Arts and Museums
The San Diego Museum of Art’s Art Alive returns April 24-27, celebrating art and architecture with nearly 100 vibrant floral displays inspired by paintings, sculptures, and, for the first time, architectural designs. The event kicks off with the tenth edition of Bloom Bash, a lively celebration featuring large-scale festivities.
Oceanside Museum of Art presents In Losing Sleep, I Painted, a solo exhibition by Mary Jhun from March 15 to June 15, exploring the connection between sleep, psychology, and creativity. Jhun’s surreal works interweave plant biology, architecture, and her signature figures, The Girls, as emotional self-portraits reflecting shifting identities and perceptions of reality. A self-taught Filipino artist known for her murals across California, Jhun will also be featured in the SoCal Asian & Pacific Islander Festival on April 26, as OMA continues its mission to inspire community through art.
The San Diego Natural History Museum is set to debut The Paleo Center, a new state-of-the-art exhibition where visitors can get an up-close view of an active processing center, see interesting collections and talk to scientists on the spot. The exhibit will open to the public this Memorial Day weekend.
The Mingei International Museum is launching six new exhibitions this spring celebrating diverse cultural expressions through craft and design. Highlights include Fashioning an Icon, which explores the Virgin of Guadalupe in textile art, Historic Footprints, showcasing Native American ledger drawings, and Across the Spooniverse, featuring spoons as cultural artifacts. Other exhibitions focus on student craft, Centennial-era quilts reflecting race and gender narratives, and a playful display of armadillo-inspired folk art.
The U.S. premiere of the Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder: Where Science Meets Fiction exhibit at San Diego’s Comic-Con Museum opens March 15. The exhibit features original props and set pieces, offering fans a chance to explore iconic characters and worlds from the series while delving into the real-life science behind the show’s fantastical concepts like time travel and AI. Highlights include a Time Vortex Corridor, TARDIS Tech Room, and a Monster Vault.
The La Jolla Playhouse presents its next world premiere production with 3 Summers of Lincoln showing February 18-March 23. This gripping new musical tells the inspirational story of one of the most important friendships in our nation’s history, and a divided country coming together. And on April 24-27, the annual WOW Festival, presented by The Playhouse in partnership with UC San Diego, will take art beyond traditional theater walls and into unique spaces. The festival promises four action-packed days of immersive theatre, dance, music, puppetry, spectacle events, and more by local, national, and international artists.
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) has announced their Spring programming with the debut of two moving art exhibits. In March, An Artful Life: A Tribute to Matthew C. Strauss will unveil the private modern art collection of San Diego native and philanthropist Matthew Strauss and his wife Iris, who served MCASD and the San Diego Arts Commision, respectively. In April, MCASD will present Yan Pei-Ming: A Burial in Shanghai, an epic cycle of paintings by Chinese-born artist Yan Pei-Ming.
