What’s that star-like sculpture sitting on the grass near the box office of California Center for the Arts, Escondido?
It’s *!
The cool creation, named * (pronounced star), is a 30 foot diameter great stellated dodecahedron created by Escondido’s own Glass House Arts. According to posts on their Instagram page, * appeared at Burning Man last year! If I understand correctly, the sculpture was called MOOT (Matter Out of Time) back then, and said to be a time machine!
By night, 30 programmable LED floodlights illuminate the fabric sails, transforming the piece into a glowing beacon. I saw * in the daytime during my visit to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, and thought it was pretty cool as it was!
The sculpture will be on view through May 17, 2025. It celebrates Escondido Arts, Culture & Creativity Month!
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Self-Portraits with Underwear Pulled Too High, Matthew Freedman, 1995. Acrylic on plaster.
Today a new exhibition opened at the museum of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Everything in Its Place: Selections from the Permanent Collection features a surprising variety of pieces.
The museum’s webpage explains how these works explore the shifting relationships between abstraction, the human form, and the environments we inhabit. In other words, the art explores just about everything and anything.
I found myself pausing before certain complex pieces, enthralled. And so many different materials! One unusual sculpture is made almost entirely of glass. There are creations on cardboard and on linen. One piece, created during the museum’s inaugural artist-in-residence program, is a ten-foot wall of open wooden boxes containing found objects–like thoughts or memories in the compartments of one’s mind.
I took photos of a few examples.
There’s humor, too. Look closely at my first photograph!
Untitled, Mark Jackson, 1983. Oil on cardboard.In the Sun’s Blood, Doris Bittar, 1997. Oil on linen.
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Tomorrow, Saturday, April 19, 2025, a free, live glassblowing extravaganza continues at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido! The special event is being held outdoors in the Cal Club Courtyard between noon and 6 pm. Look for the signs! You can check out the event webpage by clicking here.
The two day event began today. I swung by as everything got underway. In addition to a very cool glassblowing demonstration, various San Diego County glass artists have tables with some of their fantastic creations for sale.
The artists have also created a bunch of beautiful glasses (see my final photograph) which are for sale for $25 each. Funds raised through the sale of these stunning glasses (and the sale of beer, too) benefit the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
I sat and watched as expert glassblower James Stone created an elegant wine glass. He has years and years of practice, and you can see the excellence of his work. He’s a friendly guy who likes to explain what he’s doing.
James Stone demonstrates glassblowing work in progress. The glass changes color when it is heated.An amazing iridescent bowl created by James Stone.These extraordinary glass cubes were created by Tom Marosz.These fantastic glass sea shells were created by Mariah Armstrong Conner.
Amazing blacksmithing work was displayed as well! A representative from Vista Forge showed me some cool creations.
Blacksmithing and Glass Art classes can be found here. They’re held on the grounds of the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista.
Purchase one of these colorful glasses, blown by a local artist, and you benefit the California Center for the Arts, Escondido!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The Water Conservation Garden in Rancho San Diego is a special place. Not only is it a very fine botanical garden, but its nearly 6 acres is filled with amazing works of art!
Among the different educational garden displays, bits of art can be spied. Most notable are the garden’s beautiful mosaics. A few days back I posted a blog about work being performed on the mosaic Tool Wall. See those photographs here.
Now enjoy more of the art that I happened to discover during my recent visit!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Perhaps you’ve seen this sculpture in front Lakeside’s Olde Community Church, home of the Lakeside Historical Society. It depicts a cowboy on a bucking bronco.
The sculpture is in memory of “Mr. Lakeside Rodeo” Ben Bruton. A nearby sign explains: In 1965 Ben Bruton and his associates brought back the rodeo to Lakeside CA to raise money and build a stadium for the kids of El Capitan High School… This bucking bronco statue was a gift to Lakeside by Mr. & Mrs. Mike Bruton to honor his father’s dream to have a rodeo in Lakeside CA for the benefit of our children…
According to this informative Facebook post from 2014: Mike Bruton, Son of Ben Bruton, acquired this statue of a bronc busting cowboy from Bobby Unser Jr. The post goes on to describe the Lakeside Rodeo, and how it went on to become an annual event.
This great article elaborates further on the history of past rodeos in Lakeside.
So far I haven’t ascertained who created the sculpture. If you know the artist, please leave a comment below!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
This beautiful mural decorates the trash enclosure at Collier Park in La Mesa. I was told by a friendly gentleman at the La Mesa Community Center that the art was painted not too long ago.
I found an article about the mural’s creation. It was a project of ArtReach, completed last year in partnership with the City of La Mesa. More than forty community members helped to paint it!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
In 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary was said to have appeared miraculously in Mexico. You can read that history here.
Today, images of the Virgin of Guadalupe (a Catholic title of the Virgin Mary) can be seen throughout Mexico, and San Diego, too.
A standard image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, filled with symbolism, hangs in homes and churches. It is painted on murals, on cars and appears in tattoos. The Virgin of Guadalupe seems everywhere.
