Driving along 30th and Fern Street in San Diego’s South Park, the tree‑lined block is home to longtime businesses such as Big Kitchen, Shoe Repair Javier Rojas, and Fern Street Coin Laundry. A short walk brings you to The Whistle Stop, a neighborhood dive bar surrounded by three clothing shops and a record store.
DIY Art in a Driveway
Hidden in plain sight, the driveway of The Vibe Vintage Gallery becomes the venue for An Interval, a monthly, three‑hour pop‑up art exhibition. Curator Emma Catacutan describes the project as a pioneering effort to reinvent culture in an urban void, using the space that’s available to build a DIY spirit.
“When I first moved to North Park, I saw empty storefronts and dreamed of what could happen if I had access to that space,” Catacutan said. “I love the spirit of, if you’re complaining about the lack of something, to figure out how to make it happen.”
How the Event Works
Each month, on a weekend, trash cans are moved aside and uneven pavement adjacent to the sidewalk is turned into an outdoor gallery. Reused wooden pallets serve as walls for hanging artwork, and a village of artists, supporters, friends, and neighbors gathers to share new pieces and shape the experience together.
Co‑founder of Harvest & Gather, Mika Castañeda, called the pop‑up “practical, strategic and insurgent,” noting that it refuses a museum model that she sees as visibly failing.
Personal Resilience Behind the Curatorship
Catacutan and collaborator Jon Pylypchuk first hosted exhibitions in a Pasadena lumber yard. After a serious bout with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) forced a seven‑month pause, Catacutan returned to curating with renewed purpose, emphasizing that each exhibition is as much about the surrounding community as the art itself.
Upcoming Show: “Roll Credits”
The next exhibition, “Roll Credits,” opens Sunday, Oct. 4, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 2227 Fern St. The show highlights collaborative sculpture by Castañeda, Walker Hewitt, Cat Gunn, and Catacutan, as well as assemblage pieces that blend vintage items with queer sensibility.
Artists Neville Greene, Walker Hewitt, and Jade Carson contribute works featuring pixellated digital imagery and halftone screen‑printing techniques, while the couple Taif Albarainkani and Danny Mizrahi offer playful, effortless paintings.
Machine‑learning engineer Riley Tavasolli will present an interactive piece that triggers sounds in response to viewers’ movements, adding a sensory dimension to the exhibition.
Community Vision
Catacutan hopes “Roll Credits” will reshape the notion of community, moving beyond profit‑driven grant language toward genuine belonging. “We’re seeing a shift from self‑care to community care,” she said. “When words like ‘community’ and ‘third space’ become over‑used, their specificity is lost.”
She also runs the jazz series “Jazz Music and Jam” with partner Ryan Woods in North Park’s Bird Park, noting that these events “fill my cup” and provide both physical and emotional support.
Local Impact
The South Park block offers a full night of food, drinks, and dancing after the exhibition, with patrons often heading to nearby spots such as The Rose or the Whistle Stop for dinner.
By turning an ordinary driveway into a vibrant cultural hub, An Interval demonstrates how grassroots creativity can strengthen neighborhood ties and offer residents a shared space for artistic expression.
Original reporting: Voice of San Diego — read the source article.
