President's Message

Dear Friends,
San Diegans report that the pandemic has affected their mental health and well-being. The New York Times describes the pandemic as periods of “languishing” and/or “flourishing”. Those who report languishing describe getting out of pajamas as a rarity and job loss as a reality, a loss of energy or lack of motivation or desire. Others describe flourishing as finding unrealized strengths, talents and interests, a deeper love of family and friends, authoring a manuscript, achieving a certification or graduate degree, an innovation that led to a long-desired invention or patent, or as our beneficiaries discovered, state of the art virtual educational modalities, exhibits and programs. Many describe an emotional roller coaster of both languishing and flourishing, ultimately finding more effective coping strategies and a sense of well-being often centered on spirituality, relaxation with family, friends, and pets, daily exercise, healthier nutrition, green tea, liters of water, sleeping 8 hours nightly, meditation, and prayers of gratitude. Some describe finding light in the darkness, moving toward the light of health and well-being.

Through the pandemic, Balboa Park institutions have continued to enrich us, fulfill us, and bring comfort, laughter, and light to our lives more than ever. Patrons of the Prado describe Balboa Park as a place of discovery, creativity, joyful childhood memories, serenity, spirituality, and healing. Our experiences in the park with friends, our children and grandchildren nourish our health and well-being. Our commitment is to preserve and sustain the crown jewel of San Diego through supporting our beneficiaries. Our Bucks4Buses program enlightens the lives of San Diego schoolchildren through access to world-class treasures. These virtual and in-person life-changing experiences inspire cultural awareness, kindness, humility, and fluency for future generations. As we celebrate our Patrons of the Prado 25th Anniversary, please help us sustain this vibrant center of wellness promotion, innovation, learning, engagement, and renewal for our beloved San Diego community, our region, and visitors from around the world.

With Warmest Wishes and Gratitude,
Julie Cowan Novak,
President, Patrons of the Prado
www.patronsoftheprado.org

MASTERPIECE Gala 2022 - Under the Desert Sun

Four short months from now, we invite you to join us Under the Desert Sun! Masterpiece 2022 promises a not-to-be-missed evening of vintage Palm Springs merriment in the iconic Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Guests will enjoy a chic cocktail hour – with some fun desert-inspired surprises, curated silent and live auctions, dancing to the tunes of NRG, a gourmet dinner provided by Behind the Scenes – and, back by popular demand, Pop the Cork – which gives one lucky winner the chance to win a complete collection of premier wine!

Sponsorship and donation materials are available via www.patronsoftheprado.org. We thank those of you who have already joined to support us as part of our Honorary Committee. It is not too late for this opportunity! Honorary Committee members enjoy two VIP tickets and special recognition in all publicity and the event program. Honorary Committee photo to be taken at our 25th Anniversary celebration on April 5, so now is the time to join us to ensure you’re included.

So dust off your dancing shoes and get ready for a wonderful evening of fun and delicious food and drink – all in the name of supporting our well-deserving ten beneficiaries! See you Under the Desert Sun!

25th Anniversary

Thank you to The San Diego Union Tribune for our first 2 tributes, celebrating our 25 years of investment in the cultural arts of our 10 museums on the Prado. Several more tributes are in the making and will appear in March and April.

Click to view larger.

MEMBER IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Gloria McCoy Her intimate Monarch Butterfly Garden

As told by Miriam Summ

Listening to Gloria talk so lovingly about the Monarch Butterflies she brings into the world is a story to be shared. Bringing these butterflies to life begins with a seed no bigger than a pinhead and throughout the cycle, the weeks of patient 'mothering' in care and nourishment, these exquisite creatures become full beings ready to leave their enclosure and fly away into life, however short that life will be, Monarchs rush to greet it.

Gloria described the wonderful and fulfilling moment when she opens the door of the enclosure that has been the Monarch’s nest, its haven, and its home. It is the moment of release, the cycle complete and at this moment each butterfly takes its first step, a step onto her finger and in this fleeting touch a momentary bond that is both greeting and farewell is formed. From the first to the last, the Monarchs take flight, each reaching out to sun and light and sky, each on the wing to its own destiny.

