Best Practice

𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒔: 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 BEST PRACTICE is pleased to present RUINS: PERFORMING QUEER HISTORY, curated by Nathan Storey. RUINS is an iterative exhibition of interdisciplinary artists reckoning with queer histories, archives, and loss within their own contemporary studio practices. The artists in RUINS unearth LGBTQ+ histories, search for the fragmentary pieces, and reimagine our queer constellations. This second iteration of RUINS surveys intergenerational California-based artists whose works explore queer embodiment, intimacy, and space across drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and painting. The exhibition includes work by Amy Adler, Ken Gonzales-Day, Cat Gunn, William E. Jones, Morgan Lieberman, Stephen Milner, Darian Newman, Matt Savitsky, and Joe Yorty. OPENING RECEPTION Saturday, May 2 5 to 8PM @aamyadler @kengonzalesday @mango__hot__sauce @thechromaticsheep @stephenmilner #williamejones @bettyfordcenterofficial @mintymedia @joejoejoe_yorty

BEST PRACTICE is pleased to present RUINS: PERFORMING QUEER HISTORY, curated by @___nathans . RUINS is an iterative exhibition of interdisciplinary artists reckoning with queer histories, archives, and loss within their own contemporary studio practices. The artists in RUINS unearth LGBTQ+ histories, search for the fragmentary pieces, and reimagine our queer constellations. This second iteration of RUINS surveys intergenerational California-based artists whose works explore queer embodiment, intimacy, and space across drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and painting. The exhibition includes work by Amy Adler, Ken Gonzales-Day, Cat Gunn, William E. Jones, Morgan Lieberman, Stephen Milner, Darian Newman, Matt Savitsky, and Joe Yorty Archives are alive, pulsing with history, memory, and ruin. Simultaneously, they are fragmentary, evoking a longing for a time and place you cannot name. Archives bridge the past, present, and future, symbolic of the inevitability of our time slipping away. There is a current movement of queer artists looking backward and engaging with various queer archives or legacies within their contemporary studio practices. This deep preoccupation with the queer archive is, in part, due to the lingering and residual effects of the AIDS crisis, an utter catastrophe ignored and perpetuated by the United States government, leading to the loss of an entire generation—a crisis, which 45 years later, is still not yet over. The urgency of this archival engagement is now inflamed as the Trump Administration again attempts to erase and remove all traces of queer and gender expansive histories, which we know have always existed in any histories of America. The afterlife of ephemera becomes a tactic of resistance. To perform queer history, to grapple with our collective pasts, allows us to look toward our queer futures. 📸 Mouth Held Open, William E. Jones, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery @aamyadler @kengonzalesday @mango__hot__sauce @thechromaticsheep @stephenmilner #williamejones @bettyfordcenterofficial @mintymedia @joejoejoe_yorty @luisdejesuslosangeles @davidkordanskygallery #sdartsandculture

Last two weeks to catch Best Practice's current show - A UNIFYING FORCE: Art of Revision San Diego Through Saturday, April 18th Also, just a few short miles from the gallery, @joehnscoffee is presenting several works by Revision artist Charlie Allbritton who has one collaborative painting hanging at Best Practice now.

“A UNIFYING FORCE” THE ART OF REVISION SAN DIEGO March 14 - April 18, 2026 OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY, MARCH 14th 5 to 8pm BEST PRACTICE is very excited to present A “Unifying Force: The Art of Revision San Diego.” This exhibition highlights the work of Revision San Diego, a nonprofit organization that provides inclusive access to art, culture, and environmental education for artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Founded in 2017, Revision provides studio spaces in Hillcrest and La Mesa, where thirty-five resident artists collaborate with creative mentors to craft vibrant works in painting, drawing, sculpture, video, textile, and other mediums. The organization also runs a gallery and gift shop—where resident artists’ work is on display and for sale—and offers inclusive workshops open to the wider community. BEST PRACTICE’s presentation brings together some of Revision’s most dedicated artists, whose work often prizes material re-use and sustainability. Titled after Revision Founder and Director Joy Boe’s comment that art is a “unifying force,” the exhibition reveals the aesthetic dynamism, creative innovation, and contemporary relevance of the work being made at Revision. Artists in the exhibition include Alex Acosta, Charlie Allbritton, Delano Carter, Sean Chambers, Xavier Dionne, Katie Flores, Alex Katzenson, Alex Nichols, Joe Thurston, Deanna Tran, Charlotte Voitzwinkler, and Kelsey Wilson. This exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge. #sdartsandculture

