Early this morning I walked in Logan Heights to see a super cool Batman mural I’d heard about by San Diego street artists Fizix.
But first I found more of his art in the neighborhood!
Let me share this mural painted by Fizix on one side of Stoody Industrial & Welding Supply, located at 33rd Street and National Avenue.
The image of hardworking welders and workers is awesome!
If the mural has something of a comic book look, that’s because San Diego illustrator, digital artist and muralist Alex Julian aka Fizix (@alexfizix) has a distinctive pop style that can also be found in his graphic novel art.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
A few weeks ago a corner store in National City was brightened by the young artists of A Reason To Survive (ARTS).
The Munchies Corner Store, at the corner of 18th Street and Palm Avenue, has been painted colorfully with many fun, smiling characters! (Including a few of the tasty snacks that await inside!)
The mission of A Reason To Survive is to lift and encourage South Bay youth to become confident, compassionate, and courageous community builders through the transformative power of creativity. As you can see, these young painters have made a positive contribution to their community!
Enjoy some photos that I took this morning. You can plainly see how the efforts of ARTS and inspired young people are making National City more welcoming and beautiful…
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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 Twitter!
These copper Batik Printing Blocks, combined like words on a page, seem to tell a beautiful story. A complex story about life.
You can find this huge “panel” of Indonesian tjaps at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park. The artwork has been installed on the second floor, near one of the doors that leads to the outdoor terrace overlooking the Plaza de Panama.
The copper blocks were used for wax resist textile printing. Each block, whose intricate design would be repeated on fabric, is combined with about 200 other unique blocks.
The cumulative effect is like a pile of golden Autumn leaves. Or shining memories collected like precious coins, spread on a table before one’s hands. Or a page ready set for a printing press.
It’s the story of a culture, created by many hands.
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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 Twitter!
Oh my goodness! I stepped into the newly renovated Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park today and my mouth dropped open. The first thing I noticed: all that brightly shining brass!
Had I stepped into a golden palace?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Timken was closed to the public, not only was a new high tech air filtration added to the museum, but works of art were rearranged, gallery walls painted a pleasant slightly bluish off white (which works perfectly with the many painted masterpieces in gold frames), and all of the building’s brasswork was polished. I’m talking lots and lots of ornate brass, both inside the museum and out!
The building is now more light-filled and elegant than ever, but also less stodgy, more inviting. And it’s still free to view some of the very finest paintings on display in San Diego, including our city’s only Rembrandt.
I learned those two tapestries that used to hang in the central lobby were removed to preserve them, and that the Mercury sculpture has been moved into the outside garden. It’s visible in one my photographs.
The museum’s huge windows not only invite in ample light, beauty and life from the outside world, but the collection now extends itself into that outer world, as well!
I noticed two pieces recently added to the Timken’s world-class collection are now on display, including the fantastic Salomé, considered the most famous painting of artist Ella Ferris Pell.
You might enjoy reading something I posted four years ago, after an architectural tour of the Timken’s remarkable building. The sleek building is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of mid-century Southern California Modernism and the International Style in the nation. You can find that blog and see those photos by clicking here.
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Did you know the world’s longest mural was painted in Vista, California?
That’s according to Guinness World Records. The amazing “Vista Historical Mural” is 564 feet long!
Originally painted in 2005 by artist Clayton Parker, the colorful mural covers the rear of eight businesses. It’s located along the alley-like Vistacado Lane between Indiana Avenue and Michigan Avenue. The history of Vista is depicted as a very long parade.
I took photos at one end of this mural back in May. I captured much of the recently restored part near the corner of Main Street and Indiana Avenue, with its scenes from the Vistacado Festival Parade. You can see those particular photos and learn a bit more here. At the time I regretted not photographing the entire long, world record mural.
So I returned later. I’ve now documented the whole length! As you can see, some parked vehicles, trash containers and other objects prevented my camera from capturing absolutely everything.
Walk east down Vistacado Lane, as I did, and the painted representation of Vista’s history moves back in time.
Enjoy!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Very few visitors to Balboa Park will see these fun birdhouses and artistically painted planter boxes. They’re a bit hidden behind the Centro Cultural de la Raza’s home, their repurposed water tank off Park Boulevard.
I believe the birdhouses were created in 2021 and are designed for owls. The way they’re painted certainly suggests that!
It appears at least some of the planter boxes were painted this year.
