Gallery 21 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center is now hosting a show full of very beautiful silk art, created by members of the San Diego Silk Guild.
During my visit to the gallery this afternoon, I was interested to learn about the different types of art that can be created using silk. I was shown clothing, scarves, paintings on silk, wax batiks, Japanese shibori, botanical printing, unique sculptures . . . far more than my astonished brain could easily comprehend!
As you can see, this silk artwork can be very colorful. Some of the techniques produce a degree of subtlety and complexity one might not expect.
Looking for something beautiful to take home? Most of the pieces are for sale.
I’m afraid I forgot to take a photo of the sign in front of the gallery, but I believe the show continues until mid-August. You might want to drop by next weekend!
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Have you ever wanted to peek into the homes of well-known artists? Now is your chance!
The La Jolla Historical Society has an intriguing exhibition now running at its Wisteria Cottage Gallery. The Artist At Home provides a glimpse into the domestic life of artists–many of whom are world-famous, and many who live in the Southern California and Baja region.
The exhibition has a bit of fun recreating how the home of an artist might appear. But by far the most interesting thing you will see are the numerous photographs of artists in their living spaces and home studios, often at work.
The architecture is frequently unique, designed by creators who continuously create. Works in progress are scattered in rooms among furnishing. It’s apparent that for many artists life and work are indistinguishable. Living is devoted to creating.
Learn more about the exhibition The Artist At Home, including the location and hours, by clicking here.
Niki de Saint Phalle and her assistant Tim Herr at the Princess St. studio. La Jolla, California. 2000.Studio of James Hubbell. Santa Ysabel, California. 2012. Norman Rockwell.Georgia O’Keeffe.Andrew Wyeth.Studio of Irène de Watteville. Solana Beach, California. 2023.“Being an artist is a lifestyle… There is no major distinction between home and studio life.” Einar and Jamex De La Torre.Studio of Johnny “Bear” Contreras. San Pasqual Reservation. 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!
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If you’ve never visited the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, now would be a great time to go. They’re currently presenting the 31st Annual Juried Exhibition in their beautiful, light-filled Joseph Clayes III Gallery.
During my La Jolla walk yesterday, I stepped into the Athenaeum merely to savor the handsome architecture and furnishings of this special, unique library. As I turned from the entrance into the main gallery, I was pleased to discover this juried exhibition. The very different pieces–including sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs–were created by twenty-five artists. (How prestigious is this annual exhibition? Three hundred artists submitted their work for consideration.)
Visit the Athenaeum to enjoy the great pieces in this gallery and elsewhere in the library. You’ll appreciate the passion of artists who love to create.
Check the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library website here to learn more!
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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!
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Very sad news. One of San Diego’s most important museums will soon be closing permanently. The Map and Atlas Museum of La Jolla, considered one of the top map museums in the world, will remain open through the end of this month. After August 31, 2023, it’s gone.
If you are interested in art, printing or world history, you absolutely must visit this museum before it vanishes forever.
Extremely rare maps fill the galleries. Many contain blank spaces–those places on the planet that centuries ago hadn’t been fully explored. By observing the known (or surmised) outlines of oceans and continents, and the shifting boundaries of nations, it’s possible to follow history and the evolution of geographic knowledge.
Five years ago I carefully explored the museum. You can find that informative blog post here.
The Map and Atlas Museum of La Jolla is located at 7825 Fay Avenue. Take the office building’s elevator down to the lower Courtyard Level. The museum is open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday, and the 1st and 3rd Saturdays, from 11 am to 4 pm.
Those who are curious have few chances left to visit. You won’t regret 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 Twitter!
Several weeks ago a colorful new mural was painted in Waterfront Park in San Diego. You can find it on the east side of the restrooms, which are located a few steps south of the County Administration Building.
Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is an act! A positive message of human kindness is conveyed by the happy artwork.
The creators of this mural are REVISION (@revision_sandiego) and Hanna Gundrum (@littlehouseink).
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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 Twitter!
Should you ever walk down Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach, keep a sharp lookout for the Ocean Beach Arcade. It’s the brick building you see in the next photograph. Inside you’ll discover a number of small businesses, including a coffee shop, vintage store and art supply store. And you’ll find yourself surrounded by all sorts of fun artwork!
The mural of a boy peering into a window with his dog immediately brought out my camera. As I looked around, I snapped more photos!
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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 Twitter!
