Look what I spied the other day! A bright, super fun mural was painted a couple months ago at Liberty Station in Point Loma!
The mural can be found along the arched walkway between THE LOT movie theater and Building 176, where a number of music and arts studios are located.
The very colorful artwork was painted by Paola Villaseñor, who goes by the artist name PANCA. Here’s her Instagram page.
The title of the mural is Yo No Soy Marinero, Soy Capitan. That means, in English: I’m not a sailor, I’m the captain.
As a nearby sign explains, this mural showcases the beauty of life and culture in San Diego, with a particular emphasis on the ocean... The artist states: “…the mural…reflects the history of Liberty Station and my role as captain and artist. My hope is that visitors will find joy…”
How could anyone walk through all this found joy without smiling?
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On Saturday, the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center brought part of their Border Blasters exhibition to the World Design Capital’s temporary Exchange Pavilion in Balboa Park!
Border Blasters is an exhibition by artists from Mexico and the United States that explores the impact of Tijuana and San Diego radio, television and music in the region. As experienced by those who live on either side of the border, the diverse media coming via the airwaves is seen and heard by many eyes and ears.
The art of Border Blasters celebrates this unique, shared culture.
As I walked through Balboa Park yesterday, the first thing that attracted me to the Exchange Pavilion (the orange structure that stands at the center of the Plaza de Panama) was a gigantic skull! The skull has a name: Francisco!
The colorful sculpture, made of paper mache and other materials, was created by artist Maricruz Alvarado. That’s her above, standing by Francisco!
Francisco is hollow and very light. He can be wheeled around! I stepped inside the big skull and this is what I saw. Images of the band La Cruz!
Next, I noticed what appeared to be rows of seashells arranged inside the Exchange Pavilion. They were created by Endangered Concepts. I learned they are actually composed of compressed unrecyclable plastic!
One of the sculptures I was shown was made to appear like a Pacific Triton Conch. Blowing through it produced a trumpeting sound!
Next, I spied a strange musical invention. It’s called QUADRA. The conceptual art piece is by multi-disciplinary artist and San Diego native Jason Soares. You turn the square dials and different electronic sounds are generated!
Jason was still setting everything up when I took these photos.
As one sign explained, QUADRAs FRONTERAs configures the QUADRA for the first phase of a multi-location quadraphonic autonomous zone that seeks to connect multiple geographic locations together. All I know is the generated sound coming from the speakers was very cool!
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A special exhibition is wrapping up tomorrow in Gallery 21, at Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center. I caught it just in time!
The Friends of the Chinese Brush Annual Art Exhibition features paintings by artist Lucy Wang and a group of her students. Lucy Wang works out of Spanish Village’s Studio 4.
I admired the work of Lucy’s students on the gallery walls. Two students at a table were busy creating beautiful sunflowers!
If you’d like to take Chinese brush painting classes in San Diego, check out this web page. Classes are held on Sundays.
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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 X.
A very cool exhibit opened recently at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The Myth of Superheroes celebrates the history of comic book heroes, and examines how many were inspired by the deities and heroes of ancient mythology.
It’s no coincidence. Flash is extremely fast like Roman god Mercury. Superman is super strong like Hercules. Aquaman is ruler of the oceans like Neptune. Some superheroes even take the names and characteristics of mythological characters: Thor, Odin and Loki from Norse mythology . . .Greek Zeus, Aries, Apollo, the Amazons…
Many of the writers and artists who created comic book superheroes have stated mythology was a direct inspiration.
Inspiration has also come from unique cultures and religious traditions around the world. The legend of King Arthur, Mesoamerican gods, the Great Spirit of Native Americans, the mysticism of Hinduism, the mysteries of ancient Egypt . . . and more. Superheroes (and supervillains) whose amazing powers are innate or magical can likely trace their origin to supernaturally gifted characters imagined long ago.
The Myth of Superheroes compares ancient myth with modern superheroes by displaying hundreds of objects including original comics, hand drawings, modern statues, action figures, and more. The images and information in the exhibition will excite anyone who loves comic books and their huge influence in the popular culture.
After viewing so many superheroes, and recalling my own youth (collecting Legion of Super-Heroes comic books), it occurred to me that what is common between ancient gods and superheroes is the idea of superhuman power. Supernatural power in ancient times explained the workings of a mysterious world; in our modern world, great power is a dream of youth and those who fantasize about exceeding an ordinary existence.
What do you think?
The Myth of Superheroes is definitely fun! Bring the kids! You can view it all at San Diego’s awesome Comic-Con Museum until February 15, 2025.
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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 X.
The San Diego Museum of Art held a fun community workshop today in Balboa Park. Those who participated would create a Jasper Johns-inspired work of art!
The event took place in the shade of the World Design Capital’s temporary Exchange Pavilion, in the Plaza de Panama, directly in front of the museum. SDMA educators showed me how, by tracing various pre-cut silhouettes on paper and adding different colors, an original abstract work of art might emerge!
Families sat at tables with their creative juices flowing.
Which colors to choose? How to design the finished piece so that it’s visually interesting? How does one create a balanced composition?
(If you look at the upper left corner of the next photo, you’ll see local artist Paul Strahm at work! One of his works is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Lately, he frequently paints along the boardwalk in Pacific Beach.)
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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 X.
In 2011, a large mural was installed on the top level of Horton Plaza mall’s parking garage in downtown San Diego. Today that mural can still be seen, although it is badly damaged from its long exposure to sun and weather.
The Circle (on 7 Lemon) is named after the mural’s circular design and its location: the seventh level of the large parking garage in a section that is designated “lemon.”
