Passengers could hear drilling and buzzing at SAN’s Terminal 2 these last few weeks, as artists from SAN’s Make Yourself at Home de-installed their art exhibits. Make Yourself at Home was part of the SAN Arts Program's temporary exhibitions program that showcases the work of local San Diego and regional artists around a central theme in spaces throughout the airport. 

MYAH featured the work of 16 artists from the greater San Diego - Baja California region who explored the concept of ‘home,’ how it shapes us, and how it differs from person to person. As the artists from MYAH made way for the next temporary exhibition, they reflected on Make Yourself at Home’s nearly two-year run amid the pandemic. 

“This exhibition was actually designed before COVID, and it just so happened that the concept of ‘home’ changed dramatically over these past two years,” said Colombian artist Marisol Rendon. 

Rendon and her fellow artist husband Ingram Ober worked on an installation together that featured leftover materials from their San Diego home renovation like cut concrete slab, pieces of wood and cast aluminum objects.

“I like to try to give people an entry point in a process or a material that they might recognize,” said Ober.

For Rendon, it was also important to bring poetics around the concept of home.

“I think mainly I just wanted to produce a quiet, intimate space,” she said. 

The artist couple used the arches of their doorway as inspiration for one piece, and a peephole in the center of another piece that with a view of a blue sky.

Like Ober, artist Jane Brucker, a native San Diegan who is now based out of Los Angeles, also wanted to give passengers something they could connect with.

Her work, titled Lost, drew in passengers of all ages who would peer into the pedestal curiously as they walked by to look at the hundreds of tiny cast bronze and brass objects.

“Gum wrappers, some keys, your baby teeth, sunglasses, a matchbook… these are really a kind of a metaphor for the things we lose in life like relationships, people we love, and, eventually our own lives,” said Brucker. 

“As they start to look deeper, they might start thinking and say ‘Oh, I had that, or ‘I recognize that’ or ‘my grandmother had one of those,’ and from there they enter the concept of the piece.”

Turkish-American artist Beliz Iristay used Make Yourself at Home as a way to celebrate her different homes and use materials that are native to them like Turkish clay.

“I created three exhibitions that are talking about my three homes, which are Mexico, Turkey, and San Diego,” she said.  

“I created for each pedestal, my own home, and I used the concept of mixing the soils,” she said.

Make Yourself at Home also featured the work of artists Cat Chiu Phillips, Cheryl Tall, Eleanor Greer, High Tech Middle, Ingrid Leyva, Judith Christensen, Katie Ruiz, Kerriane Quick, Kline Swonger, Lynn Susholtz, Michael Chang, and Naseem Navab.  

You can view all the arts pieces that made up the Make Yourself at Home exhibitions by visiting the SAN Arts Program website.