JFG's Building Resilience pop up museum stems from the Community 1,000 Cranes project that invited everyone to create an origami crane in hopes to reach a total of 1,000 cranes together to promote recovery, solidarity, and resilience during the initial stay at home orders that began in March, 2020. This pop up museum is designed to activate a public space outside of Balboa Park by bringing JFG demonstrations and exhibits as well as locally partnered programming in an accessible manner to promote cultural exchange.

Set aside as City park in 1868, today’s Balboa Park has undergone a multitude of changes in its 150 years. Once a series of mesas filled with native growth, the park now boasts manicured gardens, miles of trails, and world famous museums. In this presentation, learn how the Park has evolved and discover some of its less famous uses.

Sparks Gallery is pleased to once again host an exhibition of select artwork by members of The Allied Craftsmen of San Diego. Allied Craftsmen continues to be a major influence of contemporary craft and art in San Diego.

Allied Craftsmen members pursue their inspiration through an innovative process and unconventional design using materials such as wood, clay, metal, glass, wire, fabric, gold, and silver. The group defines its acceptable mediums for membership as: “any serious craft.”

Inspired by the golden age of the traveling carnival (1870-1930), with its social outcasts of carny folk, sideshow freaks-and-geeks, I have endeavored to re-represent that unwanted slice of society through the innocence of children.

These children represent vulnerability, the inherent need to be wanted and loved without a thought as to “why?”

I would like my images to nurture compassion for the differences within us all. Our need for acceptability and fitting in. But most of all the need to be valued and loved. My images of children are faultless individuals; possessing obvious imperfections and undesirable qualities, social outcasts, different, through no fault of their own, but nonetheless unwanted and made to feel unnecessary.