stuart collection tours

• Meeting Planners
• Meet the Team
• Services & Resources
• Service Providers
• Hotel & Venue Search
• Convention Center
• Travel Trade
• San Diego Specialist
• Trade Offers
• Request Images
• Hosting Assistance
• Press Releases

• UCSD Stuart Collection

UC San Diego Stuart Collection

Discover these surprising and engaging artworks in la jolla.

The Stuart Collection at the University of California in San Diego built and maintains a unique collection of site-specific works by leading artists of our time.

Where in San Diego county can you find a 180-ton teddy bear made out of concrete? Or a crooked house perched precariously on the edge of a seven-story building? How about a eucalyptus tree that recites poetry and music? Sounds like something Alice would find when climbing through the looking glass. But believe it or not, such wonders are spread over the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla. They are just a few of the internationally renowned public artworks in the Stuart Collection, which includes 18 site-specific sculptures commissioned from the leading artists of our time.

Pack a picnic lunch and spend the afternoon exploring the campus - which also includes stunning modern architecture - to discover these surprising and engaging artworks.

Here are some pieces to look for:

"Fallen Star"

This crooked house sits askew on top of the otherwise mundane Jacob's Engineering building. It's the work of Korean artist Do Ho Suh. He arrived in the US in 1991 to study art. He felt lost in a foreign land, which prompted him to explore themes of home and displacement in his work. Take the elevator up to the seventh floor and walk out to find a quaint rooftop garden, which includes a plum tree, a wisteria vine, tomatoes and more. Then enter the little blue cottage. It's a completely disorienting experience to stand in the tiny tilted house. If you can keep your sea legs, you'll witness some incredible views of the surrounding Torrey Pines mesa. The cottage is decorated in the homey style of a great aunt or a grandmother. Lights flicker on at night, as does a TV. Steam, simulating smoke, sometimes rises from the chimney. It's all very cozy, until you remember it's poised to wobble off the building any second! (of course, it's secure, but the sensation is alarming). "Fallen Star" is open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30 to 2:00 PM. Please note, it's best to check the hours before you go.

Fallen Star, 2012 Do Ho Suh Stuart Collection UC San Diego

Artist Tim Hawkinson's "Bear" is one of the most delightful surprises in the Stuart Collection. The bear sits, playful yet majestic, in a campus courtyard between three of the university's engineering buildings. The surprise comes from the scale of the bear and the material used to make it. It's composed of rocks totaling 180 tons. A massive round boulder serves as the bear's torso, while separate boulders form the arms, legs, head and ears. It's a mindboggling feat of engineering because it's not clear how the rocks are secured to create the toy bear shape. Kids regularly play on and around it while adults can be found smiling at its happy contradictions.

Bear, 2005 Tim Hawkinson Stuart Collection UC San Diego

If you hear whispers while walking through the eucalyptus grove by the Geisel Library (a modern sculptural building), you're not going mad. The trees are actually talking to you. Allen, a well-known artist who works across genres, took three eucalyptus trees that had been cut down to make way for new buildings, stripped them of their leaves, and encased them in lead. They were then wired for sound and have been emitting recordings of poetry and music ever since. Together they create a modern enchanted forest.

Trees, 1986 Terry Allen Stuart Collection UC San Diego

More Notable Pieces

Other notable pieces in the Stuart Collection were made by some of the most accomplished artists working today. The doors to the Geisel Library are by conceptual artist John Baldessari. The panels among eucalyptus trees are by San Diego based-artist Robert Irwin, and two large wall clocks with a running news feed in the school's Price Center are by text-based artist Barbara Kruger.

These are just a handful of the pieces in this truly unique sculpture collection. San Diego is full of public art and gorgeous natural vistas, but these sculptures stand out as works that will make you think, laugh, and consider the world in new ways.

Another, 2008 Barbara Kruger Stuart Collection UC San Diego

Find a place to stay

Related articles and features, take a stylish stroll with gabriel feitosa.

Join dog groomer extraordinaire and San Diego Gayborhood expert, Gabriel Feitosa, on a tour of his favorite places to eat, drink, and catch a drag show.

7 Things to Do, See, and Eat in Mission Bay

A gigantic aquatic playground, Mission Bay is ideal for just about every kind of watersport, from sailing and SUPing to jet skiing and kayaking. It also has 27 miles of park- and beach- lined shores which are perfect for sunbathing, playing beach volleyball, and picnicking. Cyclists and runners will fall in love with the paved, 12-mile long path that winds around the bay and along the beachfront boardwalk. With resorts, theme parks, restaurants, and 19 miles of beaches, everyone will find a few reasons to love Mission Bay. Here are just a handful of them.

Save Big with San Diego Passes to Local Attractions

Whether you are a seasoned traveler or striking out to explore the San Diego area for the first time, discounts on attraction admissions, dining and shopping can help make the trip more enjoyable and the money last longer, especially if you are traveling as a family.

Shopping Areas Not To Miss

If shopping is on the docket for your visit to San Diego, this dynamic region has many neighborhood retail districts you won't want to miss.

Neighborhood boutiques are great places to find local artisans' clothing designs and accessories, as well as artwork, jewelry and household furnishings. They're also ideal spots to grab a bite to eat or enjoy a gourmet coffee, craft beer or craft cocktail while mixing and mingling with the locals.

Deals just for you

Show your badge & save at the desmond.

Enjoy a 15% discount on exquisite seasonal cuisine and expertfly crafted cocktails at The Desmond--the hottest new destination restaurant in San Diego's famous Gaslamp District. Featuring the freshest...

Save up to $3 on admission to The Nat

Save $3 on Adult Admission and $2 off other admission categories at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Admission includes access to 3D films. 

Save 10% any tour with Another Side Of San Diego!

Please enjoy this 10% OFF savings on any tour with our company, Another Side Of San Diego Tours. We look forward to exceeding all of your expectations on tour with our #1 rated tour company. Use promo...

Events to check out

Port of san diego big bay boom.

The Port of San Diego Big Bay Boom July 4th Fireworks Show is back, promising another spectacular display over San Diego Bay. Fireworks will be discharged simultaneously from barges placed...

Gator By The Bay-Zydeco, Blues & Crawfish Festival

The spirit, sounds and flavors of southwest Louisiana come alive at the largest and most-authentic Louisiana-themed music and food festival this side of the bayou. With everything from A to Zydeco,...

Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival

A highly-anticipated 7+ stage, 80+ bands, 3-day music, culinary and arts festival will descend upon the stunning waterfront of downtown San Diego all along the Embarcadero. The festival offers diverse...

Sharing is caring

Like what you see? Share with your friends, family, and the world!

Stay in touch

Sign up to receive the latest news, events, and updates about San Diego. Our monthly and weekly newsletters will keep you informed about the latest and greatest happenings in the destination.

• Things to Do
• Downtown & Urban
• Inland Valley, Mountain & Desert
• Baja California
• Neighborhood Maps
• Getting Around
• Travel Guides & Apps
• Family Travel
• International Travelers
• Destination Weddings
• Visitor Information & Services
• Hotels & Resorts
• Bed & Breakfasts
• Camping & RV Parks
• Vacation Rentals
• Other Accommodations

English | Change Language

Select your country or region

Or use google translate.