Not surprisingly, the iconic image also appears on textiles. An important part of the Virgin of Guadalupe story includes her likeness appearing miraculously on the inside of a cloak.
The exhibition features outfits worn by women and men, traditional huipiles (handwoven tunics largely worn by indigenous peoples in Mexico), jackets, shoes and more. Many of the crafted pieces are very colorful, as you can see from my photographs.
Signs throughout the exhibit explain why the Virgin of Guadalupe became a religious and cultural phenomenon–how, in Mexico, invading Catholicism eventually melded with indigenous sensibilities, producing the divine but grounded symbolism one sees in the now beloved image.
The Mingei International Museum has presented many outstanding exhibitions, and this one is right up there. I was surprised to see so many different objects, and such variety. I was excited to see so much life.
Each work seems a miracle of human faith and creativity.
Few people enjoy the scenic view in the above photograph. That’s because the remote Coast View parking lot is seldom visited at Cabrillo National Monument.
The small parking lot can be found at the end of Cabrillo Road, just before the gate to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. Most park visitors who drive down Cabrillo Road stop at Tidepools Parking and go no farther.
I recently posted a blog about my amazing hike up the Coastal Trail. I began from a spot near Tidepools Parking and walked north to Sea Cove Parking, where the trail ends. I didn’t mention that from the latter parking lot, I continued north a short distance along the side of Cabrillo Road, in order to reach Coast View Parking. That’s where these photographs were taken.
An overlook at the Coast View parking lot not only offers scenic views of the Pacific Ocean and sandstone bluffs, but there are information signs well worth reading.
Here I am carefully walking north along the side of Cabrillo Road…
I’ve arrived at Coast View Parking. There are benches where people can relax and gaze out toward the ocean.
A sign contains a poem…
“…The great rhythms of nature…have here their spacious and primeval liberty…”
Above the parking lot, up atop the Point Loma peninsula, one can see Battery Ashburn…
Embedded in the ridge in front of you was one of San Diego’s most important defenses during World War II. Well-hidden from approaching ships, Battery Ashburn housed two 16-inch guns…
Workers finished building the battery in March of 1944… Vibrations from the blast were so intense that they were rumored to have cracked windows in Hotel del Coronado across the harbor…
Turning east, I lifted my camera and took this photo of historic Battery Ashburn:
I then noticed a truck leaving the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, which handles sewage and gray water created by more then 2.2 million people who live nearby!
A beautiful day at Cabrillo National Monument, and a parking lot that few people visit…
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
An extraordinary exhibit concerning the history of baseball’s Negro Leagues officially opens tomorrow, April 15, 2025, in San Diego!
Extensive displays celebrating African-American baseball players who helped lead the way to a more integrated and tolerant society can now be enjoyed on the 8th Floor Reading Room of the Central Library. The exhibit is titled Barrier Breakers.
Visitors to the Central Library are in for a treat. The epic exhibition is brought to our city by the San Diego Padres and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
There are biographies of athletes who competed in the Negro Leagues–complete with stats, accomplishments, photographs and memories. There are stories of how trailblazing players were eventually accepted by Major League Baseball. Different eras are represented, and key moments are remembered.
As one might expect, Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, has a special place in the exhibit. It’s no coincidence that tomorrow, the day Breaking Barriers opens, is Jackie Robinson Day. Jackie made history by starting at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Another display celebrates the San Diego Padres’ own trailblazer, hometown hero catcher Johnny Ritchey. He made Pacific Coast League history when he joined the team in 1948. (He had seven hits in his first eleven plate appearances!)
Anyone who is a baseball, sports or history buff needs to check out Barrier Breakers. I just happened to swing by the Central Library today, and was super fortunate to observe a special preview presentation.
If you can’t make it to San Diego’s downtown Central Library, you can view an online virtual exhibit by clicking here.
Just a few photos…
During today’s special presentation, Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, presented The Home Run for Humanity Award to worthy recipients in San Diego. Congrats to all!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
On May 10, 2025, a monument will be unveiled in the northeast corner of Pantoja Park. The bust of William Heath Davis Jr. will debut, commemorating the founder of downtown San Diego!
The public event will take place between 10:30 am and 2 pm. There will be speeches, informational booths, a blessing by Kumeyaay Bird Singers, and Pacific Islander traditions. William Heath Davis “Kanaka Bill” was born in Hawaii.
Many associate Alonzo Horton with the founding of downtown San Diego. Horton’s ultimately successful New Town, however, came after an attempt by William Heath Davisto build a new community closer to San Diego Bay than the original Old Town San Diego… His New Town was located west of today’s Gaslamp Quarter. The venture did not do well due to a lack of fresh water and hostility from the established settlements at Old Town and La Playa…
Pantoja Park, at 500 West G Street, was established in 1850. It was created at the center of William Heath Davis’ 160-acre subdivision and is San Diego’s oldest city park. Originally it was known as New Town Park. Appropriately, it will be home to the soon-to-be-unveiled bust.
The William Heath Davis Monument and the Monument Unveiling Ceremony are the work of the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation and The Kanaka Davis Trust Group.
(I saw a preview of the monument a couple years ago. See that blog post here.)
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
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