I took this series of photographs Sunday as I walked randomly around waiting for a San Diego Fringe Festival performance to begin. I thought I’d share them.
Enjoy!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
An extremely powerful exhibition of portrait photography is now on view at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.
Encounter: Photographs by Jed Fielding features numerous street portraits that make you feel the strangers you see have somehow become your friends. Because that’s the very personal way Jed Fielding approaches his subjects.
The photographs are full of life, smiles, eye contact, playfulness, emotion, sincerity, vulnerability, pride, sadness, freedom. Kids at play in Naples, Italy are pleased to stop for a moment and shyly grin. A mixture of more subtle emotions appear openly in the faces of those who’ve grown older.
I was particularly moved by photos Jed Fielding took of blind children in Mexico City. As his camera shutter clicked, small hands were doing their own seeing. In one photograph fingers reached up to feel the lens.
In those portraits of blind children, more than the others, not a soul wears a mask. Every expression is unaffected, absolutely genuine.
It’s an authentic connection between people that makes these photos so powerful. So alive.
Encounter: Photographs by Jed Fielding is on display at MOPA through September 25, 2022.
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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 Twitter!
I had no idea until I checked out the Bromeliad Plant Show and Sale in Balboa Park today. It was the second day of a weekend event held at the Casa del Prado.
A friendly gentleman answered all sorts of odd questions that popped into my mind concerning bromeliads. They’re distinguished from other similar-appearing plant types primarily by their flowers. Many bromeliads are found naturally at higher elevations and are pollinated by hummingbirds, that tolerate colder temperatures than bees. And . . . and . . . I already forgot half of what I was told!
I did notice some tiny, beautiful purplish flowers, and all sorts of fun artwork and crafts at several tables.
The San Diego Bromeliad Society, who hosted the show, has many enthusiastic members. Perhaps you’d like to join!
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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 Twitter!
The Central Library in downtown San Diego has a stimulating new exhibition in its Art Gallery on the 9th floor. Echoes of Africa opened last weekend.
Contemporary works by local African American artists are contrasted with African artifacts from San Diego Mesa College’s World Cultures Art collection, including objects that demonstrate the mastery of African artisans in metal, wood, ceramics, beadwork, and textiles.
One can see how the spirit and traditions of African ancestors live on, helping to guide the hands of inspired creators in our community.
As I wandered about the gallery, I was drawn to the abstract spray painted pieces by popular San Diego muralist and graffiti artist Maxx Moses. Traditional masks were translated into complex, colorful canvases full of symbolism. I was also stunned by some truly extraordinary wood artwork by Christopher Lloyd Tucker. Other talented artists in the exhibition are Andrea Chung, Angie Jennings, and Jermaine A. Williams.
Filling the gallery are dozens of fascinating pieces, accompanied by extensive descriptions, giving curious viewers an opportunity for contemplation and learning.
Additional objects from the extensive Mesa Colleges collection can be observed in glass display cases on the first floor of the Central Library.
The exhibition will continue through August 20, 2022.
Benin, 2022, Maxx Moses. Spray paint and acrylic on canvas.Detelumo (Helmet Mask) of the Ejagham (Ekoi) People of Cross River, Nigeria. Wood, animal skin.AGAIN, 2021, Christopher Lloyd Tucker. Padauk, wenge, rosewood, aromatic cedar, purple heart, walnut, maple, poplar and epoxy resin.Bwoom (Helmet Mask) of the Kuba People of Democratic Republic of Congo. Wood.Kuba Cloth of the Kuba People of Democratic Republic of Congo. Raffia fiber.Ceremonial Dance Skirt of the Kuba People of Democratic Republic of Congo. Raffia fiber.
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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 Twitter!
Two colorful faces have been painted on the second floor of the Courtyard on Congress building in Old Town. Both are by local artist Guillermo “memuco” Munro.
I saw these beautiful faces as I walked near the intersection of Congress Street and Twiggs Avenue early this morning. I was able to capture the artist’s signature, then I checked out his Instagram page, which is here.
It appears the murals were created back in January.
Memuco describes the female with ceremonial Kumeyaay face decoration as a woman that represents all nationalities. A being so beautiful and peaceful. With the most sincere smile in the Universe.
The second face is of Mexican painter Diego Rivera. He’s holding a Frida Kahlo doll, which the balcony concealed from my camera. Check out the artist’s Instagram page to see it all!
You can enjoy more of his great artwork that I’ve stumbled upon here (across the street) and here!
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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 Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 