Friday, January 9! Ring in 2026 with Sound Praxis and an evening of improvised, creative, and experimental music - featuring Cecyl Ruehlen! NOTE: VENUE CHANGE! We will be in the Bread & Salt Brick Room! Cecyl Ruehlen is an intermedia artist living in the desert southwestern US. They morph actions, collaborative projects, and recording processes into topological contortions with an array of chimeric, hand-made instruments and mercurial sound forms. Ruehlen also runs Harmonic Ooze Records, co-runs Wave archive in Tucson AZ, and performs often with their duo Yellow Moon Temple and ritual magic noise trio Bolt Of Void. Cecyl is joined by The Great Refusal and Nick Lesley! In the Bread & Salt Brick Room! $15 suggested, all proceeds to the artists! #sandiegomusic #sandiegoevents #improvisedmusic #experimentalmusic #improvisation #electronics #freejazz #noise #drone #drums #barriologan #creativemusic

Happy New Year! Come join Sound Praxis on Friday, January 9 to start 2026 the right way: with an evening of improvised, creative, and experimental music and sound! This show features free improv/noise trio The Great Refusal, celebrating the release of their new album "Frontières=Repression". Rebelling against the society of the spectacle, The Great Refusal is a revolutionary, situationist, experimental, free-jazz noise band dedicated to turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself. Members Ladislav, Lucas and Futura rose from the underground scenes of spazzcore, free jazz and experimental music. They believe music as commodity must be destroyed. Formed in 2023, the band have released two albums: "La Beauté Est Dans La Rue" (2024) and the brand new, "Frontières=Repression" (2026). The Great Refusal’s mission to create subversive sounds to wake up the populace continues unabated. The Great Refusal join Cecyl Ruehlen and Nick Lesley for an incredible evening of music and sound. #freejazz #noisemusic #experimentalmusic #improvisedmusic #creativemusic #drums #bass #saxophone #barriologan #breadandsalt #sandiegomusic #sandiegoevents

Jan 9 2026! Sound Praxis presents EUDIMORPHODON! EUDIMORPHODON is an early pterosaur AND a new duo with Dan Plonsey (saxophones) and Matthew Welch (bagpipes). Featuring compositions and improvisations by both for this unique combination of reeds, Plonsey and Welch dig deep into their love for odd creatures and characters to summon forth wild sonic beasts of imagination. As recently reviewed in Conyers Jazz: Fiercely interesting stuff. As Plonsey writes in his remarks, “The song of the soaring, swooping Eudimorphodon could not have been more eerie and thrilling than that of bagpipes and saxophone together.” Honestly, I can’t imagine any set of instruments more suited to, say, Albert Ayler’s aesthetic than these two. It’s spiritual, scientific, metaphorical, old, and new, and it cleans out your pipes. Five stars. - Gary Chapin EUDIMORPHODON are joined by The Great Refusal and Cecyl Ruehlen Music at 7:30PM! $15 suggested, all proceeds to the artists! #eudimorphodon #matthewwelch #danplonsey #bagpipes #tenorsax #experimentalmusic #improvisedmusic #localmusic #sandiegomusic #sandiegoevents #barriologan

LESLYE VILLASEÑOR REFRACTIONS OF SILENCE through December 13, 2025 CLOSING RECEPTION on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13th 5 to 8pm Less than two weeks left to catch Refractions of Silence, a solo presentation of the work of Leslye Villaseñor. With a soft focus that evokes the passage of time, Leslye Villaseñor paints objects nestled in the landscape at South San Diego’s Otay Valley Regional Park— memorials to the deceased constructed of once-precious belongings. Stuffed animals, eyeglasses, seashells, and votive candles, these remnants are worn by the elements and will eventually vanish, giving the memorials a finite lifespan of their own. While the shrines may be for people unknown to Villaseñor, her brushstrokes render the paintings tender portraits of grief’s materiality. In her images, the park becomes a liminal space, a silent threshold where loss is treated with care. This exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge.

