Tag: balboa park

A colorful Philippine Cultural Festival in San Diego!

San Diego has a very large Filipino community. So it’s no surprise that many in the community came out today for the big, colorful 36th Annual Philippine Cultural Arts Festival!

This always popular festival, which takes place in Balboa Park, attracts an enthusiastic crowd, as you can see in my photos. (As I type this, the event is still going on for another hour or so.) There’s every sort of entertainment on the main stage, including music, singing, and a whole lot of folk dancing in costume. Those wandering about the grass can find Filipino food, cultural displays and art at every turn. Smiling authors and artists greet people, too!

The event is presented by the SAMAHAN Filipino American Performing Arts and Education Center, and I joined the audience cheering on many students performing traditional dances.

I learned Filipino Folk Dance Classes are offered for children, teens and adults. Click here for more information!

That smile in my next photo belongs to author Jocelyn Francisco, Ph.D. She wrote the Little Yellow Jeepney series of children’s books!

Perhaps you recall that the film Lumpia With A Vengeance had a very well attended panel this year at San Diego Comic-Con. That cool guy smiling on the left–Patricio Ginelsa–is the Director! The movie will be available on demand and digitally on October 3.

Here’s a young guy with truly fine art. I wonder how soon until his work is included in museum collections. His name is Sean Arce.

I enjoyed perusing a few cultural exhibits…

Another great performance!

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Symphony brass, a World Premiere, and the Spreckels Organ!

When San Diego Symphony musicians team up with San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez, you know extraordinary music will follow. When the concert includes a World Premiere by noted composer Texu Kim, it’s an experience you won’t soon forget!

This evening, in San Diego’s always amazing Balboa Park, a Brass and Organ Stereophonic Stravaganza was enjoyed by a huge crowd at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Fine music flowed from the brass instruments of eight San Diego Symphony musicians. Their notes were often accompanied by the mighty Spreckels Organ, world’s largest outdoor musical instrument. A stream of emotions was summoned almost magically, as excellent music will do. It all resulted in a prolonged final standing ovation.

The World Premiere of the piece Mir by Texu Kim was surprising, innovative and a whole lot of fun. I heard audience members gasp when the piece concluded. Learn more about the featured guest composer Texu Kim here.

If you haven’t been to any of this year’s 35th Annual San Diego International Organ Festival free concerts, you should go! There are three more scheduled in Balboa Park. Next Monday the organist is from the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris! The following Monday is Silent Movie Night–a crowd favorite every year!

Interested? Check out the schedule for the remaining concerts 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 Twitter!

House of Ukraine band to rock Ocean Beach!

The band u3zubmusic will be opening for legendary Ukrainian band SKRYABIN tomorrow, August 15, in Ocean Beach at Winstons Beach Club. What is the band u3zubmusic? A rockin’ group of musicians representing the House of Ukraine in Balboa Park!

I was walking near Balboa Park’s International Cottages this evening when I heard the band rehearsing out on the lawn. I listened for a bit and got some smiles for my camera.

If you want to hear music that is filled with Ukrainian spirit, you might check out the concert. Read more about it and purchase tickets 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 Twitter!

Panama’s colorful culture celebrated in San Diego!

A big celebration of Panama and its culture was held today in San Diego. The House of Panama brought food, dance, folk costume and family fun to the International Cottages in Balboa Park!

Before the speeches and entertainment commenced, I visited the House of Panama cottage, then walked about the International Cottages lawn. Lots of people were lined up for traditional Panamanian treats like empanadas and arroz con pollo. There were also many flavors of piraguas.

At one table, author Tamika Burgess told me about her new novel, Sincerely Sicily. It’s about a young Black Latina who learns about her Panamanian heritage. Check out her book here.

Another table celebrated the relationship between San Diego and Panama City. The two are Sister Cities. A cool LEGO model demonstrated how the Panama Canal works!

What is Panama City’s connection to San Diego? San Diego is the first American port-of-call after ships pass into the Pacific Ocean and head north. Balboa Park during its 1915 Panama-California Exposition promoted this fortuitous geographical fact.

At another table a raffle was being held to support the House of Panama. If you want to offer your support, or simply are curious, visit their website here.

Then speeches . . . and dancing! Several cultural groups participated in the lively folkloric dancing. Performers came to San Diego from as far away as San Francisco and Los Angeles! Everyone watching applauded loudly. Smiles were in the dancers’ eyes.

Between dances there was a fashion show. We were shown different types of beautiful pollera dresses, and quickly could see why some of the elaborate polleras could cost several thousand dollars. So many different colors whirled on the stage!

As you can see from my photographs, the annual House of Panama lawn program in Balboa Park is an exceptionally festive and colorful event!

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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 Twitter!

Beautiful silk art in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village!

Gallery 21 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center is now hosting a show full of very beautiful silk art, created by members of the San Diego Silk Guild.

During my visit to the gallery this afternoon, I was interested to learn about the different types of art that can be created using silk. I was shown clothing, scarves, paintings on silk, wax batiks, Japanese shibori, botanical printing, unique sculptures . . . far more than my astonished brain could easily comprehend!

As you can see, this silk artwork can be very colorful. Some of the techniques produce a degree of subtlety and complexity one might not expect.

Looking for something beautiful to take home? Most of the pieces are for sale.

I’m afraid I forgot to take a photo of the sign in front of the gallery, but I believe the show continues until mid-August. You might want to drop by next weekend!