There are now ten Milkweed plants in Gloria’s garden, and it is these Milkweeds' that are essential in this cycle of evolving life. Monarchs must have milkweeds if they are to grow from a single seed to a full-blown butterfly. Gloria brings the Milkweed leaves into the enclosure, she watches and waits as an egg, tiny, white, and translucent becomes a caterpillar and in time the caterpillar will form its chrysalis, its enveloping silk thread, and like a button, it will hang suspended until that moment when the breath of life is felt, the skin splits open and a single butterfly still wet emerges. They do not ask, wonder or wait. What lies within propels them toward freedom and the light. They do not ask, 'Why is it? They go and make their visit.' As the Iowan farmer in “Field of Dreams” was told to ‘build it and they will come,’ Gloria might tell us that if we plant Milkweeds in our garden, the Monarchs will come. They will come and make their visit.

To be involved with Monarchs, to engage in their life cycle, from the first tiny eggs to the moment of release, Gloria engages not in the cries of the newborn, not in the care and protection needed to help steady the unsteady legs and bewilderment of a new being come to life. In listening to Gloria, I sensed that the bond between them lay in the Sound of Silence in a distant grassland where patience leads and time alone rules. A natural serenity envelops the enclosure and the nurturing Gloria brings to this passage is measured by time alone, a ticking clock within and through which each day passes. Hers is a guardianship of tranquility, of seconds, ticking and moments passing while both the guarded and the guardian watch and wait for the appointed hour.

A very new experience for a woman who has traveled much of the world. A member and past president of the prestigious Travelers’ Century Club, a club whose membership is limited to those who have visited at least one hundred or more of the 330 countries and territories of the world. Gloria has, astonishingly, visited two hundred and five countries and territories, and like the Monarchs she loves, she will continue to search new skies.

To have traveled so far and so many times from one’s garden. To have seen so much of the world. The breadth of its colors, the enormity of a thousand languages spoken, and the people who share with us the home we share, each a unique face, no other in the world like the face of another. To reach out as Gloria has “underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot (that is our home in the universe), the only home we’ve ever known.” These are Carl Sagan’s words and I imagine that when he looked at the endless, unknown vastness of the universe and of the time we have on this ‘pale blue dot, he did see us as “butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”

In our time, we each have our day, like the butterfly to flutter for a day and think it is forever. Still, we are conscious beings who see beyond our garden of the enclosure. And we do reach out understanding how life may unfold in new ways through our doing, and by our hand, and in this conscious undertaking, we do take responsibility to preserve and cherish and care for one another.

Gloria McCoy has chosen to give her care to Monarchs, to be part of generational renewal and rebirth. Her hand brings milkweed leaves into the enclosed space where the eggs lie waiting. She nourishes each new cycle of life into being. She is there to protect and be witness to each butterfly as they emerge, flutter, and fly into life. And in this union, the Monarch, in the most spiritual sense we can imagine, each becomes a messenger of friendship. Between them, love is given and love returned.

In all that we can come to know of Gloria’s bond with Monarch butterflies, we cannot liken butterflies to be what they are not. Unlike puppies, unlike kittens whose every instinct is to fold themselves into you, butterflies are independent beings who come into our garden but not to us. They are visitors who keep their distance. This is science. This is a fact. Behavior recorded, traits as written.

But what of that which cannot be written, or recorded, or shown in the evidence. What of this.

Not long ago, Gloria lost three friends, dear friends, and a deep loss. Three times Monarchs have come to her; twice a Monarch sailed through the distance kept, the place apart, twice leaving the space in the wind it keeps from us, keeps as its own. Twice, Monarchs flew to her, circling her face; each time a conversation of wings insisting to be heard. Twice, they came. Twice, they called. The message lay in the whisper of their wings. And then, a third visit. 'Look and I will be known.' Unrecorded, unwritten, yet spoken still when the Monarch flew into Gloria’s hand and stayed. On wings, it floated to a place of rest and there it rested, silent and serene trusting fully in the hand that held it close.

This tiny wondrous being, this butterfly did not flutter, did not fly, but waited with purpose, with intention. And at the moment when trust was fully given, the heart of each had opened. To know what is true and to believe in that truth is enough. No more is asked. No more is given. This one butterfly, this tiny being whose life on this ‘blue dot’ of ours measured in but a few short weeks had fulfilled its destiny. The wings that ‘flutter and fly for a day and think it is forever, the egg that is nourished by the leaves of milkweed to become the caterpillar and the caterpillar who spun its slender threads becoming the chrysalis and the chrysalis who broke open to free the butterfly who became the one who crossed the unmeasurable boundary of forever and ever and evermore to sit beside her friend for a single moment in time. She had come as a butterfly, returned to Gloria in this form, in this spirit, across time and space. From a universe we cannot fathom, a friend flew across time to a garden. Gloria's garden in the blue dot.

