Artist Susie Reneau


Susie Reneau is an artist, who lives and works in La Jolla, California. She creates beautiful art using silk screen, as well as drawings and paintings. Her work is playful and enlightening, using animals and bright colors to demonstrate the feelings of peace and happiness that associate her work. She uses quotes in much of her work and has successfully created additional commodities from her original artwork by reproducing it in larger quantities, making postcards and other more ephemeral items. She also makes an annual calendar, largely by hand.

Images that recur in her work include penguins, cats, tea cups, and many other critters. Pigs, unicorns, and butterflies are also important players. She chooses quotes from the inspirational to the silly, and everything in between, addressing such issues that all of face in life: birth, death, nature, shopping, chocolate, friendship, and so many more.

You can buy her work in San Diego at Studio Maureen in South park.

Susie Reneau
PO Box 2488
La Jolla, CA 92038

L Street Fine Art

The L Street Fine Art Gallery is located in the downtown gaslamp district. This gallery exhibits some of San Diego's finest artists, and pairs unlikely artists together creating breath taking interplay between works that may not have ever met otherwise, but seem like they were created to be together in this space.

Currently, the exhibit Domestic Deviation joins established San Diego artist Ernest Silva with up-and-coming artist May-Ling Martinez. This exhibit runs March 3rd through May 21st 2007. This is the third exhibition of the 2006-2007 San Diego Art Prize, which "is given annually to three established artists and three emerging artists who have exhibited outstanding achievement in the field of visual arts."

The space is surprising. In the shadow of the Omni hotel, this tiny space seems to expand as you go inside. The wall is entirely glass, and the art is exhibited along the interior wall, in visible view from the patio and L street.

I highly recommend this gallery at any time, but especially during this exhibit.

L Street Gallery
www.lstreetfineart.com
628 L Street 92101

SD Art Prize
www.sandiegoartist.com

Athenaeum

Next time you are wiling away a day in La Jolla, be sure to stop into the Athenaeum. This music and arts library has been around for over 100 years. It is one of the few remaining private libraries in the nation. If you did not know, all libraries used to be private; you had to pay a fee to join in order to check out books. In some parts of the world libraries still work this way, for example in Paris. In the United States the vast majority of libraries have been publicized, except for 17 of them, and most of these are specialty libraries.

The Athenaeum’s specialties are art and music. There is a huge selection of music CD, sheet music, and books on art and music to check out to members. But the library itself is open to the public, and anyone is welcome to browse the selections for a minutes or an afternoon. I highly recommend spending some time in the space. There is a gallery that hosts several art exhibits each year, specializing in artists from Southern California and Baja Mexico.

The library includes three heritage buildings that have recently been renovated to connect the space inside, without altering the appearance of the protected buildings on the outside. The gallery was expanded, the art school was made handicapped accessible, and behind the scenes the offices were improved and they built a climate-controlled vault for their art collection.

Their collection of art also has a specialty: Artist Books. This relatively new art form really only came into critics sight in the 1970s. But San Diego is a hub of activity for book artists, and the Athenaeum is one reason. They have a permanent collection of artist books, and they have an exhibit of artist books that is simultaneously on display with the larger art gallery.

Throughout the library there are little nooks and each corner seems to hold a surprise discovery. Whether you wander into the art gallery, happen upon the artist books, or discover the children’s art books collection, the athenaeum is a delightful place to explore. In the heart of La Jolla, on the corner of Wall St and Girard St, it is a historical delight that is not to be missed.

Athenaeum
1008 Wall Street (@ Girard)
La Jolla, CA 92037-4418
858 454 5872

A-List at the Athenaeum

The Athenaeum is a historical music and arts library located in the heart of La Jolla on the corner of Wall Street and Girard. They host concerts during the lunch hour and in the evenings. These concerts focus on the traditional and academic forms of music, like classical, jazz, and even opera.

However, the Athenaeum has started a new program for young adults, the A-List. This new take on art and music offers evening parties every three months, with up and coming artists on exhibit and up and coming musicians to set the mood. The most recent event hosted electronica with a DJ mixing in the sounds of saxaphone and flute into the house beats. A pair of “His and Hers” neon nooses was on display along with photography from Tijuana and installation art that questions “Who is it good for?” on the back of bus stop bench.

This fresh take on art costs $10 for non-members, though members get in free with a guest. Once inside you never know what to expect. In addition to the art and music the Athenaeum chooses a theme for each A-List event, and mixes up cocktails to match, like the “Yellow Cab” – a mix of vodka, lemonade, and lime juice.

If you think the party stops there, you are wrong. There is free beer from local breweries like Karl Strauss, Stone, or Rock Bottom; there are door prizes from local restaurants, boutiques, and artists. Not to mention the crowd is full of artistic folks who can have interesting conversations about the art on the wall just as easily as they can debate which IPA is best or what mixed drink they recommend.

So next time someone asks you, “Are you on the list?” you can answer, “I’m about to be.”

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
1008 Wall Street (@ Girard)
La Jolla, CA 92037
858 454 5872
http://www.ljathenaeum.org/A%20List.htm