How the seasons fly.
I saw a few cherry blossoms today during a walk through the Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden. Next month, from March 16 to March 20, my favorite garden in Balboa Park will host 2020 Cherry Blossom Week.
I suppose I’ll be going again.
The few early blossoms are familiar magic.
Spring soon returns.
Another renewal.
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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!
Check out the latest exhibition at Balboa Park’s always amazing Japanese Friendship Garden!
The Chromatic Ceramic Collection: John Conrad features unique ceramic creations whose shining colors dance and change depending on the angle from which they are viewed!
These refractive pieces, which include patterned discs and vases in different shapes, have to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. As you move about the garden’s Exhibit Hall, you seem to the find the end of many rainbows.
According to the Japanese Friendship Garden’s website: “Culminating over 60 years of research and experiments, artist John Conrad developed the spectacular finish that is seen on the Chromatic Collection…The chromatic finish is a combination of metallic flake and silica, which is then adhered onto porcelain using modern plasma technology…”
I was struck during my visit on Sunday how these brilliant ceramics resemble in many respects the holographic paintings of Tom Liguori, another local innovator whose work can be seen here.
I’ve included photographs of a few radiant discs to provide an idea of what you’ll experience. The vases, if anything, are even more beautiful.
Visionary artists continue to find new ways to express and combine form, light and color. It seems the potential for beauty is infinite.
The Chromatic Ceramic Collection: John Conrad can be viewed through April 26, 2020 at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park.
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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!
The decade is off to an exciting start in Balboa Park! I discovered lots of big news during my afternoon walk!
After years of delay, new structures on the southwest side of the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages are finally rising! Three structures on this side and two on the International Cottage’s northeast side will provide future homes for nine nations or cultural units: Mexico, India, Colombia, Lebanon, Palestine, Peru, Panama, Turkey and the Philippines.
If you want to see photos of the big groundbreaking event that took place over three years ago, click here!
A new Community Christmas Tree was recently planted! It replaced the diseased, old, misshapen tree that Balboa Park stopped decorating many years ago.
I learned from a friendly lady who works for the Balboa Park Conservancy that the new tree was planted around Christmas. It will be allowed to grow and become established before being decked with lights and ornaments. Look for it during future Holiday Seasons!
Here’s an old photo of that misshapen tree, which was finally removed:
Finally, the scaffolding has been removed from the California Tower! The iconic building’s Seismic Retrofitting Project is almost complete!
I was informed by two Museum of Man employees that the tower will reopen to the public on February 15!
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Let’s see. Today in Balboa Park we had an orchid show, Chinese New Year, food, dance, laughter, fountains, smiles, bright gardens, picnics, music, happy dogs, art, green grass, sunshine…
In other words: a paradise full of life and friendship.
Another typical weekend in the park.
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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!
Over the years I’ve enjoyed watching many celebrations of the Lunar New Year.
My camera has captured Chinese New Year events in the Asian Thematic District in downtown San Diego, and in Balboa Park. I’ve attended large Tết Festivals at SDCCU (then named Qualcomm) Stadium and Mira Mesa Community Park.
The Year of the Rat begins this Saturday. Those born in the Year of the Rat are said to be optimistic and energetic! Prosperous, too!
I do know that past celebrations I’ve enjoyed are full of color, life, smiles and optimism.
Want to have a glimpse of past Lunar New Year celebrations around San Diego?
Enjoy some photos by clicking these links:
Lion dances and fun in downtown San Diego! (Asian Thematic District in 2016)
A fun Chinese New Year Festival in Balboa Park! (Balboa Park in 2018)
More photos of the Chinese New Year Festival! (Balboa Park in 2019, from my special website Beautiful Balboa Park)
Photos of Chinese New Year celebration in Balboa Park. (Balboa Park in 2016)
San Diego’s 2015 Lunar New Year Tết Festival. (Qualcomm Stadium in 2015)
Colorful photos of San Diego Tet Festival. (Mira Mesa in 2017)
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Ready to have some fun?
