Tag: art

Beautiful bookplates at the Mission Hills library.

Do you love books?

Do you love the look, feel, and smell of words on paper, bound handsomely together for your own bookshelf?

I love to stumble upon dusty old books at a swap meet or rummage sale. Turn the pages and the author still speaks. The cover and interior artwork can be fantastic. One might find interesting notes or thoughts scribbled by past readers. And, if you’re lucky, there will be a beautiful bookplate inside.

What’s a bookplate? It’s a label readers affix inside their books to indicate ownership. They can also be used for book signings by authors.

The Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Harley & Bessie Knox Library currently has a display case full of handsome bookplates near its front entrance. They come from the San Diego Public Library’s Special Collections.

Here are a few examples:

The Mission Hills-Hillcrest Branch Library opened in 2019. Its grand opening was preceeded by one of the most wonderful events I’ve experienced in San Diego: the epic Book Pass!

Hundreds of neighbors transported hundreds of books from the old branch library to the newly built library. Every book passed from hand to hand about a mile down Washington Street. I took photographs of that incredible event, which you can see here!

…

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!

Subway stops at San Diego Museum of Art!

The subway has a new stop at the San Diego Museum of Art!

Until December 3, 2023, visitors walking through two San Diego Museum of Art galleries will experience the inside of a gritty subway. The New York subway in 1980, that is. Diverse passengers in close contact pass through dimly lit tunnels together in a photographic exhibition that can be interpreted as a metaphor for our life in this world.

The exhibition is titled Bruce Davidson: Subway. The artist, Bruce, spent a full year photographing people on the New York subway. He noted that close contact between strangers could result in surprisingly beautiful moments. Strangers find that they are alike in many ways, sympathize, laugh, learn about each other. Of course, these moments rely on strangers actually talking to one another.

Today, passengers staring at phones safely avoid eye contact on public transit. You can observe this on the San Diego Trolley. By tilting heads downward, passengers easily escape real world uncertainties and personal vulnerability. Does living inside a little screen make people more or less human?

Make Galleries 14/15 your destination at the San Diego Museum of Art. Enter these two free galleries from Panama 66 in the sculpture court. Look for the Subway sign!

Five years ago I wrote a short story titled One Thousand Likes. It’s about phone addiction and social isolation on a crowded light rail train. Unfortunately, the story resonates more than ever. You can read it and other thought-provoking stories by clicking here.

…

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!

Design In Wood at San Diego County Fair!

I must confess that my favorite part of the San Diego County Fair every year is the Design In Wood exhibition of fine woodworking. The amazing creations of woodworkers around the San Diego region always blow my mind!

Check out some of the creations you will see. You’ll find beautifully crafted furniture such as chairs, tables and cabinets. There are extraordinary carved sculptures. There are imaginative works of art made of wood that you can hang on the wall. There are surfboards. There are clocks. There are fantastic guitars. There are elaborate, very detailed model ships. There are wooden toys. There’s even an Addams Family pinball machine made almost entirely of wood!

What’s really cool is that several woodworking organizations from around San Diego County provide expert demonstrations, too. Small items that you can buy for a donation such as spinning tops and writing pens are fashioned while you watch.

Design In Wood is presented in association with the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association. You can find this awesome exhibition at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the Mission Tower next to the Gems and Minerals exhibit.

…

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!

A fun Garden Show at the County Fair!

This year the theme at the San Diego County Fair is Get Out There! Throughout the Del Mar Fairgrounds visitors encounter displays that celebrate recreation in the Great Outdoors.

This theme works perfectly with one of the most popular attractions at the San Diego County Fair: the outdoor Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show!

Gardening clubs, local students and civic organizations have created their own themed landscape displays. In the spirit of Get Out There, many of the small gardens that I saw during my visit include camping tents and lawn chairs, nestled among native Southern California plants. There is also a fun potted garden competition.

I also found a gigantic animatronic snail. And model trains running through a representation of Yellowstone National Park. And a display that pays tribute to Route 66. And there are old wagons filled with flowers. And a plant sale. And art, too!

…

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!

Bold art at the San Diego County Fair!

Wonder Woman, by artist Yhoshua Gutierrez.

Should you wander into Grandstand East at the San Diego County Fair, you’ll find yourself surrounded by great paintings and other works of art. There are literally hundreds of pieces in the fair’s Fine Art Exhibit.

Because artists are competing for ribbons, the exhibition has been divided into various categories. One category which really caught my attention is titled Be Bold!

Comic-Con is less than a month away, so an awesome painting of Wonder Woman caught my eye. A nearby representation of the iconic Euclid Tower in City Heights then convinced me to blog a few photos of these Be Bold creations!

Creation, by artist Lydia Twigg.

Celtic Horse, by artist Michael Markopoulos.

Tower Bar, by artist Sarah Conley.

Banje Beach, by artist Rick Lepire.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I’ll be covering Comic-Con again this year. It’s almost here! To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Artist creates unique playing cards, games!

