People have gathered in Chula Vista’s Memorial Park for South Bay Earth Day!
Today I headed to Memorial Park in Chula Vista to check out South Bay Earth Day!
This cool annual event inspires community members to save water and energy, protect the environment, and keep our corner of the planet beautiful and clean.
I walked about and learned all sorts of useful information at many booths. I read about environmental projects that are being undertaken by the City of Chula Vista and various nonprofit organizations. I saw how community members are working to improve their neighborhoods.
These photos contain many great ideas. Click the images of signs to enlarge them for easy reading. Much of the information is of special interest to residents in San Diego’s South Bay. If you live elsewhere, perhaps you will be inspired, too!
Chula Vista’s beautiful Memorial Park provides an oasis of green in an urban setting.The City of Chula Vista has various programs that help to protect the environment and improve quality of life.Earth Month Calendar of Events for the City of Chula Vista, which includes volunteer opportunities like the Creek to Bay Cleanup.City of Chula Vista, Leaders in Innovation. Programs include smart irrigation, traffic signals, sustainable buildings and drones.Activities at South Bay Earth Day include making art. I enjoyed seeing neighbors creating colorful tie-dye!Some great artists had booths. A horse etched and painted on a gourd from Dream Job Craftworks by Kathy Page.Southwestern College had an assortment of succulents at its Sustainable Landscape Practice table. These native plants can provide water saving ground cover for your yard.Mel Clarkston of LetsGetTrashed.Art shows her mosaics made mostly of plastic trash found on beaches!An amazing Golden State mosaic made from small bits of litter!The San Diego Fix-it Clinic had a table at the event. No need to throw certain things away. They repair many broken items for free!Every month, the San Diego Fix-it Clinic will repair broken things like electronics, appliances, and even clothes!The City of Chula Vista Sustainability Commission had a table and interested visitors.One of their displays compared the biodegradability of paper, different plastics and Styrofoam.A perfect, sunny spring day at South Bay Earth Day!Sign explains how the City of Chula Vista is developing an Active Transportation Plan to help guide future pedestrian and bicycle improvements.This table explained a very cool Seed Library concept.The Otay Ranch branch of the Chula Vista Public Library has a Seed Library. Community members can take seeds to plant, or donate harvested seeds back to the library!Of course, recycling stations could be found all around the South Bay Earth Day event.I learned at the Surfrider Foundation booth that the 3rd Annual March For Clean Water is next weekend in Imperial Beach!I learned from some Girl Scouts that certain chemicals in sunscreens harm coral reefs. Safe active ingredients are Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.Community members learn how to protect the environment at South Bay Earth Day!
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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 was drawn to the Star of India today. I sat on a wooden bench of the historic tall ship and gazed out at sailboats gliding across the sparkling water of San Diego Bay.
Finally I stood up and walked about the Star of India’s sunny deck, trying to frame interesting effects of light and shadow with the lens of my camera.
Later, as I walked through the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s other vessels, I halted inside the Compass Gallery of the steam ferry Berkeley. My eyes were held fast by an exhibition of paintings titled Sea and Shore. Many of the canvases, painted by the hands of local artists, all members of the Plein Air Painters Association of San Diego, depict the Star of India.
I thought that contrasting a few of my photos with some of the dreamlike artwork might be fun.
Dozens of pieces in the Compass Gallery are available for purchase! If you’d like to sail through an ocean of beautiful nautical paintings, and perhaps take one home, head downtown to the Maritime Museum of San Diego!
Bert and Wes Working on the STAR, by artist Jeffrey Remmer.
She Rests, by artist Pamela Ingwers.
Aloft on STAR of INDIA, by artist Norm Daniels.
The STAR of INDIA at Sunset, by artist Pamela Ingwers.
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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 Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park is currently undergoing a major renovation and expansion. Once completed, this world-class folk art, craft and design museum will be more amazing than ever!
