Tag: balboa park

Two eras: Contrasted paintings at Timken Museum.

The Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park has opened a fascinating exhibition titled Reconsidering Bierstadt: Kent Monkman. Visitors to the fine art museum are encouraged to compare two similar but very different works: Albert Bierstadt‘s 1864 painting Cho-looke, The Yosemite Fall, and First Nation Cree artist Kent Monkman‘s 2012 work The Fourth World.

The photograph above shows Kent Monkman’s painting (on loan from the Denver Art Museum) which reimagines the Bierstadt piece in the light of a different perspective.

Bierstadt’s oil painting conveys a sense of rustic tranquility and natural beauty; the somewhat shocking bottom portion of Monkman’s bolder, brighter acrylic piece shows bison being frightened and funneled in Yosemite through sheer steel walls by white men with guns.

Monkman’s contemporary painting clearly expresses that an environment can be forcibly altered by the actions of humans. Like any good art, the image ignites complex thought.

I’m no expert when it comes to the history of Yosemite. Doing some online research, I was surprised to learn that, according to a National Park Service Facebook post: Here in Yosemite, though, bison have never roamed.

Here’s the bottom portion of The Fourth World:

The next photograph is of Cho-looke, The Yosemite Fall. It’s darker, vaguer, somehow more sublime. (The docent thought perhaps the painting needs to be cleaned.)

This Smithsonian website has a better photograph and explains: Bierstadt was inspired to paint Yosemite after seeing Carleton Watkins’s photographs in a New York gallery in 1862…In 1864, the year Bierstadt painted this view, President Abraham Lincoln set aside Yosemite as a protected reserve…

Head down to the Timken Museum of Art when they’re open and observe both canvases up close. When I visited, a friendly docent was standing by to answer questions and provide more insight.

The Timken, which contains many painted masterpieces, is always free! The exhibition will continue through June 8th, 2025.

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Identify these 10 shadows in Balboa Park!

Ready for a visual puzzle?

I walked all around Balboa Park today and noticed all sorts of mysterious shadows. I took photographs, then decided to make a game of it! I like having fun! How about you?

Can you identify the actions or things that produce these interesting shadows? Here’s a hint: the people are regular street performers you’ll see almost every weekend along El Prado. What are they doing?

There’s no prize to win here–sorry.

Just fun!

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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.

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San Diego radio legend Shotgun Tom’s model train!

San Diego’s legendary radio and television personality “Shotgun Tom” Kelly has created many fond memories. I remember listening to him on B100 back in the 1980s. Other San Diegans I’ve spoken to remember him introducing cartoons on The KUSI Kids Club. Over the years, he worked at KDEO, KPRI, KGB, KCBQ, KOGO, KBZS and KFMB-FM and Los Angeles oldies station KRTH-FM (K-Earth 101).

During my recent visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park, I was surprised to see an exhibit concerning Shotgun Tom. Did you know he’s a big fan of model trains? He even has his own cool model train layout! I was told he often visits the museum, operating trains of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern HO layout on Wednesdays!

According to the exhibit, the layout at his home is 10 by 7 feet and includes a radio and television station and a mountain for the TV station’s tower!

(I recall seeing a tiny “Shot Gun” Tom billboard in the Old Town Model Railroad Depot’s big model city, which sadly no longer exists. You can see photos of that incredible layout here.)

“Shot Gun” Tom’s real name is Thomas Joseph Irwin. The museum exhibit includes an old photo of his father J. G. Irwin Sr., a Santa Fe railroad engineer, on the 2357 switch engine in 1955.

Curious about the unusual nickname Shot Gun? It resulted from Tom liking to sit in the front of the family car beside his dad.

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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.

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Two-inch railroad cars to travel in San Diego!

What is the smallest operating railroad car you’ve ever seen? Have you ever seen a moving train so small that bits of dust on the track can stop it?

Incredibly diminutive trains are coming to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park! Each car is about two inches long–the size of your finger!

A new Z scale permanent exhibit is being built in the museum and should be completed later his year. As a sign in the museum explains, this cool project is being supported by a grant from The Norris Foundation.

Z scale model trains are so tiny a complete oval layout can fit inside a briefcase. They have a scale ratio of 1:220. They’re even smaller than the N scale trains one can see in the museum’s incredible Pacific Desert Lines layout, which is operated by the San Diego Society of N Scale.

A sample Z scale layout is already on display (above photo). Plans for the not-yet-built layout can also be viewed…

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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.

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Beautiful San Diego Landscapes in Balboa Park!

San Diego and its surrounding region is so beautiful. There’s the coast and the hills and canyons and mountains, all fantastic subjects for painters of landscapes. A group of artists from North County has captured some of this beauty.

The Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild is now presenting their exhibition Beautiful San Diego Landscapes in Balboa Park. The exhibit can be freely experienced by anyone who ventures into Gallery 21 of Spanish Village Art Center. The gallery hours are 11 am to 4 pm. The exhibition continues through April 7, 2025.

Most of the pieces I saw depict picturesque spots in San Diego, including beaches, Point Loma, La Jolla, San Diego Bay and the rugged landscapes of East County. I noticed flowers fill quite a few canvases, too.

I enjoyed a short talk with smiling artist Linda and learned all of the pieces in the exhibit are for sale. She confided that buyers can negotiate the price. If you’re searching for some very fine artwork you should come on by!

A few examples…

Flower Fields in Carlsbad, by Linda Bourne-Marcos.
Torrey Pines at La Jolla Shores, by Laura Wheeler.
San Diego Spring, by Anne Benkendorf.

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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.

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Take a free Balboa Park Women’s History Tour!

