Giving Back Magazine January 2019 | Page 86

Arts TRANSFORMATION IN PROGRESS Mingei International Museum M ingei International Museum is breaking ground on its much-anticipated transformation in Balboa Park, and while the museum is under construction, Shop Mingei and Café Mingei have docked at ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station. Now more than ever, Mingei is active throughout the region with enhanced partnerships and opportunities to learn and create - taking “art of the people” out to the community near you. Mingei recently marked the end of Creative City Heights - a yearlong engagement with The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA), Media Arts Center, KAREN Organization of San Diego and The AjA Project. The evening mixed lively film, photography, stories, dancing, drumming, folk art and handwoven craft at the City Heights/Weingart Library and Performance Annex.  The Museum’s most recent Family Sunday Pop-Up, free and open to the public thanks to the ResMed Foundation, popped that same weekend at Weingart Library. This monthly, hands-on artmaking event is also rotating through libraries in Logan Heights and Valencia Park, engaging kids and families of all ages in making everything from textile wheels to nichos (shadowboxes) and polymer clay sculptures. 86 GBSAN.COM | JANUARY 2019 Creative City Heights American Quilts at CECUT Many of Mingei’s collection objects are also traveling throughout the bi-national region. This past fall, Mingei collaborated with longtime partner Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) for the exhibition AMERICAN QUILTS, featuring 50 vibrant quilts from its permanent collection, dating from roughly 1850 to the mid-twentieth century. Both Museum members and staff traveled to view the show. Coming in spring 2019: a selection of Mingei’s mid-century pieces at the Central Library Art Gallery! To keep up with the Museum’s calendar of events, workshops and offsite exhibitions, please visit www.mingei.org.