You might recall a blog post from last year that featured the Mingei’s planned transformation. To see architectural renderings of what the Mingei will eventually look like, click here!
While construction is underway, Mingei’s gift shop and cafe are temporarily located at Liberty Station, in the historic Dick Laub NTC Command Center building. Step through the front entrance and you can’t miss it.
Today I meandered about Liberty Station with no definite destination in mind. I was pleased to happen upon the Mingei’s shop and meet the smiling lady behind the counter. She told me that Niki de Saint Phalle’s fun, kid-friendly Nikigator sculpture, which used to stand in front of the museum in Balboa Park, might be moved out from storage and placed right in front of the Command Center. How cool would that be?
Here are a few photos. The lobby of the Command Center not only features Cafe Mingei, but a collection of great art created by Liberty Station artists!
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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!
Today I took a short stroll through the Visions Art Museum at Liberty Station. Anyone in San Diego who has a love for creative art, crafts or quilting really should visit this place.
Every time I visit the Visions Art Museum there seem to be brand new displays of contemporary quilts and textiles. In addition to the gallery exhibitions, walls near the gift shop often feature handcrafted works by local quilting groups.
As I walked through the museum today I was instantly captivated by a wall full of 14″ x 14″ quilts that shine, swirl and sparkle. LOOK TO THE STARS, from a famous quote by Stephen Hawking, is the theme of this year’s Canyon Quilters of San Diego Challenge. According to their website, the Canyon Quilters is a local guild with around 200 members.
Check out all the brilliant artwork!
Many of the pieces in my photos are still available for purchase. Head over to Liberty Station and step into the fantastic Visions Art Museum to have your eyes dazzled!
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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!
I’ve always wondered about the cool sculpture that stands in front of Humphreys Half Moon Inn on Shelter Island. It’s situated right next to one of the hotel’s driveways.
Last weekend, during my walk along Shelter Island Drive, I paused by the sculpture and looked about for some information. And I found it!
A plaque at the sculpture’s base reads:
OCEAN SONG
The sculpture is inspired by waves
breaking on the shores of the bay.
It Reflects the play of sunlight throughout
the day on the surface of the ocean.
It recalls the connection of the moon and
the tides.
So as waves on the ocean it also portrays
waves of sound.
The mass of the sculpture transforms itself
from baritone to soprano
Creating a song that tells the story of the
place where we have found shelter.
ALBER DE MATTEIS, SCULPTOR
To have discovered such a poetic description was a wonderful surprise. I also noted the sculpture is dated 2004.
If the name of this artist seems familiar, you might recall seeing photographs of abstract sculptures by Alber De Matteis in National City and Liberty Station.
This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
A large silvery orb is suspended from the ceiling of the Iris and Matthew Strauss Gallery, inside MCASD’s historic Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building.
On Sunday I headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to enjoy a tour of their downtown Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building. This historic building was one of many fascinating sites that the public could explore during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s 2019 OPEN HOUSE SAN DIEGO.
I arrived early and walked about the building’s spacious galleries, gazing up toward the high ceiling and around corners at intriguing artwork. The current exhibition is titled Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen. Trevor Paglen, a MacArthur Award-winning artist who lived as a child on military bases, creates pieces that concern mass surveillance and individual privacy. According to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego website, he “blurs the lines between art, science, and investigative journalism to construct unfamiliar and at times unsettling ways to see and interpret the world around us . . . in Paglen’s photographs the infrastructure of surveillance is also apparent—a classified military installation, a spy satellite, a tapped communications cable, a drone, an artificial intelligence . . .”
When it was time for the architectural tour to begin, our small group gathered near the museum’s entrance and we learned a little about the very unique Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building.
The building at first glance appears to be an extension of the Santa Fe Depot, San Diego’s downtown train station. In fact, what is now called the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building used to be the baggage building of the depot, and is separated from the train station’s passenger waiting room by an arched outdoor breezeway. The Santa Fe Depot, which is now a transit center that also serves Amtrak, was built in 1915 by Bakewell & Brown to accommodate travelers coming to San Diego for the Panama-California Exposition held in Balboa Park.
