Tag: art

World Design Capital on a San Diego trolley!

Have you seen graphics on a San Diego Trolley concerning something called World Design Capital?

The trolley wrap I spotted this morning celebrates the designation of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024!

The two border cities–San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico–together compose what is essentially a binational metropolis. The dynamism of these two international cities, enriched by cultural cross-pollination and collaboration, helps make our region a hotbed for new ideas. This unique dynamic helped San Diego/Tijuana achieve the title World Design Capital!

The World Design Capital website explains: By showcasing our region as a global hub for design, innovation, arts, and culture, WDC 2024 will foster lasting economic, social, cultural, civic, and environmental impact.

Numerous community initiatives are being supported by World Design Capital 2024. There are events, activations, exhibitions, projects… You can see a complete program list here.

One event is the upcoming 31st Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival. I blogged about the popular festival a few days ago here.

I’ve also blogged about the art-filled Bay to Park Paseo walking experience that is being created along Park Boulevard, connecting San Diego Bay to Balboa Park. Read my initial blog concerning it here.

There’s more to come!

UPDATE!

A couple days later I noticed World Design Capital banners have appeared downtown, too!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Ikebana and visual poetry in Balboa Park.

Works of visual poetry were read by many eyes today in Balboa Park. The San Diego Wabi Chapter of the Ohara School of Ikebana presented their Annual Flower Show in the Casa del Prado.

Ikebana is the ancient Japanese art form of flower arrangement. Certain rules and a certain symmetry, containing contrasts and elegance, make this art form a bit like poetry. Every part of the arrangement, like every word in a poem, is potent in itself and vital. The assembled composition is more beautiful than the sum of its parts.

During the flower show, participants could learn the essentials of ikebana while watching live demonstrations by masters of the art.

If you love exquisitely beautiful things–or unspoken poetry–keep your eyes peeled for future ikebana shows in Balboa Park.

Meanwhile, enjoy these photographs…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Art at the Festival of Science & Engineering!

Could kids find and create art at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering? Yes!

Today was Expo Day, a free event held at Snapdragon Stadium. Thousands of young people wandered through the stadium’s concourses, viewing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) displays, and partaking in experiments and activities provided by about a hundred exhibitors!

The annual event is absolutely gargantuan and impossible to cover in one blog post. I’ve blogged about Expo Day several times in past years, when this educational extravaganza was held at Petco Park.

Winding through the crowd, I discovered the Art Pavilion and, with permission from various exhibitors, my camera got busy.

Enjoy a few photos of artwork created by students, teachers and artists attending the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering. Read the captions!

Families explore the Art Pavilion during Expo Day 2024, a San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering event at Snapdragon Stadium.

Are those molecules or cool sculptures? Kids get creative with the help of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Two hands, liquid and bending light by artist and educator Sheena Rae Dowling.

This cool STEAM artwork, full of creative ideas, won a blue ribbon!

Demand evidence. Think critically. Erica, a biology student at National University, created this scientific artwork!

The Art Club of Patrick Henry High School created these colorful Science Pyramids: Temples of Truth. If you point your phone at the artwork, you can experience augmented reality bursting from each pyramid!

Beautiful art depicting native flora and fauna presented by the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Space exploration art from a C.A.R.T. student.

Lunna, founder of VAINANA, creates art with bananas to fight hunger and promote food sustainability.

The colorful work of EcoArts Kids. Students create environmental art in afterschool programs at several San Diego elementary schools.

Part of the SoRoART group exhibition of soft robotics by SDSU students. Air periodically inflates these lungs, as if they’re breathing!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Sculptures at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

Dozens of sculptures are scattered around Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. Together they constitute the amazing Wolfstein Sculpture Park!

I walked around Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla recently and took photographs of many sculptures. There are dozens all together, and it turns out I missed several. You can see all of the art presently on display and read plaques that include artist information by clicking here.

What you see here is one of several Wolfstein Sculpture Parks! Another smaller sculpture park can be found around the Scripps hospital in Encinitas. Last year I checked out those sculptures and posted photographs here.

Why are these parks named Wolfstein? Nathan Wolfstein developed the process for purifying the blood thinning anticoagulant drug Heparin. Countless lives have been saved as a result of his discovery. Ralyn and Nate Wolfstein donate art to healing and educational centers and to help promote Arts for Healing Programs.

If you’re ever in La Jolla near Scripps Memorial Hospital, a very pleasant walk can be enjoyed outside the hospital and around nearby medical buildings!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Cool photo memories from March 2019.

What was going on in San Diego five years ago?

Back in 2019, during the month of March, the City of San Diego was just beginning to celebrate its 250th anniversary. Also in March there was the annual San Diego Architectural Foundation Open House event. And there was another fun Seaport Village Busker Fest. And the Comic-Con Museum’s very first exhibition. And another big Mariachi Festival in the South Bay. And Asian culture celebrated at the San Diego Museum of Art. And other exhibitions around town, and cool street art to be found, and, and, and…

I’ve collected 18 links for you to explore. They will take you to blog posts from five years ago this month. You can enjoy hundreds of photographs!

Click the following links for lots of colorful photographs…

Cool photos of San Diego’s 2019 Busker Fest!

Art raises awareness about bird trafficking.

Beaumont’s naval Art of the Sea in San Diego.

See the Comic-Con Museum’s first exhibition!

More cool street art in Normal Heights!

Photos of the colorful 2019 Mariachi Festival!

