James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation

In southern California, between the influences of San Diego, Tijuana and the Pacific; among mountains, manzanita, boulders and oaks, lives a man who builds a world he wants to live in - where the aesthetic is a reflection of nature - and philosophy and art are a way of life. Artist James Hubbell has a 70-plus-year career as a contemporary master who expresses himself through nature-inspired art, architecture and functional objects and spaces. Using stone and glass, paint and pen, wood and steel, his works are natural and unconfined. His human and nature-centric design places art in walls, roofs, floors, and furnishings, not separate from, but as extensions of life. In Hubbell’s world, the everyday is elevated to art, and art is for every day.

Hubbell recognizes that it is our cities, buildings, structures - our treatment of our environment -that are perhaps our truest expressions of our views and values, our understanding of the ordering of the universe in which we live. Without great fanfare or financial reward, James Hubbell, the non-architect builder, personally led the design and construction of multiple architectural and fine art projects that accomplished meaningful social and educational transformation in Tijuana and San Diego.

Architectural designer, sculptor, painter, stained-glass artist, community activist  - James Hubbell is one of San Diego’s most prolific artists. His Architecture of Jubilation - is an invitation for all of us to create the world we want to live in.

This exhibition was made possible by a collaboration between the San Diego Public Library, the San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, the Library Foundation SD and the Ilan-Lael Foundation. This Project is an official community initiative of the World Design Capital San Diego/ Tijuana 2024.

Branch Out!

James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation will be showing concurrently at these library branch locations near you! 

• Scripps Miramar Ranch Library features Hubbell Mountain Home & Studios—the source of creativity—where thousands make the pilgrimage to Ilan-Lael to walk its tranquil acreage and marvel at Hubbell’s architecture. 
• Mission Valley Library tells the story of Pacific Rim Project, Hubbell’s vision that nations located on the Pacific Rim can find common ground through art. 
• Otay Mesa-Nestor Library focuses on James Hubbell's work in Northern Baja California, working side by side—Lado a Lado—building a school in Tijuana, the Kumeyaay Museum in Tecate and Kuchumaa Passage, Hubbell's first experiment in community-built art parks.

Featured programming will be occurring throughout the exhibition run. Take a look at www.mysdpl.org/visual arts for more information!

Collect commemorative stickers at each location! 

_{Gallery Hours:}

_{Monday and Tuesday, 1 – 7 p.m.}

_{Wednesday – Saturday, Noon – 5 p.m.}

_{Sunday, 1 - 5 p.m.}