Stuart Collection

I had my nephews last week and my oldest nephew is going to be a senior in high school! omg. im getting so old. Their trip to visit auntie chrissie was also meant to visit a few colleges. I thought to myself PERFECT. Gives me a chance to drag them to this art collection and to see UCSD at the same time.
UCSD is huge so we stopped at the visitor center. The guy gave us a map and circled where fallen star was and where to park to get to it.
I knew we wouldn’t be able to see everything but the main thing I wanted to see was Fallen Star. It’s the house on top of the engineering building. It’s random but I was really excited to see it. It is open on Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00am-2:00pm. BTW the wait can be long. They only let 6 people in the house at a time. There weren’t that many people waiting when we got there but when we were about to leave the line was to the elevator. It was amazing. It was cool to see it and walk inside. If you do get dizzy then the lady does offer you to take a seat if that happens. It was built at a slant and raised on top of the building. I felt really dizzy right when I stepped inside the house. She explained a little about the house and it was really cool to hear about it. The garden is really cute too.
I saw the vices and virtues building also across from the engineering building. Better to see it at night when the neon lettering is on.
I wanted to show my nephews the library since that’s where all the college kids study. The snake path was on the way so we walked up it to get to the library. It was really cool. Makes the path not boring.
One of the art work TREES is in front of the library. It’s really beautiful. I kept staring at all the words on the tree. It’s a nice compliment to the library.
Stuart art collection is definitely worth checking out if you do have time and love to explore.

I am glad I have this wondrous treasure across the street from my house. Art can be subjective. It leaves me thinking about the concept of «what is art». Admittedly, I have much to learn. Often times I question the validity of certain pieces of art, or conceptual art. One of things that I think I like the best about the Stuart collection is simply wandering around and finding the pieces and enjoying them for what they are, their placement, and perhaps trying to understand what the artist is conveying. and often simply just the act of locating them, stumbling upon them, seeing them in different lights literally and subjectively. Wandering the campus is simply a joy in and of itself. The Stuart collection, dare I say, is sort of like the cherry on top of the Sundae :-)

Lookong for them in ucsd is fun. They are hard to find some of them but is fun exploing campus and looking at random art

Looking for something to do on one of the many perfect weather days in SD? Go to the visitor center and pick up a map and stroll around the campus. Don’t go hungry because the food in the student center .is.student center food. It’s nice to pick up a bubble tea to quench your thirst though. Depending on the day, campus can be quite quiet so enjoy this attraction that isn’t swarming with tourists or wedding photo sessions.

Enjoy the sun AND get some culture? What! Just do it.
Go to the visitor center and they would hand you a map to walk around the campus. Gilman parking structure is free on the weekends. The loop took us about 1.5 hours, but we didn’t find all the trees, go up to the Fallen Star house, and skipped one or two of the collection. You can also get an iTunes app that has videos that discuss the art pieces. Warning it takes forever to download because it is really just a bunch of videos.

UCSD has a bunch of random art, but I like it. =) I think my favorite one is a new one that was erected 4 years after I graduated… the Fallen Star. I’ve uploaded a couple pictures from my recent visit back to UCSD! Here’s the artist information:

My young son and I rode our bikes up to UCSD a few weeks ago for a graduation and I was reminded how beautiful a campus it is. Despite all the changes since I was a student many decades ago, it still felt like home.
One of the public art pieces we took our time admiring was «Snake Path» at the Geisel Library. We rode our bikes from head to tail and he thought it was pretty darn cool!

Very… random.
The Stuart Collection is spread all over UCSD like Paul Bunyan’s baby cluttering knick-​knacks in a eucalyptus backyard. The beautiful Sarah M. and I drove and walked around the main campus and hit every single point and took JPEG receipt of it all.
My favorites besides the iconic Sun Chicken include the drinking fountain (actually entitled «Untitled») at the Myers Drive turnaround, and the giraffe catchers, formally known as «Two Flying ‘V’ Forms.»
Walking only would take over 2 hours. It took us two hours in a mixed drive/​walk tour. Make sure you have enough sunlight, and plan to see «Vices and Virtues» at night.
And yes. Go on a weekend for free parking.

Yeah, UCSD has a funny-​looking campus but it lends itself real well to public art. My favorites in the Stuart Collection include «Trees» (who doesn’t like trees?) and «Vices and Virtues» (you have to visit campus in the evening). But you also want to be sure to see «Snake Path», which is next to Geisel Library (the spaceship). It’s lovely and has that Paradise Lost connection, but I think I adore it because it reminds me of the Serpent Mound, which is a pre-​Columbian relic in rural Ohio:
It also is worth mentioning that UCSD has a little art gallery that hosts traveling exhibits, and they get some TREMENDOUS stuff through there sometimes. Dale Chihuly and Edward Burtynsky are among those I’ve seen here:
Oh, yeah, and it’s *all free*. Unless you break one of Chihuly’s sculptures. Then you go to jail.