There’s an installation of public art in Mission Hills that’s easily overlooked. The art is titled Guard Posts. Redwood posts wrapped with copper stand at the side of the road where Goldfinch Street turns west and becomes Lewis Street. Engraved in copper are words that describe the canyon beyond the guard posts.
Why do I call this public art hidden? Not only are the posts inconspicuous from a distance, but some of the art is actually hidden in the branches of nearby vegetation.
Local artists Richard Keely and Maidie Morris finished the Guard Posts in 1994. You can see how time and weather have altered the artwork–made the copper appear more natural.
Most of the words atop these posts were contributed by members of the Mission Hills community. I did my best to transcribe…
HAWKS AND FALCONS FLYING OVER AT VARIOUS TIMES OF THE DAY, THE CANYONS ARE AN UNBELIEVABLE ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM ON THEIR OWN… MISSION HILLS RESIDENTWE HEARD OF PEOPLE LIVING DOWN IN THIS CANYON… MISSION HILLS RESIDENTIN THE SPRING EVERY SIDE OF THE CANYON IS SO DIFERENT. JUST LIKE A PALETTE. MISSION HILLS RESIDENTCANYONS, WHERE THEY SLIP APART LIKE FINGERS, ACT JUST LIKE A CHIMNEY. WE DON’T WANT TO… CANYON FIRE EVER (I can’t make out some of the words. If you know the full text, please leave a comment!)CANYONS…WELL. AS A PET SHOP OWNER I CAN SAY THERE’S A LOT OF WILD LIFE DOWN IN THE CANYONS… FOX. SKUNKS. LITTLE CREATURES
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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 Twitter!
Two sides of the building in Bankers Hill that is home to San Diego CoLab was painted several months ago with a beautiful mural. I took these photographs a couple days ago.
You can see this colorful street art at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fir Street. The artist is Melanie Sojourner-Truth Atesalp.
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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 Twitter!
Georgia O’Keeffe. Henry Moore. What do these two famous modernist artists, who lived on two separate continents, have in common? Love of nature. And a singular exhibition now open at the San Diego Museum of Art!
I enjoyed a very special tour of O’Keeffe and Moore a few days ago and I’m still deeply moved while thinking about it.
I, like many people, have always loved the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe. However I knew precious little about Henry Moore, apart from a curvaceous sculpture he created, Reclining Figure: Arch Leg, that stands in the sculpture garden at the San Diego Museum of Art.
When compared side by side, the abstract work of both artists is strikingly similar. Organic, sensuous, familiar, elemental, inspired by forms found in nature. It’s no surprise that their art seems to be distilled from flowers, landscapes, bones and clouds. Because both artists loved nature and closely studied these things.
Both Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore collected bones, driftwood and smooth river stones. Their studios resembled work areas at a natural history museum. In one gallery at the San Diego Museum of Art, recreations of the two artist studios are displayed for visitors to enjoy.
I was surprised to learn that O’Keeffe created sculptures, and that Henry Moore, the sculptor, also painted. The exhibition contains over a hundred pieces between the two artists.
Here is some of O’Keefe’s beautiful work:
The White Flower (White Trumpet Flower), Georgia O’Keeffe, 1932. Oil on canvas. “I have painted what each flower is to me and I have painted it big enough so that others would see what I see.”Red Hill and White Shell, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1938. Oil on canvas. A moon snail shell from the Atlantic shore in the New Mexico desert.Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1938. Oil on canvas. Juxtaposition of skull with a flower.
Museum visitors admire Georgia O’Keeffe’s recreated studio which was located at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico:
Abstraction, Georgia O’Keefe, 1946. White lacquered bronze. Inspired by spiral of ram horns.
And here’s Moore at work, and a recreation of a studio in rural Hertfordshire:
Moore Working on the Elmwood Reclining Figure 1959-64. Photographer unknown.Recreation of Henry Moore’s Bourne Maquette Studio, which was named for a stream near the old farmhouse where he lived and worked.
A few of Moore’s sculptures, some of which are models for even larger pieces:
Working Model for Seated Woman, Henry Moore, 1980. Plaster with surface color. Enlarged from a small maquette created in 1956.Mother and Child, Henry Moore, 1978. Stalactite. Inspired by two seashells. (You don’t often see a sculpted piece of stalactite!)Working Model for Oval with Points, Henry Moore, 1968-69. Bronze. Inspired by the interior of an elephant skull.
This truly extraordinary exhibit is made possible by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Henry Moore Foundation. It will be on view at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park until August 27, 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 Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 