Not everyone holds to the mainstream belief that Petco Park has anchored East Village’s resurgence. The spring of 2000, when work on the San Diego Padres’ home began, would soon mark the end for several small nearby art galleries and one big cultural mainstay – the Art Academy of San Diego, whose rolls were decimated during four years of construction and would never again hit pre-Petco levels. The galleries haven’t returned to the area, and the Academy has since moved to North Park. But artistic expression has always found a way to navigate the obstacles – and thanks to an enterprising group at Platt College, it’s accompanied by a fair share of beer and some decent pizza. Basic Urban Kitchen + Bar, itself an example of applied art (it was converted from a 98-year-old warehouse, with the original brick intact), hosts “Art on Tuesday,” an installment featuring design media creations by Platt students. Computer-intensive portraiture, logo designs and periodical covers are among the entries, generated from several electronic packages and courses in color theory, electronic code and typography. Platt, a 300-student art and design media school in San Diego’s Rolando neighborhood, has been serving up some of the most innovative artwork on the public’s behalf for the last 30 years. Students’ inspirations have their basis in the marketplace they one day hope to serve – their regimen includes field trips to museums, theaters, concerts and parks, and annual trips abroad. Greece and Italy are on the docket for 2010; a group of students visited Japan late last year. Marketa Hancova, the school’s dean of education, said these outings serve a far greater purpose than the obvious. “I am getting here at the college students who are, unfortunately in many cases, (culturally) inept,” Hancova told Downtown News in a 2009 interview. “And it’s not their fault. (Elementary and secondary) school doesn’t fulfill the role that it should, to sophisticate the students in every avenue. Each student has an inner story. If it stops at ninth grade and you don’t cultivate it, you’re just stuck on one level, and you never grow. I think that’s a crime.” On Tuesday evenings, Basic is thus a place of absolution. It’s located at 410 10th Ave. More information is available at (619) 531-8869.
