A young student’s colorful poster celebrates equal rights and protections. These are established by the United States Constitution. Equality for all. We the people.
Please enjoy a few photos that I took yesterday as I walked down Broadway past the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse. My eye was attracted by happy, colorful artwork created by children on display in some windows.
These posters were designed by young students last year for 2016 Law Week. They celebrate principles that are enshrined in the United States Constitution.
(I have many blog posts coming up pertaining to this weekend’s San Diego Architectural Foundation OPEN HOUSE 2017 event. A couple of the locations will probably be featured on my Beautiful Balboa Park blog. And it might take me some time to prepare everything. Stay tuned!)
2016 Law Week Poster Contest winners in a window of San Diego’s downtown Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse. Students from a variety of local schools participated.…insure domestic Tranquility… We get along with each other.…in Order to form a more perfect Union… Make things better for all who live here.…Secure the Blessings of Liberty… We have freedom.We the People of the United States…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
This weekend’s annual flower show in Balboa Park by Ikebana International features beautiful Japanese floral arrangements.
I know almost nothing about ikebana, the ancient art of Japanese flower arrangement. But I do recognize stunning beauty and appreciate human creativity!
Check out these photos of amazing works of art at the annual Ikebana International flower show in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado. The show continues through the weekend!
Exquisite displays of ikebana–the art of Japanese flower arrangement–can be seen inside the Casa del Prado.One of many stunning works of floral art that one can see this weekend in Balboa Park.Freestyle arrangement by Mitsuko Takeya. Materials include fig branch, protea, palm leaves and leather fern.Arrangement by Noriko McDaniel. The Ohara School of Ikebana. Materials include magnolia, veronica, purple-crest aeonium, wisteria vine and philodendron.Freestyle arrangement by Patricia Fuchs. Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Materials include anthurium, dogwood, pom pom mum, Japanese rope.Landscape style arrangement by Cris Bugarin. Ohara School of Ikebana. Materials include forsythia, camellia, parsley, iris leaves.Freestyle arrangement by Judy Cliffton. Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Materials include red bud, white cherry, ranunculus.Freestyle arrangement by Sue Elsayeh. Ichiyo School of Ikebana. Materials include forsythia and daffodils.Freestyle tropical arrangement by Inge Johansen. Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Materials include heliconia, ginger, gladiolus, white orchid, variegated ti leaf.A beautiful, complex work of art composed entirely of horsetail by Hiroko Szechinski.Exquisitely arranged beauty, made from elements of the natural world.A delight to the eye. Gorgeous symmetry.A bouquet of delicate beauty.A small garden of colorful bursts and delights.Intertwining flowers and leaves like a small, magical arch.Many eyes at the annual ikebana show took delight in the perfect jewel-like creations.A pink arrangement that seems to have materialized from a fairy tale.Stunning colors and contrasts.A fantastic arrangement by Rumi Rice. Human creativity and natural materials combine to bring a dream to life.A spectacular arrangement by ikebana Grandmaster Akiko Bourland. Materials include loquat, rose, rush.Lavish beauty designed by Keiko Schneider, President of Ikebana International #119.A fine vase containing orchids, palm leaves and dry branch.A vertical style arrangement by Barbara Adams. Materials include Mediterranean fan palm and mums.Another work of great beauty, by ikebana instructor Debbie Garofalo.Pat Schneider combined a simple orchid, peacock feather and palm leaf.Tulips, like colorful fireworks!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
I’ve written a very short story about delicate cherry blossoms, and the passage of time. It’s titled A Short Bloom. Click to read it!
A beautiful mural in Hillcrest behind Artist and Craftsman Supply depicts flowers and sea life.
Walk around to the rear parking lot at Artist and Craftsman Supply on Fourth Avenue in Hillcrest and you’ll discover a very colorful mural. It was painted in 2016 by Jet Martinez during the Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans festival in San Diego, an environmental street art project organized by the PangeaSeed Foundation.
This beautiful spray paint mural concerns the impact of floriculture on ocean ecosystems. Many flowers are grown in San Diego’s North County. In floriculture, pesticide runoff into the ocean can be a problem. Fertilizer runoff into the ocean can also cause harmful effects, including massive algae blooms and hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas.
Environmental street art created by Jet Martinez during the 2016 Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans festival.The left part of the mural. Like an underwater garden.A fish in the ocean needs clean water to live.A bright orange fish swims past jewel-like flowers.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Lots of tiles painted with happy environmental themes. Together they form a mosaic that decorates this trash can in downtown San Diego’s Pantoja Park.
I love mosaics that are composed of ceramic tiles painted by ordinary people–young people in particular. It’s like a patchwork of inner visions, expressed from many hearts.
The Envirocan in downtown San Diego’s Pantoja Park is a special trashcan that is decorated with tiles that were hand-painted by young artists. Most of the colorful images express environmental themes. Clean air, clean water . . . plus lots of smiles. Smiles are good for the environment, right? Of course they are.
