San Diego's Top Weekend Events: Art Alive, ArtWalk And A Superstar Cellist

This is KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. San Diego is a life with art this weekend from the very popular are alive event at the San Diego Museum of Art. We will round this we can preview out with a focus on a musician is redefining the cellos sound and performance. Joining me is KPBS arts calendar editor Nina Garin. Welcome. Art Alive, is one of San Diego's most anticipated events, can you explain what is? Been a every year floral artist go to the San Diego Museum of Art and they reinterpret pieces from the museum's permanent collection into these very creative floral arrangements. They find pieces that are throughout all the galleries from southeast Asia to postimpressionism and they turn those into their own creations. Why is this event so popular? Been met the museum just has a whole different energy. It is like a buzz. It rings new visitors. The museum itself is filled with these colors and new aromas and even if you go to the museum all the time you see the pieces in new ways. It is like a really great experience. Is also a number of events associated with Art Alive including two nights Bloom bash. Yes, Bloom bash is a party for spring. It is at this fancy evening event. It has a floral name, of course, and everything from the decorations to the cocktails are all about flowers. People dress up in really gorgeous outfits. There's like music and dancing and you also do get access to the exhibition if you go to the party. Anyone who has gone to Art Alive knows the main attraction is the rotunda. Which you see right when you walk to the door of course. Who designed that this year? This year it's a design by wife and husband team Natasha Lisitsa and Daniel Schultz. The unknown for large-scale floral installations that combine architecture and artistry. The work has been commissioned by the Museum of modern Art and the the young in San Francisco. For this year's inspiration there taking it from the installation called Nancy Lorenz gold itches like East meets West. All of this, this whole event is basically a fundraiser for the San Diego Art Museum. Yes, this is there main fundraising events. The tickets cost $25 it is free for members so it's also a push to become a member so you can go next year for free. Art Alive happens today through Sunday at the San Diego you seem of art. There's another major art event happening this weekend, Mission Federal ArtWalk. Tell us about this. This is the ArtWalk that's a little Italy. It's about 20 blocks that get taken over and you see everything from painting sculpture, photography, jewelry, the list goes on and on. This event was created for a way for local artist to sell the work, is that still the focus? Yes. That's at the heart of the events. It's a way for you to find original pieces that are reasonably priced and that's always been mission and it started out small but now it's evolved into this grand weekend of arts and music. I understand that life music and dance has also become a big attraction at ArtWalk. So for music there are four stages and it's got a lot of popular acts in San Diego like Robin Hinkle, Veronica may come up but there's also this stage for dance and it's two full days of dance and you get companies like city ballet in culture shock performing, plus community schools doing shows too. This is the 34th annual ArtWalk in little Italy, is there anything new or different happening this year? The always try to mix it up in this year they've included spoken word performances happening also in the dance area. There will be interactive art so people come together to create a mural. There's an experimental tent called the space where you can see an avant-garde fashion show. There will -- they will giving you free advice and compliments if you want. There's music and so we just showed up so that's a place to be. As we been saying it's a very popular event so do you have any tips for getting there or parking and so forth? I trick is always to show up early but not everyone can do that. I would recommend the trolley, you can take the green line trolley and get off at the county center the to illegally stop. Also lived get to a 30% discount and if you want to pay there are structures that you can pay and part. Should fiddle ArtWalk is Saturday and Sunday in little Italy. Finally, the San Diego Civic youth orchestra is performing a concert with one of its famous alumna. Yes, Tina Guo, she's intellectually known for playing the cello. She plays it in an unconventional way. Sure brings a rock heavy metal edge to it. She got very will know because she performed with Hans Zimmer and she also played on the wonder woman soundtrack. She placed the main theme for the wonder woman soundtrack. Let's listen. [Music] Tell us more about Tina. She grew up here in San Diego? Yes, originally she's from China but she came to the United States at age 5 and she went to Poway high school. She was a member of the San Diego Civic youth orchestra for a little bit then she went to USC to study music on full scholarship. She was doing that but then she happened to go to this heavy metal show in Hollywood and she was so inspired that she decided to make her career into learning how to play cello anymore rock environment. What can people expect at this concert? She will be joining the San Diego Civic youth orchestra so you will hear steno classical pieces but the orchestra did also learn some original compositions of Tina's. Okay. Tina Guo in the cynical civic youth orchestra performs Sunday, I've been speaking with KPBS arts calendar editor, Nina Garin. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good weekend. Midday addition -- and referred. Art segment produces are Beth Okamoto and Nina Garin. Midday Edition senior producer is Megan Burke, executive producer is Natalie Walsh come and ethical Burke is our technical director today. Stay with us for the KPBS Roundtable coming up right after the break. I Maureen Cavanaugh, have a great weekend. -- I am Maureen Cavanaugh, have a great weekend.