As decades passed, and travel by train waned, much less space was required at the station for baggage. Because of its historical importance, the huge old baggage building couldn’t be torn down or substantially altered.
The enormous interior space, large beautiful windows and high ceilings were perfect for a unique downtown art gallery. In 2007, the structure was converted by Gluckman Mayner Architects into an extraordinary downtown space for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
The downtown MCASD usually features more experimental art than their La Jolla location, so the unusually large galleries can be put to good use. I learned that past exhibitions have included some monumental artwork, even a full-size translucent polyester fabric and stainless steel “New York” apartment, complete with major appliances!
To explore art inside the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building is a remarkable experience. It’s like moving through a vast inner world where small dreams become large. Just as a museum should be!
Looking west across Kettner Boulevard at the Santa Fe Depot. The old baggage building on the north side of the train station is now used by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.At the north end of the historic Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building is the modern three-story David C. Copley Building.In the past the David C. Copley Building has provided additional gallery space. It now houses administrative offices for MCASD while their La Jolla location is renovated and enlarged.Sign in front of MCASD’s entrance invites passersby to come in and gaze at the orb.Looking from inside the museum across Kettner Boulevard toward the America Plaza trolley station. The two-story building seen to the right is MCASD’s original downtown location, now used by the museum for educational programs.As visitors enter the museum, massive artwork inside the Iris and Matthew Strauss Gallery immediately catches the eye.Looking west out glass doors at the Figi Family Concourse, and trolley and train platforms at downtown’s Santa Fe Depot.One of several large steel cubes outside the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building, by artist Richard Serra, 2005.Prototype for a Nonfunctional Satellite, by contemporary artist Trevor Paglen.More artwork by the large arching windows of the old baggage building. This interior wall is part of MCASD’s unique Iris and Matthew Strauss Gallery.Visitors to the downtown Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego view photographs and other pieces by Trevor Paglen.Sign at MCASD explains the current exhibition Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen. (Click photo to enlarge for easy reading.)Autonomy Cube, 2015, Trevor Paglen. Working hardware that allows users to connect anonymously to the internet, by routing Wi-Fi traffic through the Tor network.True Art … (CIA Special Activities Staff), 2016, Trevor Paglen. High temp epoxy.A look into a spacious gallery inside MCASD’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building.“Fanon” (Even the Dead Are Not Safe) Eigenface, 2017, Trevor Paglen. Dye sublimation print.Astonishing sights await curious eyes at downtown’s Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego!
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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!
The southwest corner of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.
Visit the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla and you’ll find yourself moving through a warm, polished, light-infused world where beautiful dreams are sustained. Last weekend I stepped through the library’s doors and was amazed by what I discovered.
The Athenaeum is home to a large, regionally important collection of books and media concerning music and art, and a permanent collection of artwork. It is a repository for beauty that is timeless. The library is refined and welcoming, like a fine museum.
Each quiet room is a refuge for the contemplative mind. And a richly furnished temple for the heart. And a universe brimming with inspiration and creativity to nourish the human spirit.
The Athenaeum is one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States. As you might imagine, it has a very unique history.
In 1894 a group of six women came together to create the La Jolla Reading Club. Five years later a cottage-like Reading Room was built at the corner of Wall Street and Girard Avenue. The most notable founding member, the first president of the Library Association of La Jolla, was wealthy newspaper publisher, philanthropist and La Jolla resident Ellen Browning Scripps.
In 1921 a larger Spanish Renaissance-style building replaced the Reading Room. The elegant new structure was designed by famous architect William Templeton Johnson, who also designed the San Diego Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History. Much of the funding for the new building came from Scripps. Kate Sessions, the horticulturist often referred to as the Mother of Balboa Park, planted an outside garden.
