FSDA’s 2024-2025 Lecture Series

The Friends of San Diego Architecture presents inspiring lectures on architecture, design, and the built environment by speakers who stimulate thoughtful, community-centered discussions. After more than 40 years, the conversations continue.

The FSDA Lectures will Resume in May 

This Month We Highlight a Current Series from One of Our Favorite Speakers

Art Nouveau, 1890-1950 

Presented by Diane Kane 

Medallion House exterior detail, Otto Wagner, 1898, Vienna

Art History Lectures at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
—
Mondays, April 7, 14 & 21, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
1008 Wall Street
La Jolla Village

Discover the elegance and innovation of Art Nouveau in this illustrated lecture series with Dr. Diane Kane. The international art movement known as Art Nouveau flourished from the early 1890s to 1914. Rejecting historical references and traditional geometric forms, it featured florid vegetation, sinuous lines, and asymmetry. Although the design approach encompassed all visual art forms, it was most prevalent in architecture and the decorative arts. Furniture, mirrors, metalwork, art glass, carved plaster, and intricate paneling all featured the signature “whiplash” lines of Art Nouveau. Originating in Brussels, and highlighted in the Exposition Universelle of 1900 (better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition), the style is strongly associated with the wealthy and fashionable. The first lecture in the series, on March 31, examined the style’s Belgian origins; it continues with an exploration of the regional variations in Paris, Vienna, and Barcelona during the 1890–1915 period.

Diane Kane

As a specialist in 19th and 20th century American architecture and urban planning, Dr. Kane has taught Western and American art and architectural history and planning to both professional and general interest audiences for over 35 years. Institutions include the NewSchool of Architecture & Design, Design Institute of San Diego, San Diego State University, Cal Poly Pomona, UC San Diego, and UCLA Extension. Retired since 2007, she has travelled the world, visiting all 50 states and over 110 countries. This has sparked an interest in non-Western architecture and cross-cultural transference and innovation through lectures at Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning. In 2024, Dr. Kane received both a SOHO Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in preservation and planning, and a Jewel Award from the La Jolla Historical Society for her work on the La Jolla Park Coastal Historical District’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

PLEASE NOTE: Click here to see ticket details for the full Art Nouveau Series.

Friends of San Diego Architecture Image Library of the Month

Southwestern USA

Enjoy our collection of historic architecture, maps, and more in this featured Southwestern USA gallery.

FSDA News of Interest

Missed a lecture? Check out our videos: Since September 2017, FSDA has been videotaping our lectures. They have been a work in progress. If you missed one of our lectures, you now have a chance to view them here. Architect Manuel Oncina talks about Libraries: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow; Architect Hal Sadler and Modernist Keith York have a dialogue about Evolving Styles: From the Sixties; Architects Ken Baldwin and Andy Darragh discuss From Labs to Libraries; Landscape Architect Vicki Estrada revisits San Diego Design Decisions, and, Architects Kathleen McCormick and Ted Smith present An Alternative Practice. We have now added our September and October lecture videos. We would love to have your comments.

November 2019: Diane Kane – Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Irving Gill: Modern Architecture Emerges

February 2020: Glen Schmidt – Mission Valley: An Open Space Renaissance

January 2022: Panel of Speakers – San Diego-Tijuana: World Design Capital 2024

The latest video now available and one you won’t want to miss!

UC San Diego: Billions in Development

FSDA Image Library: Our image library continues to grow with new images added often, so you might want to bookmark this link. We started with the Ned Paynter Collection and have now added the Diane Kane Collection, Competitions, Exhibits, and FSDA Events. This image is from the Southern California Gallery in the Diane Kane Collection.