Fun Diego Family

Adventures from San Diego

A 5-Mile Walk through UCSD Stuart Collection

The University of California at San Diego (UCSD) is one of the premier public universities in the country.   It is also a tourist attraction in its own right.  UCSD occupies a prime 2,000 acres of land in La Jolla, overlooking the ocean.  It is home base to many of our hikes.  One of our favorite walks is through the Stuart Collection.  As of 2018, the Stuart Collection consists of 19 works of art spread across the central campus.  This is a guide to our 5-mile walk through The Stuart Collection at UCSD.

Jump Ahead To

This walk can be as short as 3 miles, but our version is a 5-mile version.  Either way be sure and download a map to find the actual art locations .  The main challenge from this point is parking.  You can pay for parking on campus, but there is plenty of free parking right by the campus.

We like to take advantage of the free parking at the Torrey Pines Glider Park.  This is also a great place to visit , but it is about a mile from the start of the actual walk.  You need to walk down the glider park road (Torrey Pines Scenic Dr) and turn right on Torrey Pines Road.  The official hike starts when you get to Muir College Drive.

If you want to get closer, another option is to park on La Jolla Farms Road.  This is near the Scripps Coastal Reserve.  Once again this is a nice place to visit as a quick side trip.  If you do this, you can go down to the LDS Institute at 9527 La Jolla Farms and find a small walking path that takes you to Torrey Pines Road where you cross the street to get to the UCSD campus.

Either way the first attraction is number 12 on the map, the Green Table.  Note the numbers refer to the order the exhibits were placed and have nothing to do with the walking order.

Also note that as an active campus there is a great deal of construction going on.  In much of 2019 the trail from the Red Shoe to the La Jolla Vista View was blocked off.

UPDATE DECEMBER 2020: The La Jolla Vista View trail is now open.

The Stuart Collection

Green table (1992): jenny holzer.

This is a large granite table located in the center of the Muir College quad.  It is a gathering place for students.  Holzer is famous for her one-line text sayings and the table is filled with them.

Sun God (1983): Niki de Saint Phalle

This was the first work in the Stuart Collection.  This large statue is near the center of campus and is considered a landmark.  Students will often dress up the Sun God and the school hosts an annual Sun God Festival of arts and music each spring.

Two Running Violet V Forms (1983): Robert Irwin

Right by the Sun God is the second installation in the Stuart Collection.  This is a more abstract work consisting of fence like structures between eucalyptus trees.  The fences form a V like shape, hence the name.

Terrace (1991): Jackie Ferrara

This one is a little tricky to find because it is an open space within the School of Medicine buildings.  It consists of several terraces and does not stand out as a separate artwork.  What you mainly notice is the green, red and black tiles.  This was designed in conjunction with the architects building the Cellular and Molecular Medicine Facility.

La Jolla Project (1984): Richard Fleischner

The La Jolla Project is another early piece in the Stuart Collection.  You can’t miss this large collection of 71 granite blocks.  They are arranged in configurations common to architecture such as windows, posts, columns, arches, doorways and thresholds.

Wind Garden (2017): Richard Luther Adams

This is one you will find with your ears.  It is a wooded section located right next to the La Jolla Playhouse.  The Wind Garden is the natural sound of the wind through the trees amplified by 32 hidden loudspeakers.  You are guaranteed never to get the same experience twice.

Red Shoe (1996): Elizabeth Murray

This piece is self-explanatory.  It is a big Red Shoe, partially hidden in the woods.  If you look hard you can see it from Torrey Pines Road.  It is right by the Wind Garden in front of the La Jolla Playhouse.

La Jolla Vista View (1988): William Wegman

This one can be a little tricky to find.  By the side of the La Jolla Playhouse there is a narrow trail that takes you up a hill and along a short wooden path.  It ends in a terrace with a view of the UTC area of La Jolla.  There is a viewing telescope and a large bronze map.  Of course, the area has completely changed since the map was drawn in 1987.  The point is to highlight how rapidly the world changes.

Note that on our last visit the trail up to La Jolla Vista View was blocked with construction.  Getting there required going around the other side of the La Jolla Playhouse and going to the end of Mandall Weiss Lane.  This construction also impacted Red Shoe and Wind Garden.  Also, the information center referred to on the map is permanently closed with major construction in that area.

Standing (1998): Kiki Smith

Standing is a life size statute of a nude female on a pedestal.  The pedestal is actually a dead tree cast in concrete.  The figure is pierced with star fished shaped pins.  Water flows from here hands to a pond below.  Its location in the School of Medicine is obviously significant.

Untitled (1991): Michael Asher

We missed this one our first time through because we didn’t know what we were looking for.  Well, actually, I knew it was a water fountain but there are a lot of water fountains around the center of campus.  This one is located right in the center of a grassy area in the front of the Price Center.  When one leans down to drink from the fountain and looks west, the flagpole serves as a line to a rock with a plaque that commemorates Camp Matthews.  Camp Matthews was a World War II military base located on what is now UCSD.

Another (2008) Barbara Kruger

Another is another one you need to know what you are looking for.  This is a large display right in the Price Center East food court.  It is directly across from the Burger King.  It consists of a mural of two large clocks with sayings like Another Dollar, Another Idea, Another Song etc.  There are ticker tape LED displays showing the latest news.

Vices and Virtues (1988): Bruce Naumann

Right outside the Price Center is the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory.  Vices and Virtues consists of large 7-foot high neon words that surround the top of this 6-story building.  These words consist of the seven vices and virtues superimposed over each other.  So you have Fortitude with Anger, Hope with Envy, Faith with Lust and so on.  This display is one best seen at night, when the neon turns on, and the lights flash through several different cycles.

Bear (2006): Tim Hawkinson

Bear is one you will not miss.  This is a massive bear statute constructed out of 8 granite stones found in the San Diego area.  This was actually a major engineering project.  The biggest rock, the torso, weighed over 100 tons. The bear stands nearly 24 feet high and weighs 180 tons.  Perhaps most amazing is how they got all those boulders to stay together.

Fallen Star (2012): Do Ho Suh

Surprisingly Bear is only the second most notable piece in the Stuart Collection.  Fallen Star is a fully furnished house that is placed on top of the 7-story high Jacobs Hall.  The house is placed at an angle, so it looks like it fell from the sky and landed on the building.  You can actually tour this building on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Snake Path (1992): Alexis Smith

From Fallen Star look straight ahead to the large, diamond shape Theodore Geisel Library.  The path up to the library twists and turns up the hill.  This is Snake Path and it consists of a 560-foot long, 10-foot wide walkway in the form of a snake.  The scales are represented by colored slate tiles.  The path coils around a small garden designed to represent the garden of Eden.  It ends at the library concourse (or starts considering this is the snake’s head).

Theodore Geisel Library

Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was a famous San Diego resident.  There are many sites associated with Dr. Seuss in the La Jolla area and his namesake library includes many Dr Seuss exhibits.  For the next stop on the tour you need to head down the stairs to the library entrance, but first you may want to enjoy the Dr. Seuss statutes at the end of the Snake Path.  For more info see our guide to Dr Seuss’ San Diego .

READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM (2001): John Baldessari

This exhibit is the front entrance to the Theodore Geisel Library.  The sliding entry doors are glass panels in primary colors.  AS they slide open and close they mix to create new colors.  The words READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM are written above the doorway.  On the side panel there are various images of UCSD students.

Trees (1986): Terry Allen

You need to know what you are looking for because there are lots of trees in this area.  When some eucalyptus trees were cut down for new campus buildings, three of the trees were saved.  Artist Terry Allen encased the trees in lead and mixed two of them in with an existing eucalyptus grove.  The third tree was placed in front of the library entrance and is easy to spot.  Once you find that tree you can look for the other two in the nearby grove.

Something Pacific (1986): Nam June Paik

Something Pacific is a piece I have not seen in full.  It consists of some outdoor pieces and also includes the lobby of the Media Center.  The Media Center consists of a bank of TVs showing videos that are updated on an ongoing basis.  The outdoor sculpture is best described as a video graveyard with broken down TVs and other electronic devices.

UNDA (1987): Ian Hamilton Finlay

UNDA consists of five large stone blocks carved with the letters UNDA.  They are in various combinations, but there is an S sign that indicates how you are supposed to transpose the letters to spell UNDA.  UNDA is Latin for wave and the sculpture is set high on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  The carving and flow of the letters represents the movement of waves.

This walk takes you full loop.  From UNDA you head down the hill to Torrey Pines Road.  If you parked at the Glider Port you head right to Torrey Pines Scenic Drive.  La Jolla Farms Rd is a short walk across Torrey Pines Road and to the left.  Simply take the short path by the LDS Institute.

Nearby Hikes

The Stuart Collection is a fun walk for kids.  It is also great to combine with either the Gliderport or Scripps Coastal Reserve .

The Scripps Birch Aquarium is also part of UCSD .

For nearby lodging suggestions check out our guide on Where to Stay in La Jolla .  UCSD is next to Torrey Pines and the UTC (University Town Center) area.

Similar Posts

San Diego Paddle Boarding

Paddle boarding is a great recreation activity for all ages and fitness levels.  San Diego is a great place for paddle boarding.  This is our guide to San Diego Paddle Boarding. Overview Paddle boarding is a water activity that of course uses a paddle board.  A paddle board looks like a surfboard but is larger…

San Diego Beaches: La Jolla Cove

La Jolla Cove is the entryway to an underground water park, the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve.  This protected area has a very diverse marine habitat.  As such it is primarily designed for snorkeling and scuba diving. Beach Type: Small sandy beach areas protected by cove Access:  Staircase, possibly some rock climbing Parking:…

San Diego Beaches: No Surf Beach at Sunset Cliffs

Sunset Cliffs is known as a beautiful drive and a great clifftop walk.  It is not known as much for its beach activity.  However, it does have two interesting beach areas for the more adventurous.  This is our overview of No Surf Beach. Location: Sunset Cliffs Blvd by Hill St Beach Type: Isolated and Scenic Access:…

San Diego Hikes: North Fortuna via Perimeter Trail

Mission Trails Regional Park introduced the 5-Peak Challenge in 2015 in order to get hikers to explore more trails.  North Fortuna mountain can be accessed from both the west and east end of the park.  This hike is an alternative route up the mountain along Perimeter Trail starting East Fortuna Staging Area. Starting Point: East…

San Diego Beaches: Torrey Pines State Beach North

The most scenic beaches in San Diego are generally found at the state parks.  Arguably the most scenic beach is Torrey Pines State Beach which runs about 3 miles miles from La Jolla to Del Mar.  The beach can be divided into several areas.  This covers what we call Torrey Pines State Beach North.  While…

San Diego Hikes: Little Black Mountain Loop Trail

Our house backs up to Black Mountain, one of the highest points in the city of San Diego.  As development of the mountain has substantially increased in recent years, the city has set aside a 2,000+ acre portion as Black Mountain Open Space Park.  For more information see our complete guide to the area.  This…

One Comment

• Pingback: San Diego’s Top 10 Free Attractions - Fun Diego Family

Comments are closed.

The Stuart Collection at UCSD celebrates 40 years with an exhibition at the Athenaeum

The Atheneum exhibition showcases various ephemera from Stuart Collection artists

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

It’s interesting to hear Jane Zwerneman describe the Stuart Collection as a “40-year-long research project.”

On the surface, there’s nothing that feels particularly academic about the University of California, San Diego’s iconic public art collection, which now includes work from over 22 world-renowned artists and is spread throughout the campus.

Rather, in the 40 years since the commission of Niki de Saint Phalle’s beloved “Sun God” sculpture, the collection has served more as an artistic respite. Whether it’s a singular piece that a student or faculty member passes by every day, or it’s a visitor taking a tour of all the works , the Stuart Collection has become one of the most world-renowned assemblages of public art in the entire world.

And the people behind it know this.

“It’s always that experience, there’s always at least one, if not a dozen people who go, ‘wow, I didn’t realize that the ‘Sun God’ is the same artist that did the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris,” says Zwerneman, the Assistant Director of the Stuart Collection since 2001. “Every single time somebody has a lightbulb moment ... this is why we do it.”

Humble beginnings

Mary Livingstone Beebe has served as the sole director of the Stuart Collection since its inception in 1981. To hear her tell it, she was running a contemporary art space in Portland, Oregon and wasn’t looking for a job. One day, however, she received a call from a colleague telling her that James Stuart DeSilva and his eponymous foundation was looking for a full-time director to oversee a public art project on the UC San Diego (UCSD) campus.

“I immediately thought, this could be real, but I had envisioned a lot of super-rich, super-ego people involved,” Beebe recalls, adding that wasn’t the case at all. “When they offered me the job, I agonized for a bit and then thought I’d be a fool not to try this.”

Try it she did. Along with Operations Manager Mathieu Gregoire, who Beebe knew from Portland, they immediately began to get to work. After the installation of the “Sun God” piece in 1983, the two immediately began commissioning artists, including local and regional artists such as Robert Irwin and, later, John Baldessari, to produce site-specific works that, as the mission statement read, “enrich the cultural, intellectual and scholarly life” of the UCSD campus. According to Gregoire, what he had to offer was not so much “knowledge or experience, but a sense of adventure.”

And while they certainly had the support of chancellors, deans and the Stuart Foundation, Beebe says it was sometimes difficult to get the word out about the important work they were doing.

“In the beginning nobody quite knew what we were doing and we didn’t care,” Beebe says, somewhat jokingly.

“We’re not a museum and we don’t do big openings every month or events,” Beebe continues. “It’s just a question of keeping at it.”

A beneficial partnership

Erika Torri has been the executive director of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library since 1989. In that time, she’s watched the Stuart Collection become an integral addition to not only the UCSD campus, but to La Jolla as well.

So when the 20th anniversary of the collection was approaching in the late ’90s, Torri, along with Beebe, Gregoire and a few others, began to think it might be beneficial to team up to bring attention to both the collection and to the Athenaeum.

“Of course the Stuart Collection is fabulous and the Athenaeum is the oldest cultural institution in La Jolla, but I felt the two of us were not well known so I suggested that we should have an outside exhibition at the Athenaeum,” Torri recalls. “That way we could bring in more people to both.”

