San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
SUMMERFEST, MCASD MAKE AN ARTFUL TEAM
La Jolla festival works with nearby museum on art to match theme
The La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, an artistic convergence of 75 global musicians for a four-week chamber music festival, is a 37-year tradition.
The festival, which opened July 28, is also carrying on another decadeslong tradition — an annual collaboration with La Jolla’s Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to select artwork to represent the event.
This year’s Summerfest — themed “The Great Unknown” — is showcasing artist Lee Mullican’s “Electric Night,” a 1967 piece by the late artist that is part of MCASD’S collection.
The painting, an abstract depiction of a night sky, fits the festival’s theme with its “whimsical nature … starry feeling (and) otherworldly look,” according to La Jolla Music Society Artistic Director Leah Rosenthal.
“Electric Night” became Summerfest’s signature art after an annual process in which the Music Society’s graphic designer sends theme details to the museum’s curator, who then suggests a selection of seven or eight artworks from the museum collection.
A committee of LJMS staff members narrows the options until one piece is selected to represent the festival in posters, brochures, program books and more.
“The Great Unknown” theme is described in the 2023 brochure as celebrating “the joy of discovery and rediscovery (and) the delight in the unexpected” within the bounds of traditional chamber music.
“Electric Night” has abstract, dynamic qualities that invite “different ways to approach something as recognizable as the night sky,” said Jenna Jacobs, MCASD’S senior director of curatorial affairs.
“Electric Night” can now be seen in the museum’s Axline Court and will remain on display past Summerfest’s conclusion on Aug. 26, and through MCASD’S annual gala on Sept. 9. Axline Court is free to the public and often features works that focus on regional artists or community art partnerships, Jacobs said.
The collaboration between the society and the museum for Summerfest began in the early 2000s, when LJMS staged performances in the museum’s former Sherwood Auditorium before the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center was built.
“Soon after, we grew the relationship to really collaborating and connecting works from the collection with Summerfest,” Jacobs said. “There was this intention for the arts organizations to bring their two modes of arts to audiences.”
“It was a beautiful coming together,” Rosenthal said.
The Summerfest association between the institutions took a break from 2017 to 2021, when the museum was closed for extensive renovations. It resumed in 2022.
The collaboration between the two “has been an important tradition of the festival. … There’s just a lovely history there,” Rosenthal said.