Tag: beautiful

Tree murals appear on Bay to Park Paseo!

Colorful murals depicting a variety of beautiful trees in Balboa Park have been installed at the north end of San Diego’s art-filled Bay to Park Paseo!

The colorful vinyl murals can be viewed on a Park Boulevard fence, just south of the bridge that spans Interstate 5. The murals welcome motorists to an amazing park that is overflowing with natural beauty.

An original description of the 1.7 mile Bay to Park Paseo, which runs from San Diego Bay up to Balboa Park, can be found here. A couple of the temporary art projects still aren’t completed, but those who walk along the Paseo will enjoy about a dozen finished installations.

This particular installation is presented by the Balboa Park Committee of 100 and Urban Interventions. The trees were photographed in Balboa Park by artist Perry Vasquez.

The Bay to Park Paseo is a unique walking experience created in conjunction with San Diego/Tijuana’s selection as World Design Capital. The idea is to eventually create a permanent Paseo–an inviting walkway from downtown San Diego to Balboa Park–filled with great public art. I definitely support this idea!

If you’d like to see photographs of the very first guided walk up the Bay to Park Paseo earlier this year, click here!

Do you like to walk? Free guided tours of the Bay to Park Paseo can be enjoyed on the first and third Saturday of each month through November 2024. The tours meet in the front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront and end in Balboa Park at Presidents Way, not far from these tree murals.

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Murals at Lemon Grove Academy Middle School.

Several awesome murals can be viewed at the Lemon Grove Academy Middle School, also known as the Lemon Grove Academy for the Sciences and Humanities. They’re located just around the corner from the Lemon Grove Library, whose new mural I blogged about yesterday.

The school’s mascot is the Wolf, and their core values are: Persistent, Authentic, Courageous and Kind. Get it? Wolf Pack.

I was told by the librarian about these school murals so I had to walk over to check them out. She indicated they are also by ArtReach–the folks responsible for the new library mural.

I really love that blue howling wolf!

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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 X.

Meaningful art at Encinitas Fire Station.

I found two instances of meaningful art as I walked past Encinitas Fire Department Station One today.

The first work of art I noticed was a mosaic in the sidewalk beside the station building. It memorializes New York fire fighters who lost their lives during the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The number 343 represents the number of New York Fire Department members that perished in the terrorist attacks.

I assume the mosaic was dedicated five years later, on 9-11-2006. If you know more about this mosaic, please leave a comment.

The second work of art is on the fire station itself, near its entrance. The beautifully carved wood panel depicts curling ocean surf and a rare Torrey Pine tree.

The panel reminds us that wonders surround us, and how every wonder is worth protecting.

I spied a small plaque at the edge of wood panel, dated 2022. It indicates the creators are Tijuana artist Jose Antonio Alcantar and Encinitas Fire Engineer Jake Fodor.

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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 X.

Denise Cerro’s art: My Colors of Home.

I met a super cool artist today in Balboa Park!

Denise Cerro was working on a mixed media piece in Gallery 21, at the Spanish Village Art Center. With a great big smile she was greeting visitors to her solo exhibition My Colors of Home.

I looked at her artwork and immediately loved it. Denise tends to use the same color palette in her works–earthy colors that appeared to me like water, leafy green and the soil beneath our feet. She embraces the same palette in her house, dress and life. They are her colors of home.

To create art she utilizes all sorts of materials–from bits of wallpaper to newspaper and magazine clippings to other interesting found objects. She can find all sorts of odd little treasures at estate sales. The junkiest stuff is often best!

Denise loves to create art filled with flowers. She confided to me that after she produces an abstract piece, she feels compelled to return to flowers.

I learned Denise has her studio at Liberty Station in one of the old barracks. If you like what you see in my blog, you might want to pay a visit. Her website is here.

The exhibition My Colors of Home in Gallery 21 is about to conclude–it runs through tomorrow, June 3. I caught it just in time!

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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 X.

Beauty at the Cactus and Succulent Show.

The amazing beauty intrinsic to nature was highlighted this weekend at the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale in Balboa Park.

I moseyed down the aisles in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado, gazing at prize-winning specimens of very different cacti and succulents.

Some of the entries had flowers. Some were tiny, like gems. Many of the plants tickled the eye with perfect symmetry or an interesting geometric shape. Others appeared oddly misshapen.

If you missed this year’s summer show, make sure to check it out next year. Until then, enjoy a few photographs…

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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 X.

