Thoughtful, talented young artists create a graphic novel using imagination and creativity.
I made a very cool discovery!
A local high school had an intriguing exhibit in Balboa Park yesterday during the big Garden Party of the Century event. The CCA Envision Conservatory for the Humanities Hummingbird Project has been launched by Canyon Crest Academy in Carmel Valley. Students are creating a graphic novel!
The four-part graphic novel will tell the story of four separate children who magically transform into a hummingbird and take flight. During each journey, the central character meets other animal friends and explores new places. The exciting stories encourage imagination and help educate the reader about culture, mythology, history and the environment.
What a fantastic, brilliant idea! Students learn, write, create art and become published all at once!
Perhaps other schools might be interested in doing something similar!
The Hummingbird Project includes a four-part graphic novel created by students at Canyon Crest Academy!Inspiring exhibit at Balboa Park’s big Garden Party of the Century event.
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Never Stop Dreaming. It’s the face of Mickey Mouse made of quarters!
Today a very special event took place: the Miracle Mile of Quarters!
Every year, the Division 100 Miracle Mile of Quarters Kiwanis Club San Diego (that’s quite a mouthful) raises money for Rady Children’s Hospital in a unique way. Thousands of patiently collected quarters are used by local kids to create works of inspirational art! The money is then donated to the hospital!
I took some pics of the glittering artwork late this morning. I thought you might enjoy them.
Would you like to help others with this important effort? Rady Children’s Hospital has saved thousands of young lives over the years. Click here and become a hero!
Judges look at the fun, original artwork. Kids assembled quarters collected by local Kiwanis Club Divisions.Division 100 Miracle Mile of Quarters Kiwanis Club San Diego created this annual event to raise money for Rady Children’s Hospital.Inspiration Fountain in front of the pediatric hospital shows children flying kites.Photo of beautiful Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California. This is a world-class life-saving medical facility that touches thousands of lives.Kiwanis International, founded in Detroit, Michigan, is 100 years old!Artwork fashioned from shiny silver coins depicts two infants.Rady is the sixth largest children’s hospital in the country! It was established in 1954.A dolphin and a heart glitter in the sunshine.Kids (and adults) created unique artwork with the quarters. Millions of dollars have been raised over the years.Absolutely anyone can help out when it comes to a good cause! Kiwanis is celebrating its centennial this year.Hundreds of coins form one huge happy coin!Discover the Cure!Service is Timeless.A chef made of coins serves up a Kiwanis birthday cake!Most of the artwork emphasized service.Do you want to build a future?Bright coins on the long red carpet form thoughtful works of art.Young lady places coins to form a cool image as the art competition nears its conclusion.Unlock your heart with service.Be a hero for your community.Key leaders take the risk.Like Big Hero 6, service is super!Kirby is going to smash difficult diseases!Robot Hope and robot -ful.The Miracle Mile of Quarters is a special San Diego tradition.
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A happy sun shines above beach and ocean on this unique bench, where anyone might sit and relax.
Liberty Station is a wonderful place to spend the day in Point Loma. Its beautiful promenade contains many small museums, art studios and cultural attractions. When you walk around the grounds of this brilliantly converted Naval Training Center, you’ll notice a number of artistic benches placed around the old barracks, military buildings and plazas. I recently took photos of many benches. Just for fun!
Photo of creative guy working near The Hot Spot walk-in arts and crafts studio at Barracks 14.One of several colorful benches inside Building 202, home to small museums and galleries.This wildly creative work of art is just too much fun!An outdoor bench welcomes visitors to history-rich San Diego attraction NTC Liberty Station.Looks to me like we’re supposed to sit here!Shops and restaurants around Liberty Station provide many treats. So does this seat!Cool scene of breaching whales decorates this bench found on the North Promenade. The artist is David Mandel.Another fun whale bench awaits people at Liberty Station with tired feet. Colorful ocean art by David Mandel.Check out this Yellow Brick Road to Emerald City bench, straight from The Wizard of Oz!Smiling, active people, playful dogs and a whole lot of heart!If music be the food of love, play on!
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A shopper standing on the asphalt braces against a Horton Plaza parking lot wall. Others have climbed up onto her shoulders.People mount higher and higher like circus performers, trying to get a glimpse over the wall. Something wonderful must await on the other side!This stack of humanity is beginning to resemble the Tower of Babel. I hope they don’t fall!Don’t believe the hype! That’s some mighty tall street art!