That logic has remained roughly the same over the years even as the Stuart Collection has increased. Even today, some might think that the collection is something reserved solely for students when, in fact, the university provides a handy map on its website ( stuartcollection.ucsd.edu ) and encourages the public to come and tour the campus.

So every ten years, the Atheneum staff curates an exhibition showcasing various ephemera from the artists that have pieces in the collection. This was a little easier for the 20th anniversary exhibition, but as the 40th approaches and the number of artists in the collection has increased, there will obviously be more things to display.

“Things like drawings, photographs, watercolors, blueprints,” Torri says. “With each year, of course, we had more artists to talk about.”

The spirit of those initial anniversary exhibitions lives on in the current show, “40 Years of the Stuart Collection,” which opens Saturdayat the Athenaeum. Torri and Stephanie Scanga, who works as an installation consultant for the Athenaeum, plan to display proposal models, drawings, letters, blueprints, photographs and video clips, as well as the Athenaeum’s extensive collection of books by and about the artists.

“The Stuart Collection is very personal to its audience and to the people who are using it or around it,” says Scanga, who has worked for the Athenaeum since the early 1990s. “It starts with their personal relationships with the pieces, and that is what we can try to pull out and convey from the materials we have.”

“It’s exciting because the Athenaeum is an intimate space so we’ve chosen to focus on some of the more intimate aspects of the collection,” adds Zwerneman. “The collection itself is a public collection so it’s outdoors and very big and not very intimate, so this will be a closer look.”

A lasting legacy

It was recently announced, after 40 years working together, that both Beebe and Gregoire would be retiring at the end of the year. Together, and along with the collection’s staff and volunteers, they leave behind an artistic legacy and have created a distinguished public art collection that is internationally recognized.

“It has changed the campus, your experience of the campus,” says Zwerneman. “So for students, faculty and visitors, everybody, it’s more of a place of discovery.”

Even as she has overseen the multi-faceted “Murals of La Jolla” collection, Torri doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to declaring the Stuart Collection “the most important collection of public art in San Diego.”

“It is known all over the world,” says Torri. “I absolutely adore what they’ve done. What we’ve all done.”

Earlier this year, the collection unveiled its 21st piece, “Same Old Paradise,” a gargantuan desert mural originally painted by artist Alexis Smith in 1987. Smith now has the distinction of being the only artist with two pieces in the collection (her “Snake Path” piece, which was inspired by “Same Old Paradise,” was installed in 1992).

And while Beebe will officially retire before the unveiling of the 22nd piece, Ann Hamilton’s “concordance” walkway — a series of interactive swings and a 400-foot pathway leading into campus — Beebe has promised the artist that she will come back for the official unveiling and “skip down the whole thing with her.”

“It’s really been and adventure and fun. I do believe that you have to enjoy what you do,” says Beebe, adding that she’s confident that whoever replaces her and Gregoire will continue to preserve and grow the Stuart Collection.

“That’s always been my feeling all along. That I wanted it to continue. That it would become an ongoing exploration.”

The must-see pieces of the Stuart Collection

Torri has seen the Stuart Collection grow and expand over the years, but she’ll be the first to tell someone that it’s a lot to take in.

“You can be out on your own and it’s so huge now that you might not be able to do it all in one day,” says Torri.

While all of the 22 works in the collection are worth a visit, here are some of the more iconic pieces from the past 40 years.

Nikki de Saint Phalle’s “Sun God” (1983)

One of Gregoire’s first tasks as operations manager was to find a spot on campus for Saint Phalle’s transcendent bird sculpture, the first piece commissioned by the collection. After seeing a woman with a parrot on her shoulder in a grassy area near the Mandeville Auditorium , he knew he’d found the spot. Influenced by indigenous deities and perched atop a concrete arch, the 14-foot bird now has a campus festival named after it and is often dressed up by students. “It was looked at in a very curious way at first, but today it’s the mascot for the students,” Zwerneman says.

Terry Allen’s “Trees” (1986) and John Baldessari’s “READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM” (2001)

Zwerneman recently encountered two students who, like many before them, wondered where the singing was coming from. “They were looking up and wondering where the music was coming from,” Zwerneman says, referring to Terry Allen’s “Trees” — lead-encased tree sculptures, which are located in the eucalyptus grove just near the Geisel Library. An authoritative statement on the loss of the natural environment, Allen’s trees emit music, poetry and, with the third one, silence. At the main entrance of the library itself, homegrown artist John Baldessari transformed a once plain entrance and foyer into a conceptual masterpiece complete with melding colored glass panes and nearly translucent images of students.

Tim Hawkinson’s “Bear” (2005)

Everyone seems to agree that Hawkinson’s massive 23-foot, 180-ton granite sculpture, fashioned to look like a teddy bear, is “amazing” and even “cute,” but the fact that it’s nestled in a courtyard in between three engineering buildings is no coincidence. Made from locally-sourced granite stones, “Bear” took five years to complete (“they had to be out for years just to find the right boulders,” says Torri) and has become a favorite of visiting children. Even today, how the giant rocks stay in place is something of a mystery.

Do Ho Suh’s “Fallen Star” (2012)

Torri describes the piece as easily the “most scary” and “incredible” installation of all the ones she’s witnessed over the years. A grand statement on displacement and the longing for home, the piece is actually a cottage that appears to have been dropped and hangs over the edge of the Jacobs Hall building. “We made him excruciatingly happy because he thought no one would ever approve his proposal,” Beebe recalls. “He didn’t think anyone would ever do the house. It was just too sensational.”

Bruce Nauman’s “Vices and Virtues” (1988) and Mark Bradford’s “What Hath God Wrought” (2018)

Those touring the Stuart Collection should stay until the evening to take in these two pieces. Nauman’s neon words, seven italic vices and seven vertical font virtues, flash intermittently and connect over one another around the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory building. The result is an illusory, transfixing statement on the interconnectedness of purity and sinfulness. Across campus near Revelle Plaza, Bradford’s 199-foot steel pole-like sculpture is topped with a bright light that flashes “What Hath God Wrought” in Morse Code. What is really conveyed, however abstractly, is an assertion on the changing ways in which humans choose to communicate.

Landmarks: 40 Years of the Stuart Collection

When: On view Nov. 6 through Dec. 31. Opening reception is 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19.

Where: Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla

Phone: (858) 454-5872

Online: ljathenaeum.org

Get U-T Arts & Culture on Thursdays

A San Diego insider’s look at what talented artists are bringing to the stage, screen, galleries and more.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

More in this section

Her large-scale photos speak thousands of words about Indigenous communities, identities

Contemporary fine art photographer Cara Romero, a member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, focuses on Native American women, California’s Native American history, and Indigenous futures in “The Artist Speaks: Cara Romero” exhibition at the Museum of Photographic Arts April 27 to Oct. 20

April 14, 2024

Tales of magic carpets connect to migrant journeys in Iranian-American artist’s exhibit at Mingei

Shirin Towfiq is an interdisciplinary artist and Iranian-American exploring ideas of belonging, cultural memory, and history in her artwork. Her current exhibition, “Shirin Towfiq: Threaded Journeys,” is on display at the Mingei International Museum through Aug. 11.

