Tag: art

Mural painted at New Village Arts in Carlsbad!

A large new mural was recently painted on the back wall of the New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad!

New Village Arts is a professional theatre group whose building is presently undergoing a major renovation. It will be reopening early next year.

The amazing mural is titled Reflection. It’s by CLYDE (@clyde_0000), a graffiti artist out of Tempe, Arizona.

I happened to spy this new mural yesterday as I walked near the roundabout east of the Carlsbad Village train station. Of course, I had to go check it out!

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Painting at Carlsbad’s new Alley Art Wall!

During my walk in Carlsbad today, I stumbled upon a friendly gentleman painting a swath of the new Alley Art Wall!

The Alley Art Wall features a large composite mural featuring the permanent work of 17 artists. You can find it on the side of Village Kabob, at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Tyler Street.

The Alley Art Wall debuted early this year. It is a project of Carlsbad artist Bryan Snyder. (Years ago he started a different Carlsbad Art Wall with rotating artists at nearby Señor Grubby’s.)

A rectangular area within this new Alley Art Wall is called the Recreation Mural Space. It’s an ever-changing designated creative space where any inspired muralist can paint as they please!

The gentleman I ran across today, painting the rectangular Recreation Mural Space in my photos, is Lee. He envisions kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Carlsbad adding their own artwork to the space!

Very cool!

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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!

Nature murals at Harbaugh Seaside Trails.

Extraordinary murals depicting native wildlife, birds, flowers and plants welcome people who enter a system of trails in and around San Elijo Lagoon north of Solana Beach.

Heading up Highway 101, you might see an outdoor installation with the words Harbaugh Seaside Trails. That’s the donor plaza where you’ll find these mosaics. If the beautiful ceramic artwork appears familiar, perhaps that’s because local artist Betsy Schulz created them. You might have seen her similar work elsewhere around San Diego.

Harbaugh Seaside Trails is a 3-acre coastal overlook between Solana Beach and Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Should you feel in an adventurous mood, you can walk from this scenic area down an easy trail that passes under the railroad tracks.

On the other side of the tracks is the San Elijo Lagoon State Marine Conservation Area, where you’ll discover a large wetland containing more natural beauty and wildlife. (I’ll be blogging about this shortly.)

You’d love to see these murals in person . . . and feel the fresh breeze, and watch birds moving down near the water, and simply experience this beautiful place.

Why not do it today?

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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!

Penelope awaits Odysseus at Coronado Tidelands Park.

In 2019, this sculpture of Penelope, from Greek mythology, was placed beside the boardwalk in Coronado Tidelands Park.

The bronze head of Penelope gazes across the water toward the Coronado Bridge and South Bay, as if awaiting the return of her husband Odysseus. Odysseus (the Romans called him Ulysses) was fated to wander from adventure to adventure after the Trojan War.

I guess I hadn’t walked this way for over three years, because I didn’t notice Penelope here before. But I did see this same sculpture many years ago. It stood for a while just north of Seaport Village, where Ruocco Park was eventually developed.

The amazing work of public art was created by artist Michael Stutz in 2009. (Looking at his website, I note he also created the Flame Flower in front of the Westin Gaslamp, which you can see here.)

I love the artist’s representation of Penelope. The mask-like face, gazing out over San Diego Bay, appears windblown but firm. The sculpture evokes human patience, anticipation, nobility…

Weaving by day, Penelope would be forced to choose a…

…new husband when her tapestry was complete. But all…

…the while she waited, unraveling her work by night…

…steadfastly sure of Ulysses’ return.

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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!

La Mesa to create Downtown Village Sign!

Plans are underway to create a landmark sign in La Mesa’s downtown Village!

La Mesa families are preparing painted tiles that will decorate the columns of the archway sign!

The “La Mesa Village District Sign” will span La Mesa Boulevard at Palm Avenue. It will resemble the distinctive gateway signs in other San Diego neighborhoods and cities in the county.

I knew nothing about this project until I walked past a banner and posters in windows at the intersection where the sign will be erected.

The ongoing “Leave a Legacy Tile” fundraiser will eventually produce a “Community Quilt” installed on the base of each column!

If you’d like to participate, here’s the website!

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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!

Coffee mural in Encanto at The Mental Bar!

Check out this very cool new mural, painted in Encanto just a couple months ago! It’s by artist Irieanna Sesma (@SD_IRIE).

The mural very effectively attracts attention to the newly opened The Mental Bar!

The Mental Bar- Coffee, Tea & Wellness, at 6325 Imperial Avenue, is a welcoming place run by two very nice people who greeted me with big smiles.

They offer all sorts of healthy things to eat and drink. I’m afraid all I asked for was a bottle of water. (Walking around in the San Diego sunshine is thirsty business!)

They asked what I liked about the mural. I said I really liked the cool neon vibe!

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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!

Let’s Live, Let’s Love in Encanto!

Words of wisdom can be found up and down Imperial Avenue in San Diego’s Encanto neighborhood.

LETS LIVE LETS LOVE has been painted on several different electrical boxes, along with a variety of beautiful designs.

I photographed one of these boxes a couple years ago when I posted great examples of street art in Encanto. (You can see all that street art here.)

Let’s Live. Let’s Love.

These words might seem simple, but you know what? The very peak of wisdom might be contained in those few small words.

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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!

Greetings Tour mural at Seaport Village.

Early last year, the artists of the Greetings Tour (@GreetingsTour) painted this mural in Seaport Village. I finally got around to photographing it!

If the style seems somewhat familiar, this same artist couple has painted three other postcard-like murals in San Diego: in Little Saigon, North Park, and Liberty Station!

The traveling artists Lisa and Victor have created dozens of “postcard murals” all around the country, but San Diego boasts more of them than any other city!

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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!

Super creative piñatas fill the Mingei!

Would you like to see a jaw-dropping exhibition of super creative piñatas?

Would you like to see fantastic works of art that have been inspired by the traditional Mexican piñata?

Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration is now on display at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park!

I’ve never seen so many unique piñatas all in one place. And so many unusual ones!

In addition to more familiar traditional piñatas, visitors to the exhibition will see unusual piñata costumes, creative piñata wall art, piñatas with political messages, humorous piñatas, pop culture piñatas . . . even a life-size car piñata! (That car piñata would hold a lot of candy!)

According to the Mingei’s website, this is one of the first-ever exhibitions to spotlight piñatas as a traditional craft and vibrant contemporary art form.

I was excited to see so many unexpected creations. It never occurred to me that piñatas might be crafted as small hummingbirds or butterflies, or a bag of Cheetos, or a bottle of COVID-19 vaccine!

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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!

New art in Artist Alley Oceanside!

During my North County adventure last week, I noticed that new artwork has appeared in Artist Alley Oceanside!

First, the long mural on the low wall identifying the alley has changed considerably. You can compare how it looked previously by checking out this blog post from two years ago.

You’ll also notice a couple of cool new murals on either side of Ikigai Artifacts, and a painting that greets customers just inside their front door.

Sadly, the Van Gogh sunflowers mural at one end of the Artist Alley, which I photographed here, has been vandalized again. Hopefully somebody restores it and keeps an eye on 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!