Art

Today, the Grossmont College Art Gallery will officially be renamed and dedicated the Hyde Gallery, in honor of its founder, the late Marj Hyde. An artist, teacher and former head of Grossmont’s art department, Hyde believed that “Art must be a means of communicating with oneself and that communication then touches others.”

In her classes at Grossmont College, Hyde encouraged her students to spend time out of the studio, developing a sense of social awareness. “She was quite a dynamic personality,” said sculptor David Beck Brown, a former student of Hyde’s and currently director of the Hyde Gallery. “She was very demanding. She encouraged students to be involved and participate. She’s been a big influence.”

Hyde received her master of fine arts degree from UC Berkeley and pursued a career as an artist in Paris after World War II. Besides working as an artist and teacher, Hyde published an illustrated book of her poems and devoted time and money to promoting the welfare of American Indian students in San Diego County.

She was instrumental in establishing a permanent art collection for Grossmont College before her retirement in 1978. She died in January, 1987, at the age of 63.

A retrospective exhibition of her paintings opens today in the new Hyde Gallery.