Tag: amazing

Amazing artists at 2025 Chula Vista ArtFest!

I can’t believe how many great artists came out this afternoon to the 2025 Chula Vista ArtFest! The annual event, which celebrates local artists from South Bay, was held in the outdoor courtyard of Chula Vista City Hall.

A big crowd gathered to meet artists and view some live painting. Most of the creators I saw had a table overflowing with completed works for sale.

The festival also featured representatives from the City of Chula Vista, community organizations, art-related vendors, live music on a stage and plenty of food.

I met many of the artists, and was wowed by their amazing creativity. As you’ll see, one of the artists was winner of a super prestigious Eisner Award!

Consider supporting these artists by clicking links to their websites or social media.

First, let’s meet some smiling people working for the City of Chula Vista. They were providing information that helps residents care for the environment.

On Saturday, October 18, you can join others in your community to Beautify Chula Vista!

Learn more about this great volunteer activity by clicking here.

Now a few fun photos before we meet some artists…

First artist is Tanisha McCullough, aka Nini, a super talented youth who loves to create portraits in oil paint!

Here’s her Instagram page.

The next creator, Tony Washington, won a 2024 Eisner Award at Comic-Con! He’s also a New York Times best selling artist!

His professional accomplishments, which include work in comic books, animated movies and video games, will blow your mind. See them here!

Next artist I met was Ed Roeder. Check out some of his awesome pop culture stuff!

He and his wife, both artists, operate the website Castle by Design.

Next is cool self-taught artist T. Jay Santa Ana. He’s fascinated by Time, Space, and Line… an expressionist and a surrealist experimenting in a framework of abstractions.

Here’s his website.

If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, you know artist/muralist Shirish Villaseñor! She’s so prolific, I keep running into her!

Her website is here!

Next artist with a heart is Melissa Salgado, aka Melicha. Her work has been in many exhibitions.

Learn more about her art at her website.

Next artist, David Lo, was working on this Joker artwork. He paints lots of cool stuff, including an Iron Man I really liked!

See his Instagram page here!

Here comes artist Iz Inocencio! I also saw him last weekend at the FilAm CreatorCon at the Chula Vista Library.

He’s an educator–some of his young students swung by and I took a photo for them!

I see on his Instagram that I’ve photographed some of his National City street art. He’s had other art displayed in the Chula Vista Library.

Here’s his website!

Next cool artist (you might see him often in Balboa Park) is Keith Mitchell, aka MARYIEDWITHCHILDREN. I love his super dynamic abstract art.

Here’s his Instagram.

Here’s artist Attiba Royster. He’s an illustrator, designer, and creator of pop culture and horror art!

Learn all about him at his website.

@GRASSHOPPERCV.OFFICIAL was airbrushing shirts and stuff at Chula Vista ArtFest.

Last, but certainly not least, is Chicana artist Isabel Garcia (@artbyisbl) from Southeast San Diego. She was just as nice as the first time I met her, years ago! Still going strong!

Check out her website 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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Quetzalcoatl tree stump in Barrio Logan!

People heading down National Avenue in Barrio Logan might be stunned to see this amazing work of art in the parking lot of Barrett Engineered Pumps. It’s an old tree stump carved into the likeness of mythical Quetzalcoatl!

The sculpted wooden Quetzalcoatl (an important deity in Aztec culture whose name translates to Feathered Serpent) was created by Cesar Castañeda. You can watch a YouTube video that follows the artist’s five month project back in 2012. The documentary is titled The Rise of Quetzalcoatl. Find it by clicking here!

Quetzalcoatl was carved by hand from an enormous stump that was salvaged from a fallen tree. The tree had fallen in Balboa Park beside State Route 163.

(I once observed a tall eucalyptus tumbling onto the 163 during a violent wind storm years ago. It seemed to descend in slow motion, narrowly missing an oncoming car. I wonder if this was the same tree?)

I learned from a friendly worker at Barrett Engineered Pumps, where Quetzalcoatl now resides on a trailer, that this very cool sculpture is for sale! I didn’t ask the price, but if you’re interested you should probably swing by and check it out!