April 13, 2024

Two sculptures became symbols of racial unity for a San Diego community. Now, local students are recreating them.

In the decades since Rossie Wade created the ‘Black Family’ statue and a similar work, time and weather took their toll. Now local welding students are building replicas to restore their legacy.

UCSD in talks to buy former museum building at downtown Santa Fe Train Depot

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego exited its two Kettner Boulevard buildings last month. The other will become home to the Navy SEAL Museum

April 9, 2024

Late start was a great start for these Southern California artists and authors

From San Diego to Los Angeles, these successful late bloomers prove it’s never too late to follow your creative muse

April 7, 2024

Where to see the late Richard Serra’s work in San Diego

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego commissioned the artist in 2004 to create a steel cube series at the Santa Fe Train depot in downtown San Diego

April 4, 2024

Visiting & Tours

Discover uc san diego.

UC San Diego’s campus offers more than just salt air, sunshine and sweeping ocean views. From state-of the-art labs and research facilities to innovative spaces for exploring art and fostering creativity, it’s a destination for bold thinkers and curious minds. Come visit us and discover what it means to be a Triton. Your next big adventure could start here.

Explore our beautiful seaside campus virtually, in person or both—and see what makes UC San Diego the perfect environment to make a big impact. Discover our world-renowned public art collection, marvel at unique architecture or walk along Scripps Pier, where researchers are working to solve the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Tours are very limited at this time.

• Office of Admissions Tours
• Stuart Collection Tours
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography Tours

GETTING TO CAMPUS

Arriving by car? Our La Jolla campus is conveniently located just off I-5. Visitors can purchase hourly parking at parking pay stations or on their mobile device.

Campus Driving Directions

PUBLIC TRANSIT

Whether you’re arriving by bus, the COASTER train or the Blue Line Trolley that connects our La Jolla campus to the local San Diego community and beyond, we’ve got you covered.

Public Transportation Information

GETTING AROUND CAMPUS

Ready to explore? You might prefer the path less traveled, but if you’re short on time, our campus maps, waypoint indicators and shuttles can help ensure you hit all the campus highlights.

• Campus Maps
• Visitor Parking
• Triton Transit
• Campus Waypoint Location Markers

As a destination for entertainment, inspiration abounds at UC San Diego. From lectures and workshops to concerts and cultural heritage events, we offer ample opportunities to expand your mind beyond the pages of a textbook.

CAMPUS EVENTS

With new and unique offerings every day, there’s something for everyone on our campus calendar.

Campus Calendar of Events

Epstein Family Amphitheater

Our state-of-the-art outdoor entertainment venue is designed with entertainers of the highest caliber in mind.

Amphitheater Events Calendar

We’ve curated a lineup of performing and media arts events to engage, energize and transform the diverse cultural life of the university and San Diego.

ArtPower Events Calendar

Student Events

Embrace your curiosity and form new connections with a full lineup of student-focused events designed to enrich your UC San Diego experience.

Student Events Calendar

Join the sea of blue and gold and cheer our Division I scholar-athletes to victory. There’s never been a more exciting time to be a Triton.

• Triton Box Office
• Game Schedule
• Sports Summer Camps

ARTS AT UC SAN DIEGO

Explore UC San Diego’s wealth of arts events, installations, screenings and more.

Life at UC San Diego

Dining on campus, places to eat at uc san diego.

From late-night eats and coffee shops to a variety of international cuisines, our campus offers dining options to suit every palate.

University Centers Dining

Boba drinks, Indian street food and Thai fusion dishes are just a few of the many offerings within our University Centers, which are home to both locally owned restaurants and well-known national chains.

UC San Diego Housing, Dining and Hospitality: Restaurants and Markets

With an exclusively vegan eatery and lounge, the largest halal-certified residential dining facility in the nation and certified kosher menu options—all with a focus on sustainability—eating on campus has never been easier.

All the Essentials

Uc san diego bookstore.

Stock up on everything from textbooks and computers to the latest Triton gear at the UC San Diego Bookstore, located in Price Center East. Visit the bookstore’s Sunshine Market for convenient grab-n-go products including snacks, groceries and home and dorm essentials.

University Centers Shops & Services

A full-service salon, a bike & skate shop, an Amazon pickup location and more: you’ll find it all here on campus.

Our Target campus store is unique and provides a curated assortment of products and services tailored to the specific needs and wants of students, staff and faculty. It even includes a CVS Pharmacy.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Take a yoga class, navigate our challenge course, learn how to surf or face off against your fellow Tritons in a game of basketball. Between our countless recreational offerings and the year-round Southern California sunshine, it’s easy to stay active both on and off campus.

La Jolla Playhouse

Our campus is home to the Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse, a professional, not-for-profit venue that’s gained nationwide recognition as “the place to see what’s next on the American theatre landscape.”

Craft Center

Our reimagined 11,000 square-foot Craft Center offers classes and workshops ranging from ceramics and woodworking to culinary arts and surfboard shaping.

With study spaces, labs and access to the largest university research library system in the world, the Library is the perfect place to follow your curiosity and think outside the box.

Learn More About the Library

The Stuart Collection puts art in unexpected places

Since 1981, the Stuart Collection has commissioned a diverse array of site-specific public art for the UC San Diego campus.

"Its mission is really to enhance the academic and public life of UCSD — to provide students with a bit of respite from their studies and to sort of surprise people, to have art appear in places where you wouldn't usually expect it," said Jessica Berlanga Taylor, director of the Stuart Collection.

Wandering on the UC San Diego campus, you can find a small house hanging precariously off the roof of the engineering building or a flashing light that spells out “What Hath God Wrought” in Morse Code from atop a 199-foot pole or you might trip over a little Buddha overgrown with grass sitting in front of a TV relic.

"It's kind of a graveyard of Buddhas and TVs," Berlanga Taylor said about "Something Pacific" by Nam June Paik. "He was thinking (for example) of the future of the piece in terms of their materials and how they may be affected through time by different conditions of climate ... And he was thinking that in the future, it could look like some sort of archaeological dig that someone would suddenly find."

Exploring the Stuart Collection can be an Indiana Jones adventure in terms of discovering the eclectic art and how some of the art came to be. The collection takes its name from James Stuart DeSilva, who felt art had changed his life and wanted it to do the same for others.

In 1981, Mary Beebe became the first director of the Stuart Collection and Niki De Saint Phalle’s "Sun God" was the first commissioned piece of art.

"I like to say we are not decorating the campus as you would sort of decorate your living room," Beebe said when I interviewed her in 2017.

Instead it was about commissioning artists and bringing them to the campus — to connect with its context and history. Stuart DeSilva donated $1.4 million to create The Stuart Collection.

The result is a breathtakingly eclectic and still-growing collection of public art that is scattered over the campus’ 1,200 acres. The latest and 22nd addition to the collection was unveiled this past April. It is an 800-foot-long stone path of words called "KAHNOP • TO TELL A STORY." The works in the collection range from Alexis Smith’s 560-foot snake slithering up a path, the library and to John Luther Adam’s auditory "Wind Garden."

