If you want to see painted masterpieces in San Diego, step into the free Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park. If you want to see a chalk art masterpiece, take a look at the ground as you approach the museum!
This chalk art masterpiece was completed today by @sidewalk_chalk_dad. It was inspired by the John Singleton Copley painting titled Mrs. Thomas Gage, dated 1771.
To view an image of the original masterpiece, which hangs inside the Timken Museum of Art, one of the finest small museums in the world, click here.
Then check out this elegant chalk art. Make a comparison!
I had trouble photographing the chalk art straight on because I cast a long shadow across it. So I approached the shot from different angles…
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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 group of cool creators, including some of San Diego’s top street artists and muralists, came together today in Balboa Park. They displayed and sold their work at The Overthinkers Art Society Pop-up Group Exhibition!
As you might imagine, the event was chill and awesome!
Room 101 in the Casa del Prado was filled with creativity and color, and visitors could meet artists whose work they’ve no doubt seen around the city.
I followed signs to the exhibition and, surprised, wandered among the artists’ tables. I met a few artists whose names I recognized from photographing street art around San Diego. All were super friendly.
How cool is this?
The first table I came to contained the art of Franky Agostino (@3ojos1). It was a preview of the awesomeness to come…
At the next table I met prolific San Diego artist and muralist Maxx Moses!
If you’ve taken the trolley’s Orange Line east of downtown San Diego, you’ve likely seen his incredible work. In fact, his art is all over the place, from Hillcrest to Chula Vista to Encanto to La Mesa and beyond.
If you’d like to see photos of Maxx Moses artwork I’ve taken over the years, click here!
Here’s a bit of his art at today’s pop-up exhibition…
Next up, I met Dave Persue! No doubt you recognize his popular, instantly recognizable creation Bunny Kitty. He smiled for a photo, then took to the stage with his electric guitar.
He’s had murals all around town, too. See some of them by clicking here!
Then I came to the work of another great San Diego muralist: Sharky!
There’s a special little parking nook in Normal Heights where I’ve seen his recurring work, teamed with artist Hasler. Check out a few of those murals here and here and here.
The next photo shows artist Mathew Curran (@mathewcurran) by graffiti art he created in Spain…
I’ve seen the next artist’s street art on electrical boxes around San Diego. Such as here! His super unique work is unmistakable.
His name is Jorge Gutierrez Garcia (@jggart226).
He often paints figures like the ones in the next photo. His work appears to be full of symbolism. He said some people think the figures are aliens, other people see mythological characters.
People are encouraged to use their imagination!
As I walked around, I discovered a big roomful of even more cool art. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this great event!
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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.
Many historical figures who were instrumental in the founding of the United States of America appeared in San Diego today! They time traveled into the 21st century during a special Independence Day event at Balboa Park’s International Cottages!
Diverse people from around San Diego took to the stage in costume, recalling how our nation’s Founders brought us Liberty by rebelling against the despotic King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Revolutionary War period figures brought to life included Bernardo de Gálvez, the Governor of Spanish Louisiana; Betsy Ross; Martha Washington; Alexander Hamilton; Paul Revere; John Adams; Abigail Adams; African-Americans from the Caribbean who helped fight for American Independence; Crispus Attucks; Joseph Warren; John Dunlap; and various others.
The heroes of the American Revolution came from many backgrounds. Together, they defeated the mighty Great Britain and achieved something of a miracle.
I jotted down a few quick notes. Martha Washington spoke of heart, resilience and hope. Paul Revere explained how heroic deeds can lead to great change. There were many other words of wisdom.
Before and after these inspiring presentations, the House of USA had tasty treats at their table, including good old American hot dogs and hamburgers. Booths at the event included the Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution.
Fun fact: Today is the 250th Anniversary of the Olive Branch Petition. What is that?
The Olive Branch Petition was a document adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8, 1775. It was a final, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. Read more about it here!
Enjoy photos from today’s event…
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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.
Beginning next Monday, and continuing into September, some of the world’s finest organists will be performing in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion!
Today, as I walked through Balboa Park, I caught the first outstanding organist, Joshua Stafford, as he rehearsed at the Spreckels Organ. Joshua is the Jacobsen Chair for the Organist of Chautauqua Institution, in New York. You might recall that our own beloved Jared Jacobsen served as San Diego Civic Organist from 1978 to 1984.
Joshua will be playing Bohemian Rhapsody, Carmen Fantasy and other all-time favorites! Yes, on the world’s largest outdoor instrument!
If you’ve never been to one of the free San Diego International Summer Organ Festival concerts, you’re missing out on something special. Not only is the music always first rate, but the late evening atmosphere, particularly when the organ pavilion’s many lights come on, is magical. How can it not be? It’s Balboa Park!
Click here to see the full lineup of performers during the 2025 summer festival. Bring your dinner or a snack if you’d like, then settle on one of the pavilion’s benches (or your lawn chair), and live it up!
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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.
Gallery 21 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village is now full of art created by young people from National City!
Youth, ages 5 to 18, are exhibiting works they created during the last season of A Reason to Survive (ARTS) programming. The exhibition is titled Echoes of Blooming, and it opened yesterday.
Blooming is the perfect word, because bursts of creativity and personal expression have blossomed on the walls and in the spaces of the gallery.
