Tag: artists

Legacy Blossoms mural brightens Valencia Park!

In October, inspired local artists and volunteers came together to paint this beautiful 250-foot mural in Valencia Park, along Manzanares Way east of Euclid Avenue. It’s called the Legacy Blossoms mural.

You can see a photograph of the mural being painted on Instagram here. The installation team is credited as: Kim, Dentlok, SD Writerz and Natifa.

Additional photos of the mural’s progress can be seen on the Southeast Art Team Instagram page here. If you like what these artists are doing for the community, why not provide them with an assist?

The large concrete embankment south of the St. Rita Catholic Church complex is now covered with colorful poppies, succulents, an ocean sunset and the breath of life, brightening this neighborhood in Southeast San Diego!

Look how wonderful the art is!

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Shipping container mural at PB Arts Center!

Last month a large shipping container was painted by community members in Pacific Beach. The container stands behind the old, long-vacant Pacific Beach Library, on the southeast corner of the Pacific Beach Middle School campus.

Why was this Community Paint Day held? Because the old library is being converted by the organization Beautiful PB into the PB Arts Center!

According to their website, the PB Arts Center will be a multipurpose venue, a vibrant hub connecting Pacific Beach residents, surrounding neighborhoods and visitors to art and to each other… Collaborative funding will allow for affordable art classes, performances, festivals and cultural activities to inspire creativity in an arts-underserved area.

Very cool project!

The lead artist for the shipping container mural was Hilary Dufour. Based in San Diego, she creates beautiful art that is inspired by nature.

A couple days ago I spotted the new public art during a walk through Pacific Beach. I took photos of the colorful shipping container through a fence…

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Put your Head Above the Clouds in Escondido!

Above the clouds–above confused mists and storms–life is clear, bright and essentially good.

There’s a place in Escondido where you can rise above confining clouds, and even sit on them!

Dave Eassa: Head Above the Clouds is an immersive exhibition now showing at the California Center for the Arts Museum. Stepping into the gallery full of bright art is to launch yourself into sunny heights where memory, love, hopes and happiness are unbounded.

Colorful paintings brimming with joyful everyday life and wonder fill every horizon. Four sails suspended in the atmosphere soar with dreams created by young hands.

Here’s the exhibition’s webpage. It explains how artist Dave Eassa created a dreamscape shaped by memory, love, and imagination. Drawing from personal and familial archives, Eassa transforms the gallery into a space for reflection and connection, where life-sized portraits become monuments, clouds anchor the ground, and suspended sails carry the dreams of youth and community voices.

Dave Eassa is a San Diego-based visual artist, curator, and cultural organizer. Here’s his website. He is the Director of Philanthropy and Engagement at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.

I learned that Dave Eassa himself helped children visiting the museum to create the art on the sails. The names of the young artists are even listed on one wall as visitors step into the gallery.

Super cool!

You have an opportunity to put your head above the clouds at the California Center for the Arts Museum through March 1, 2026.

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The Art of Turning: Masterpieces in Motion.

You don’t often see exhibitions of wood art in Gallery 21 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center. You have the opportunity right now, however!

The Art of Turning: Masterpieces in Motion is a fine exhibition presented by the San Diego Woodturners.

The pieces in the gallery were all made with lathes by members of the San Diego Woodturners. You might have seen these artisans demonstrating their craft in the Design in Wood exhibit at the San Diego County Fair. (They’re the folks who create all those tops and wooden pens.)

One of the artists, Hal Gorss, was kind enough today to explain how many of these gorgeous artworks were made. A great deal of effort and skill is required.

The objects include bowls, vases, utensils, trays, decorative art and more. They’re on sale, just in time for Christmas gift giving. So why not head into Gallery 21 during December Nights and check it out!

The Art of Turning: Masterpieces in Motion continues through December 15, 2025.

One other thing–these good people support Turn Around for Vets, which teaches wood turning to active duty service members and veterans at the Naval Medical Center (NMC) San Diego, the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Pendleton and the Veterans Affairs Aspire Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program in San Diego.

Awesome!

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Spirit of the City mural in Chula Vista.

What you see in these photographs, taken a couple days ago, is what remains of a much larger mural. It was created in Chula Vista by renowned artist Mario Torrero and local students.

The artwork was painted on the exterior of the parking structure beside the Gateway Building, at Third Avenue and H Street.

I learned about the public art from this brochure, published in 2013. It’s evident the mural once covered a much larger area and contained imagery that sought to capture the essence of Chula Vista.

I have no idea why most of the original mural was painted over. The radiant face that remains is very beautiful, but faded by its exposure to sunlight.

If you happen to know this mural’s history, please leave a comment below.

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Mural on National City Public Works building!

This beautiful mural was painted a couple months ago. It decorates the National City Public Works building at 1726 Wilson Avenue, next to the 18th Street underpass of Interstate 5. The vibrant public art is a positive vision of life in this South Bay community.

The mural was the work of the Vision Culture Foundation and their team of inspired artists.

The building and other nearby walls had previously been the target of taggers whose vandalism required repeated removal, at the expense of the city.