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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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Eduardo Chillida’s amazing sculptures in San Diego!

Fantastic public sculptures by world-renowned Spanish Basque artist Eduardo Chillida stand in cities around the globe. San Diego is fortunate that many Chillida sculptures–large and small–can now be experienced in an important exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art!

Eduardo Chillida: Convergence includes dozens of amazing abstract pieces that challenge museum visitors with their visual complexity.

Many of these sculptures combine sharp angles with sinuous curves, and are puzzle-like. They can make one wonder about the composition of reality–how space and matter interact.

As the San Diego Museum of Art web page explains: Each of these creations are points of convergence where myriad forces, including nature and culture, material and immaterial, form and void, all meet.

I like how many of the sculptures appear like paper cut in irregular ways with scissors then twisted impossibly every which way. Gazing at the sculptures from different angles, I wondered if their divergent parts could somehow be pieced together.

They somehow recall that three-dimensional puzzle cube I once played with as a boy. One docent at the museum told me a child called these sculptures Puzzles of the Gods. How appropriate!

The sculptures can be made of oak, iron, alabaster or other earthy materials. There are also works on paper. For very abstract works of art, they are strangely natural, weirdly familiar. Chillida liked to call himself a realist sculptor.

Visitors have the opportunity, for an additional five dollars, to experience a virtual reality flight around Comb of the Wind XV, Chillida’s famous installation that rises above the bluffs of La Concha Bay in San Sebastián, Spain.

This awesome exhibition continues through February 8, 2026 at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Stimulate your eyes and brain and go see 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.

Feel free to share!

The River of Giving at Coronado High School.

Here’s another sensational work of mosaic art that I discovered during my most recent visit to Coronado High School. A step-like installation filling a corner between two walls seems to flow with water and the life it sustains. Mosaics in three dimensions have created the appearance of a blue waterfall among greenery, flowers and small native animals.

The mosaic, completed in 2011, is titled The River of Giving. According to the webpage of mosaicist Kirstin Green, the project is a recognition wall for individuals and businesses who have donated money to the Coronado Schools Foundation over the past 3 decades.

The elements were all hand made by students. You can watch a time lapse video of this amazing art being made here.

The River of Giving – Mosaicist Kirstin Green – Visual Arts Laura Hill – Ceramics Eric Rempe – Created through the collaborative work of CHS students and teachers.
THE RIVER OF GIVING – Coronado Schools Foundation – Dedicated to honor our most generous and consistent donors, and to inspire others to give vital support for learning that helps our students thrive. 2011

What about the other fantastic mosaic that I photographed at Coronado High School? Check that out 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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The Universe mosaic at Coronado High School!

The Universe at Coronado High School is so awesome. I’m speaking of the mosaic archway that shines with our Earth, planets, moons, comets, nebulae, stars and galaxies.

As students move through the cosmos, they are reminded that “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known…”

I saw this incredible, extraordinary work of mosaic art during my visit to the San Diego Writers Festival earlier this month. The Universe was created on the Coronado High School campus in 2009 by student artists, under the direction of award-winning Visual Arts teacher Laura Hill.

“THE UNIVERSE”

WE DEDICATE THE UNIVERSE TO KARL MUELLER WHOSE SUPPORT SHINES ON, LIKE THE MOON, AND THE STARS, AND THE SUN — 2010

STUDENT ARTISTS – THEY’RE OUT OF THIS WORLD

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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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Amazing art fills The Water Conservation Garden!

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.

Feel free to share!

Two-inch railroad cars to travel in San Diego!

What is the smallest operating railroad car you’ve ever seen? Have you ever seen a moving train so small that bits of dust on the track can stop it?

Incredibly diminutive trains are coming to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park! Each car is about two inches long–the size of your finger!

A new Z scale permanent exhibit is being built in the museum and should be completed later his year. As a sign in the museum explains, this cool project is being supported by a grant from The Norris Foundation.