This impressive street art is visible on the south side of the Horton Plaza shopping mall, on G Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. It was painted in 2010 by Brazilian graffiti artists Os Gemeos, which is Portuguese for The Twins. The artists, who were breakdancers before they started painting graffiti almost 30 years ago, have become quite a sensation! The project was sponsored and promoted by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. But should we believe the hype?
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EarthFair was held in San Diego’s Balboa Park to celebrate Earth Day.
Late this morning I took a walk through this year’s EarthFair. You might have seen my blog last year, when I posted photographs from the gigantic event. Every year EarthFair attracts tens of thousands of enthusiastic San Diegans to Balboa Park to celebrate Earth Day. It’s billed as the largest free annual environmental fair in the world, and that sounds true to me! It’s huge!
Many of the over 300 exhibitors throughout Balboa Park can be seen at the event every year, and last year I featured many in photos. So I figured this year I’d focus slightly more on close up images. Super colorful art on signs, shirts, gifts and canvases provided many opportunities for my camera. I also saw a lot of smiles!
Cool graphic on official EarthFair shirt. The annual Balboa Park event attracted a huge crowd as usual!One of many handmade signs with environmental messages… love the Earth. Plant a tree.Bright sunflowers on table of urban farming advocates.Super smile promoting the Cacaofest, which celebrates the cultures behind the chocolate! I’m there!Solar-powered rotating globe held in a sculpted human hand.Creating art out of perfectly good food saved from dumpsters. I blogged about these guys last year!
Donate Don’t Dump is a project undertaken by Rob Greenfield. Check out my blog from last year, if you’d like!
A powerful smile from the artist behind Nuts and Beans are Powerful Proteins!Protecting animals was one major theme at EarthFair.This cool guy is Dr. Wilderness. He had a family magic show. Great outfit!This cheerful Dad and daughter musical duo was raising money to help build school gardens.A flower and a smile. I learned how copper gives slimy snails an electrical shock!A happy blue whale out of water.Lots of tie-dye could be seen throughout Balboa Park.Many crafts, clothes and goods for sale featured lush color and spiritual imagery from Eastern religious traditions.A super cool painting of Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn, created by artist Michael Rosenblatt.
Is this painting of local baseball legend Tony Gwynn awesome, or what? It has a Facebook page!
Lots of hand-crafted musical instruments were for sale.Some guys carry flags in preparation for a small Earth Day parade through Balboa Park.Sam Garcia, Jr. paints a canvas. Several talented artists were at work for all to see.Creative kids (or adults) could color these huge panels however they pleased!Large panels on display featured fantastic artwork, many images with a 1960s feel.This human skull really caught my attention!Beautiful wild animals in an exotic nature scene.What’s your sign? This panel showed activist signs photographed during the 25 years of EarthFair.This very nice Quaker lady advocates vegetarianism.Kids’ art shown at The Project Lennon table. This organization promotes peace and positive outlets for urban youth.Various vegan and vegetarian groups had different booths and some humorous signs.I wonder what the animal rights folks would think of this? Animals used to fight poverty and hunger!Which one of these is the real animal? That happy parrot on top!Sign states that every year 30,000 species go extinct.I saw lots of banners with peace signs and rainbow colors.This butterfly was flitting about in the San Diego spring breeze.Food was also a major topic, and appeared in unusual works of art.This totem pole was made of recycled materials!A table in the kids activity area promoted imagination and creativity.Harry Eubanks of Rivers Eden paints cool art on old bits of wooden fencing.Fun art from recycled everyday items in the Repair and Reuse tent.The art of peace by Da Vinci, Warhol, Picasso, Van Gogh and other famous artists.Arts and crafts were for sale in a large vendor area on the grass near Park Boulevard.Lion dances would take place later in the day!Volunteer today! Plant a butterfly garden in Balboa Park! Do it!Art was encouraged everywhere I turned. I enjoyed taking a walk through the 2015 EarthFair!
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Panda with star on belly is lifted by colorful balloons, and floats away into the blue sky.
No matter how different people might appear, we all live among the same bright stars.
Perhaps that’s a bit of wisdom inferred from a book by one of my favorite authors, Dr. Seuss.
That also seems to be the elevating message of this cool street art in Bankers Hill.
While words and art might eventually fade (as these photos prove), the stars buried within us do not.
