Another perfect Sunday in San Diego. Another amazing ikebana Japanese flower arrangement show in Balboa Park!
The 57th Annual Spring Exhibition “Nature in Balance” by Ikebana International San Diego Chapter #119 was held this weekend in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado. Even though I’ve been to many of these shows, I couldn’t resist walking into Room 101 to experience exquisite beauty that never grows old.
I’ve said it before. Every single ikebana flower arrangement is a visual poem.
If you didn’t make the show this year, go to the organization’s website and see what free exhibitions are coming up. Or become a member!
Here are a few photos…
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The first solo exhibition in the United States by Dutch artist Afra Eisma opened recently in San Diego. The Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego in Balboa Park is overflowing with her imaginative works that promote healing. The title of the exhibition is Hush.
As a sign at the gallery’s entrance explains: Dutch artist afra eisma transforms ICA San Diego into an immersive environment were healing becomes a collective experience. Through vibrantly colored tapestries, soft sculpture, and interactive installation, eisma creates dreamlike sanctuaries for mythological beings, animals, and otherworldly creatures to support and nurture each other…
Afra Eisma has created artwork to help process her own personal trauma. Hush not only encourages pause and thoughtfulness, but focuses specifically on the healing properties of breathing.
Much life, color and creativity permeates the exhibition. When I visited, I felt as if I were wandering through a strange, living fantasy world where all are welcome.
If you enjoy contemporary art, certainly head down to Balboa Park and step into the free Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego. Hush will be on display through June 1, 2025.
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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.
For many years–as long as I can remember–the north side of the Reliable Pipe Supply lot on San Diego’s Commercial Street has been decorated with street art. Most of the images reference pop culture characters–in particular, comic book superheroes and villains.
When I walked along Commercial Street between National Avenue and 15th Street recently, I noticed much of the artwork changed in 2024. After doing a little research, I see that a variety of San Diego artists came together during San Diego’s Comic-Con to create this street art.
I took these photographs as I walked along.
(This string of pop culture street art is similar to a stretch that was painted a short distance down the road to the east, near the intersection of Commercial Street and 31st Street. You can see those photos, taken in 2018, 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.
Why does a person enter a library? To read, write, think and dream.
That’s certainly what students do after walking through the doors of the Geisel Library at UC San Diego in La Jolla!
Indeed, the front entrance of the Geisel Library celebrates human thought and creativity with its four word proclamation: READ WRITE THINK DREAM.
I was surprised to learn that these words, together with the colorful glass doors and images of students at the library’s entrance, were the creation of an internationally important artist: John Baldessari!
Born locally in National City, John Baldessari would go on to become one of the world’s most recognized conceptual artists. His work would be featured in over 200 solo shows and 1,000 group shows in his six-decade career. His awards and the museums that have collected his pieces are numerous.
READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM debuted in 2001 and is included in UCSD’s Stuart Collection of public art. Visit the webpage that provides a detailed description by clicking here.
Baldessari liked to provoke thought with his art. His works are described as open-ended puzzles.
With outside sunlight shining through, the primary colors of the transparent doors create new colors when they slide open and overlap. Combining basic elements into something that is different and new–that’s the essence of dreaming, creativity and discovery–isn’t it?
Perhaps you’ve seen another work of John Baldessari in La Jolla. I photographed his Brain/Cloud outdoor mural a few years ago and posted the images 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.
On the south side of San Diego’s popular Waterfront Park, a stairwell descends to an underground parking lot. This colorful mural greets people as they begin to descend the stairs.
The public art, dated 2014, is a photo reproduction on aluminum of San Diego-based contemporary artist Allison Renshaw‘s original painting Last Call, which is on display inside the nearby County Administration Building.
As the artist’s website explains: Allison’s work offers multiple perspectives, discordant vocabularies, and malleable boundaries. Her art is informed by particles of our urban and natural landscape along with culture found in the everyday…
I can’t believe it took me 11 years to finally share a good photograph of this eye-catching art. Back in 2014, I posted a blog documenting opening day at Waterfront Park, and you can get a glimpse of the mural in one of those photographs!
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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.
Today, inside Balboa Park’s Museum of Us (formerly called the Museum of Man), visitors can view reproductions of four murals.
The Museum of Us is housed in the historic California Building. In 1915 the building was home to the San Diego Museum. “The Story of Man Through the Ages” was the San Diego Museum’s exhibit during the Panama-California Exposition, and featured the six original Vierra murals.
Should you step into the Museum of Us, you can find two of the reproduced murals on the ground floor, in the large central atrium, hung on the wall on either side of the main entrance. Two additional murals can be viewed in a gallery on the second floor directly above.
