James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudí, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