ESI Art Corps San Diego. Envirocan – Donated by Dick Butler. “One Who Cares”One side of the Envirocan features a female face. Perhaps it is Mother Earth.Colorful tiles painted by many creative hands form a mosaic on the Envirocan’s other three sides. Here’s a happy face in a tree, and some flowers.Keep our Earth clean!A house in a beautiful pristine landscape.Flower PowerA human eye. A smudge of something looks like a tear.Fish enjoy a clean blue ocean.I’m not sure what this is, but it looks pretty cool!Someone is poking their nose over a fence.One tile on the Envirocan features the Enviro-can!A happy face of many colors.Another lively underwater scene.And another beautiful face!A clean river flows down from green hills between trees.Wisdom is often found in a balance. Yin and yang. All things are connected.Looks like a weird underwater scene. Not sure about the cube with tentacles.Birds in a clear blue sky under a golden sun.Lots more smiley faces! They almost look like leaves to me.A red heart on patchwork colors. Love.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
This old rusty steel skeleton of a ship is actually one of two cool sculptures near the Pier 32 Marina in National City.
Check out these two very cool sculptures! I spotted them as I walked from a National City trolley station to Pepper Park yesterday, on my way to the big International Mariachi Festival.
Both of these sculptures are located at the Pier 32 Marina. And both are a lot of fun!
This huge metal sculpture by the marina flags is called Le Bateau Ivre, by artist Alber De Matteis, 2008.More detailed photo of this work of awesome nautical art! Looks like a ghost ship!The second sculpture, just down a pathway, is School of Blue Bottle Noses, by artist David Boyer, 2008. It was part of an Urban Trees exhibition on San Diego’s Embarcadero.Those blue Bottlenoses are actually bottles! Like a pod of turning dolphins, they shift direction in the wind!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
A pelican painted on an electrical box. Photo taken on Mission Boulevard in Mission Beach.
Enjoy these photos of street art finds in Mission Beach!
I saw lots of cool artwork while walking along Mission Boulevard from Pacific Beach Drive south to the Giant Dipper roller coaster at Belmont Park. Almost every electrical box along the sidewalk had been painted with a lively beach or ocean theme!
A sailfish swims above the sidewalk.These fish in some kelp appear to be made of a hand and two feet dipped in paint!A transformer box with a small beach scene wrapping around it.Close look at one part of the impressionistic painting of the beach.A typical beach scene with sand, palm tree and surfer.Someone with a pail and someone walking a dog.Three orange garibaldis in the Pacific Ocean.A traffic sign warns of surfers crossing!A red, white and blue fish above a garage door.Some fun surfer street art in Mission Beach.And right next to it is another colorful, psychedelic panel of street art. Find it near Mission Blvd. and San Rafael Pl.A tropical scene on a wall.Perhaps take some gyros out on the boat when you go sport fishing.A goose is loose!One of several cool, nostalgic beach images on one parking lot fence. A surfer girl and a woodie overlooking the ocean.Another cool Southern California image on the parking lot wall.A youth with a surfboard looks out at the beach and sandstone cliffs.There seems to be a large hole in this wall. I see ocean waves through it!We must take care of our land and sea. Live aloha.A wacky Deadhead tiki character at the corner of a Mission Beach shop.Another painted scene shows natural beauty along San Diego’s coastline.Another cool woodie with surfboards on the roof.Whales and seals and fish on one watery wall.And a dolphin, too!The most important things in life . . . aren’t things.Two sailboats painted on an electrical box.Another underwater scene on a utility box, faded by the sun.A ringed planet appears to be surfing! Cosmic, dude!Urban art celebrates the Mission Beach Centennial, 1914-2014. The Giant Dipper roller coaster, the main attraction of Belmont Park, is in both the artwork and the photograph’s background.More garibaldis on a large electrical box near Mission Beach’s famous roller coaster.A migrating gray whale and pod of dolphins are part of the previously shown underwater mural.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Faces in a Mission Beach alley peer from behind trash bins.
During my walk down Mission Boulevard through Mission Beach, I discovered an alley just south of Pismo Court that’s overflowing with super creative street art! A friendly dude named Vinny told me he created the scrap metal sculptures, and his buddy painted the walls. Check it out!
Awesome street art can be seen in an alley off Mission Boulevard just south of Pismo Court. Local guys have painted walls and created cool metal sculptures.A spray painted sea lion near a door in the alley.A sea turtle and dolphin swim across a wall.The sculpture with American flag was created by Vinny after 911, who used scrap metal that he found discarded in the neighborhood.Loads of creative art and fun beachy stuff in front of Vinny’s place, an example of the happy, laid-back Mission Beach vibe.This alley is like a treasure chest full of street art gold!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Street mural by artist Amandalynn, painted in 2016 near Mission Boulevard in Pacific Beach.
On Saturday I walked down Mission Boulevard through both Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. I was blown away by some of the really cool street art that I found. As you’ll see, many of the colorful murals that I spied in Pacific Beach were painted just last year.
