UCSD’s public art-focused Stuart Collection gets $1 million in gifts

by Pam Kragen

UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection of public artworks on the La Jolla university campus will soon expand, thanks to $1 million in donations to its 3-year-old Emerging Artists Program.

San Diego philanthropist Irwin Jacobs donated $500,000 to the fund, and art collectors and commissioners Jill and Peter Kraus of New York also contributed $500,000.

These donations will support three new works that will be added to the Stuart Collection, which was established on campus in 1981 and now comprises 22 permanent artworks by world-renowned artists. Jess Berlanga Taylor has served as the Collection’s director and curator since 2022.

To expand the collection to 25, the Stuart Collection has selected three up-and-coming international artists for commissioned works. Joining the collection soon will be new site-specific works created by the artist collective RojoNegro (composed of Noé Martínez and María Sosa), sculptor Max Hooper Schneider and poet, artist and chef Precious Okoyomon.

Fallen Star," a 2012 sculpture by Do Ho Suh that seemingly teeters on the roof of the Jacobs School of Engineering, is part of the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego in La Jolla. (UCSD) — Fallen Star,” a 2012 sculpture by Do Ho Suh that seemingly teeters on the roof of the Jacobs School of Engineering, is part of the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego in La Jolla. (UCSD)

“The Stuart Collection has been instrumental in establishing UC San Diego as a globally recognized arts destination, and we are excited to see its continued growth, particularly through the Emerging Artists Program,” said UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla, in a statement. “With the Stuart Collection at its forefront, UC San Diego is proud to offer a rich and diverse cultural landscape that inspires creativity, fosters innovation and brings people together.”

Irwin Jacobs is a former faculty member at UC San Diego and with his late wife, Joan, has been a longtime supporter of the Stuart Collection.

“Joan and I have been friends of the Stuart Collection since its very early days and have always appreciated the profound beauty those pieces have added to the lives of everyone on campus,” Jacobs said in a statement. “Now, as the campus has started a new chapter with Jess Berlanga Taylor, I am pleased to support her vision of bringing exciting new artists into this enterprise. I know Joan would feel the same.”

Jill and Peter Kraus have collected contemporary art for 40 years, and they are well-known for commissioning 20 site-specific artworks on their property in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Jill Kraus is a member of the Stuart Collection International Advisory Board, as well as the Board of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.