SAN DIEGO-April marks the 25th anniversary of Art Alive, SDMA's annual springtime celebration of flowers and art. From April 28 to 30, the Museum will once again be overflowing with more than 100 floral arrangements and an extravagant rotunda display. This year's lineup includes new programs, such as an after-hours viewing with cocktails and a floral demonstration by internationally renowned floral designer Christian Tortu on Friday, April 28.

Another highly anticipated exhibition, Goya's Portraits, opens on April 8. This special focused exhibition of approximately ten portrait paintings by the great Spanish master is being presented exclusively at the San Diego Museum of Art and highlights SDMA's own Marquis of Sofraga.

In addition to a wide variety of lectures, there will also be a special Jazz in the Park performance on Wednesday, April 7. Featuring Jazz in the Park's music director, Holly Hofmann, Mike Wofford, and special guest Houston Person, the concert will be broadcast live on KSDS FM at 7:00 p.m.

For more information on the Museum's performances and lectures, please call (619) 696-1966. To purchase tickets, please call Ticketmaster at (619) 220-8497. Museum members receive the discounted price for each of the events listed. Programs and artists are subject to change.

Museum hours: Tuesday-Wednesday, Friday-Sunday: 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Thursday: 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

Admission to the galleries: Adults, $10; seniors (65+) and active military, $8; students with ID, $7; youth (6-17), $4; 5 and under free. (See below for special prices for Art Alive)

Gallery tours: The Museum's docents offer free public tours of the galleries on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., and on Fridays and Sundays at 1:00 and 2:00 p.m.

SDMA offers free admission for school groups and youth organizations with advance reservations. Call the education department at (619) 231-1996 for more information.

Water's Café @ SDMA: Open Tuesday-Friday, 11:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Reservations are not required. For more information, call the café at (619) 237-0675.


EXHIBITIONS

Opening
Goya's Portraits
April 8-June 18, 2006
This spring, a special focused exhibition of portraits by the Spanish master, Francisco de Goya, will be presented exclusively at the San Diego Museum of Art. Goya's Portraits marks the Museum's first major collaboration with the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, which has organized a large-scale exhibition of the artist's work. SDMA's exhibition will feature an intriguing selection of approximately ten important portraits from this larger Mexico City show, with works coming from public and private collections in San Francisco, Indianapolis, Worcester, Detroit, Ponce (Puerto Rico), and Mexico City. The display will highlight one of the Museum's most notable paintings, Goya's Marquis of Sofraga, providing context for Goya, his work, and the sitter of the SDMA painting.

Art Alive 25
April 28-30, 2006
The San Diego Museum of Art's annual springtime spectacular celebrates 25 years of enchanting visitors with elegant floral interpretations of artworks in the galleries. One of the longest running events of its kind, Art Alive attracts thousands of visitors each year from all over Southern California. Marking an important milestone, this year's installment is highlighted by a 25th Anniversary Gala Celebration and a live demonstration by the internationally renowned master floral designer, Christian Tortu.

Art Alive exhibition hours: April 28, Friday: 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.; April 29, Saturday and April 30, Sunday: 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Art Alive admission prices: Adult $12; Senior (65+), Young Adult (18-24), and Military and Student with ID $10; Youth (6-17) $5; SDMA members and children five and under free.

Continuing
In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite
February 18-May 14, 2006
This rare traveling exhibition of Roman frescoes features 71 objects, all from the Roman villas of ancient Stabiae, an exclusive retreat for Rome's elite classes located on a bluff overlooking the Bay of Naples (approximately 4.5 kilometers southeast of Pompeii). Included in this spectacular exhibition are 24 ancient frescoes, many of the very highest quality, 11 stuccoes, as well as other significant art objects and archeological artifacts. The exhibition will also display a complete three-wall triclinium (dining room) fresco from Carmiano.

