The to-do list

Wall drawing by Hugo Crosthwaite.

Art

Hugo’s homecoming: Tijuana-born and San Diego State University-educated artist Hugo Crosthwaite will return from his home in the funky Williamsburg enclave of Brooklyn, N.Y., and participate in several events during the next few weeks. The one you need to know about is his appearance at the “Culture and Cocktails” event, 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, which serves as the kickoff for Brutal Beauty, an exhibition of Crosthwaite’s dark and at times surreal works in charcoal and graphite. Culture and Cocktails costs $15; an after-party will be held at Tin Can Alehouse in Bankers Hill. During the beginning of the exhibition’s run (Feb. 27 through July 18), Crosthwaite will improvise a new, large-scale drawing on a blank wall of the museum and then deconstruct it with white-painted rectangles. He’ll talk about his work at 3 p.m. March 14 at SDMA. And from March 5 through 20, Noel-Baza Fine Art Gallery in Little Italy will host Dark Dreams, a separate exhibition of the artist’s drawings. www.hugocrosthwaite.com, www.sdmart.org, www.noel-bazafineart.com.

Exhibition threefer: “Everything that matters depends upon stuff” is the last line of San Diego artist David Adey’s online personal statement. For the exhibition John Henry—opening with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall St., La Jolla)—Adey is using stuff, namely books, to build an installation in the museum’s Rotunda Gallery. Given that Adey was recently awarded a San Diego Art Prize—and his past work’s gotten mad respect—we’re sure whatever he’s come up with will be good. Also opening at the Athenaeum on Feb. 26 is Charlie Miller’s Anything but Rehab, a series of collages incorporating vintage medical ephemera, and an exhibit of works by bookmaker Mary Ellen Long. www.ljathenaeum.org.

Fired up!: Seattle artist Shawn Wolfe’s “deconstructing and reconstructing consumerism and brand fetishism” (as he puts it) has landed him work with mega-brands like Sony, Nike and K2, as well as spreads in Sphere, Adbusters and Raygun. It could seem ironic that his subversive style landed him such attention and work with huge corporations, but we won’t hold it against him when the work is this cool. A multimedia artist working in everything from painting to apparel, sculpture to album-cover art, he’ll have his first San Diego solo show, Ready Fire Aim, at Subtext Gallery (2749 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy) starting with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26. Local folk duo Cousins will perform. www.subtextgallery.com.

Goodbye, genius: Tara Donovan’s exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is awesome. We use the word “awesome” because her installations are magnificent on a level on par with creation itself—and because, when we first saw them, we were too amazed to gasp out anything but a hushed “awwwwwesooome.” Now the time’s come to take down the wall of plastic straws and pack up the hills of disposable cups. On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 27 and 28, the museum will stay open until 10 p.m. And at 2 p.m. Saturday, Donovan will give a talk at the Jacobs Building, 1100 Kettner Blvd., Downtown. Space is very limited and no advanced tickets will be sold—so get there early. $10. www.mcasd.org.

Special Events

’Stache bash: While moustaches have been around since—well, a very long time, Glashaus is still relatively new. But just one year in, the artist-and-design collective is already known for being one of the most innovative and experimental spaces in San Diego: From its design (built out of an old glass factory) to its off-the-radar location (for the masses, at least) to its continuous output of exceptional work. Starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, it’s celebrating its anniversary with a Moustache Masquerade. You should stop by the space (1815-B Main St. in Barrio Logan) wearing a moustache, but don’t worry if you arrive ’stache-less: they’ll be handed out at the door. Local bands The Ratbirds and The Displaced will play later in the evening. After 9 p.m., the party is for those 21 and older.

Lectures

Let your garden grow: Back in the eras of WWI and WWII, people planted victory gardens to help the war effort by minimizing the demand for food supply. While we may not be experiencing food shortages just yet (thanks to cheaply produced crops like corn and soybeans, which are pretty much found in all commercial food products these days), it probably wouldn’t hurt anyone to plant a vegetable garden and eat more vegetables—you know, to help the war effort and all. From 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, you can learn all about gardening, urban agriculture and local food systems at Victory Gardens: Join the Garden Revolution at the San Diego Natural History Museum (1788 El Prado in Balboa Park), part of the museum’s “Sustainable Planet: Food” lecture series. Hear Rose Hayden-Smith talk about how the victory-garden model is the answer for the local food movement. $5. www.sdnhm.org/sustainableplanet.

Community

Give ’em shelter: Is local government doing enough to assist the homeless? (If you’re a regular CityBeat reader, you know how we’d answer that.) From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, the San Diego Historical Society’s monthly “San Diego NOW” series seeks to answer the question with the aptly titled “Passing the Buck: Homeless in San Diego.” The panel, moderated by voiceofsandiego.org reporter Adrian Florido, includes Simonne Ruff, associate director of the Corporation for Supportive Housing; Sandy Maynes, CEO of Coalition for the Homeless; and James Justus, who’s on the board of directors for the Regional Taskforce on the Homeless. The historical society is located at 1649 El Prado in Balboa Park. www.sandiegohistory.org.

Film

Cross-border dance fest: Just when you thought the San Diego region had pretty much run out of types of film festivals, now comes the 2010 San Diego / Tijuana DANCEonFILM Festival, a celebration of short, experimental films about dance—running from Wednesday, Feb. 24, through Saturday, Feb. 27, and showing at California State University, San Marcos (in Room ARTS 111); San Diego State University (in the Studio Theatre); and the CECUT Tijuana Cultural Center south of the border. We’re particularly intrigued by Kathy Rose’s 2009 film She, which is described by the fest folks as centering on “an insectoid dancer that moves like a praying mantis.” Or maybe we just like bugs. Get the details on times, locations and all the films at www.dancefilmfestival.com.