The highlight of my walk through Balboa Park today was the San Diego Wabi Spring Flower Show. My feet often halted as I passed dozens of exquisite Japanese ikebana flower arrangements. My camera couldn’t stop snapping. As you will see, the beauty was indescribable.
This annual event, which is held for one weekend inside the Casa del Prado, provides a breathtaking exhibition of the traditional Japanese art, as taught by the Ohara School of Ikebana. In addition to the many heavenly flower arrangements, there were demonstrations by local ikebana masters for those who are interested in learning about or practicing this ancient art form.
Many of these photos are close-ups of flower arrangements. I tried my own “hand” at artistic composition.
I’m so envious of the talent displayed at this show. Every careful work of floral art was a poem for the eyes.
The San Diego Wabi Study Group Annual Flower Show, with beautiful ikebana arrangements and demonstrations, was held this weekend in the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park.Many superb examples of exquisite ikebana Japanese flower arrangement pleased the eyes of delighted visitors.
Young eyes observe a demonstration of traditional ikebana flower arrangement. Every work in this ancient art form is like a visual poem.
…
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!
Close up of a colorful mural now on display in front of the San Diego Museum of Art.
Many extraordinary artists make San Diego their home. They help our city sparkle with culture and energy.
Amazing works by distinguished local muralists are now on display in Balboa Park, directly in front of the San Diego Museum of Art.
The six colorful murals, painted live a couple weeks ago, are inspired by a world-class exhibition now running inside the museum. Modern Masters from Latin America: The Pérez Simón Collection is an exhibition of modern Latin masterpieces that no art lover should miss. I blogged about it here. Go soon. It will be closing in two weeks.
I don’t know how long these murals will be on display outdoors in front of the museum, so swing by Balboa Park soon to enjoy them in person!
To see the murals of Chicano Park, you can click here.
Visitors to Balboa Park check out a couple of the murals temporarily on display in the Plaza de Panama.Sign in front of the San Diego Museum of Art explains the outdoor Local Latin American Masters exhibition. Six murals were painted live in front of the museum.Art by Victor Ochoa. His work has been widely published. He was one of the original muralists to work in Chicano Park.Art by Carmen Kalo. She is a San Diego native who actively leads Chicano Park tours, builds social awareness, and works with at-risk youth and the homeless.Art by Hector Villegas. He is a teacher who has painted three murals at Chicano Park.Art by Cesar Castañeda. He owns the Chicano Art Gallery in Barrio Logan.Art by Stephanie Cecilia Cervantes. A painter first inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, she was a muralist during Chicano Park’s 2011 restoration project.Protecting Our Water and Earth by Mario Torero. He is an artivist and founding member of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.Amazing artwork that the public can see close up and in natural sunlight, just like the many fantastic murals of Chicano Park!
…
Today I published a new short story. It’s titled One Magic Bubble. I suppose the short piece is about life.
Something new at the zoo will be roaring in soon…and what it might be is a complete mystery!
Something new will be “roaring in soon” at the entrance to the world-famous San Diego Zoo! A tall fence surrounds a construction site, and tantalizing banners invite visitors to ponder the mystery.
I asked three zoo guys standing near the fence what exactly will be roaring in, and they said it was a secret. I did manage to find out that whatever it might be will be debuting in mid-March.
So what do you think it will be? Cool new artwork? Perhaps some sort of sculpture? Animatronic lions?
I’ve read that the Jessop’s Clock, which has stood for many years in Horton Plaza, might find a new home at the zoo, but plans to move it hit a snag years ago because of the clock’s status as an historical object. Moving the clock would entail digging a really deep hole for the winding mechanism–12 feet deep to be exact. Now that I think about it, this location would be ideal for the historic street clock.
That is the only logical guess I can come up with!
These San Diego Zoo guys were mum about what’s being built inside the fence in front of the zoo’s entrance. They did say whatever it is will debut in mid-March.Something new is coming at the entrance to the San Diego Zoo. And your guess is as good as mine!
UPDATE!
After learning a bit more, I’m now pretty sure it’s not the Jessop’s Clock, but some sort of new art installation. We shall see during the unveiling!
ANOTHER UPDATE!