American Ceramics 1884-1972
February 25-September 3, 2006
Organized by the San Diego Museum of Art, this exhibition showcases ceramics from the Arts and Crafts and Studio Pottery movements and features works from SDMA's collection and loans from public and private collections in Southern California. During the 1930s, the Museum's founding director, Reginald Poland, began acquiring ceramics by Glen Lukens, Beatrice Wood, and Laura Andreson. In 1940 he met Getrud and Otto Natzler and invited them to exhibit their collaborative work at the Museum, their first solo exhibition. American Ceramics also presents works from the Rookwood, Grueby, Van Briggle, Newcomb, and Pewabic potteries as well as those by George E. Ohr. Ceramics by 20th-century studio potters, Marguerite Wildenhain, Harrison McIntosh, and Rolf Key-Oberg are also included, and special attention is given to San Diego firms such as the Valentien and Markham potteries.

Tracking and Tracing: Contemporary Acquisitions 2000-2005
December 17, 2005-July 9, 2006
This exhibition consists of approximately 90 works, plus a video program, that have come into the San Diego Museum of Art's collection through purchase or donation from 2000 to 2005. The exhibition tracks recent institutional history as represented in the acquisition strategies implemented in the last five years-during which time SDMA's contemporary collection has grown greatly-and traces links between and across these new additions to the collection. The exhibition demonstrates the Museum's collection priorities and also displays works that document exhibitions organized by SDMA.

Tastes in Asian Art
November 6, 2004-February 2007 (new closing date)
View the latest rotation of some of the most significant works in SDMA's extensive Asian collection in this fresh thematic display in the Asian Court. Bringing back well-known works, while introducing new and rarely exhibited objects, the exhibition highlights the diverse tastes of different social groups-the imperial ruling class, scholars, warriors, and common people-and features a separate section dedicated to religious art. New to the current installation of Tastes in Asian Art is a recently restored Persian tile painting. In addition, the rotation features prints by Hiroshige, a fine 17th-century hanging scroll painting, and a dozen new Islamic paintings-further examining the tastes of various social classes across the Asian continent.

The Eye of the Collector, the Wishes of the Donor, the Spirit of the Philanthropist: Modern European Paintings at SDMA
December 17, 2005-April 15, 2007
In honor of the Museum's 80th anniversary, this unique exhibition pays tribute to the generous individuals who shaped SDMA's collection of modern European painting. Works are grouped according to their donor, focusing attention on their interests, tastes, and connoisseurship. Pieces on display include visitor favorites such as William Bouguereau's Young Shepherdess, given by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin S. Larsen in 1968, and Joaquín Sorolla's María at La Granja, from Mr. and Mrs. Archer M. Huntington, the very first object to enter the collection in 1925.

Closing
Contemporary Links 4-James Hyde: Luminous Platforms and Relaxed Seating
February 18-April 30, 2006
Known for his intelligent exploration of pictorial abstraction through the use of alternative materials, artist James Hyde is creating site-specific domestic interventions in the exhibition space of Tracking and Tracing: Contemporary Acquisitions 2000-2005, SDMA's current installation of its contemporary collection. The fourth installment of the Museum's acclaimed Contemporary Links series, Hyde's installation features three reading areas with furniture made of Plexiglas, lighting, galvanized steel, Styrofoam, vinyl, and other materials that are designed to reshape the visitor's previous experience of the exhibition space.

Devotional Arts of Nepal
September 17, 2005-April 2, 2006
In Nepal's Kathmandu valley, Buddhism and Hinduism enjoyed a peaceful coexistence for over 1,500 years. A new display of nearly 40 artworks, drawn in large part from the Museum's Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, explores the fruits of this commingling of art associated with Buddhist and Hindu devotional practices. The exhibition consists of paintings, sculptures, and objects from Nepal, Tibet, and India. The Museum's upper rotunda features a related display of works highlighting the devotional arts of Tibet.