As project manager, Mathieu Gregoire was the one who had to figure out the logistics of actually installing those works. I spoke with him in 2017 when he was overseeing the installation of the sensors and speakers in the eucalyptus trees where "Wind Garden" is located.

"One way of questioning what art is, is to put art in one's ordinary environment — the environment that we're in as we go to work, as we stroll around, as we have our lunch," Gregoire said. " In other words, you're exposed to artworks that aren't in a place where you go specifically to see art. You're surprised by them. And so, you get to questioning whether it's art or not. And I think that actually there's a tendency for everyone, especially on a university campus, to want to have things explained to them. But art doesn't really work that way. Art — the art in the art experience — is really in the questioning."

Like asking why is there a giant bear on that lawn?

"Well why not?" is the answer Beebe gave. "It's kind of an astounding bear when you think that it's real granite and the whole thing weighs 360,000 pounds."

Beebe said bringing Tim Hawkinson’s "Bear" to life was a challenge that started with finding the torso in an abandoned rock quarry.

"We had to find a torso first, because you can't look for arms and legs until you know what size torso it is," Beebe said.

Then the rocks were brought to campus on an 18-axle truck that was used to transport the space shuttle. It was all worth it when a Boy Scout turned to Beebe to share his opinion of "Bear.".

"'Do you know how cool this is? This is so cool. Do you have any idea how cool this is?' And I was just so pleased," Beebe recalled. "So when someone else asks, 'How come you put a bear out there?' Well, because it strikes awe."

It also engages the students who have dressed "Bear" in a cap and gown, given him heart-shaped glasses for Valentine's day, and made him into Beary Potter.

Berlanga Taylor took over the directorship of the Stuart Collection in 2022 after Beebe had retired. She noted that people sometimes don’t even realize something like "Green Table" is art.

"They're having lunch there, for example, and then their eye will suddenly catch that there's tons of phrases inscribed onto this huge granite green table that have to do with politics and history and feminism and oppression and power," Berlanga Taylor said. "So that has ignited certain debates and conversations between students and faculty."

Some of the art has also ignited controversy. Beebe recalled that Bruce Nauman's "Vices and Virtues" prompted a La Jolla city councilman to say 'If the university is allowed to put lust up here in neon, it will incite infidelity in the community.' and the newspaper called me, and I said there are 14 words. How come he chose 'lust'? He could have chosen 'prudence,' or 'faith,' but he chose 'lust.'"

The complaints were raised because the blinking neon work, alternating the seven virtues with seven vices, was initially planned for the La Jolla Playhouse building on the edge of campus. The art's final installation was done on the interior of campus atop of the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory. So, no complaints from neighbors.

Beebe recounted a comment from a student who accidentally discovered Robert Irwin’s "Two Running Violet V Forms," which has been described as a blue fence, a volleyball net for giants, and even as something rumored to have been designed to capture escaped giraffes from the zoo.

"One student said to me, 'I didn't really know anything about art or whatever, but I saw the blue fence and I thought it might be art!' I thought that's so great in the context of the other art that's around — to wonder why — to think it might be art. So that kind of thing really tickles me," Beebe said.

Public art like this explodes the boundaries of conventional art by making art that you can touch, walk over, walk through or maybe not even notice. And any of those reactions are fine.

"We are trying to provide experiences that people can engage in or not," Beebe said. "It's sort of permission to wonder in a way. It's not about whether you like it or not. It's what do you think somebody's saying?"

Berlanga Taylor agreed:

"That's what's key to public art, (it's) to be able to sort of activate or detonate conversations around what it means to occupy public space and who has access to it — who doesn't. Galleries and museums can still be quite daunting to a lot of people and to a lot of communities. And public art ... tends to be more accessible in that way."

Like Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," which sits atop Jacobs Hall and looks like it was picked up by the same twister that lifted Dorothy’s house and dropped it in the Land of Oz. While standing below it, I noticed that almost every person who walked by looked up and took a photo because it catches your eye and captures your imagination.

Beebe described Suh's experience. He arrived in Providence from Korea, and he felt "like he'd been dropped into a whole different new world, and that experience was very profound for him; having to get his balance, having to find out about his surroundings, how to balance his life again. So he thought a lot about the idea of home."

And all that inspired him to create "Fallen Star" for the Stuart Collection.

Through work like Suh's, the Stuart Collection challenges notions about what art can be. It can be epic or tiny, concrete or intangible, permanent or ever changing. But it all exists to tell some kind of story.

"It will be able to tell people in the future a lot of what we went through and thought about as society," Berlanga Taylor said. "Artists are, I think, visionaries ahead of their time, and having access to those ideas and to that knowledge in public form is very valuable.

So head out to UC San Diego for a valuable adventure in public art.

Walking Tour of The Stuart Collection

• Niki de Saint Phalle, Sun God, 1983
• Robert Irwin, Two Running Violet V Forms (1983)
• Richard Fleischner, La Jolla Project (1984)
• Terry Allen, Trees (1986)
• Nam June Paik, Something Pacific (1986)
• Ian Hamilton Finlay, UNDA (1987)
• Bruce Nauman, Vices and Virtues (1988)
• William Wegman, La Jolla Vista View (1988)
• Jackie Ferrara, Terrace (1991)
• Michael Asher, Untitled (1991)
• Alexis Smith, Snake Path (1992)
• Jenny Holzer, Green Table (1992)
• Elizabeth Murray, Red Shoe (1996)
• Kiki Smith, Standing (1998)
• John Baldessari, READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM (2001)
• Tim Hawkinson, Bear (2005)
• Barbara Kruger, Another (2008)
• Do Ho Suh, Fallen Star (2012)
• John Luther Adams, The Wind Garden (2017)
• Mark Bradford, What Hath God Wrought (2018)
• Alexis Smith, Same Old Paradise (2021)
• Ann Hamilton, KAHNOP • TO TELL A STORY, (2023)

This story is part of an ongoing series about public art in the San Diego region. You can listen to Jessica Berlanga Taylor on Midday Edition and check out the story on " KAHNOP ."

Stuart Collection

Top ways to experience Stuart Collection and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

Stuart Collection - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (0.91 km) Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa
• (0.83 km) Residence Inn by Marriott San Diego La Jolla
• (1.14 km) Sheraton La Jolla Hotel
• (2.30 km) San Diego Marriott La Jolla
• (2.96 km) The Lodge at Torrey Pines
• (0.05 km) Blue Pepper Asian Cuisine
• (0.34 km) The Bistro at the Strand
• (0.34 km) Ocean View Terrace
• (0.34 km) Zanzibar Cafe At The Loft
• (0.42 km) Rubio's

Stuart Collection

Top ways to experience Stuart Collection and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

STUART COLLECTION: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

• (0.57 mi) Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa
• (0.52 mi) Residence Inn by Marriott San Diego La Jolla
• (0.71 mi) Sheraton La Jolla Hotel
• (1.44 mi) San Diego Marriott La Jolla
• (1.85 mi) The Lodge at Torrey Pines
• (0.03 mi) Blue Pepper Asian Cuisine
• (0.21 mi) The Bistro at the Strand
• (0.21 mi) Ocean View Terrace
• (0.21 mi) Zanzibar Cafe At The Loft
• (0.26 mi) Rubio's

