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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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.
If you love art and have a chance to visit the Rancho Bernardo Library, make sure to head up the stairs or elevator. A long hallway on the second floor doubles as an art gallery!
On view in this gallery through the end of September are colorful works by award-winning San Diego artists Terry Anderson and Marlene Levitt. The two artists paint acrylic abstracts on the same canvas at the same time!
According to the artists’ website, their Temáre abstract paintings evoke an emotion of color and contrast...
As my photographs demonstrate, their bold, dynamic art really grabs your attention! Need some home decor? I noticed these pieces at the library are also for sale.
Are you a local or regional artist with work you’d like to exhibit in a branch of the San Diego Public Library? Check out SDPL’s Visual Arts Program and fill out an application by clicking 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.
It’s like a volcano erupting with the deepest blue! That was my first impression of two large monochromatic blue drawings at the Timken Museum of Art. They are part of this summer’s exhibition In Blue Time by the Timken’s most recent Artist-in-Residence Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio.
Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio is originally from Mexico. While living in Mexico City, she became fascinated by that city’s many murals.
Her large works of art are certainly eye-catching. Perhaps you remember her gigantic COVID mural on the side of the tall Bread and Salt building in Logan Heights, easily seen when driving back to San Diego over the Coronado Bridge. I posted photos of that mural back in 2021 here.
Much of Tatiana’s work has a cloud-like appearance–cloudy and nebulous, like memory. She has stated, per the museum website: “Memory is written once, then rewritten, manipulated, reinvented and recreated. Each time we reach for a memory it becomes something else. Forgetting is the distance from our past, the nebulous blue horizon of a memory standing at the edge allowing us to continuously reshape who we are.“
In the Timken’s temporary Exhibition Gallery, you’ll also find a recent large-scale drawing, created in collaboration with musical composer Stefan Cwik and inspired by the concept of time. It’s in my final photograph.
There are more of her works to see, too, plus you can add to the blueness! A community mural that anyone can help create awaits those who feel inspired. It’s entirely in blue!
In Blue Time is only on view for another two and a half weeks, through September 29, 2024.
The Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park is free and full of masterpieces by old masters. Nowhere else in San Diego will you find a painting by Rembrandt!
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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.
It looks like a huge, three-dimensional blue squiggle, doesn’t it?
This twisty sculpture, by artist Ken Kelleher, is called Hand Drawn Sculpture. It’s located at the new Research and Development District (RaDD) complex on downtown San Diego’s waterfront.
Among RaDD’s five buildings, one can glimpse all sorts of public art: both sculptures and murals. I took some photos of the art that wasn’t fenced off during construction earlier this year, but I knew next to nothing about any of it.
Well, plaques have appeared near some artworks that are currently accessible to the public. Interesting information is provided about both art and artist.
I took these photographs this morning.
The abstract Hand Drawn Sculpture, according to its plaque, was created in 2023. It blurs the lines between two and three-dimensional art forms by merging the fluid, gestural lines of drawing with the tangible presence of sculpture…
Pretend the blue lines have no depth and were drawn on flat paper. Seen from different angles, the sculpture assumes different forms.
What do you see?
Very cool!
Look for more photos and descriptions of public art at RaDD in future blog posts!
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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.
Take a look at this amazing chalk art! It was created in San Diego’s Balboa Park about a week ago. Still in good condition, the artwork can be found directly in front of the Timken Museum of Art.
The chalk art replicates Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan, a fantastic painting by Kehinde Wiley.
Until recently, Wiley’s painting could be viewed inside one of Timken’s galleries. It was displayed among major works by old masters. Wiley’s painting is inspired by Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck’s equestrian portrait from 1634-35 depicting Italian military commander.
The chalk art was created by Erick Toussaint (@sidewalk_chalk_dad). You might remember his other work in front of the Timken in past years.
I’ll soon be blogging about the Timken’s newest exhibition, In Blue Time, so stay tuned!
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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.
Very beautiful artwork can be seen just outside the entrance of the La Jolla Community Center. Tile panels on either side of the front door and tile work on a nearby bench depict La Jolla’s stunning coastal scenery.
I took these photographs during a walk a couple weekends ago when the center happened to be closed. I’m very curious who the artist might be.
I believe the work was done back in 2012–part of a larger building renovation. If you know more about this wonderful art outside the community center’s entrance, please leave a comment below!
Enjoy these photos, which I edited slightly using increased contrast and sharpness to bring out the colors and details.
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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.
Nancy Duncan Cheadle was an American illustrator and portrait artist whose work has graced the covers of many romance novels. She created over 160 original oil paintings. Perhaps you’ve seen her artwork on the cover of Silhouette Romance paperbacks.
Prints of Nancy Cheadle’s paintings are on display and for purchase in Oceanside’s wonderful Jane and Evie’s Used Books, with all sales benefiting the Oceanside Public Library.
You can see one fine example, from the romance novel Dream Bride, in my first two photographs.
As the sign explains, Nancy’s family would love for many people to share the experience of having one of her paintings–all proceeds will go to the Oceanside Friends of the Public Library.
Jane and Evie’s Used Books is located at 323 North Coast Highway. My next blog post concerns this awesome used book store!
Here’s another work of art by Nancy Cheadle that you can hang on your wall, while benefitting culture, knowledge and literacy in Oceanside…
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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.
San Diego artist Hugo Fernando Fierro (@hoyote) was spray painting a wall in City Heights today. He’s finishing off a huge, super cool mural on the side of Inscriptu: Custom Printing and Laser Engraving Services, at the corner of University Boulevard the 42nd Street.
I learned about this project from Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights, who told me that hopefully more great murals will be appearing in this east San Diego community’s future.
When I arrived to check out the artwork this afternoon, Hugo was taking a break and we struck up a conversation. Not only is he a great muralist (see other City Heights murals painted by Hugo here and here), but he’s an illustrator, video producer and animator.
Check out the artwork’s neon colors, crazy characters and complex, dynamic composition! When I asked for the title of this mural, he said he hadn’t decided yet.
Hugo then stepped onto the lift and began adding black spray paint to the mural, to resemble dripping printer’s ink. The touches of black make the colorful graphics pop even more.
If you look closely at the mural, you’ll see elements that pertain to Inscriptu, a print shop that specializes in large format.
One day local firefighters driving down the street paused to admire the developing artwork. They suggested that a reference to San Diego Fire Station 17 be added. Do you see 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 X.
The premise for the exhibition is brilliant. Art students at colleges in the San Diego region are presented with instructions to find magic in everyday things.
What are some of these instructions? Create an artwork using alchemy or magic to correct a problem. Make a mural commemorating the best day of your life. Create an artwork to say “thank you” for something in your life for which you are grateful. Make a medal or a trophy for someone that you think deserves one. Think of the worst idea you can for an artwork and try to turn it into a good idea. Make a piece of art that attempts to be universally understood as if an alien from another planet would view it thousands of years in the future…
Following assigned instructions, students artistically transform familiar things, and the pieces that result can be very personal or surprising. Human creativity is akin to real magic!
When I visited the museum today I didn’t know what to expect. What you see in these photographs provides a taste of what I found.
A Practical Guide to Modest Magic continues for only one more week. It can be viewed in the museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido through August 17, 2024. Then–poof–a moment of rare magic ends.
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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! 