The two ground floor murals depict the ruins of prehistoric Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico.
My first pair of photographs (above) show one mural on the ground floor. As a sign explains: Central to this painting is the round building, known as the Caracol, which functioned as an observatory. Behind it lies the ballcourt, the largest such ritual playing field in Mesoamerica. To the right is the sacred cenote, the well of sacrifice.
The second pair of photographs (below) show the mural to the right of it. These murals depict the Maya architectural style known as Puuc, that prevailed from about 600 AD to 900 AD.
Decorating a gallery wall on the second floor, the two additional Vierra murals illustrate the ancient cities of Palenque and Tikal…
UPDATE!
I’ve since learned two more Vierra murals can be viewed in the museum. I’ll go in search of them next time I visit the Museum of Us, and post those photos in an update!
ANOTHER UPDATE!
Here they are…
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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 X.
Seven very fine sculptures, each belonging to the San Diego Civic Art Collection, are located inside the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library. I discovered them last weekend when I visited the library to experience a Black History Month event.
The bronze sculptures, most of them gilded and painted, were all created by Ed Dwight, an artist who resides in Denver, Colorado. The largest work, depicting Malcolm X, stands near the center of the library.
The other half dozen sculptures honor legendary American jazz musicians. They are displayed in cases inside the library’s community room. Their titles are: Eubie’s Boogie, Jazz Guitar, Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Miles Davis.
The artist has a remarkable and rather unexpected background! As search results from the San Diego Civic Art website explain:
Dwight was the first African American to be trained as an astronaut. Dwight began his career as an artist after many years working in various fields including the military, engineering, and real estate. His first important commission was a sculpture of Colorado’s first black Lieutenant Governor, George Brown, in 1974. Since then, he has been prolific in creating homages to the most significant contributions of black culture to American history. His work has focused on the history of jazz and its significant figures, as well as civil rights activists and African American pioneers…
It was difficult taking good photographs with reflections on the glass cases creating interference. I encourage everyone to check out the above link and see good images of all seven sculptures, or, better yet, head over to the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library and begin your own exploration!
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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.
A weird glowing jellyfish–perhaps giving birth? A wildly creative lamp? Some alien creature from the planet Pandora? A dream-thing resplendent with arcane symbols?
As I walked in darkness this morning through downtown San Diego, a very strange, seemingly living thing caught my eye. It was shining in the studio window of artist James Watts!
A super cool exhibition recently opened in the La Jolla Historical Society‘s free Wisteria Cottage museum. The exhibition is titled La Jolla Surf: Culture, Art, Craft. As the name suggests, surf culture is explored in La Jolla and nearby communities, from the earliest days right up to the present.
There are all sorts of different surfboards on display. Each is cleverly designed and artistically unique. Local designers, shapers and surfers used these boards to conquer the world-famous surf found off La Jolla and other nearby Southern California beaches.
Subjects explored include the iconic Windansea Shack, which dates back to 1947 and has been featured in dozens of movies. Legendary surfboard makers and surfers, like Bob Simmons, are also celebrated. One of the notable board shapers honored is Rusty Preisendorfer, who, at the age of 16, began a factory in a garage a short distance from La Jolla Shores.
I was surprised to learn pop art icon Andy Warhol filmed the movie ‘San Diego Surf’ in 1968 in La Jolla.
As you might expect, the exhibit includes dozens of excellent surfing photographs, and examples of cool artwork, too.
I really enjoyed viewing a short film. It featured a variety of important personalities. Their words about surfing were often poetic or philosophical.
One interviewee called surfing spiritual. Another called it a beautiful dance. Another explained that surfing brings you to close to yourself. It’s peaceful and calming, said another. The experience is deep and powerful, another voice affirmed. Skip Frye, world-famous surfer, surfboard designer, shaper and environmental advocate, likened surfing to being in close touch with God’s creation.
La Jolla Surf: Culture, Art, Craft will be open to the public through May 25, 2025. Learn more about it here!
A small taste of this awesome exhibit…
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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.
San Diego’s all-time favorite player, Padres baseball legend Tony Gwynn, greets motorists driving into downtown from State Route 94!
This amazing mural of Tony Gwynn was painted last year in East Village, at F Street and 16th Avenue, by Ground Floor Murals. A Jamul Casino billboard next to it proclaims: Here’s to SD’s favorite player.
Signe Ditona and Paul Jimenez of Ground Floor Murals have painted many amazing Padres player murals all around San Diego. In the past I’ve documented two more of their Tony Gwynn murals. See those photos here and 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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 