In 1957 the library opened the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room with its striking rotunda, designed by artist and architect William Lumpkins.
In subsequent years additional expansions were made, which allowed for the founding of the Athenaeum’s School of the Arts. Today the expansive library hosts art exhibitions, galas and musical concerts throughout the year.
How does one describe the rare beauty of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library?
Here are a few photos…
Posted at the corner of Wall Street and Girard Avenue are many cultural events hosted by the Athenaeum.Plaque in Memory of Florence Sawyer Bransby, who purchased this corner lot in 1895 and on it built La Jolla’s First Library, The Reading Room.People walk along Girard Avenue beside the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library.Banner by window of the library building designed by William Templeton Johnson.Photo of the library’s iconic rotunda, designed by William Lumpkins.Bronze artwork near the Athenaeum’s rotunda. Young Girl Holding Book by Merrell Gage, 1925.Approaching the entrance to the Athenaeum.A library cart full of books entices passersby.By the front door is a plaque. This library built and furnished through the generosity of Ellen Browning Scripps.Inside the beautiful, welcoming Athenaeum. Gazing east at shelves and windows.Gazing west toward the the Joseph Clayes III Gallery.When I visited the Athenaeum, I enjoyed an art exhibition in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery titled Music in the Key of Blue.As I walked about the library, I spotted many works in the Athenaeum’s permanent art collection.10 Items or Less, 1974, Kim MacConnel. Gouache on paper.Sheet music collage by Alexis Smith, 1997, used for Athenaeum music program covers 2015/2016.The Athenaeum, 2004, Derek Boshier. Hand-colored silkscreen print. Patron Gift.Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 2002, Raul Guerrero. Ink and collage on paper. Patron Gift.Gazing into the North Reading Room, which features Athenaeum’s Erika and Fred Torri Arists’ Books Collection.An exquisite bouquet of flowers by one bright window.In Loving Memory – Ernest (Ernie) Silva 1948-2014. Trumpet Player and Light House, 2004. Ink on paper.Untitled (Baby, It’s cold Outside), 1999, Italo Scanga. Mixed media.Artwork on wall near the School of the Arts entrance.I was told these pieces were all painted by teachers at the Athenaeum School of the Arts.Walking beside the Children’s section of the Athenaeum.Linnea doll on shelf by the book Linnea in Monet’s Garden.Erika on the Portico of the Athenaeum, 2010, Grace Matthews. Tempera on paper.Houseplant, Monstera Deliciosa, by artist Jean Lowe. Alkyd and acrylic on papier mache.Devil With a Blue Dress On, by currently exhibiting artist Jim Machacek.Oh Grid, 2019, Sibyl Rubottom. Etching on linen with sashiko. One of many textile pieces by the artist currently on exhibit in the Rotunda Gallery.Gazing toward the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room.Library of Music small plaque on drawer.More beauty on display inside the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room.A perfect place to read and think inside the sunlight-filled rotunda.Shelves with newspapers and magazines.Tantra Indigo, 2019, Sibyl Rubottom. Accordion book.Music breathes what Poet cannot write.
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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!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
More fantastic street murals have been popping up in City Heights!
Artists have been painting all sorts of new murals along University Avenue, primarily between I-805 and I-15. Most have been created for #theavenuemuralproject. According to Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights, brand new murals have been debuting almost every month!
On Sunday I was shown a bunch that were recently completed. Each new mural uniquely enriches this proud, culturally diverse community. Artists, volunteers and neighbors have been coming together one wall at a time to make a positive difference for all.
And the future is bright! The stretch of University Avenue between I-805 and I-15 is a growing “drive-through” art gallery with truly unlimited potential. Muralists of local, national and even international renown are showing an interest in City Heights.
To see some of these new murals, check out my previous two blog posts.
The following photographs show even more!
A cool new mural on University Avenue in City Heights, created by Beth Emmerich, with the assistance of several other great street artists.