These three transformer boxes in Bankers Hill are painted with unbounded imagination.Jazzy guy plays keyboard in a boat that soars above the surf and a star-bellied bird.Flowers in hair, on shoulders. A golden star on a dress joins the sun and sunflower in symbolic street art.Part of slowly fading Dr. Seuss verse: “That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars and whether they had one, or not, upon thars.”Winged angel dog in heaven plays a drum.Happy, unique green alien frolics on red planet.Musician plays his guitar where he stands in the cosmos.A zany peek over Mars, under stars.
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I believe in rollerblading. More fun utility box art in a San Diego neighborhood.
At the corner of Fifth and Spruce is a convenience store. Stop here on a sunny day and you can do more than grab a bag of chips. You can enjoy two colorful examples of street art!
It’s always sunny in Hillcrest!
To be exact, this is Bankers Hill. Hillcrest begins at Upas Street, a couple blocks to the north. I suppose that’s why someone drew an arrow.
Dark shadow can’t harm this joyful street mural painted on a parking lot wall.Magical fairy, flowers and tree behind dumpster. A touch of charming creativity in the city.
UPDATE!
Years later, I noticed the tooth fairy had magically appeared! (I believe the building with the mural is home to a dentist.)
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Tile mosaic on Pacific Coast Highway shows fisherman rowing out over the ocean.
During my recent meandering walk in Encinitas, I noticed some colorful mosaics in the sidewalk. The circular tile and glass artwork seemed to be at intervals up and down Coast Highway 101, the historic Pacific Coast Highway. I took photos whenever I noticed one. A few were partly covered by shadow.
When I got home and did some research on the internet, I learned these pieces were created by artist Terry Weaver, who grew up in Encinitas, and that there are 16 mosaics all told. I only recorded seven! Had I paid closer attention, I might have found many more!
Encinitas artwork near train station depicts Coaster coming down track.Beautiful Moonlight Beach in Encinitas is celebrated with fun sidewalk art.Colored tile and glass form hot air balloons soaring through a swirling sky.The famous S.S. Encinitas and S.S. Moonlight “boat houses” are docked on this sidewalk!A pod of dolphins seems to be swimming down Pacific Coast Highway.Surfer rides an eternal wave under the feet of passing pedestrians.
UPDATE!
During a later visit to Encinitas I discovered three more of the sidewalk mosaics…
Cool image of surfer by sand, Pacific Ocean and his woodie at Swami’s Beach, overlooked by the grounds of the Self-Realization Fellowship ashram.Beautiful flowers including bird of paradise.Tile mosaic depiction of the historic La Paloma Theatre building in Encinitas.
And here are two more I stumbled upon during another walk…
A poinsettia.Encinitas woody with surfboard.
And two more even later!
Hummingbird and flowers.More hot air balloons!
And, finally, two more mosaics I spotted in 2021!
I believe I’ve now managed to photograph all 16…
Music and dance.Bicyclists.
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A happy dog tries to jump through space and catch the moon.
I got lots of pics yesterday during a long walk in Encinitas near the beach. I was amazed by all the different artistic banners on street lamps that line Coast Highway 101.
Very awesome! Check them out!
Elephants and a spiritual butterfly surfboard. Hindu imagery is popular in Encinitas near the beach, due to the presence of the visually distinctive Self-Realization Fellowship ashram.Bold art on a street banner along Coast Highway 101.The Yogi Surf Crossing is a popular path for surfers, locals and tourists alike.A beautiful female figure in sunny beach destination Encinitas.I think these are heart-covered puppy dogs, but I’m not sure.Playing a cool saxophone near the Pacific Ocean.A typical beach scene with palm trees and setting sun.Artwork shows the coastline along San Diego’s North County.Fun, lush art on many banners on Encinitas street lamps.Surfers carry their boards on the beach at Swami’s Reef point break.Exotic figure references Hinduism and Eastern philosophy. The world famous Swami’s surfing spot is overlooked by the Self-Realization Fellowship grounds in Encinitas.Colorful image adds life to an already delightful beach town.Waves and sunset seem nestled in a tree above a street sign.Graphic shows dirt path down to the beach.Several jellyfish seem to soar through the blue sky.Encinitas street banner depicts a tropical island girl.A sleeping cat dreams of being a lion king!
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Cool San Diego Sights! 