This batch of photos represents my walk south along Mission Boulevard, which is a block from the beach, from around Emerald Street to Pacific Beach Drive. In a coming blog post, I’ll share the fun and very unusual art I encountered as I continued south through Mission Beach.
A second photo of the eye-catching mural by Amandalynn, which shows beautiful ladies in a colorful underwater scene.The Pacific Beach Mermaid hangs out on a rock painted on a wall. Art by Jared Blake Lazar a.k.a Jared Black Lazer.A humorous sign on the sidewalk. Head into this barber shop and come out a completely different person!
I don’t know if some critics would classify the above as art–but it was undeniably funny!
Street art on a utility box. The curl of this coffee’s steam resembles the surf beyond the sand.Bunny Kitty carries a cigarette butt away as a fierce sea monster emerges from the deep. Pacific Beach art created in 2016 by Dave Persue for PangeaSeed.A cool mural near The Local Pacific Beach restaurant and bar, painted in 2016 by artists Sean Dietrich and Kai Martin. A blonde on roller skates, the PB boardwalk, surfboards, and a rather unusual car.A very funny utility box. This side shows a woman at the beach covering the eyes of a small boy.Another side shows Pacific Beach tourists who have spotted something that is both interesting and alarming.100 years of skating talent between us, but……nobody notices!Another utility box is covered with mermaids. This friendly purple mermaid watches humans driving down Mission Boulevard.Another long-haired mermaid on the same box.And a third happy mermaid!Two ladies walking along the edge of a parking lot toward the nearby beach. They pass someone snoozing in a hammock strung between palm trees.Street art on doors shows a surfer climbing toward a lifeguard tower at sunset.One additional look at the gorgeous art painted in 2016 by muralist Amandalynn in Pacific Beach.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
The Valeiras Sculpture Garden includes several works. It’s located near the front entrance of San Diego Central Library’s Art Gallery on the Ninth floor.
Head up to the Ninth floor of San Diego’s downtown Central Library and you’re likely to see the small Valeiras Sculpture Garden, just outside the Art Gallery. Several lattice-like metal sculptures attract and interest the eye. They were created by local artist Christoper Puzio, who incorporates a variety of geometric patterns into many of his pieces.
Just in case you can’t see them in person, here are a few photos.
Jacob’s Staff, by artist Christopher Puzio, 2015.Morocco, by artist Christopher Puzio, 2015. This piece hangs on a wall just inside the Art Gallery’s front door.Bishop, by artist Christopher Puzio, 2015.The small Valeiras Sculpture Garden at San Diego’s Central Library is located on the Ninth floor, adjacent to the Art Gallery.
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Do you like to read? You might enjoy a short story that I’ve written. Final Real Magic is its title.
A special exhibit at the public library in downtown San Diego showcases modern graphic design from the mid-twentieth century.
A fascinating exhibition at the San Diego Central Library will be running through May 7, 2017. You can find it on the 9th floor in the library’s Art Gallery. The exhibition, titled Print Culture: Midcentury Modern Graphic Design in San Diego, concerns artistic expression and the evolution of printing technology during the mid-20th century. Emphasis is placed on San Diego-based independent artists and local businesses, particularly defense contractors.
Artists, graphic designers, printers and those who enjoy learning about San Diego’s history and culture really should pay a visit to the gallery. Here are some photos which provide a taste of what you’ll see.
Print Culture: Midcentury Modern Graphic Design in San Diego is an exhibition now showing through May 7, 2017. The work of local designers, illustrators and artists is on display.Many images created locally for various purposes are shown in the gallery. A uniquely bold style of graphic design emerged in the 1950’s and evolved over the ensuing decades.I was interested to see an image of Donal Hord’s sculpture Aztec. A few days ago I posted several photographs that I took of this iconic work of art.More examples of graphic design from this sometimes overlooked period. Many creative artists produced their own printed material.The defense industry in San Diego produced many posters, drawings, charts, presentations and signs in the mid-20th century. Printing machines evolved which facilitated their production.More interesting examples of printed artwork and ephemera.Small-scale press operations created many types of colorful printed material, including greeting cards.A display case in the Central Library’s gallery contains more unique examples of printed art from the mid-twentieth century.This special exhibition contains many pieces that one can study and admire.Colorful posters, invitations and cards were popular in the mid-1900’s.Graphics designed specifically for fine art galleries are also on display.Some graphics produced by San Diego-based companies for the military.The U.S. Navy’s large presence in San Diego required the production of many pamphlets, charts and other printed documents.One display explains how physical art was first conceptualized and created before finally being printed on a magazine cover.A fascinating look at another era’s artistic expression through graphic design. It’s apparent that our culture has been greatly influenced by the evolution of printing technology.
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Writing is a struggle. After revising my latest short story over and over again, I believe that I finally have it right. This story is so short you’ll be able to read it in less than one minute! It’s called The Piano Player Sat Down.
Cool San Diego Sights! 