This abstract mural is titled UnPerfect, by Walker Matthews, Carlos Quezada and Edwin Lohr.LOVE CITY HEIGHTSLeft end of a long mural on University Avenue near 50th Street. It faces a new park-like community gathering place. Created by @illumihaadi and local youth, with support from City Heights CDC and City Heights Business Association. The neighborhood is home to many Somalis.
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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!
Mimi Gonzalez Martinez (to the right) poses by her new mural in City Heights with her artistic mentor Brise Birdsong.
Today I met San Diego’s newest muralist!
Mimi Gonzalez Martinez has painted a colorful mural for #theavenuemuralproject on University Avenue in City Heights. Please check out her new Instagram page!
Guided by Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights, I was able to meet Mimi and enjoy her artwork during a tour of several new street murals along University Avenue. Love City Heights is a group of community leaders working to enliven this culturally diverse San Diego neighborhood.
Mimi’s first mural was created with a little help from her mentor Brise Birdsong, a prolific local artist and muralist whose often humorous street art I stumble upon from time to time during my walks around San Diego.
Mimi told me a little about the mural, and the symbolism that it contains. Her family is very important to her, and being of Mayan descent, she incorporated the Mayan logogram that represents a companion spirit. You can see it in the following photograph at the center of the lower tea cup. The next cup up contains elements representing Korea, a place that is special to her. The third cup up contains colors from both the Mexican and American flags.
Other designs in the mural like the flowers and butterfly? Painted just for fun!
A very cool new work of art brightens City Heights!
The colorful mural contains diverse symbols that hold special meaning for the artist.Mimi Gonzalez Martinez poses by her new City Heights mural with her family!
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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!
Jim Machacek: Music in the Key of Blue, inside the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library’s beautiful Joseph Clayes III Gallery.
A fantastic exhibition of work by San Diego artist Jim Machacek has recently opened at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. Yesterday I headed to La Jolla to have a “listen” with my eyes.
The abstract pieces of Jim Machacek: Music in the Key of Blue are arranged inside the library’s Joseph Clayes III Gallery.
According to the Athenaeum’s description, the exhibition “reflects Jim’s recurring interest in the concept of making music visual. Using his favorite media of printmaking, drawing, collage, and watercolor, he hopes to make YOU see what HE sees when listening to music. He chose favorite musical selections that have the word blue in the titles from a wide variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, blues, country, rock, folk, and standards.”
Among these emotionally evocative pieces you’ll find a unique visual interpretation of George Gershwin’s timeless Rhapsody in Blue. Seventy mixed-media prints cascade like living notes of music across the north and east walls of the sunlit gallery. Walk along these walls and you’ll feel like you’re moving in rhythm with a beloved American classic.
After you absorb this great art, take a leisurely stroll through the unique and historic Athenaeum. You’ll discover even more art in unexpected corners, and rooms overflowing with beauty wherever you turn.
Jim Machacek: Music in the Key of Blue can be enjoyed at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library through May 4, 2019.
The architecturally handsome Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is freely open to the public in La Jolla. It’s a popular venue for art exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events.Sunlight filters through windows and shines on wood inside the Athenaeum’s spacious Joseph Clayes III Gallery.Blue Wave, 2018, Jim Machacek. Blue Wave was a 1984 song by Eddy Grant, best known for his hit Electric Avenue.
Blueberry Hill, 2018, Jim Machacek. The popular hit song by Fats Domino, recorded in 1956, became a rock and roll standard.
Blue Cathedral, 2018, Jim Machacek. Blue Cathedral is a 1999 orchestral piece by American composer Jennifer Higdon, written in memory of her deceased younger brother.Lavender Blue, 2019, Jim Machacek. Lavender Blue is an English folk song and nursery rhyme dating from the 17th century.These complex, moody pieces interpreting Rhapsody in Blue are like notes of sheet music flowing across a wall.Fill your eyes with music.
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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!
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