We took a trip down to San Diego the other day to check out the Masters of Mid-Century California Modernism at the Mingei Museum in Balboa Park. It was a bit of a long drive, but well worth it. The exhibition was a retrospective of the work of Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman and featured their ceramic output as Jenev Design Studio as well as additional design in mosaics, textiles, furniture and other work as ERA Industries.

I’d actually been looking forward to this since earlier in the year, primarily because Jenev products don’t come up very often. I only knew of them through collector books, but had always admired their modern vases and bowls. Their mid-century textiles were just as impressive though. I didn’t know they worked in so many different areas of design.

If you happen to be in the SD area, it’s worth your time to check out the exhibition which is running until January of 2010. The museum is small-ish with usually only room for 2-3 main exhibits, so you can easily see most of it within an hour or so. In addition, Balboa Park hosts a number of other museums that you can visit at the same time. The Mingei Museum also has a small permanent selection of ceramics, including work by Laura Andresen and the Natzlers.