Stuart Collection

Top ways to experience Stuart Collection and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

Stuart Collection - Things You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (0.91 km) Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa
• (0.83 km) Residence Inn by Marriott San Diego La Jolla
• (1.14 km) Sheraton La Jolla Hotel
• (2.30 km) San Diego Marriott La Jolla
• (2.96 km) The Lodge at Torrey Pines
• (0.05 km) Blue Pepper Asian Cuisine
• (0.34 km) The Bistro at the Strand
• (0.34 km) Ocean View Terrace
• (0.34 km) Zanzibar Cafe At The Loft
• (0.42 km) Rubio's

The Stuart Collection Turns 40

Known as the “silent tree,” this is one of three “Trees” that artist Terry Allen created in 1986. They are covered in sheet lead, a protective skin that is similar in color to the bark of live eucalyptus trees across the campus. Two other “talking” trees can be found in the adjacent grove; one plays music and the other poetry. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

On Jan. 27, 1983, a celebration was held for the installation of the Stuart Collection’s first sculpture by artist Niki de Saint Phalle. The 14-foot-tall fiberglass “Sun God” was made in France, shipped to the Port of Long Beach and driven down the coast to land on our campus. Photo by Robert Glasheen, Stuart Collection Photographs, UC San Diego Library.

In the summer of 1982, Mary Beebe and Mathieu Gregoire, along with Jim and Marne DeSilva, traveled to Robert Haligon’s studio in France to see the progress of Niki de Saint Phalle’s “Sun God.” Photo by Becky Cohen, Stuart Collection Photographs, UC San Diego Library.

Tim Hawkinson’s “Bear” was created in 2005 after searching over a year for the perfect boulders to bring it to life. Eight granite stones were found locally and configured together to form a 23-foot bear weighing 180 tons. It greets visitors in the Jacobs School of Engineering on the way to Atkinson Hall. Photo courtesy of the Stuart Collection.

Tim Hawkinson’s “Bear” is an engineering feat that poses many questions. On one hand the sculpture is massive, permanent, and thoroughly engineered. At the same time, its form as a toy bear conveys feelings of softness and childhood play. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

Bruce Nauman’s “Vices and Virtues” is meant to provoke new ways of thinking about moral standards, their relationship to each other and how they have changed. Letters are seven feet tall and each pair of words combines two colors with nearly a mile of neon tubing. The work was first proposed in 1983 and was completed in 1988. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

You may have seen “Red Shoe” frolicking through the eucalyptus grove near the Theatre District. The 1996 sculpture by Elizabeth Murray sought to enliven a domestic object, and designed an abstract shoe that appears to be running through the forest. Stuart Collection Photographs, UC San Diego Library.

Artist Kiki Smith is pictured working on her sculpture, “Standing,” which was installed at the School of Medicine in 1998. The woman stands atop an 18-foot cast tree trunk, with musculature revealed and palms facing outward. Smith’s work focuses on both the strength and fragility of the human body. Photo by Art Foundry Inc., Stuart Collection Photographs, UC San Diego Library.

Nam June Paik, a Korean American artist, is considered to be the founder of video art. He was drawn to the Media Center at Marshall College, where part of his work (“Something Pacific”) includes three small Buddhas paired with a television—one each from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. It is a dramatic comment on how television has defined the American landscape. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

John Baldessari’s “READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM” is hard to miss as you walk through the entryway to Geisel Library. Installed in 2001, there are eight, 10-foot-high colorful glass door panels that mix new colors as they move and overlap. Photos of students standing on books are seen in the windows, while the walls just inside feature images of palm trees and pens, instruments of learning and a tie to the school’s Southern California location. Photo by Erik Jepsen/University Communications

Image 10/18

Alexis Smith’s mural, “Same Old Paradise,” had been curled up in a crate for 30 years, waiting for a permanent home. It is now proudly displayed—as the first painting in the Stuart Collection—in the auditorium atrium of North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood. Photo by Erik Jepsen/University Communications.

Image 11/18

The “Snake Path” that leads to Geisel Library represents a metaphorical road to revelation while also referencing the tempting serpent of knowledge from the Garden of Eden. The work by Alexis Smith was finished in 1992, and coincided with an expansion of the Library. Photo by Mathieu Gregoire, Stuart Collection Photographs, UC San Diego Library.

Image 12/18

Artist Do Ho Suh stands in the doorway of his “Fallen Star,” installed on top of the Jacobs School of Engineering Building I in 2012. His work explores the notions of home, cultural displacement, one’s perception of space and how one builds a memory of it. Photo courtesy of the Stuart Collection.

Image 13/18

“Fallen Star” is fully furnished, featuring family photographs contributed by campus staff and friends, lamps and chairs, paintings and books--all to reflect a lived-in home. The fireplace emits puffs of smoke and the lights and television turn on and off with a timer. Tours are currently on hiatus but visit stuartcollection.ucsd.edu for updates. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

Image 14/18

Stuart Collection Director Mary Beebe and Operations Manager Mathieu Gregoire have been with the collection since its inception and will both retire this fall from their roles. Photo by Michael Foster/University Communications.

Image 15/18

At 15 by 18 feet, “Fallen Star” is a three-quarter-sized version of a small house in Providence, Rhode Island. Considered an engineering feat, the entire sculpture consists of the house, cantilevered at an angle from the corner of the building, integrated to a structural concrete slab, with a roof garden on the existing building. Photo by Erik Jepsen/University Communications.

Image 16/18

“Two Running Violet V Forms” was designed by artist Robert Irwin and installed in 1983. The “fences” are blue-volet and act as a screen to reflect the changes in light throughout the day and year, providing an ever-changing perceptual experience. Photo by Erik Jepsen/University Communications.

Image 17/18

Artist Richard Fleischner’s “La Jolla Project” was completed in 1984 as the third work in the Stuart Collection and is located on the Revelle College lawn. Seventy-one blocks of pink and gray granite are arranged in configurations that refer to architectural vocabulary: posts, lintels, columns, arches, windows, doorways, and thresholds. Photo by Erik Jepsen/University Communications.

Image 18/18

Published Date

Share this:, slideshow description, you may also like, computer scientists unveil novel attacks on cybersecurity, scientists discover a new signaling pathway and design a novel drug for liver fibrosis, foreign-born doctors help serve rural and low-income communities, higher resolution brain mapping tech wins big at research expo, stay in the know.

Keep up with all the latest from UC San Diego. Subscribe to the newsletter today.

You have been successfully subscribed to the UC San Diego Today Newsletter.

Campus & Community

Arts & culture, visual storytelling.

• Media Resources & Contacts

Signup to get the latest UC San Diego newsletters delivered to your inbox.

Award-winning publication highlighting the distinction, prestige and global impact of UC San Diego.

Popular Searches: Covid-19   Ukraine   Campus & Community   Arts & Culture   Voices

Rory McIlroy interested in return to PGA Tour policy board: ‘I think I can be helpful’

NEW ORLEANS, La. — While Rory McIlroy couldn’t confirm a return to the PGA Tour policy board until a vote takes place, McIlroy did confirm reports of current board member Webb Simpson potentially stepping away and requesting that McIlroy take his place.

And, yes, McIlroy is interested in the return.

