🎨 Visual art
Denja Harris: 'Will You Stay Here for a Moment'
San Diego-based textile artist Denja Harris has a new solo exhibit opening at Visions Museum of Textile Arts. I've been following Harris' rug tufting and textile sculpture work for years, and the pieces in this new show are particularly inventive and striking. The pieces are designed to make visitors stop, slow down and "stay here for a moment" — including a rug-tufted chair in blocks of red, linked ovals wrapped in yarn, an intricate yarn hanging featuring hundreds of painted lines and more. Harris works primarily with deadstock yarn and recycled materials. I love the inclusion of wooden frameworks and metal hardware in these new pieces, juxtaposed with the softness of the fibers. An opening reception and artist talk will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, alongside two other exhibits opening at Visions: "Quilt Visions 2026" and "Origins."
Oct. 24 through Dec. 5. Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday | Visions Museum of Textile Arts, 2825 Dewey Rd. Ste. 100, Liberty Station | Free | MORE INFO
Haunted House V: 'The Alumni Gauntlet'
For the fifth year running, artist Jason Sherry has organized another elaborate, strange and undeniably creative haunted house at Bread & Salt. This year, 25 artists return from the event's previous five iterations, hence the "alumni gauntlet." Artists set up immersive installations, performance art and other ghoulish displays to transform the gallery into a spooky haunt. Some of my all-time favorite local artists are on the participant list, including Spenser Little, Brian Black, Ryan Bulis, Lissa Corona, Gilbert Neri, Wendell Kling and more.
6-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23-24 | Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights | $5-$20 suggested donation | MORE INFO
🌳 Family
Queen Califia's Magical Circle Family Creativity Day
The late French artist Niki de Saint Phalle made San Diego her home toward the end of her life, and her sculptures can be found throughout the region. Queen Califia's Magical Circle is her biggest public work and the last piece of art she made. It's a massive, immersive playground made of vivid tiles and mythical creatures, tucked away in Escondido's Kit Carson Park. The city of Escondido will open the sculpture garden for the last free family day in the series, with musical performances from Sophie Rae, a kid-friendly macaroni mosaic artmaking activity, Native American-inspired crafts and more.
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 | Queen Califia's Magical Circle, 3333 Bear Valley Pkwy., Escondido | Free | MORE INFO
💡 Dance
'Ghost Light Masquerade'
Inspired by the theatrical superstition of leaving a single lamp burning on a stage to fend off ghostly spirits and bad luck, contemporary ballet company The Rosin Box Project returns with its popular, intriguing spooky-season production, "Ghost Light Masquerade." It poses a provocative question: What if the light instead invites the spirits in? The Rosin Box Project regularly produces some of the most inventive art in San Diego, with a particular penchant for theatrical and narrative dance — its highly expressive and athletic contemporary ballet choreography tells a powerful story. And "Ghost Light Masquerade" is its tour de force. It is a promenade-style, immersive performance in which audience members wander in groups through the theater space, stumbling upon performances. Color-coded masquerade masks are provided — one indicates your willingness to interact with the performers (aka "resident spirits"), while the other signals you'd prefer to be left alone. Tickets are already sold out for some performances.
7:30 p.m. Oct. 22-25 and Oct. 28-30 | The Nocturne Theatre, 3246 Imperial Ave., Logan Heights | $71.21+ | MORE INFO
📚 Books
Common Read: The Power of Poetry with Ada Limón
UC San Diego recently opened this campus event featuring poet Ada Limón to the general public — and it's free. Limón was poet laureate of the United States from 2022 to 2025, and her work has received a National Book Critics Circle Award, a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among many other accolades.
"Look, we are not unspectacular things.
We’ve come this far, survived this much. What
would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?"— From "Dead Stars" (2018) by Ada Limón
Limón has a new nonfiction book, "Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry," and will discuss what she sees as poetry's power in a conversation with 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner Brandon Som.
5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 | Epstein Family Amphitheater, 9480 Innovation Ln., UC San Diego | Free | MORE INFO
Small Press Nite Vol. 17
A reading series that has reached 17 iterations is not something to sneeze at! Local writers Kevin Kearney and KKUURRTT host this periodic celebration of all things indie literature, matching up touring authors with locals to deliver an always-entertaining evening of short fiction, nonfiction and poetry. This month's readers are Kyle Kouri ("Graveyard"), Ashton Politanoff ("Dad Had a Bad Day"), Point Loma Nazarene professor and poet Margarita Pintado-Burgest and local writer and SDSU MFA student Ben Bird.
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 | The Book Catapult, 3010-B Juniper St., South Park | Free | MORE INFO
🎵 Music
Matt Pond PA and Anya Marina
Longtime locals might remember indie singer-songwriter and radio DJ Anya Marina (shoutout to 94.9 FM). She returns to San Diego for an early show at Soda Bar with her husband's band, indie rock favorite Matt Pond PA. Marina has been recording a series of cover songs that she's releasing as singles ahead of a forthcoming album.
Matt Pond PA also just dropped a new album last week, "Permanent Change Part 1." But I can't resist taking you back to a mix CD staple of mine, 2002's "Fairlee."
6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 | Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights | $24.72 | MORE INFO
Spreckels Organ Halloween Concert
This Sunday's Spreckels Organ concert features a Halloween-themed program with San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez. Performances at the organ pavilion are always free, thanks to a gift deeded to the city by John D. Spreckels over a hundred years ago.
2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25 | Spreckels Organ Pavilion, 2125 Pan American E Rd., Balboa Park | Free | MORE INFO
🎭 Theater
San Diego Opera: 'Rigoletto'
Giuseppe Verdi's tragedy "Rigoletto" is based on Victor Hugo's play "Le roi s'amuse," and it follows the grim story of Rigoletto, a court jester who has been cursed, the corrupt Duke of Mantua and Rigoletto's daughter, Gilda. This opera is home to some of the most iconic music in operatic history, including "La donna è mobile" and more.
Oct. 23-25 | San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown | $68.80+ |MORE INFO
Coronado Playhouse: 'Into the Woods'
"Into the Woods" was the first musical I really loved, performed by my high school drama department — and I'm guessing that's a common rite of passage. It's the story of a fairy-tale land where Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, a baker and his wife, and more coexist in a magical world of wishes, happily ever afters and a surprising dose of sadness. Fun fact: "Into the Woods" was born right here in San Diego, where it was workshopped at the Old Globe in 1986 before heading to Broadway (and high school theaters everywhere). Coronado Playhouse's production is directed by Blake McCarty, with music direction from Desha Crownover and Joe Kao.
7 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday; and 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23 through Nov. 22 | Coronado Playhouse, 1835 Strand Way, Coronado | $30 | MORE INFO
📽️ Bonus: Visual art and poetry
'Apertura'
Check out my story on a new exhibition of video poems co-curated by San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-García. The show opens with a reception on Saturday.
Reception: 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24; through Jan. 2, 2027. Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday | Athenaeum Art Center, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights | Free | MORE INFO