Z scale model trains are so tiny a complete oval layout can fit inside a briefcase. They have a scale ratio of 1:220. They’re even smaller than the N scale trains one can see in the museum’s incredible Pacific Desert Lines layout, which is operated by the San Diego Society of N Scale.

A sample Z scale layout is already on display (above photo). Plans for the not-yet-built layout can also be viewed…

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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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A rare look at Balboa Park’s historic Pratt Loggia.

The public seldom gets to step into Balboa Park’s historic Pratt Loggia. The columned, balcony-like loggia is easily seen when gazing up from El Prado at the Casa del Prado. You can see it in my next photograph:

During a recent tour of Balboa Park conducted by the Committee of 100, an organization working to preserve Balboa Park’s historic architecture, gardens and public spaces, I was fortunate to step foot into the Pratt Loggia and discover something wonderful.

Before our special tour entered the loggia, we were shown a plaque. It lists the people instrumental in funding the loggia’s creation back in 1971, during the Casa del Prado’s reconstruction.

According to this San Diego History Center webpage: During the course of reconstruction it was discovered that the bond issue did not allow for an expenditure of $70,000 to rebuild the second-level fluted, striated columns with capitals of cupids and the ornate balustrade on the outside loggia of the south building. The Committee of 100 raised the needed money with $50,000 coming from Mrs. Jeannette Pratt, in whose honor the reconstructed gallery was named the “Jeannette Pratt Loggia.”

Our group observed how the plaque contains a Who’s Who of leading San Diego citizens back in 1970s, including the Copleys, Cushmans, Fletchers, Rohr, Ryans, Scripps, and many others. Bea Evenson led the creation of the loggia.

And now here is the beautiful loggia!

We were surprised to see numerous bells in the Pratt Loggia: a few along the balustrade and many others contained in large display cases at either end.

These bells were sent to San Diego from cities around the nation during our city’s bicentennial back in 1969! To mark the 200 year anniversary celebration, San Diego wrote to these cities asking for a donated bell.

What was received? There are fire bells, school bells, bells of all sizes and kinds!

This big one rang loudly and deeply!

THIS BELL IS IN MEMORIAM OF SAN DIEGO’S 200 YEARS. FROM TOPEKA, KANSAS
SAN DIEGO 1769 BICENTENNIAL
PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 200TH ANNIVERSARY BY THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

Another wonderful surprise in San Diego’s ever-amazing Balboa Park!

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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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660 plants added to Natural History Museum garden!

Today the Nature Trail at the San Diego Natural History Museum became much more lush and biodiverse. 660 plants native to the San Diego and Baja California region were added to the outdoor garden surrounding the museum!

I saw dozens of workers and volunteers this morning at work putting in the native plants. I learned that many new species (many of them pollinators) will now grow along this nature trail in the heart of Balboa Park.

This greatly increased diversity of plant life is fitting for a world-class natural history museum. I was told many more educational signs will be appearing, providing information about the new plants.

Wow! Look at my photos! The NAT has many helpers and volunteers!

According to one online description anticipating today’s event, experts from the Barona Cultural Society Museum, Tree of Life Nursery, Native West Nursery, City Farmers Nursery, and the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) will provide step-by-step guidance on proper planting techniques and native plant care.

I walked along the nature trail in the afternoon after the work was completed, and all the new plantings are amazing!

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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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World-record speed Turbinator in San Diego!

The absolutely fantastic 2001 Team Vesco “Turbinator” is now on display at the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park!

This amazing 30-foot-long streamliner set the wheel-driven land speed record of 458.440 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats on October 18, 2001.

Anyone interested in cars, racing, engineering or technology would love to look at this one-of-a-kind speedster. It has a unique four-wheel drive system powered by a 3,750 horsepower engine from a helicopter! Can you imagine sitting in this slender vehicle flying in a blur across the salt flats? It seems a driver would need nerves of steel!

Check out the exhibit at the San Diego Automotive Museum and you can also see owner/driver Don Vesco’s NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award (presented in 2002) and a great video showing his incredible Turbinator in action!

Visit the Team Vesco Racing website by clicking 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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