APRIL EVENTS CALENDAR

April 5, Wednesday
7:00 p.m. CONCERT Jazz in the Park: Holly Hofmann/Mike Wofford Quartet featuring Houston Person
Renowned saxophone legend Houston Person joins Jazz in the Park's music director, flutist Holly Hofmann, and pianist Mike Wofford for an evening of swinging jazz and soulful blues. Houston has over 75 recordings to his name and carries on the bluesy tradition of Hank Mobley and Gene Ammons. This special concert will be broadcast live on KSDS FM 88.3 at 7:00 p.m.
$14 museum and KSDS members and students with ID/$17 nonmembers, James S. Copley Auditorium

April 6, Thursday
7:00 p.m. LECTURE "Art in the Age of Mozart: The Courts of Versailles and Vienna"
Presented by Dr. Jennifer Milam, senior lecturer in the Department of Art History and Theory at the University of Sydney, Australia, this lecture honors the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with a look at the visual art in these courts during Mozart's time. Presented in collaboration with the SDSU Center for Visual and Performing Arts, the School of Art, Design and Art History, and the SDSU Art Council.
$5 members, students, SDSU Art Council members and faculty/$10 nonmembers, James S. Copley Auditorium

April 7, Friday
10:00 a.m. LECTURE "Courbet and Impressionism"
Mary Morton, Ph.D., assistant curator of the Getty Museum, talks about the Realist painter Gustave Courbet and his influence on the Impressionist artists in Paris at the end of the 19th century. Part of the Docent Guest Lecture Series. $10, James S. Copley Auditorium

April 9, Thursday 6:00 p.m.
April 20, Sunday 3:00 p.m.
GALLERY TALK "In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite"
Steven Kern, SDMA's curator of European art, discusses this rare exhibition of ancient Roman frescoes and artifacts. Part of the Insight Gallery Talk Series.
Free with museum admission, Meet in rotunda

April 12, Wednesday
7:00 p.m. LECTURE "La imagen del arte mexicano" (Images of Mexican Art)
Gregorio Luke, director of the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, discusses various images found in Mexican art. This lecture is part of the Los Rostros de México Lecture Series and will be presented in Spanish.
$10 members and students/$20 nonmembers, James S. Copley Auditorium

April 13, Thursday
11:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. LECTURE "Desire and Devotion: Symbolism of Floral Garlands in 17th-Century Flemish Painting"
James Grebl, Ph.D., is the manager of library resources at the San Diego Museum of Art and has lectured at many universities. Using the Museum's painting Garland of Flowers with the Holy Family by Daniel Seghers and Erasmus Quellinus as a focal point, his talk will explore the social and religious significance of flower paintings in Flanders during the 17th century. Part of the Meet the Masters Lecture Series.
$10 members/$12 nonmembers/$8 students with ID, James S. Copley Auditorium

April 21, Friday
10:00 a.m. LECTURE "Meaningful Disturbances: A Process-Based Art"
Local sculptor Ann Mudge, whose work is represented in the current SDMA exhibition Tracking and Tracing, presents an overview of her work and her organically-based design process. Ann Mudge: Persistent Gestures is on display at SDSU's University Art Gallery from April 3 to May 3, 2006. Part of the Docent Guest Lecture Series.
$10, James S. Copley Auditorium

April 28, Friday
11:00 a.m. ART ALIVE EVENT Floral Demonstration presented by Christian Tortu
Christian Tortu, master floral designer, author, and artistic director, is arguably the biggest draw at L'Ecole des Fleurs in Paris's posh Hôtel Meurice Academy. Giving his arrangements just the right blend of wildness and originality, humor and nostalgia, Christian Tortu aims to help people better appreciate the beauty of the world.
$40 members/$50 nonmembers, James S. Copley Auditorium

6:00-9:00 p.m. ART ALIVE EVENT Flowers After Hours
This brand-new installment in the Art Alive lineup will feature a no-host bar, music, and a chance to view the floral arrangements in the galleries.
Free with Art Alive admission

April 29, Saturday
7:30 p.m.-Midnight ART ALIVE EVENT Art Alive Gala
As one of the main highlights of Art Alive, this year's festive and eventful gala will gather inspiration from Hollywood Regency Design. Guests can sample food from a dozen of San Diego's top restaurants as they listen to the swinging tunes of crooner David Patrone.
$250 (includes Late Bloomers event that follows)

9:30 p.m.-Midnight ART ALIVE EVENT Late Bloomers
Adopting the feel of SDMA's popular Culture & Cocktails series, this late-night portion of the gala will feature delicious dessert and hot DJ'd music.
$75

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