National City Vice Mayor Marcus Bush helped drive an effort to paint beautiful murals on the walls, instead, providing graffiti artists with a chance to earn money while creating enduring public art!

This awesome project aims to create murals all around National City!

A young gentleman whom I met during my walk told me the long wall along 18th Street opposite this mural was also painted as part of the same project. The spray painted art appeals to kids with Christmas images from Toy Story, the Grinch and more!

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Rey Mysterio performs 619 in Logan Heights!

Legendary wrestler and San Diego hometown hero Rey Mysterio is performing his finishing move, the 619, in Logan Heights! I saw him in action today!

Yes, that’s him in a newly completed mural at the corner of Commercial Street and 30th Street, a short distance east of Petco Park where WWE Survivor Series: WarGames (2025) will be held tomorrow!

The mural which pays tribute to lucha libre debuted two days ago and Rey Mysterio himself showed up with his daughter Aalyah to admire it. And sign it! You can read an article about that cool event here.

If you come by to check out the mural, make sure to look at the west side of the same SA Recycling building. There’s a second mural depicting the Rey Mysterio family! I posted photos of that mural here (along with photographs of this newest mural’s early outlines).

Both murals were painted by local graffiti phenom Daniel “Dentlok” Angeles and a team of helping artists.

Will Chula Vista native Rey Mysterio show up at tomorrow’s Survivor Series in San Diego? I’d say that’s highly probable! I see his son Dominik will be wrestling against John Cena, who is retiring after his own legendary career!

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Sea Level sculpture at Coronado Boathouse.

Is that a kelp forest growing in Glorietta Bay Park, in front of City of Coronado Club Room and Boathouse? No! It’s an Urban Tree!

Sea Level, a mostly copper sculpture created by City College student Kim Ogburn for the 2010 Urban Trees exhibition along San Diego’s Embarcadero, depicts a kelp forest and the native marine life it sustains. Colorful fish swim beneath the imagined water; birds thrive on the surface above. Read an article concerning this amazing artwork’s creation here.

Sea Level was installed in front of the Boathouse at 1985 Strand Way in 2012. It is part of the City of Coronado Public Art Collection. I happened upon it during my latest walk in Coronado.

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The Economy of the Absurd at Museum of Us!

A sculpture was recently installed at the Museum of Us in Balboa Park. You can see the new artwork when crossing the Cabrillo Bridge, about to enter the west archway of the California Quadrangle. Look up toward the second floor’s outdoor balcony!

The sculpture is titled The Economy of the Absurd. It was created by Marcos Ramírez ERRE, an artist from the Tijuana and San Diego region who has created large-scale public works since the 1990s. It’s part of the newly opened Museum of Us exhibition Race: Power, Resistance & Change.

The museum’s About the Exhibit page explains: The exhibition Race: Power, Resistance & Change shares stories of how the construction of race has shaped laws, institutions, and daily life in San Diego and the broader multinational region.

As a plaque on the balcony near The Economy of the Absurd explains: This sculpture is composed of hand tools, assembled into a rising form within a steel frame that resembles the local U.S. Mexico border wall.

A number of other plaques are also located on the balcony, including one featuring the poem Refund by past San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-Garcia. It is all part of the overall exhibition.

When I spied the new sculpture yesterday while walking through Balboa Park, I had to go check it out!

Here I am proceeding out onto the Museum of Us balcony…

(Photographs of views from the balcony before installation of this exhibit can be found by clicking here.)

Visitors are encouraged to contribute to a digital map. The map is of cultural centers and programs across San Diego’s diverse communities. You can participate by clicking here!

Imagine my excitement when I found that one of the plaques, concerning the public mural in Lemon Grove of the “Lemon Grove Incident,” features two photographs that I took for Cool San Diego Sights and a mention of my website!

Finally, here’s the short poem Refund…

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If you’d like to see San Diego through my lens, find the “Follow” box in the sidebar to receive new posts in your email, or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Possibilities in Silk exhibition in Balboa Park!

Several days ago, an exhibition of silk art opened in Balboa Park.

Possibilities in Silk, presented by the San Diego Silk Guild, now occupies Gallery 21 of the Spanish Village Art Center!

The gallery is filled with so many different types of silk art, I was truly surprised when I visited today. I saw wall hangings, quilted pieces, wearables, silk collages… All very colorful!

There are over 35 members of the San Diego Silk Guild (a chapter of Silk Painters International), so it isn’t surprising that many forms and styles of silk art are on display. Most pieces can also be purchased.

One of the friendly artists, Natalie Ilarraza, was present this afternoon and provided an explanation of different silk painting techniques. Step inside the gallery and prepare to be wowed!

The free exhibition continues in Gallery 21 through November 30th, 2025. Hours are 11 am to 4 pm.

A few examples:

Cherry Blossom, by Jeanette Amen. Gutta resist and acid dyes on 18 mm habotai silk.
Garden Wall, by Karen Malin. Botanical print on silk, quilted, silk covered buttons.
Betty Boom, by Karen Anderson. Silk dyes on 8 mm habotai silk.

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