News

New Dates for Workshop: June 20th – 26th (option to stay until 28th); James Hubbell’s stained glass workshop June 22nd; see details below.

Ann Jarmusch, former architectural critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune, wrote a wonderful story about James and Ilan-Lael just in time for Open House, that appeared in the Arts section of yesterday’s paper:

Masterful compound: The Hubbell home

An artists complex designed to be at one with the earth and to dance with the sky

Ann Jarmusch • Special to the U-T

Check out the online version here.

Volunteer Workday at Ilan-Lael: Next Saturday, June 11th from 9:00am to 4:00pm!

James and Anne are looking for helpers to get the Ilan-Lael property ready for Open House…

We’ll be sweeping, dusting, washing windows, weed-wacking and cleaning up the garden…

And all the while enjoying the ambiance of one of the nicest springs we’ve had at Ilan-Lael!

If you’d like to be a part, please RSVP, as space is limited.  
Email eleanorwarner@gmail.com to reserve a spot and get directions.

(And don’t worry… pie will be provided!)

Here are a few more pictures from our volunteer workday last month:

Thanks so much to all our volunteers – Ilan-Lael flourishes because of your time and care!  Hope to see you again soon!

Share a Day of Beauty in Celebration of James Hubbell’s 80^th Birthday!

James Hubbell and the Ilan-Lael Foundation Announce the 29th Annual Open House and Studio Tour this Father’s Day – Sunday, June 19th, 2011

**  To purchase your ticket, visit our Open House page here **

~About This Year’s Open House~

James Hubbell is pleased to invite the public to this year’s Open House at Ilan-Lael, the ethereal landscape he has hand-crafted around his home and studios in the San Diego mountains, and a destination now recognized as, “one of the most important historic art sites in the county.” Beloved and celebrated for his many artistic, humanitarian, and environmental achievements, as for his bold visioning of a more beautiful and humane future for our region as a whole, James Hubbell celebrates his 80^th birthday this year! What better time to inspire your own sense of what dreams may be possible by making a visit with James and the artistic sanctuary he has been crafting for the past 53 years, here in our own wild backyard!

Home to Hubbell’s most personal and wide-ranging architectural musings, The Ilan-Lael property has long been the subject of critical acclaim.  It has been cited in the American Institute of Architects guide to significant structures in San Diego County, and has also been the subject of dozens of newspaper and magazine articles, architectural abstracts, and even two PBS documentaries; in 2008, Ilan-Lael earned Historic Designation.  The site attracts over one thousand visitors each year, who come to explore Hubbell’s otherworldly sculptural structures and the detailed mosaic, metalwork, and stained glass that adorn them, tributes themselves to the natural beauty of the chaparral wildlands and mountains from which they emerge.

Situated on forty acres of twisting manzanitas, granite boulders, towering oaks, and stunning vistas, the Santa Ysabel home and art compound include eight hand-crafted structures, vegetable and flower gardens, and a growing nature trail. James’ vision for Ilan-Lael, however, is far from complete! All proceeds from this Open House support the Ilan-Lael Foundation, which is currently undertaking a major capital campaign to fund the construction of a new sculptural building onsite:

the Ilan-Lael Center for Art-Environment-Humanity. This Hubbell designed building will meet crucial needs for the Foundation as it grows into the future, providing facilities for visitors, a seating and picnic area, display and storage for James’s art, and space for classes and meetings.  The site for this future building will be staked out for the Open House, so that visitors can visualize Ilan-Lael’s next big project.

“Open House is a time to learn about art and nature and the role both have played in our lives,” says James Hubbell.  “This process is very important to Anne (Hubbell) and me because it allows us to share the joy and wonder of nurturing something beautiful and important with so many of our friends.”

Join the entire Ilan-Lael community this Father’s Day in Santa Ysabel to celebrate and support the amazing work of one of our own true artists and naturalist dreamers, and to share in the vision he holds for Ilan-Lael: “ to provide the space to inspire and explore our humanity through art, nature, beauty, and our relationship with friends, so that we may be a catalyst that helps foster a vision of a peaceful, respectful, humane, and harmonious world.”