It is this truth, this faith in what is possible that makes the story so worth the telling. We can be touched by what we see, and accept that it remains unseen. We can feel the presence of another who flutters and flies within us to be real, to be true. We can hear a wind that whispers and believe in the whisper that calls to us. We can believe, without evidence, a truth we cannot prove, a science unwritten. And in all this, all that is possible, still, we are free to choose. Is it a butterfly, only that which it is and no more? Or is the butterfly the friend who comes with love bringing all that is remembered to the one who remembers? “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.”

The story ends. The ending is yours.

Gloria McCoy, Patron Member, colleague, and friend whose garden becomes our garden and whose Monarchs fill our world with wonder.

Museum Updates
By Margaret Dudas, PoP Museum Liaison

San diego museum of art

monet to matisse

March 19-August 7

This exhibition includes over 75 French paintings from the late 19th and early 20th Century, including Cézanne, Matisse, Degas, Gaugin, Monet, Signac, Picasso, Vuillard, and many others from the modern French schools of Impressionism, Pointillism, and Fauvism. This collection from the Bemberg Foundation is being exhibited on the west coast for the first time.

Wang Qingsong Exhibition through August 14, 2022

Wang Qingsong is a Chinese artist who lives and works in Beijing and whose evocative large-scale photographs function as social commentary.

Two themes, “Images of Culture” and “Images of Conflict,” present the paradox posed in these works of increased social mobility in China, while physical movement of people at the time was sometimes restricted.

This collection of images is full of the artist’s satirical wit, attention to photographic detail, and references traditional Chinese and Western art history. Each work interprets dramatic social, political, and economic changes brought about by the rise of globalization in China during the early 2000s.

Art Alive

April 28- May 1

For over 4 decades ART ALIVE has been a beloved community tradition that's provided essential support for SDMA’s exhibitions, education & outreach. The preamble is an intimate Premiere Dinner in the galleries, featuring the first look at extraordinary floral designs inspired by the Museum's collection & a preview of Fernando Casasempere's Terra exhibit. And don’t miss BLOOM BASH on Friday, April 29, one of the most vibrant, high-voltage parties in town! Trendsetters & late-night revelers will enjoy delicious food & cocktails, art installations, performers, dancing & a memorable evening of camaraderie to support art in our community. The celebration continues with opportunities to enjoy talented floral designers who fill the galleries with fragrant arrangements, offering a brilliantly colored backdrop for a weekend-long immersion of unique experiences & art-inspired activities for all ages.

For tickets and more information: SDMA | Art Alive 2022 - San Diego Museum of Art

mingei international museum

The ARTIFACT Restaurant at Mingei has recently opened. It is located on the Commons level of the Museum, where you can enjoy indoor or outdoor seating options surrounded by folk art, craft, and design. It features craft cooking inspired by ancient methods, spices, and botanicals.

Throughout the month of March, the dinners will feature cooking from the Maghreb region: an area of Northwest Africa along the Mediterranean Sea, consisting of the countries of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Starting Thursday, March 3, ARTIFACT will be offering prix fixe dinners on Thursdays and Fridays from 5-8:30pm.

Dance Performance
March 18, 7:30-8:30 pm

Join Omo Aché Afro-Cuban Music and Dance Company for an evening’s journey of the tapestry of Cuba’s cultural richness through its music and dance traditions. This exciting program invites the audience on a journey through the evolution of Cuban culture – from its African roots to today’s most popular urban expressions.

Mini Mingei
March 18, 10:00-11:00 am

Children ages 2-5 and their families are invited to explore toddler-centered folk art, craft, and design! Activities will include seeing art, making crafts, hearing stories, and more. Mini Mingei is perfect for parents, grandparents, and caregivers with children.

Check out the monthly programs offered at the Mingei on their website Mingei.org

san diego history center

The San Diego History Center is devoting much of our reduced staffing resources by making more of their collections available online. This requires ongoing processing, cataloging, and digitization of large portions of our collections – including many items that have not previously been available to the public. Public access is now managed through several new programs:

• Individuals, businesses, and commercial clients can purchase remote research services or an onsite appointment with Collections staff. San Diego History Center members receive preferred pricing on these research services.

• Four times per year, public access is provided through Community Research Access Days.

• School groups may arrange for special tours of the archive, as space and time allows.

Details on program specifics, as well as links to online resources.

March 2022 Newsletter