We're kicking off 2026 with an absolute BANGer of a show! Three incredible acts are converging for what will be an amazing evening of music & sound! EUDIMORPHODON - bagpipe & sax shredders or early pteranodon? Why not both! The Great Refusal - free jazz/noise trio celebrating the release of a new record! Cecyl Ruehlen - intermedia artist and instrument builder bringing their new "entirely wooden, two-tiered, double bridged, thirteen string, stereo electrified, horizontal object"! Friday, January 9 (2026!!), music at 7:30PM! Best Practice, 1955 Julian Ave! $15 suggested, with all proceeds going directly to the artists! #experimentalmusic #creativemusic #improvisedmusic #sandiegomusic #sandiegoevents #barriologan #bagpipe #saxophone #freejazz #noisemusic #intermedia #custominstruments

TONIGHT!!!! 5 to 8pm LESLYE VILLASEÑOR REFRACTIONS OF SILENCE November 8 - December 13, 2025 OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH 5 to 8pm BEST PRACTICE is excited to announce the opening of Refractions of Silence, a solo presentation of the work of Leslye Villaseñor. This exhibition will bring together, for the first time, 12 works on canvas from an ongoing series started in 2023. With a soft focus that evokes the passage of time, Leslye Villaseñor paints objects nestled in the landscape at South San Diego’s Otay Valley Regional Park— memorials to the deceased constructed of once-precious belongings. Stuffed animals, eyeglasses, seashells, and votive candles, these remnants are worn by the elements and will eventually vanish, giving the memorials a finite lifespan of their own. While the shrines may be for people unknown to Villaseñor, her brushstrokes render the paintings tender portraits of grief’s materiality. In her images, the park becomes a liminal space, a silent threshold where loss is treated with care. This exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge. #sdartsandculture

LESLYE VILLASEÑOR REFRACTIONS OF SILENCE November 8 - December 13, 2025 OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH 5 to 8pm BEST PRACTICE is excited to announce the opening of Refractions of Silence, a solo presentation of the work of Leslye Villaseñor. This exhibition will bring together, for the first time, 12 works on canvas from an ongoing series started in 2023. With a soft focus that evokes the passage of time, Leslye Villaseñor paints objects nestled in the landscape at South San Diego’s Otay Valley Regional Park— memorials to the deceased constructed of once-precious belongings. Stuffed animals, eyeglasses, seashells, and votive candles, these remnants are worn by the elements and will eventually vanish, giving the memorials a finite lifespan of their own. While the shrines may be for people unknown to Villaseñor, her brushstrokes render the paintings tender portraits of grief’s materiality. In her images, the park becomes a liminal space, a silent threshold where loss is treated with care. This exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge. #sdartsandculture

Can't stop, won't stop! We've got one more show to close out 2025, featuring the prolific Jon Bafus (Sacramento) and a lineup of local improvisers! Jon Bafus is a drummer/percussionist, band leader, and creator of things based in Sacramento. Current projects include his prog-punk band Gentleman Surfer, sax-drums-guitar trio BAFUS / RASKIN / SHIURBA, duo with Guitarist Ross Hammond, and percussion duo Invasive Species. Past/other projects include Afternoon Brother, Pac and Seep, Sholi, Mucky The Ducky, Genetic Makeup, Appetite and more. Jon will be joined by local sax phenomenon Ryan Ebaugh. Supporting the duo are Dylan Lee Brown, Nathan Berlinguette and Jonathan Piper, and Blaine T. Threadgill. Wednesday November 19, music at 7:30PM. Generously hosted by Best Practice at 1955 Julian Ave in Barrio Logan. As always, all proceeds go directly to the artists. #sandiegoevents #sandiegomusic #barriologan #drummer #drums #percussion #improvisation #improvisedmusic #saxophone #sax #guitar #electricguitar #synthesizer #banjo #tuba