Illumination

I think it’s safe to say we are all collectively peeking out the window, relieved to see the sun again after our (much needed) rainy winter, and feeling that special uplift that only the sights and smells of spring can bring. Everything is in bloom and feels as if everything has a little more light on it.

As I approach my one-year mark as Mingei’s Executive Director, and as the Museum moves towards the two-year anniversary of reopening, we are also – more and more – looking outside the building. After the transformation, it took a while to learn how to live in the building. We kept asking ourselves, “Where is the light switch in this room?” and “How does the sound system work again?”. Museum staff members wrangled with climate controls, new object cases, and expanded visitor hours. With all these little adjustments well under control, the team has transitioned from a focus on establishing our internal operations to facing outward: illuminating the craft, creativity, and cultural knowledge of those in our community, including artists, makers, creative leaders, and students of all ages.

Mingei’s Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Emily Hanna, identified local artists and culture bearers in her curation of African by Design: Form, Pattern, and Meaning in African Craft. For example, San Diego-based clothing brand Lili Kouture, owned by Lalitibe “Lili” Lare, will have its custom-designed West African apparel highlighted in the show. The Museum is also partnering with a fantastic organization right here in Balboa Park – the WorldBeat Cultural Center. On May 20, the member’s opening for African by Design will start at Mingei, and then culminate in a procession to WorldBeat, where the celebration will continue with African food, music, and wine.

There are hundreds of high school students and educators across the region immersed in craft practice, and the return of Mingei’s bi-annual juried exhibition – Student Craft – is a joyful opportunity to showcase their imaginative work in our galleries. For most, this will be the first time their art is on display in a museum, and for some, it may not be the last.

In just a few weeks, local artist Michelle Montjoy will use embroidery to shine a light on the stories textiles can tell. You may have seen her work, the Breathing Room over at The New Children’s Museum, or maybe this is the first time you’ve heard of her. Either way, I have no doubt her workshop, Mending Memories, will uncover the untold stories of the makers and keepers of the textiles in our lives, while teaching us to add our own.

Diverse talents, perspectives, and the creativity of so many come together here at Mingei. And as a member of this Museum, you are an essential part of this space wh​​ere people from near and far can gather around a shared love of art, craft, and design. I cannot thank you enough for your support.

Looking forward to the day I see you at Mingei – there’s always something beautifully surprising to see and experience every day!

Jessica Hanson York
Executive Director & CEO

Student Craft is back! Student Craft is a bi-annual exhibition that spotlights the work of high school students around our region. This year the theme, seeing rhythm, is inspired by the works on view in the Museum’s exhibition, African by Design: Form, Pattern, and Meaning. For Student Craft 2023: Seeing Rhythm, high schoolers were asked to create works using patterns and designs found in their everyday environments. The exhibition will feature various craft forms – from ceramics to fashion – and celebrates the important craft traditions that continue to be taught, practiced, and supported at schools across San Diego County.

In this video, Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Emily Hanna takes us behind the scenes spotlighting a few of the objects featured in the upcoming exhibition, African by Design: Form, Pattern, and Meaning in African Craft.

We recently interviewed local fiber artist, Michelle Montjoy, who shared about her immersive installations, sculptures, embroidery, and socially engaged projects, as well as a little insight into her daily life.

Shop Mingei has two new vendors coming to the store: Quazi Design and Sidai Designs. In addition to creating beautiful, handmade merchandise, these two companies put their employees first, empowering makers around the world. Needless to say, the perfect additions to the shop!

Quazi Design

Based in Eswatini, Southern Africa, Quazi Design is changing the perception of waste paper by using it to create handcrafted home goods. Born out of a partnership between a designer and a local magazine distributor, Quazi Design is a women-led company that believes in sustainable design, ethical production, transparency, and craftsmanship. Their products are all handmade by women who are employed full-time contracts.

Sidai Designs

Sidai Designs collaborates with Maasai women in Tanzania, East Africa, to create handmade accessories that merge time-honored beadwork with modern designs. Their mission is to preserve the age-old Maasai tradition through sustainable employment for Maasai women. By using their knowledge of modern and timeless design to enhance Maasai beadwork, Sidai creates stunning pieces to be worn or displayed in homes around the globe, inspiring a new generation of beaders.

With the San Diego-Tijuana region being the World Design Capital in 2024 there is a lot happening in and around our design community. A few months ago, we announced a pause on the five-day San Diego Design (SDDW) event to prepare for the World Design Capital, and now we have more big news! We’re thrilled to share that we are partnering with the Design Forward Alliance (DFA) to present SDDW 2024. This partnership will expand the scope of SDDW by bringing their knowledge and expertise on human-centered design to the event, while Mingei continues to be the flagship location and host exhibitions, talks, and workshops throughout the event.

Initiated by the Design Lab at UC San Diego in 2016, the Design Forward Alliance promotes human-centered design as a tool for spotlighting San Diego as an innovative city for business, education, and enjoyment. It also sparks conversation and action around how human-centered design can improve the way we live, and provide businesses, educators, and government with the tools to affect real and lasting change.

In 2004, Rosendo Carrillo de la Rosa and his family traveled from their traditional Wixárika (pluralized as Wixáritari, commonly known as Huichol) community in Jalisco, Mexico, to San Diego to create this well-known and well-loved beaded carousel horse for the Museum. To make this horse, Rosendo Carrillo de la Rosa and his family covered a fiberglass model horse with beeswax, and then carefully placed hundreds of tiny beads on the model horse using needles. The patterns and figures conceived spontaneously during the creation of the piece, are full of symbolism. The imagery includes an eagle (which is considered a messenger to the gods), a deer (who is Kayumahli, the spirit guide for shamans), arrows with feathers (feathers are believed to give magical power to the shaman), and peyote flowers.

Although Rosendo Carrillo de la Rosa’s work invokes the process and traditional imagery of the Wixárika people, the artist specifies the beaded Carousel Horse created for the Museum is non-ceremonial and meant to demonstrate the art of Wixárika people.

You can now see this horse, along with other beaded Huichol objects, for free when you walk around our Commons Level.

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Ancestors to the Future provide essential funds that continue to make the Museum a special cultural gift, now and in the years to come. Learn more about Ancestors to the Future here.