Can you identify the location of each shadow?
Here are nine photos of mysterious shadows that I took in the past couple weeks.
All are from walks through downtown or Balboa Park.
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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 walk through Balboa Park today included a slow circle around the Timken Museum of Art.
While the building doesn’t really fit with the park’s nearby Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, the museum is quite beautiful in its own way. For a description of this masterpiece of Southern California Modernism, you can visit an earlier blog that I posted here.
Few people journey next to the Timken’s bright walls. The walkway can be a bit hidden.
Here are a few scenes from this afternoon…
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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!
Until yesterday, I didn’t know very much about Lomaland. I knew it was a Theosophical community in Point Loma with several exotic buildings that were located where Point Loma Nazarene University stands today, but that’s about all.
After viewing the San Diego History Center’s current exhibition The Path of the Mystic: Art & Theosophy at Lomaland, and doing a little online research, I now know more about this unique utopian community that made important cultural contributions to San Diego in the first half of the 20th century.
Lomaland was established by Katherine Tingley in 1897. The home of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, the community became a haven for learning, culture and social reform. Artists and like-minded individuals from around the world came to Lomaland to lead spiritual, contemplative, idealistic lives.
According to the San Diego History Center website: “Tingley’s progressive Theosophical vision, which placed strong emphasis on cultural pursuits including music, dance, drama, literature and visual art, attracted artists from the United States and abroad. As the community developed, many artists came to live and work at Lomaland, including Marguerite Lemke Barton, Grace “Gay” Betts, Maurice Braun, Benjamin Gordon, Leonard Lester, Marian Plummer Lester, Reginald Willoughby Machell, and Edith White.”
I learned from Wikipedia: “Led by Katherine Tingley, the group came to Point Loma to establish a community that would model the philosophical and humanitarian goals of Theosophy. The “White City” envisioned by Tingley was to be located on the extreme western edge of the North American continent but oriented toward India, the spiritual center of Theosophical beliefs. The blend of new world confidence, Victorian morality, a love of antiquity, and Indian spirituality created a unique community …”
The buildings of Lomaland were completed in 1900, and the Theosophical community flourished in Point Loma until 1942, when it relocated to Covina. The main building and Temple of Peace, which often appear in Theosophical Society artwork, had domes of aquamarine and amethyst colored glass. They could be seen far out to sea, and as far east as Mt. Cuyamaca. They were destroyed by fire in 1952. The Spaulding house today serves as the administration building at Point Loma Nazarene University.
I took a few photos of the exhibition in subdued lighting, but my poor old camera doesn’t capture the full detail and beauty of this artwork.
Many more paintings, historical photographs and other works of unique art in The Path of the Mystic: Art & Theosophy at Lomaland will be on display through April 19, 2020 at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park.
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
This afternoon, residents of San Diego and tourists from places around the world came together to sing joyfully.
Rising from the audience, perfect strangers gathered on the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion and sang Christmas carols.
Their voices touched the hearts of many who listened.
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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!
Check out all this great pop art by local San Diego artists! There’s a little bit of horror and a little bit of Christmas!
All of these pieces are by the artists of Horrorgasm and were on display at the future home of the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park during 2019 December Nights.
Horrorgasm is a cool art event that is held annually in late October. According to the Horrorgasm website, it’s a “one-night-only celebration of horror and all things creepy, spooky and macabre.” In 2019 Horrorgasm was held in North Park, and featured “an Art gallery, an artisan marketplace, live performances, live readings of chilling tales, and our version of an escape room, the Horrorgasm Survival Chamber.”
As I wandered about the exhibit, I was pleased to once again meet artist Melody De Los Cobos, one of the founders of Horrorgasm. Last month we spoke briefly during a Love City Heights mural painting event, where she was mentoring a young artist. I blogged about that here!
Some great popular movies are represented in this collection of original artwork. A few humorous pieces had me smiling!
To learn more about Horrorgasm, visit their website here.
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Cool San Diego Sights! 