Advertisement

“I think I can be helpful,” McIlroy said. “I don’t think there’s been much progress made in the last eight months, and I was hopeful that there would be. I think I could be helpful to the process.”

McIlroy said he’d only do it if people want him involved.

“When Webb and I talked and he talked about potentially coming off the board, I said, ‘Look, if it was something that other people wanted, I would gladly take that seat,’” McIlroy continued.

Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up

The PGA Tour policy board is a collection of six active tour players with voting power for both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises, its new for-profit venture with outside investors. Unlike most sports in which teams have owners who vote on issues, PGA Tour players are essentially owners, and the six-player policy board wields massive power. The current board includes Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati and Simpson.

For so long, McIlroy, the world No. 2, was the most public face of the PGA Tour in its war with LIV Golf, the league funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. It’s why McIlroy surprised many by leaving the policy board in November, citing the need to focus on golf as his obligations with the board took up so much time.

He told reporters that month in Dubai: “It just got to the point where I couldn’t fit it all in. I’m thinking as we go into the next year, as I try to get ramped up for Augusta and all those tournaments, I just can’t see me putting the time and the energy into it. If I feel like I’m not prepared going into those meetings then it is better off if someone else takes my place, who is able to put the time and the energy into it.”

But it was clear McIlroy was scaling back his strong, public position on golf matters as far back as the June 6 announcement of a framework agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF. He said he felt like a “sacrificial lamb” when called to speak at the Canadian Open that week, and he noticeably did less press and gave less opinions from June 6 on.

He took a slightly different public approach to begin 2024. He still did less press, but he returned to speaking publicly about golf’s divide , often going against PGA Tour policy board members. McIlroy has repeatedly stated his desire for the game to unify, saying wins at signature events would feel cheapened without all the best players there. He called for more of a global golf structure in line with European soccer’s Champions League structure. And when Spieth — who replaced McIlroy on the board — said in February a deal with Strategic Sports Group investing $1.5 billion meant the tour didn’t “need” a deal with PIF, McIroy came out two days later saying he had a “frank” hourlong discussion about it.

“My thing was if I’m the original (potential) investor that thought that they were going to get this deal done back in July, and I’m hearing a board member say that, you know, we don’t really need them now, how are they going to think about that? What are they gonna feel about that?” McIlroy told Sports Illustrated .

Meanwhile, McIlroy’s game has struggled. Coming off two of the best seasons of his career, he has just one top-15 finish in eight starts.

Now, reports claim McIlroy’s return would be a boon for the PGA Tour, SSG and even PIF, as McIlroy has developed a friendly relationship with PIF governor Yasir Al-Ramayyan.

“I feel like I can be helpful,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “I feel like I care a lot, and I have some pretty good experience and good connections within the game and sort of around the wider sort of ecosystem and everything that’s going on.

“But at the end of the day, it’s not quite up to me to just come back on the board. There’s a process that has to be followed. But I’m willing to do it if that’s what people want, I guess.”

(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

Get all-access to exclusive stories.

Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us.

Brody Miller covers golf and the LSU Tigers for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A South Jersey native, Miller graduated from Indiana University before going on to stops at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Indianapolis Star, the Clarion Ledger and NOLA.com. Follow Brody on Twitter @ BrodyAMiller

• Search This Site All UCSD Sites Faculty/Staff Search Term
• Friends of the Stuart Collection
• International Advisory Board
• Program Advisory Board
• John Luther Adams - The Wind Garden
• Terry Allen - Trees
• Michael Asher - Untitled
• John Baldessari - READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM
• Mark Bradford - What Hath God Wrought
• Jackie Ferrara - Terrace
• Ian Hamilton Finlay - UNDA
• Richard Fleischner - La Jolla Project
• Ann Hamilton KAHNOP • TO TELL A STORY
• Tim Hawkinson - Bear
• Jenny Holzer - Green Table
• Robert Irwin - Two Running Violet V Forms
• Barbara Kruger - Another
• Elizabeth Murray - Red Shoe
• Bruce Nauman - Vices and Virtues
• Nam June Paik - Something Pacific
• Niki de Saint Phalle - Sun God
• Alexis Smith - Same Old Paradise
• Alexis Smith - Snake Path
• Kiki Smith - Standing
• Do Ho Suh - Fallen Star
• William Wegman - La Jolla Vista View
• Stuart Collection Brochure
• High-Res Photos

Stuart Collection Team 

Jess Berlanga Taylor

Director and curator, stuart collection.

As an accomplished curator, writer and art project manager, Jess Berlanga Taylor has curated numerous exhibits and commissioned more than 40 works of art, 11 of which were created for public spaces in Mexico City. As a bicultural and bilingual art professional, Berlanga Taylor has focused on projects specific to historical and notable locations, as well as socially engaged art. She has led the design and implementation of education projects, seminars and workshops for a wide array of audiences including students and emerging artists. Berlanga Taylor has published 3 books, over 100 articles, essays, catalogs and magazine reviews and a comprehensive survey of 20 years of contemporary art in Mexico. 

As Director of the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego, Jess Berlanga Taylor holds a highly visible leadership position in public art on campus, locally, nationally and internationally. She develops and directs public relations, educational outreach and public service programming that promotes the Stuart Collection, creates deeper appreciation for UC San Diego and advances the understanding of art and cultures in the context of broader international conversations. She also works with the Stuart Collection International Advisory Board and collaborates with other arts leaders on campus, demonstrating a commitment to enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion. 

UC San Diego Today: Leading a Legacy

Four Women Shaping the San Diego Art Scene

Jane Zwerneman

Assistant director.

Jane Zwerneman has been a member of the Stuart Collection team since 2001. She has planned and executed over 40 domestic and international trips for the Friends of the Stuart Collection; managed logistics and budgets for the commissioning and installations of READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM/, Bear, Another, Fallen Star, The Wind Garden, What Hath God Wrought, Same Old Paradise, and KAHNOP•TO TELL A STORY; assisted in the publication of two editions of Landmarks: Sculpture Commissions for the Stuart Collection at the University of San Diego California; plans an ongoing calendar of events to engage donors and the broader arts community; produced a series of online conversations between Stuart Collection artists and Director Mary Beebe; recruits, trains and manages a wonderful team of volunteer docents; and oversees the maintenance and conservation of the all the artworks in the collection.

A professional musician since the age of 14, Jane earned a bachelor of music degree from Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, IN and master and doctorate degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She has performed internationally and recorded extensively throughout her career.

[email protected]  

Megan Theriault

Community engagement manager .

Megan comes to the Stuart Collection with 12 years of experience in higher education and non-profits as an event manager. With UC San Diego since 2016, she has had the pleasure of working with different departments engaging with students, staff, faculty and community in a variety of ways. Primarily interested in telling stories, be it through the lense of a strategically planned event or through engaging on social media, Megan loves using her creative side to share the Stuart Collection with various audiences and connect with everyone's personal experience of the sculptures. 

Megan went to Dominican University of California for her Bachelors in Humanities, focusing on Art History, Religious Studies and Photography. 

[email protected]  

Contact Information

(858) 534-2117

(858) 534-9713

Stuart Collection, 0010 University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093-0010

Stuart Collection