink. And while you're there , you can also check the garden's gallery and see the Yasuo Yoshida exhibit. And yeah , cherry blossom season is very famously unpredictable and brief , but you can look up the Japanese Friendship Gardens Bloom Tracker on their website. It's currently at 40% in bloom , which is pretty good. I've checked it in recent years and this is a good one. So it's 10 to 7 every day , and the last admission is 5 p.m. , but you can stay for a little bit into the evening and tickets are $18 to $25.
S1: I'm so glad they have the Bloom Tracker so helpful. All right. Well , the work of four prominent black artists will be on display at Art produce. The exhibit is called Lineage and Inheritance.
S11: These are all locals and two of them are considered emerging. Mensah Bey is a painter. His work is abstract , almost a little like Cubist and figurative , and Dominique King is a fiber artist who's done this really incredible and fascinating series of like , embroidered portraits. And then Jean Cornwall and Andrew are rushing. They have decades of experience. And this is all curated by Kamal Martin from Art power , Equity and in collaboration with the Black Studies Project out of UCSD. There is an opening reception tonight at Art Produce in North Park from 6 to 8 , but also save the date for an artist talk , where all of the artists together will be in actual conversation , just like their works are in the exhibit. That's on April 13th.
S1: All right. Well , finally , we always like to end the segment with your pick for live music.
S11: He has this incredible voice. His songs are really vulnerable and beautiful. And this is his latest release , How to Let Go.
S13: I need you to save my life , I won't lie. I might need you to put your hands on my ears. Show me how to let go. Show me Anyhow.
S11: So she was performing at Soda Bar on Sunday with O. Rose , who's from Olympia , Washington , and also locals neutral shirt , who I also love. So it should be a great show.
S1: All right , I like it. You can find details on these and more and sign up for Julia's weekly newsletter at our website , pbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS Arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thank you.
S11: Thank you , Jade said.
S13: You're here with me. All right.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