There’s a special once-a-month free tour in Balboa Park that I learned about today. The Balboa Park Women’s History Tour commemorates the women who’ve contributed to Balboa Park and San Diego history.

The inspiring tour begins every 3rd Saturday by the Bea Evenson Fountain (between the San Diego Natural History Museum and Fleet Science Center) at 10 am. The walking tour lasts for one hour.

I’ll have to take this tour at some point in the future!

What I’ve found out is the Balboa Park Women’s History Tour is presented by Forever Balboa Park. The historical substance is provided by the Women’s Museum of California, which makes its home inside the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park’s Casa de Balboa.

Learn more about the tour by clicking here!

You might remember how years ago the Women’s Museum of California made its home at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Well, soon they will have their own permanent gallery inside the San Diego History Center! Their first exhibit will concern Women in STEM. Watch for it!

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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.

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Taiko community comes together in Balboa Park!

Taiko groups from all around San Diego (and beyond!) came together in Balboa Park today for an epic taiko community performance and jam session! It was incredible!

Taiko is high-energy drumming, Japanese style, where drummers together shake the world all around with booming uninhibited joy!

The event was called Taiko 4.0. It celebrated the 40th birthday of Diana, founder of Naruwan Taiko.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to experience a number of Naruwan Taiko performances, but today was something extraordinary. Dozens of members were joined by taiko drummers from groups (I hope I’m not missing anyone) San Diego Taiko, Buddhist Temple of San Diego Taiko, Asayake Taiko (UC San Diego students), Makoto Taiko from Pasadena, and even Rocky Mountain Taiko from Utah!

I counted about 50 taiko drums, many of them quite large. Now imagine the thunder!

The House of China of Balboa Park’s International Cottages helped to make this epic event possible. As the joyful, rhythmic drumming began, people from around the park heard and converged. By the time I departed mid-afternoon, a good crowd had gathered.

I hope my still photographs of this amazing event transmit the absolute joy. Taiko, like nothing else, can make one feel fully alive.

Before the start, getting ready…

Here’s Diana!

A group photo!

An introduction…

Drummers take their places…

Here we go!

Between pieces of music, the drums would be carefully lifted and reconfigured…

Here we go again!

A dancing percussive procession surprise!

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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.

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A rare look at Balboa Park’s historic Pratt Loggia.

The public seldom gets to step into Balboa Park’s historic Pratt Loggia. The columned, balcony-like loggia is easily seen when gazing up from El Prado at the Casa del Prado. You can see it in my next photograph:

During a recent tour of Balboa Park conducted by the Committee of 100, an organization working to preserve Balboa Park’s historic architecture, gardens and public spaces, I was fortunate to step foot into the Pratt Loggia and discover something wonderful.

Before our special tour entered the loggia, we were shown a plaque. It lists the people instrumental in funding the loggia’s creation back in 1971, during the Casa del Prado’s reconstruction.

According to this San Diego History Center webpage: During the course of reconstruction it was discovered that the bond issue did not allow for an expenditure of $70,000 to rebuild the second-level fluted, striated columns with capitals of cupids and the ornate balustrade on the outside loggia of the south building. The Committee of 100 raised the needed money with $50,000 coming from Mrs. Jeannette Pratt, in whose honor the reconstructed gallery was named the “Jeannette Pratt Loggia.”

Our group observed how the plaque contains a Who’s Who of leading San Diego citizens back in 1970s, including the Copleys, Cushmans, Fletchers, Rohr, Ryans, Scripps, and many others. Bea Evenson led the creation of the loggia.

And now here is the beautiful loggia!

We were surprised to see numerous bells in the Pratt Loggia: a few along the balustrade and many others contained in large display cases at either end.

These bells were sent to San Diego from cities around the nation during our city’s bicentennial back in 1969! To mark the 200 year anniversary celebration, San Diego wrote to these cities asking for a donated bell.

What was received? There are fire bells, school bells, bells of all sizes and kinds!

This big one rang loudly and deeply!

THIS BELL IS IN MEMORIAM OF SAN DIEGO’S 200 YEARS. FROM TOPEKA, KANSAS
SAN DIEGO 1769 BICENTENNIAL
PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 200TH ANNIVERSARY BY THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

Another wonderful surprise in San Diego’s ever-amazing Balboa Park!

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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.

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Persian dance and culture in Balboa Park!

The House of Iran had their lawn program today at the International Cottages in Balboa Park. Their cultural program is held every year on the Sunday following the Persian New Year, which is called Nowruz. Nowruz occurs on the day of the vernal equinox, which is the first day of Spring.

Speeches and introductions during the event were largely in Farsi, which made it difficult for an English speaker like myself to understand all that was going on. I did understand that the program celebrated thousands of years of Persian history and culture.

There was the awarding of scholarships to young people and a thank you to the San Diego Police Department. There was Afsoon Johnston, a world champion wrestling medalist whose family fled Iran. There was a tent serving tasty, freshly made kabab, and a big crowd clapping to lots of happy dancing and music!

You can see some of traditional costumes. You can also see how members of the audience took to the stage to dance!

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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.

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Spring exhibition of ikebana in San Diego!

Another perfect Sunday in San Diego. Another amazing ikebana Japanese flower arrangement show in Balboa Park!

The 57th Annual Spring Exhibition “Nature in Balance” by Ikebana International San Diego Chapter #119 was held this weekend in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado. Even though I’ve been to many of these shows, I couldn’t resist walking into Room 101 to experience exquisite beauty that never grows old.

I’ve said it before. Every single ikebana flower arrangement is a visual poem.

If you didn’t make the show this year, go to the organization’s website and see what free exhibitions are coming up. Or become a member!

Here are a few photos…

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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.

Feel free to share!