By ADRIANE TILLMAN
Village News
The La Jolla-Monaco Science and Cultural Exchange Committee is awed by the connections it has found between the Pacific village of La Jolla and the Mediterranean principality of Monaco. Leisurely, wealthy, cultured and charming, the two communities also boast of histories steeped in oceanographic exploration.
Since its inception in May, the committee has actively sought a partnership with Monaco to promote knowledge of the ocean and the arts in both communities.
In June, the committee traveled to Monaco to formalize its partnership with the Mediterranean principality. The visit was greeted with great flourish. Prince Albert II welcomed the party into his palace, and the Parliament of Monaco officially endorsed the liaison. La Jolla artist Nora presented the oceanographic museum with a portrait of Miss Ellen Browning Scripps, while English Channel swimmer Anne Cleveland, who resides in La Jolla, swam six kilometers from the French town of Cap’ Martin to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.
Nora described the experience as “absolutely wonderful.” She said she knew little about Miss Scripps before she began the painting, but grew fascinated as she read more about the benefactress and studied her visage daily.
“She inspired me as an artist to feel good about what I was doing “¦ it was almost like her spirit was with me encouraging me on,” Nora said.
Nora is donating her skill and time to the cultural exchange, and is now working on a portrait of H.S.H. Prince Albert I. She often views her painting as a job but she finds this experience far more exhilarating and even spiritual.
Committee chair Ed Sullivan said he was first inspired to pursue Monaco by his friendship with Kay and Max Gurney. The Gurneys spent countless years in the Principality of Monaco, as Max flew with Pan Am for 42 years and was assigned to southern France. During those years, the couple grew close to Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace Kelly; they saw the birth of their son, Prince Albert II. Eventually retiring to La Jolla, Kay spoke often about the affinity between the coastal communities.
“Although we’re small in quantity, we’re [both] large in quality,” Max said.
Gurney expects that the committee will travel to Monaco once more in April of 2007.
Connecting the arts
While in Monaco, Dianne York-Goldman, CEO of La Jolla Spa MD, met designer Isabell Kristensen, who has created gowns and dresses for stars such as Nicole Kidman, Helena Christensen and Ivana Trump. Kristensen’s haute couture fashion has yet to travel to the United States, so York-Goldman invited the designer to debut her work at a Spa MD fashion show.
“I haven’t seen a designer yet like this one. And I’ve seen a lot of designers,” York-Goldman said. “This is special, very special.”
Kristensen agreed to the fashion show with the stipulation that the proceeds go to charity. York-Goldman decided that the evening would benefit the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, San Diego, in honor of Stephanie Strauss, a former employee who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year. Kristensen also mandated that the models be 6 feet tall and size 36 to fill the dresses.
As another player in the cultural exchange, the La Jolla Art Association will auction off paintings by local artists during cocktail hour before the show. One-quarter of the profits will go to the cancer coalition.
The black tie affair begins with cocktails, followed by dinner and the fashion show on Friday, Sept. 8, 6 p.m., at the Estancia La Jolla, 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road. Tickets cost $150, and checks should be made to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition and mailed to La Jolla Spa MD, 7630 Fay Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037. For more information, call (858) 866-1901.
Mirrored Histories
Sullivan is intrigued by the similar histories the communities share in their quest of the ocean. Sullivan wonders if Prince Albert I and Miss Scripps, who were both monumental in furthering oceanic studies, ever communicated. So far, he’s found no trace of correspondence in his search at the La Jolla Historical Society.
At the turn of the 20th century, Prince Albert I of Monaco was enthralled by the open sea and sailed the world, creating maps and charts and devising techniques for exploration. In 1906, he founded the Oceanographic Institute to further marine science, which is today the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.
Across the world in the sleepy town of La Jolla, Ellen, Virginia and E.W. Scripps made a visit to William Ritter’s small marine laboratory on Coronado Bay in 1903. Captivated by the value of Ritter’s work, the family, wealthy from their newspaper dynasty, helped to fund a new facility that is now the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO).
Oceanographic giants shaped both institutes as well. Jacques Cousteau, the famed explorer who popularized marine biology with his TV series, “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau,” became director of the museum in Monaco in 1957. Professor Charles Keeling at SIO was the first to confirm that manmade carbon dioxide was increasing in the atmosphere. At that time, it was unknown whether the gas would accumulate in the atmosphere or be absorbed into the ocean and vegetation.
A century later, the cultural committee hopes to connect the paramount institutions. Director Jean Jaubert of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco is expected to visit before the end of the year. Jaubert specializes in coral reefs and, most notably, developed a technique for maintaining artificial coral reefs. He is also renowned for a high-profile experiment he conducted for space research, in which he and two other scientists lived underwater for one month at the bottom of the Atlantic.
Networking with Monaco
For more information about the cultural exchange committee, call Ed Sullivan, (619) 723-1144 or visit www.lajolla-monaco.com.