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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 Twitter!

Carnivorous plants eat lunch in Balboa Park!

Hundreds of ravenous carnivorous plants lined up for lunch in Balboa Park this weekend!

The San Diego Carnivorous Plant Society held its 10th Anniversary Carnivorous Plant Show and Sale in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado, and a good crowd turned out to see the hungry–and often beautiful–insect-eaters!

I arrived just in time for the Venus flytrap feeding at 1 pm.

We watched as living insects became lunch. I learned it takes several days for a carnivorous plant’s digestive juices to do their work, so perhaps each meal is a couple of breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

We also learned how a Venus flytrap has something like a timer. If a trigger hair in the trapping leaf structure detects a movement, the plants will wait a short bit to see whether movement is detected again. Then the leaves rapidly close like a hungry green mouth!

Once digestion is complete, the trapping leaves reopen, revealing an empty insect husk that can be blown away by the wind or washed away in a rain.

If you want to join the San Diego Carnivorous Plant Society or simply want to learn more about it, here’s their website.

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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 Twitter!

Beautiful garden railway runs in Balboa Park!

Perhaps you remember the Centennial Railway Garden, which was built in a small outdoor space at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in 2015 for the centennial of Balboa Park. (You can see it here.) That model train layout is now history. Those 3D printed models of Balboa Park buildings have been replaced with beautiful handmade buildings that represent the late 1800s Victorian era.

Check out these photographs of the new Freight and Flora: A Garden Railway Exhibit!

A company called Applied Imagination constructed and donated the awesome little buildings. You can view other similar garden railways on their website!

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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 Twitter!

Create and display beauty at the museum!

Would you like to hang one of your drawings at the San Diego Museum of Art?

A fun activity can be enjoyed by visitors to the O’Keeffe and Moore exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park!

Seashells, conches and smooth river stones scattered among bits of paper and colored pencils wait for inspired people.

Will your work of art rival the nearby masterpieces created by American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and British sculptor Henry Moore?

Nobody will know until you try!

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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 Twitter!

O’Keeffe and Moore at San Diego Museum of Art.

Georgia O’Keeffe. Henry Moore. What do these two famous modernist artists, who lived on two separate continents, have in common? Love of nature. And a singular exhibition now open at the San Diego Museum of Art!

I enjoyed a very special tour of O’Keeffe and Moore a few days ago and I’m still deeply moved while thinking about it.

I, like many people, have always loved the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe. However I knew precious little about Henry Moore, apart from a curvaceous sculpture he created, Reclining Figure: Arch Leg, that stands in the sculpture garden at the San Diego Museum of Art.

When compared side by side, the abstract work of both artists is strikingly similar. Organic, sensuous, familiar, elemental, inspired by forms found in nature. It’s no surprise that their art seems to be distilled from flowers, landscapes, bones and clouds. Because both artists loved nature and closely studied these things.

Both Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore collected bones, driftwood and smooth river stones. Their studios resembled work areas at a natural history museum. In one gallery at the San Diego Museum of Art, recreations of the two artist studios are displayed for visitors to enjoy.

I was surprised to learn that O’Keeffe created sculptures, and that Henry Moore, the sculptor, also painted. The exhibition contains over a hundred pieces between the two artists.

Here is some of O’Keefe’s beautiful work:

The White Flower (White Trumpet Flower), Georgia O’Keeffe, 1932. Oil on canvas. “I have painted what each flower is to me and I have painted it big enough so that others would see what I see.”

Red Hill and White Shell, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1938. Oil on canvas. A moon snail shell from the Atlantic shore in the New Mexico desert.

Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1938. Oil on canvas. Juxtaposition of skull with a flower.

Museum visitors admire Georgia O’Keeffe’s recreated studio which was located at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico:

Abstraction, Georgia O’Keefe, 1946. White lacquered bronze. Inspired by spiral of ram horns.

And here’s Moore at work, and a recreation of a studio in rural Hertfordshire:

Moore Working on the Elmwood Reclining Figure 1959-64. Photographer unknown.

Recreation of Henry Moore’s Bourne Maquette Studio, which was named for a stream near the old farmhouse where he lived and worked.

A few of Moore’s sculptures, some of which are models for even larger pieces:

Working Model for Seated Woman, Henry Moore, 1980. Plaster with surface color. Enlarged from a small maquette created in 1956.

Mother and Child, Henry Moore, 1978. Stalactite. Inspired by two seashells. (You don’t often see a sculpted piece of stalactite!)

Working Model for Oval with Points, Henry Moore, 1968-69. Bronze. Inspired by the interior of an elephant skull.

This truly extraordinary exhibit is made possible by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Henry Moore Foundation. It will be on view at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park until August 27, 2023.

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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 Twitter!

My Hero Academia at the Comic-Con Museum!

Check out the above very cool sculpture. It represents an epic battle from My Hero Academia, the “Historical Battle in Kamino.”

This sculpture is the centerpiece of a new exhibition that opened today, just in time for Comic-Con 2023!

I’m not all that familiar with this manga series, but the colorful displays definitely caught my attention this morning as I wandered about the lower level of the museum. Around the statue are action-packed graphics that depict various characters and scenes that fans love from My Hero Academia.

If you’re a fan of manga or anime, and you’re going to Comic-Con this year, jump on the shuttle from the San Diego Convention Center to Balboa Park. It stops a very short distance from the Comic-Con Museum!

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!