Fun mosaic sculptures at IB’s Peoples Park!

Asian arts come to life on museum’s front steps!

Banner celebrates San Diego’s 250th Anniversary!

Art exhibition interprets Music in the Key of Blue.

New muralist in San Diego makes her debut!

Murals inspire, motivate students in schools!

Inside the historic Portuguese U.P.S.E.S. Chapel.

A look inside the Portuguese Historical Center.

Baggage, a silvery orb, and contemporary art.

Photos inside the historic Ohr Shalom building.

Quilters look to the stars for inspiration!

Learning one’s letters in Old Town San Diego.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Fun photos that celebrate Leap Day!

February 29 is Leap Day!

Leap Day comes around once every four years–usually. Here’s a description provided by Wikipedia: In the Gregorian calendar, the standard civil calendar used in most of the world, February 29 is added in each year that is an integer multiple of four unless it is evenly divisible by 100 but not by 400. For example, 1900 was not a leap year but 2000 was.

It’s 2024, so Leap Day will be adding one extra day to the year.

Here’s a fun celebration of Leap Day!

I’ve gone through my old blog posts and found photographs taken around San Diego that depict great leaps. So let’s jump to it…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Little Girl with Fishes at Scripps Memorial Hospital.

A little girl plays among fishes in front of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. A book lies by the fountain in which she plays. The pages are open to a poem titled The Secret. It begins:

The fish had a secret he wanted to share with the girl on the beach who had nary a care to catch her attention and beckon her out he leapt from the water and twirled about.

His scales were golden his fins were like wings when the little girl saw him, she started to sing “Oh fishy, my fishy, come play with me!” and into the water she ran with great glee…

To learn all about The Secret, visit the happy child and the fishes, and read the long poem in the open book.

This wonderful bronze sculpture and its fountain are part of the Wolfstein Sculpture Park, which is located all around Scripps Memorial Hospital and its nearby medical buildings. The art is titled Little Girl with Fishes.

This public art was created by T.J. Dixon and James Nelson, whose incredible sculptures can be found all over San Diego.

I plan to blog more about the amazing Wolfstein Sculpture Park in a few days.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Old art on the new Bay to Park Paseo!

The epic Bay to Park Paseo is a 1.7 mile long, art-filled walking experience that is now being created in downtown San Diego!

Many creators and designers will soon be installing unique artwork along the Bay to Park Paseo, which celebrates the designation of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024!

Most of the new art will be installed along Park Boulevard, up a corridor that connects San Diego Bay to Balboa Park. The Bay to Park Paseo will start at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, cross the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge, and run up the east side of Petco Park, continuing north up Park Boulevard.

Many of you know a lot of old art can already be found along this long corridor!

I’ve photographed most of it over the years.

Here are a few photos of preexisting art on the Bay to Park Paseo…

To enjoy blog posts that feature preexisting art along the Bay to Park Paseo, click the following links. I’ve arranged these links from south to north. (Check the bottom of each blog post for the approximate date I took the photos.)

Living metal palm trees rise into San Diego sky.

Giant seashell sculpture is a Growing Home!

Cool new mural in East Village crushes it!

Tony Gwynn street art in East Village!

Street art celebrates legendary musicians!

Art and science in two amazing East Village murals!

Young Art: Outside the Frame in East Village!

Super colorful street art in San Diego.

Discovering more Young Art: Outside the Frame!

Flowers, patterns, and a tangle of emotions.

The Strength of the Women mural by Rafael Lopez.

Colorful new murals on Park Boulevard!

More Young Art: Outside the Frame!

A shining mystery at San Diego City College.

Four more Museum of Art utility boxes!

Old sculptural figures at San Diego High School.

Young Art: Outside the Frame at Balboa Park!

Some of the painted artwork you see in these old blog posts has since faded, been replaced or badly marred by graffiti.

An idea! Before the Bay to Park Paseo officially opens, perhaps original artists could be contacted in order to restore some of this great old art!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Petrichor rises in downtown Children’s Park!

Cool public art rises in downtown San Diego’s newly reopened Children’s Park. I walked through the park today and took photographs of this fascinating sculpture, which is titled Petrichor.

Last year, while the reimagined, redesigned Children’s Park was still closed to the public behind a construction fence, I had called this mysterious white structure a “tower of fun” in my ignorance. I thought it might be part of the nearby playground. I’ve since learned the steel and cement sculpture was created by San Diego artist Miki Iwasaki. (You might recall a different sculpture she created for Liberty Station in Point Loma.)

The odd lattice-like geometric shape of Petrichor in the sky makes an interesting contrast against nearby trees and more distant downtown high-rises!

Petrichor was added to the City of San Diego Civic Art Collection in 2023.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Save the Turtles mural in Pacific Beach.

Last June this beautiful environmental mural was painted in Pacific Beach. You can find it on the west side of Mission Boulevard, a block south of Grand Avenue. (It’s on a wall next to the anti-cigarette butt “Bunny Kitty” mural by Persue that you can see here.)

I took these photos into the afternoon sun, but with a little contrast tweaking they appear pretty good. The watery mural features a mermaid, sea turtle, tropical fish, and the two messages: DON’T USE PLASTIC STRAWS and SAVE THE TURTLES.

The artist is Aqua One (@aquaoneart), who describes himself as a Modern Chicano Graffiti Artist. If you check out his Instagram page, you’ll notice his other artwork has a very different look!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!