Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego facts for kids
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla branch in 2008
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| Former name | The Art Center in La Jolla, La Jolla Art Museum, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art |
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| Established | 1941 |
| Location | San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Type | Art Museum |
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is an exciting art museum in San Diego, California, USA. It collects, protects, shows, and explains art made from 1950 until today. It's a great place to see modern and contemporary artworks!
Contents
Art from Both Sides of the Border
MCASD is located in San Diego, a city right next to the border with Mexico. Because of this, the museum focuses on artists from both the United States and Mexico. It celebrates the amazing art communities in San Diego and Tijuana.
The museum has shown many exhibitions that explore themes about living near the border. Some past shows include Being Here With You / Estando aquí contigo: 42 Artists from San Diego and Tijuana. Another was The Very Large Array: San Diego/Tijuana Artists in the MCA Collection.
In 2023, artists Celia Álvarez Muñoz and Griselda Rosas shared their experiences through art. They showed what it's like to live on the U.S. and Mexico borderlands. More than 35 pieces of their art were on display.
Their special artworks included sculptures, textile drawings, and embroidery. They also showed book projects and photographic series. Both artists share unique stories and cultures through their art.
Museum Locations
MCASD has two main locations in San Diego. They are about 13.2 miles (21 km) apart.
La Jolla Location
The main MCASD building is at 700 Prospect St, La Jolla, CA 92037. This spot is on a 3-acre oceanfront campus. It was originally a house built in 1916 for a kind person named Ellen Browning Scripps.
Since opening in 1941, the building has been made bigger several times. In 2017, MCASD started its most recent expansion. This project was led by architect Annabelle Selldorf. It made the museum much larger and added a public park. The La Jolla location reopened on April 9, 2022, after four years of work.
Downtown San Diego Location
The MCASD Downtown location is at 1100 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92101. MCASD first opened a small gallery downtown in 1986. A larger downtown museum opened in 1993. It was inside America Plaza.
In 2007, MCASD made its downtown facility even bigger. It added two important buildings.
Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building
This building is named after Joan and Irwin M. Jacobs, who are generous supporters. It used to be the baggage building for the historic Santa Fe Depot. That building was constructed in 1915-16.
The Jacobs Building has shown very large art pieces and sculptures. This includes Maya Lin's Systematic Landscapes. Outside, Richard Serra created Santa Fe Depot (2004). These are six huge cube-like structures weighing 156 tons!
David C. Copley Building
In 2004, another supporter, David C. Copley, helped build this new building. It is right next to the Jacobs Building. The Copley Building has two special art installations made just for it. These feature Light and Space art.
Artist Roman De Salvo made cool light fixtures from industrial materials for the stairwell walls. Outside, Jenny Holzer created a display of her famous sayings. These words light up vertically in clear plastic tubes, which she calls "icicles."
Museum History
The museum started in 1941 in La Jolla. It was first called The Art Center in La Jolla. It was a community art center. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was known as the La Jolla Art Museum.
The museum building was originally the home of Ellen Browning Scripps. She was a newspaper heiress and helped many causes. The famous architect Irving Gill designed her house in 1915.
In the early 1970s, the name changed to the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. This name showed that the museum would focus on art from 1950 onwards. In 1990, it became the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.
However, people sometimes confused it with the San Diego Museum of Art. So, the name changed again to Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. This new name also showed that the museum served the whole San Diego area. In 1993, it opened a new downtown location.
In 1996, the La Jolla museum had a big renovation. This project cost $9.2 million. Architect Robert Venturi helped with the design. This work added four more galleries, doubling the exhibition space. It also made more room for education, storage, and a bookstore. The garden became an outdoor space for sculptures.
In 2007, a $25-million downtown location opened. This was designed by architect Richard Gluckman. This expansion added 30,000 square feet of space downtown. It increased the exhibition space from about 6,000 to 16,500 square feet.
The renovated baggage building is named for Irwin M. Jacobs and his wife, Joan. Irwin Jacobs founded the technology company Qualcomm. The three-story modern building is named after David C. Copley, a kind supporter.
In 2014, MCASD chose architect Annabelle Selldorf for a $30 million expansion in La Jolla. This project tripled the size of the museum's gallery space. It created 40,000 square feet for showing the permanent collection. There was also more space for learning programs.
Art Collection
The Museum of Contemporary Art has a collection of nearly 5,500 art pieces. These are all post-World War II art. It includes important works by artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Donald Judd. It also features California artist Robert Irwin.
In 2012, the museum received 30 modern pieces from the 1950s to 1980s. These included artworks from Piero Manzoni, Christo, and Franz Kline. California artists like Craig Kauffman were also part of this gift.
Artist Robert Irwin created a special artwork called 1° 2° 3° 4° (1997). It has square openings cut into three museum windows. This lets visitors see the ocean horizon clearly. They can even feel the ocean breeze!
Famous Artworks
- Richard Hunt, Linear Peregrine Forms, 1962
- Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green, 1963
- Andy Warhol, Liz Taylor Diptych, 1963
- John Baldessari, Terms Most Usefull…, 1966-1968
- Helen Pashgian, untitled, 1968-1969
- Maren Hassinger, Wallflower, 1975
- Jack Whitten, Chinese Sincerity, 1974
- John Valadez, Pool Party, 1986
- Lorna Simpson, Guarded Conditions, 1989
- Tschabalala Self, Evening, 2019
- Mely Barragan, Black Light, 2017
Selling Artworks
Sometimes, museums sell artworks from their collection. This is called "deaccessioning." In May 2021, MCASD sold nine paintings and one sculpture. These works were by artists like Roy Lichtenstein. The sales brought in almost $900,000.
Museum Management
MCASD has a special fund of over $40 million. This helps support the museum for a long time. Its yearly operating budget is about $6 million. The museum gets money from people, companies, and other groups.
From 1983 to 2016, Hugh Davies was the museum's director. Since October 2016, Kathryn Kanjo has been the museum's director and CEO.