Looking at a couple mysterious photos on the San Diego Zoo’s Twitter timeline, I’m now pretty sure a gigantic sculpture of a lion will be placed here! It began with a roar! I’ll take photos when I see it!
FINAL UPDATE!!!
I caught the artwork’s debut! It’s a gigantic sculpture of Rex the Lion!
…
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 might have noticed I personally love the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. The garden always refreshes my mind and sparks my creativity. It’s one of my favorite spots to write short stories. (I hope to have a new one finished soon!)
When I learned a new cultural exhibition would open today in the garden’s handsome Inamori Pavilion, I knew at once that I had to check it out. The exhibition is called Art in Bloom – Floral Art of Japan.
The diverse pieces of artwork on display feature exquisite flower designs. By reading several signs in the exhibit, I learned about the symbolism of certain flowers in Japan. For example, I learned the camelia represents spring.
After feasting my eyes on the Art in Bloom exhibit, I walked up a winding path through the Lower Garden and carefully searched the grove of Japanese cherry trees for spring blossoms. None yet! One of the knowledgeable master gardeners informed me we have several weeks to go!
(Don’t forget to attend the certain-to-be-amazing 2018 Cherry Blossom Festival. This year it will be held on March 9 through March 11.)
Here’s a pic taken outside the Inamori Pavilion, followed by photos of a few works of the floral art inside…
Flowers at the Japanese Friendship Garden near the Inamori Pavilion, where the Art in Bloom exhibition is located.
…
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!
A demonstration of martial arts by members of the San Diego Wushu Center during the 2018 Chinese New Year Festival in Balboa Park.
Today I experienced two fantastic cultural events in Balboa Park. The first was the Chinese New Year Festival hosted by the House of China at the International Cottages.
2018 is the Year of the Dog, and a huge crowd turned out to enjoy Chinese food, entertainment and a whole lot of good fun. I stayed for a while and watched talented performers dance, demonstrate Kung fu, and fling bright Yo-Yos into the sunny San Diego sky to the delight of all! It was great!
The 2018 Chinese New Year Festival continues Sunday, from 11 am to 5 pm. You really should go!
Just in case you can’t make it, I took some colorful photos…
Tents in the lawn area of the International Cottages feature food, unique crafts and many fascinating aspects of Chinese culture.Cheerful artwork and entertainment are plentiful at the 2018 Chinese New Year Festival, hosted by the House of China in Balboa Park.Young students working with the Confucius Institute at San Diego State University dance during the program.Some traditional Chinese food being served included egg rolls, dumplings and bao–steamed buns with several different tasty fillings.I spotted one table with clever cards that open to colorful pop-up bouquets.Anyone could check the year of their birth against this Chinese horoscope. 2018 is the Year of the Dog.These cool kids of the Riverview International Academy Yo-Yo Team wowed the crowd with their amazing skill.I discovered a fascinating book about the history of the Chinese in San Diego. It’s title is In Search of Gold Mountain.Some beautiful Chinese brush art and ink drawings were being displayed by friendly local artists.Energetic martial artists demonstrated various forms of Kung fu. Many routines seemed like precise athletic dances.A graceful performance by members of the UCSD Chinese Dance Association.Many smiles and delightful surprises await visitors to Balboa Park during the 2018 Chinese New Year Festival.
…
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!
Motion Pictures, Photography by Gjon Mili, is a free to the public exhibition inside the San Diego Museum of Art’s Gallery 15.
There is currently a free exhibition of Gjon Mili photography at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Gjon Mili was a photographer for Life magazine during the Golden Age of Photojournalism.
Born in Albania, Gjon Mili came to America to study electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he experimented with photography. As a photographer for Life, he captured a wide variety of action with his camera, including motion in sports and dance.
He was a pioneer in the use of stroboscopic light, stop-motion techniques, and other novel methods of photography. One famous innovation is his iconic light drawings. He also focused on jazz performance, and the work of contemporary artists, such as Picasso. In 1944 he filmed his first true motion picture, Jammin’ the Blues, after his passion for jazz was ignited by hosting a party that included Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie.
This very cool (and free) exhibition can be found in Gallery 15, through a door beside Panama 66 at the San Diego Museum of Art’s outdoor May S. Marcy Sculpture Court.