I visited Gallery 21 today and found pieces that explore themes of transformation, inner strength, and the courage to challenge harmful cycles.
Many of the young artists live in neighborhoods where hope might be difficult to find. But hope can be achieved through artistic self-expression, especially when one’s personal efforts are celebrated in a gallery exhibition!
Congrats to every one of the artists! May you all go on to achieve bigger and bigger successes!
The public is invited to the exhibition’s Opening Reception, which will take place on July 5, from 5 – 7 pm, in Gallery 21 at the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park.
Just a few works of art you’ll enjoy seeing…
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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.
Ancient gods Zeus and Neptune, in a peculiar combination, have descended on a storm cloud into 21st century San Diego!
Yes, mythical deities can now be observed hovering above Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park. Lightning is striking beneath their cloud, so those walking around the art center’s outdoor patio should take care!
This monumental sculpture was erected in Balboa Park a few days ago. The artist is Sergey Gornushkin, president of the San Diego Sculptors Guild, which is headquartered in a corner of Spanish Village.
“The Tempest” has its roots in a Shakespearian play that is based on these three principles: freedom, empathy and forgiveness, and nature versus nurture. At Burning Man its aluminum lightning bolts combined with an interactive sound and visual system designed to give the viewer a full immersive experience of a thunderstorm.
Here’s Sergey Gornushkin’s website. If you’ve ever visited the sculpture court in Spanish Village, you’ve no doubt seen other fantastic pieces that he has created.
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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’s beautiful Balboa Park is undergoing a transformation. Gardens are being created around the newly renovated Botanical Building and the Lily Pond.
Phase 2 of the Botanical Building and Gardens revitalization project includes the creation of a new Entry Garden along either side of the long Lily Pond. New plants will be introduced where thin strips of grass now stretch along the water’s edge.
Today I observed workers digging up the grass on the west side of the Lily Pond.
This article explains that the Entry Garden will greet visitors along the Lily Pond with bold, high-contrast plantings in pink and lime green, including Agave Blue Flame.
One effect of this change, I suppose, is the pond will be more protected from human encroachment. The ducks might appreciate this. So, too, might parents with young children teetering at the water’s edge.
I look forward to seeing the result of this transformation. More gardens around the Botanical Building will likely mean more beauty!
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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 cool sculpture has appeared in Balboa Park at the center of The Old Globe theatre complex. It celebrates The Old Globe’s 90th Anniversary!
San Diego’s “flagship arts institution” has created countless great memories over nearly a century.
Cherished memories can be shared by anyone over a live feed in The Old Globe’s plaza. Go to this website, type in your Old Globe memory, and share it with other theatre lovers!
The sculpture contains images of theatrical productions over the years. So much history has been made at The Old Globe. A series of banners leading down to El Prado celebrates that history.
As one banner states: From Stephen Sondheim to August Wilson to Arthur Miller, The Old Globe has showcased the visions of the world’s greatest theatre-makers. Premiering new work, honoring the classics, and celebrating the craft of the stage, the Globe defines American theatre at the hightest level.
Another banner recalls: More than 30 Globe-launched productions went on to Broadway success, earning national acclaim...
What are some of your Old Globe memories?
I remember watching a play at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage (now called the The Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre) as a young person. I was struck by how the actors, encircled by the audience, had somehow become integral to my world and my life–at least for a time. It seemed as if these strangers had suddenly become family, bringing out the true potency of “familiar” things.
On that day I discovered the magical power of theatre. Does that make sense?
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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.
Fourteen basketball teams from around California are competing in San Diego. It’s the 2025 Firefighter Summer Games, and the hoops action is taking place in Balboa Park at the Municipal Gymnasium!
There are teams from San Diego, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Redding, Fresno, Orange County and elsewhere in California.
I’m pleased to report that today San Diego in their first game beat Orange County Fire Authority 45-41. That was the situation when I peeked into the gymnasium during my Balboa Park walk.
The Firefighter Summer Games are being held in venues around San Diego. See the event website here.
Thank you to all firefighting heroes. You are very much appreciated by everyone.
May you also be heroes on the basketball court!
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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 San Diego? Would you like to watch skilled artists create Japanese ink paintings? Would you like to learn this traditional Japanese art?
Head over to Balboa Park tomorrow, Sunday, June 22, 2025, when the 22nd Annual Art Exhibition by Friends of Sumi-e resumes in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado!
I swung by today. I love the simple elegance of this unique art form, and whenever I see there’s an exhibition of Japanese brush painting (called sumi-e or suiboku-ga) in Balboa Park, I can’t miss it.
The participating members of Friends of Sumi-e are always delighted to demonstrate their craft. Today Gaye Lingley showed me how to create an orchid. Here she is, near some of her exhibited artwork:
And here she is creating the orchid. She told me learning Japanese ink painting is never ending. I thought: isn’t that true of any art form?
The orchid is finished. A few strokes of the brush have created depth and subtlety:
Meanwhile, instructor Naoko Ozaki was holding a demonstration across the room….
You can see how, six years ago, Naoko created an incredibly beautiful flower here.
Interested in Japanese brush painting? Want to learn how to do it? Check out the Friends of Sumi-e website here!
Some of the beautiful work on display this weekend:
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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! 