Brilliant! That’s what I thought when I met artist Jeff Daymont and observed his uniquely designed playing cards and original games!

I was walking through the Seaside Pavilion at the San Diego County Fair–you know, where vendors sell unique wares, demonstrating salad choppers and knives that will cut through a brick–when my eyes fell upon an unusual table. That’s a lot of playing cards, I thought. Then I looked more closely…

Jeff has created playing cards that are truly unique. The Kings and Queens illustrated on cards depict actual monarchs, rulers and royalty from world history. Many of the playing cards are also designed to support all sorts of original games, such as Rock, Paper, Scissors, Water and Lizard!

You can see a bunch of games invented so far for the versatile King’s Keys deck by clicking here. If you think up a new game, submit it!

Not only are these playing cards works of art, but I absolutely love the concept that inspired players can dream up new games!

Do you want to check out Jeff Daymont’s very cool playing cards?

Click here for his website!

Speaking of inventing games, have I ever mentioned that I wrote interactive game software in the early 1980s?

As a young man in high school and college, I created computer games that were published by Softsync and packaged as Double Feature Adventure: Quest for the Holy Grail & The Elusive Mr. Big. The two text adventure games were coded in BASIC for the ZX-81 and TS-1000. My creations were very early versions of open-world role-playing games!

You can read a review of one of my games here!

A similar game I wrote for the Commodore 64 was titled Super Clue. It can be played freely on your computer right now by visiting the Internet Archive here!

Here’s a screenshot of a new game beginning:

Hints: the characters in Super Clue move about randomly, randomly drop and pick up objects, and can randomly leave clues at each location. There are several possible murder weapons. You can search characters and locations and interrogate the roaming characters. Use objects that you pick up like a magnifier, rope and flashlight. The initial character positions are randomly generated. To make a new move, type in a simple two or three word command. Enter “help” to see which words are recognized. One character is initially designated the murderer. Deduce who it is and make an arrest before midnight, or before there are more victims! I’m very proud of the sound effects I created. Be patient! As the ancient program runs on a computer emulator, every move’s resulting text can be a bit slow to appear, so wait a few seconds. Map out the mansion as you move about. Have fun!

…

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!

A peek into the Japanese Friendship Garden gallery.

The Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego’s Balboa Park has more than beautiful trees, plants, waterfalls and streams. The garden is home to a gallery containing Japanese cultural artifacts.

Not to be confused with the Exhibit Hall, which houses rotating art exhibits, the museum-like gallery that I visited today is located near the outdoor courtyard in the Upper Garden. You’ll find it inside the Deborah Szekely Activity Center.

The diverse pieces you can admire in this gallery are very fine. Anyone can take a close look at several colorful kimonos, an exquisite Mizuya Tansu (kitchen chest), the elaborate model of a Japanese-style cargo ship, and a jinrikisha dated circa 1868-1912. You’ll also find traditional works of Japanese craft and art.

The next time you walk through the breathtaking natural beauty of the Japanese Friendship Garden, remember to enjoy this great gallery!

…

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!

Strange whale swims inland to Escondido!

Xebeche the skywhale has soared and swum inland to Escondido. That’s Xebeche hovering by the side of a building.

You can find this colorful sky whale mural near the corner of Grand Avenue and Juniper Street, just south of the 7-Eleven.

The whale’s name is Xebeche. He was created last year by artist Tristan Pittard.

A strange conversation with the skywhale is written on the wall:

What is your name? My name is Nobody. Excuse me? My name is Xebeche. He who talks loud, say nothing. I thought you said your name was Nobody? I prefer to be called Nobody.

I’m just a skywhale, but you, Human, are the caretaker of this world.

A peculiar conversation around an impassable doorway.

…

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!

Greetings From Escondido postcard mural!

Greetings From Escondido, The Beautiful Hidden Valley. This cool postcard-like mural was painted a number of years ago, but I photographed it for the first time during my most recent Escondido walk.

The artist is Zane Kingcade. He has painted a number of colorful murals around Escondido.

The “Postcard From Escondido” mural contains images that represent this city in sunny North County. There are oranges, avocados and grapes. There’s the dome of Escondido’s distinctive Civic Center, and a rhinoceros at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. There’s Dixon Lake, a popular fishing spot.

The Spanish word escondido means hidden. Keep your eyes peeled! If you drive west down Valley Parkway, you might spy this easily missed mural on the side of King’s Pawn.

…

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!

Is this an idealistic, utopian home?

A unique trailer towed by bicycle is now on display near the front counter of the San Diego Central Library. It’s called Migration Home 1 (MH-1).

According to its description, this tiny “mobile home” that doubles as a rowboat was crafted with repurposed materials, and designed with a mixture of realism and idealism.

The artist, Aaron Glasson, seems to envision a bleak future where humans can’t rely on technological progress to solve problems, but must live a more primitive existence.

Can a vehicle such as this carry an idealist toward utopia?

The statement concludes: By believing in the value of solution-based thinking, artmaking, and utopian idealism we can help guide the future in a more positive direction.

…

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!