Here are a few photos to provide a hint of what you’ll see…
Long Island University basketball team demonstrates best scoring plays. Gelatin silver print, 1940.Gjon Mili (1904-1984), an immigrant from Albania, was a photographer for Life magazine. He could capture on one negative more grace and beauty than Hollywood cameramen could get on many feet of motion-picture film.Woman playing badminton. Gelatin silver print, 1945.Starting line for the sixty-yard hurdles of the Millrose Games. Gelatin silver print, 1948.Gjon Mili on the set of Jammin’ the Blues. Photographic reproduction, 1944.
…
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!
Guys work on an interactive kiosk that will be at the entrance to the renovated Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park!
I was pleasantly surprised during my walk through Balboa Park today to see progress is being made in renovating the Starlight Bowl!
A couple of super cool guys from Save Starlight were installing an interactive kiosk at the outdoor amphitheater’s entrance. I learned that some events for the outdoor venue are already planned for early this year! How awesome is that?
If you are like me, you might have watched musicals performed in the Starlight Bowl under twinkling stars, before the San Diego Civic Light Opera went bankrupt in 2011. My memories from years ago are still vivid in my mind’s eye. I remember laughing as a young man at the humor of Kiss Me, Kate and The Pirates of Penzance.
I’ve blogged about the effort to save the Starlight Bowl on several occasions, and took a couple of photographs after a new paint job and clean up early last year. I posted those photos on my Beautiful Balboa Park blog here.
If you want to learn more about the Starlight Bowl’s history, challenges, rehabilitation and eventual reopening, visit this website. You can make a donation to help with the effort, or perhaps volunteer!
A performance in the Ford Bowl–now the Starlight Bowl–during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park. (This no known copyright restrictions image is from Flickr.)Save Starlight is making great progress bringing the famous and beloved Starlight Bowl back to life!
…
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!
Naomi was born in Prague in 1932. She and her parents were sent by the Nazis to the Theresienstadt ghetto and forced to work. The family was then sent to Auschwitz and at age 12, Naomi was murdered.
Today I discovered an inspired project that helps school students learn about the Holocaust, and how to fight injustice and bullying.
The Butterfly Project had a special event this afternoon at the San Diego History Center. By pure chance I saw a sign for the event as I walked through Balboa Park.
Inside the San Diego History Center, I watched as compassionate visitors painted ceramic butterflies–one for each child who perished in the Holocaust.
Then I heard presentations by two speakers who had family members endure the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust. These powerful presentations, complete with photographs and touchable artifacts, are often made to students in school classrooms. The presentations encourage Hope, Optimism, Kindness, Dignity and the Power of One. I learned how there were amazing instances where the courage of one person against brutal Nazis saved many innocent lives in labor and concentration camps.
One person can speak out. One person can take risks for others. One positive person can change many lives.
According to their mission statement, The Butterfly Project is a call to action through the arts, using the lessons of the Holocaust to educate about the dangers of hatred and bigotry through the painting of ceramic butterflies, permanently displayed around the world to memorialize each of the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.
The Butterfly Project seeks to partner with anyone that has or wants to build a connection to history, honoring those who died in the Holocaust. They want to get their beautiful, symbolic butterflies into schools, museums and community centers. They want to be included in classrooms across the country as an important part of Holocaust and anti-bullying education.
Can you help? Click this link to learn how to get involved.
Will you be that one person who steps forward?
An event to raise awareness about The Butterfly Project was held at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park.Ceramic butterflies are painted. Each one symbolizes a young person who died as a result of the Holocaust.Some hands add color to the butterflies.Bronislaw almost escaped the Nazis hidden in a suitcase, then in a backpack. Seven year-old Bronislaw was discovered and shot.Holding up a labor camp uniform worn during the Holocaust. Presentations to students make the Holocaust real, and encourage positive, compassionate action.One presentation shows the tragic journey of one man who was sent to multiple concentration camps. He ran into a forest during a forced death march and escaped.The yellow badge that Nazis forced Jewish people to wear during the Holocaust.Painted butterflies recall innocent lives lost. With hope, purpose and courage, we can fight inhumanity and teach kindness.
