Museum Monday - Mingei International Museum
The Mingei is hands down my favorite museum in San Diego! I’ve been a fan of its works of folk art, craft and design ever since I discovered the museum. Recently, I visited with my good friend Ann with whom I previously shared a membership and many Mingei moments.
I was last there in March 2020, checking in guests for the OH! San Diego hard hat tour of the museum as it was undergoing renovation. Now I looked forward to touring the finished project by Luce et studio and viewing the artwork on exhibit.
Ann and I caught up over lunch at ARTIFACT at Mingei, the new restaurant inside the museum. We chose to sit at the bar on comfy bar stools that offered an close up view of the felted wool mural by Claudy Jongstra “Truth and Beauty in Black” (see photos in gallery at top). All the dishes that we shared were enhanced by our environment and the exceptional attention paid to every last design detail.
Ann had visited the Mingei when it first re-opened over the Labor Day weekend and wanted to show me two areas on the second floor - the library (images above) and the outdoor terraces. Both spaces are open free to the public, separate from paid admission to the gallery exhibits. The terraces offers views of Balboa Park previously not accessible (images below).
Some objects that piqued our interests are shown in the gallery below:
Though I no longer live in San Diego, I anticipate revisiting the Mingei in 2022 as I rejoined with a new membership on #givingtuesday. Having the restaurant within the museum makes it an easy place to meet and catch up with other San Diego friends who have yet to rediscover the re-imagined Mingei.
Happy to sit on a bench in front of mural “Variations on a Gold Theme” designed by Jackson and Ellamarie Woolley in 1966