As you can see from these photographs taken yesterday, the top of the garage was completely empty. Horton Plaza mall and its shoppers have vanished–the property is being redeveloped. The mural is all but forgotten.
A plaque still can be found by the old mural. It explains that the art was created by Chor Boogie and Writerzblok. Mural commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Horton Plaza in conjunction with the exhibition Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape…
Here’s on old web page that describes that exhibition, which featured works both in the Museum’s galleries as well as at public sites throughout downtown San Diego.
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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 X.
In this photograph and the next two, you can see art created by and artist who has been called “one of his era’s greatest sculptors.” Can you find it?
These photos were taken a couple days ago behind the old luggage terminal of Santa Fe Depot, in downtown San Diego. The historic terminal, needed back in the days when train travel was a very common mode of transportation, would become the downtown home of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. A year or so ago the museum moved entirely up to their beautiful La Jolla location.
What you see here is the patio between the old luggage terminal and a Santa Fe Depot trolley platform.
What are those metal cubes?
Those six large cubes, together weighing 156 tons, is an art installation commissioned by MCASD in 2004 titled Santa Fe Depot. The artist is Richard Serra.
Richard Serra was a giant in the art world. He died earlier this year, March 26, 2024, at the age of 85.
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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 X.
Various works belonging to the San Diego Civic Art Collection can be experienced by visitors to the Rancho Bernardo Library. I took photos of three prominent examples a couple weekends ago.
The first work is titled Ampersand. Matt Rich, Assistant Professor of Art at the University of San Diego, created the eye-catching acrylic on canvas in 2018. It hangs on a wall above the library’s main stacks.
This particular painting is part of a series of works that riffs on the symbol of the ampersand. The ampersand holds, both symbolically and formally, the ability to represent the idea of connection.
Connection perfectly describes any library. Shelves connect readers with unexplored worlds.
The next artwork I observed in the library hangs high on a wall roughly opposite the front desk. It’s titled Salta pa’ lante (Jump Forward), by artist Alida Cervantes. The dynamic art was created in 2020. A pair of aluminum panels come alive with acrylic spray paint and oil.
Alida Cervantes is a Mexican artist who lives and works in the Tijuana and San Diego border region. Traveling daily between the US and Mexico, Cervantes’ work is characterized by an interest in power relations between race, class, gender and even species.
This diptych…is part of the artist’s exploration into the Mexican casta (caste) paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries…Cervantes presents two figures that are the offspring of individuals not only from two different races but also from two different times in history: the present and the colonial…
Finally, here’s a piece titled Primary Waveform (half circle), by artist Kelsey Brookes. The optically mysterious acrylic on wood was created in 2018. You can find it up on the second floor of the Rancho Bernardo Library, at the top of the stairs.
Kelsey Brookes is a research scientist turned artist. His paintings experiment with pop, abstract, and traditional styles while exploring scientific subject matter, including molecules, atoms, and modern biochemistry...
This sculpture is one of a series of works inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and waveforms...
From a distance the painted wood almost appears like basketwork, but give it a closer look. What are those tiny figures? Is that a reflection you see, or a complete circle that curves beyond your reach?
Stand near Primary Waveform (half circle), then gaze across the library for a commanding view of those first two works of art!
Additional works in the San Diego Civic Art Collection can be found at the library’s glass wall and gate entrance, exterior courtyard, and in the library’s study rooms.
Why not visit the Rancho Bernardo Library and see it all for yourself?
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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 X.
You don’t need to visit Australia to experience Waltzing Matilda in the morning light. Simply wander along downtown San Diego’s waterfront as the sun rises, and check out this sculpture at the new Research and Development District (RaDD)!
The sculpture, as you might have guessed, is titled Waltzing Matilda. It was created in 2014 by artist Alice Aycock.
When I photographed this newly installed public art back in February, there was no accompanying plaque with information. At the time, I thought the wavy, folded layers made it look like a head of lettuce! Long-time reader Paul commented it appears like a shell.
As you can see, a plaque did finally appear describing the playful sculpture. Waltzing Matilda references the expressive qualities of wind and water, its flowing form reminiscent of nature’s own characteristics. This monumental fiberglass sculpture defies gravity and explores movement, transformation, and perception in art…
According to Wikipedia, Alice Aycock was an early artist in the land art movement in the 1970s, and has created many large-scale metal sculptures around the world. Aycock’s drawings and sculptures of architectural and mechanical fantasies combine logic, imagination, magical thinking and science… Learn more about her work here.
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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 X.
Half a dozen new murals are now being painted in downtown La Mesa!
The fresh new murals are located in The Walkway of the Stars, a pocket park that celebrates La Mesa’s volunteers. I checked out the walkway today and was excited to discover both finished murals and murals in progress, and two artists at work!
Three weeks ago these walls were blank, and I posted a blog concerning the project. See what I wrote here. Two more murals are due to be painted, for a total of eight.
Here’s what I saw today…
Artist Kolten French of Mindful Murals is working on artwork titled Litter Pick Up.A mural in progress. Agents of Change: A Novel Approach is by artist Marc Hedges. One book spine indicates World Design Capital San Diego/ Tijuana.Another beautiful new mural. Basket of Abundance and Sharing by artist Jonny Alexander.Painting a cool mural that concerns volunteerism in local sports. Volunteer Coaching by artist Don Masse.Artist Don Masse of Shine Brite Productions smiles!Helping Hands Make La Mesa Shine is a mural in progress.Grow Love. A very colorful, beautiful mural in downtown La Mesa by Anna Pearson.
UPDATE!
I swung by a couple weeks later…
A beautiful mural in La Mesa, by artist Shannen Mythen.
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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 X.
Cool San Diego Sights! 