The to-do list

Art

Through the Woods

Ever find yourself gazing at a painting of a moon-lit ocean or a majestic forest and fantasizing about being there in person—but then wondering if such a scene even exists? For her new show, Vista, at Luis de Jesus Seminal Projects (2040 India St. in Little Italy), San Diego artist Allison Wiese has come up with a clever and ironic take on paradise lost. In one series in the collection, called Wood, Wiese took those mundane nature paintings we see in hotel rooms and yard sales and retrofitted them with LED lights and battery packs. The effect is brilliantly lowbrow, but also a commentary on humans’ relationship with nature in the technological age. Vista  will be on view Saturday, May 9, through June 5, with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 8. 619-696-9699, www.seminalprojects.com.

For your eyes and ears: Drew Snyder’s relatively new Andrews Gallery is quickly earning a reputation as one of the cooler art spaces in the county (we say “in the county” because the gallery’s located in sleepy, seaside Leucadia, at 1002 North Coast Hwy. 101). At 7 p.m. Saturday, May 9, the gallery opens Obstacle Delusion, described as “a brand new series of prodigious abstractions from the powerful and young Floyd Elmore.” Your art-viewing experience will be made all the better with music from The Exfriends. This is the second in the gallery’s “Saturdays in May” series, so if you can’t make it to this one, see what they’ve got scheduled for the rest of the month at www.theandrewsgallery.com.

Seven delightful sins: Depending on one’s psychological makeup, the revelation that sin is a part of everyday life can be titillating or cause for firing off a hyperventilating e-mail to Bill O’Reilly. Whatever the case, the matter has been fully explored by the San Diego Mesa College Museum Studies Program and a group of artists and photographers, who’ll present their findings in a public exhibition, Uncovering Sin in Everyday Life, from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10, as well as May 16 and 17, at a private home at 3524 Tennyson St. in Point Loma. On view will be paintings, photographs, sculpture and video interpreting pride, greed, envy, wrath, gluttony, sloth and, everyone’s favorite, lust. Participating artists include sculptor Lorenzo Foncerrada; painters David Russell Talbot, Anna Stump and 18-year-old Taylor Marie Prendergast, new-media artist Lisa Hutton; and photographer Katie Gardner. And in the interest of full nepotastic disclosure, photos by CityBeat’s Aaryn Belfer and Kelly Davis will also be on display. www.sdmesa.edu/art-gallery.

Food & Drink

Don’t cut this class

By now, it’s an understatement to say San Diego County is holding its own in the craft-brew department. If you’re a beer enthusiast but haven’t been paying close attention, y’might wanna enroll in Beer U: History of Brewing in San Diego, where you’ll learn the history of local beer-making and taste the goods from brewers such as Stone, Alesmith, Lost Abbey, Port, Green Flash and Ballast Point. Names haven’t yet been provided, but organizers are promising appearances by “legendary” brewmasters. Class will be in session from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, 1999 Citracado Pkwy. in Escondido. $20. www.stonebrew.com

Multi-Media

Art imitates life

Ever been walkin’ down University Avenue, thinkin’ about the zeitgeist, ponderin’ the sense of place that defines North Park and City Heights? It’s not an easy thing to express, is it? Not in plain old words, anyway. To really get a handle on place-ness, one requires a potpourri of expressive modes: dance, visual arts, poetry—the works. Starting Friday, May 8, Art @ the Core will express its sense of these neighborhoods through multimedia installations called Voices: Mapping the Hood. The collaboration of Eveoke Dance Theatre, transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project, Stone Paper Scissors, North Park Main Street and the Cultural Worker will explore themes of leadership and socioeconomics through the broader concepts like location, home, self-worth and love. The dance performances are $20 and run each weekend starting Friday, May 8, through May 31 at the Tenth Avenue Theatre (930 10th Ave., Downtown). The visual-arts installation (May 17 through June 28) is free at the Art Produce Gallery (139 University Ave., in North Park). www.artcoresd.org.

Lectures

Creative class

Artist Sandow Birk has been awarded all the big-name fellowships—a Getty, a Fulbright, a Guggenheim—and deservedly so. He’s an innovator, taking classic art and updating it in an almost cartoonish, grotesque style to comment on things like the plight of L.A.’s urban poor and modern-day warfare. At 7 p.m. Thursday, May 7, Birk will discuss his latest series, The Depravities of War, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s Downtown location (1100 Kettner Blvd.), where it’s currently on display. Free with museum admission. At 7 p.m. Friday, May 8, architect Thom Mayne will be at MCASD’s La Jolla location (700 Prospect St.). The award-winning founder of experimental design-and-research collective Morphosis is the final speaker in the museum’s Master Architects Lecture Series. Admission to Mayne’s talk is $30 general, $25 for museum members, $15 for students. www.mcasd.org.

Music

Raise the baton

No need to bust out your tux or ball gown for the grand opening of the sharpest new concert hall in town. UCSD will open the $53-million Conrad Prebys Music Center to the public on Saturday, May 9, with a concert featuring pieces by Chopin, Roger Reynolds, Rand Steiger and more. To pump up the volume, so to speak, the cutting-edge hall sets itself apart by incorporating design consulting from renowned and acclaimed “doctor of acoustics” Cyril Harris, the same brains behind New York’s Metropolitan Opera House and other modern acoustic wonders. Take a free tour earlier that day of the state-of-the-art facility during an open house with demonstrations and recitals from noon to 4 p.m. The concert starts at 9 p.m. $25. 858-534-8497, music.ucsd.edu.

A love supreme: During the late ’70s and early ’80s, composer / pianist Diane Moser had an impact on many of San Diego’s finest jazz players, including renowned saxophonist Charles McPherson and double bassist Mark Dresser. Although she’s been an East Coast resident for about 28 years now, Moser’s time spent in the local jazz scene was not forgotten, and when she recently contracted a serious illness, her West Coast compatriots decided to come to her aid. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, McPherson, Dresser, bassist Rob Thorsen, saxophonist Daniel Jackson and others will play a special benefit show to raise funds for their ailing friend at Dizzy’s (San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, Second Avenue and J Streets, Downtown). Moser won’t be present, but a selection of San Diego’s top jazz talent will. www.dizzysjazz.com. $20.