Please help the Save Our Heritage Organisation gather artifacts and memories to preserve a part of San Diego history. (Click this photo to enlarge the flyer for easy reading.)
I recently tood a photo of a flyer that I spotted in the Senior Lounge in Balboa Park. Please click the above image and read it.
Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) is seeking memorabilia, ephemera, merchandise and memories from Marston’s Department Store, which for nearly a century was the most elegant place to shop in San Diego. The department store was founded by George Marston, who is often referred to as San Diego’s First Citizen. As a civic leader and philanthropist, he was instrumental in creating Balboa Park, Presidio Park and the San Diego Historical Society.
Marston began as a clerk at the Horton House Hotel and eventually built the Marston Company, which ran a department store in San Diego. When earlier locations became outgrown, the large, elegant Marston’s Department Store on C Street, between 5th and 6th Street, built in the Renaissance Revival architectural style, opened in 1912 and became a popular downtown shopping destination. In 1961 it was sold by his family to The Broadway, which has since closed.
Artifacts related to Marston’s Department Store will be used by SOHO in a permanent exhibit inside their Marston House Museum in Balboa Park. Items that you contribute can be sent or delivered to the SOHO offices in Old Town. Recorded memories are also sought. The 2018 exhibit celebrates the 140th anniversary of the store’s founding!
Do you know anyone who shopped at Marston’s Department Store those many years ago? Perhaps they can help the Save Our Heritage Organisation with this very cool project!
George Marston, circa 1907-1908, San Diego businessman, civic leader and philanthropist. Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons.Photo of San Diego Union newspaper from Monday morning, January 1, 1912. Depicted is a brand new Marston Department Store. The headline reads: Modern Mercantile Emporium One of Best Three on Coast.
…
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!
Raúl Prieto Ramírez, San Diego’s new Civic Organist, raises his arms in greeting.
I’m still in a state of elation after experiencing the exciting debut this afternoon of San Diego’s new Civic Organist!
The first appearance of Raúl Prieto Ramírez as official organist for the city of San Diego was nothing less than phenomenal. He performed in Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion, where the public will now enjoy his free performances every Sunday at two o’clock.
His great love of music, his energy, his vivaciousness and his extraordinary skill were apparent from the start. An enormous audience filled the Spreckels Organ Pavilion and welcomed him warmly. At the conclusion of the exciting concert, he received a well-deserved standing ovation.
San Diego is so fortunate. The shoes of previous Civic Organist, Dr. Carol Williams, would be difficult for anyone to fill, but Raúl Prieto Ramírez seems definitely up to the task. His playing is crisp, nimble, precise, and full of expression. His smile is enormous. His mission in life, he told the audience, was to bring to the world great music. That makes him happy.
Raúl Prieto Ramírez comes to San Diego from Barcelona, Spain. He is internationally acclaimed, the founder of the Barcelona-Mataró International Organ Festival. Now he will perform his magic in Balboa Park as Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society. I can tell you right now the future of the 103-year-old Spreckels Organ is incredibly bright.
My photos of today’s concert captures a true artist’s unbounded passion. That passion translates into musical gold.
Jack Lasher, President of the Spreckels Organ Society, welcomes new San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez to the world’s largest outdoor organ in Balboa Park.A sparkling debut concert is about to begin.A tradition for the Sunday organ concerts in Balboa Park, Raúl Prieto Ramírez plays America to get things started.The San Diego audience loved our new Civic Organist from the word go.Raúl Prieto Ramírez talks about coming to San Diego, before his brilliant performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor.Playing the Spreckels Organ with style and passion.There were many smiles throughout the large audience at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Every bench was full.Finishing a difficult Classical piece with a triumphant flourish.With theatrical flair, Raúl Prieto Ramírez talks about the next piece, Danse Macabre.Concentration.Feeling.Intensity.More smiles.After a great organ rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, Spreckels Organ Society’s Executive Director Ross Porter announces kids are needed for the next number.Kids from the audience take the stage right next to the Spreckels Organ console.Here comes a fifth kid.Instructions are secretly given.While Raúl Prieto Ramírez plays Batalla Famosa, the kids read a short dramatic sentence that introduces each part of the music.Too much fun!Meet the new San Diego Civic Organist, Raúl Prieto Ramírez!
…
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! 