Mosaic bench near the Belly Up Tavern.

This bench decorated with tile mosaics adds beauty to the edge of a parking lot south of the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

I saw the artwork yesterday during a leisurely walk down South Cedros Avenue. It was one of many new discoveries that I made in the very colorful Cedros Avenue Design District!

I believe I see a starfish, garibaldi, seahorse and crab. The curving bench appears to show an underwater ocean scene. What do you see?

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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 X.

Natural History Museum’s nature trail opens!

The construction fences are down! The San Diego Natural History Museum’s new outdoor native garden has opened, and there’s a trail that follows the newly planted greenery around the museum!

Native plants, flowers and trees now abound, but since the garden is just getting started, most plants are small and the landscape appears a bit bare. Once everything is grown, the garden should be much more beautiful!

Right now there’s plastic fencing along the pathway, protecting the new plantings from careless visitors and dogs. It appears to be temporary.

Informative signs can be read along the looping trail, and smaller signs indicate the native species planted nearby. There’s a boulder-filled sitting area and short side trail, too, on the museum’s north side–you know, the side with the enormous Moreton Bay Fig.

The “Nat’s Nature Trail” features various themed segments. As you walk around the Natural History Museum building, you encounter Pollinator Paradise, Spiny Sidewalk, Boulder Garden, Discovery Path, Wildlife Walkway, First People’s Garden, and Container Corner.

What a great addition to an already amazing Balboa Park!

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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 X.

Spring colors in the hidden Zoro Garden.

If you don’t venture down into Balboa Park’s mostly hidden Zoro Garden, you won’t experience its colorful spring flowers that are now in bloom.

I headed to Balboa Park for a special Memorial Day program today, but I had a couple of hours to wander around. I’m so glad I caught a small glimpse of this color as I walked along El Prado. I couldn’t resist turning down a path that descends into the park’s sunken stone grotto garden.

Look at all the flowers! And another hidden surprise!

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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 X.

Colorful art at Sherman Heights Community Center!

The residents of Sherman Heights are very fortunate. They have a community center that radiates positive energy with loads of incredible art!

The Sherman Heights Community Center welcomes visitors with its many colorful outdoor murals and mosaics. Low walls, planters, columns . . . even an electrical box has been decorated! Yesterday, when I walked up Island Avenue and saw all the artwork, my camera became very busy!

The center’s website explains: The community we serve is predominantly Mexican- American with many families facing economic hardship. This community has preserved itself by using art as an avenue towards empowerment & collaboration. For many years the community has supported and participated in creating, preserving, and cultivating a culture of rich history through the arts here at our center.

Sherman Heights, just east of downtown San Diego, is famous for its Día de los Muertos celebrations. That’s reflected in some of the artwork.

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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 X.

A legacy of beauty by James Hubbell.

Beloved artist James Hubbell has passed away. When I heard the very sad news today, I immediately thought of all the beautiful art he has left as a legacy around San Diego.

If you live in or near San Diego, there’s a good chance you’ve seen his public artwork. His sculptures and mosaics can be found from El Cajon to La Mesa to Del Mar to Oceanside to Mission Valley to Coronado to Shelter Island. His Hubbell Studios/Ilan-Lael Foundation compound in Santa Ysabel (which I’ve not visited, but have seen in photos) is an inspired, absolutely unique architectural marvel.

James Hubbell designed and created so many beautifully organic forms–often with the help of his wife, son, artists in residence or volunteers–that I’ll often encounter his work during a walk. To me, each work possesses a spiritual quality.

This world we live in has been greatly enriched because of James Hubbell’s genius and vision.

Here are some photos I’ve taken over the years…

Pearl of the Pacific on Shelter Island.

Pearl of the Pacific.

Pacific Spirit on Shelter Island.

Pacific Portal on Shelter Island.

Pegasus at Olaf Wieghorst Museum in El Cajon.

San Gabriel Arcángel sculpture at Mission San Diego de Alcalá.

Opus in front of Oceanside Museum of Art.

Marker on walkway at SDSU Mission Valley. Coffeeberry (Frangula californica).

Sea Passage in Coronado.

Mosaic on restroom at Briercrest Park in La Mesa.

Fountain at Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library in La Mesa.

A River of Time at the Del Mar Library.

Art displayed at exhibition James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation, now on view at the Central Library Art Gallery.

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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 X.