Sculptor, architect, designer and naturalist James Hubbell was known for the way his organic designs, sculptures, art and buildings were informed by the natural environment. A major exhibition of Hubbell's work is still on view across four San Diego library galleries through Aug. 4, 2024.
Visionary local artist, sculptor, architect, designer and naturalist James Hubbell passed away on Friday, May 17. He was 92. Hubbell's artistic touch is all over San Diego and beyond, with countless stained glass, mosaics, sculptures, gates and more peppering local libraries, churches, nature preserves, schools and other public spaces.A young James Hubbell is shown with a work of stained glass in an undated photo.
Hubbell was born in Mineola, New York and moved a lot in his youth. In 1958, he landed in Julian, CA, and lived there with his wife Anne in an extraordinary home and studio property nestled in the picturesque and wild mountains of San Diego County.Marianne Gerdes is a filmmaker and executive director of the Ilan-Lael Foundation, an arts education nonprofit founded by Hubbell and his wife Anne in 1982.
"He didn't copy nature in his art, but he certainly took the lessons he learned from his lifetime's devotion to it — and expressing it in his form and in the way he would blend materials. He would point out that in nature, a tree and grass will grow next to a rock. They don't keep separate. And so when he worked with materials, he would put, you know, brick with mosaic with stained glass… a floor becomes a wall, a wall becomes a roof in his designs," Gerdes said.
Hubbell worked until his death, painting every day as an almost meditative practice —"His prayers," Gerdes said. As his illness took hold, he could no longer physically create sculptures or mosaics, but he still worked with his team to design. The most recent piece to be installed just opened last month at the Alpine Library."I think my life is really about maybe bridging things, but it's also just about making things," Hubbell said.
Scripps Miramar Ranch Library:"A Mountain Home & Studios" about Hubbell's iconic residence and studiosVisitors browse the exhibition,"Architecture of Jubilation: The Art and Vision of James Hubbell" at the downtown San Diego Central Library Art Gallery, on view through Aug. 4, 2024.Julia Dixon Evans writes the KPBS Arts newsletter, produces and edits the KPBS/Arts Calendar and works with the KPBS team to cover San Diego's diverse arts scene.
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