Tag: creativity

Bold disruption at Oceanside Museum of Art!

Visitors to the Oceanside Museum of Art might have their view of the world suddenly disrupted! Nearly fifty paintings by Southern California artists challenge the way we view familiar things. The exhibition is titled More Disruption: Representational Art in Flux.

Flux is defined as the action or process of flowing. Flowing implies change, movement. These paintings are full of dynamism, drawing the viewer in with bold strokes and color, exciting curiosity with abstraction that can be strangely fluid.

The surprising art reveals unexpected contrasts and inner mystery. In the age of social media, where images flash by on a phone with the flick of a finger, these paintings might cause one to stand for a minute and consider.

The pieces chosen for display were selected from over 1,700 entries. As one sign explains: The concept for this juried exhibition was to present outstanding paintings by Southern California artists that showed signs of being disrupted, either formally or thematically. Disruption, in this framework, means that the forces of contemporary life and existence somehow altered or affected the way the work was created and challenged the norms of representation…

A very friendly museum docent struck up a conversation with me and shared some of her favorite pieces. She was amazed that one of the pieces, exuding youthful hipness, was painted by an 80-year-old artist. But that’s the limitless potential of human creativity!

By disrupting familiar things, reshaping what we know, our minds and hands can bring to existence anything that we imagine. We can change this old world–enlarge it–even make life more meaningful.

More Disruption: Representational Art in Flux will be on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art through September 15, 2024.

I can tell you this art is certainly not dull! My photographs provide a few examples.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Art of Nancy Cheadle benefits Oceanside library.

Nancy Duncan Cheadle was an American illustrator and portrait artist whose work has graced the covers of many romance novels. She created over 160 original oil paintings. Perhaps you’ve seen her artwork on the cover of Silhouette Romance paperbacks.

Prints of Nancy Cheadle’s paintings are on display and for purchase in Oceanside’s wonderful Jane and Evie’s Used Books, with all sales benefiting the Oceanside Public Library.

You can see one fine example, from the romance novel Dream Bride, in my first two photographs.

As the sign explains, Nancy’s family would love for many people to share the experience of having one of her paintings–all proceeds will go to the Oceanside Friends of the Public Library.

Jane and Evie’s Used Books is located at 323 North Coast Highway. My next blog post concerns this awesome used book store!

Here’s another work of art by Nancy Cheadle that you can hang on your wall, while benefitting culture, knowledge and literacy in Oceanside…

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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.

Creating a giant 1980s sand sculpture in IB!

A gigantic sand sculpture now stands near the foot of the Imperial Beach Pier. The “Back 2 IB” retro sculpture, created using 80 cubic yards of sand, celebrates nostalgia from the 1980s. It’s the centerpiece of Imperial Beach’s family friendly 2024 Sun & Sea Festival!

Carved into the massive sculpture are images from the 1980s that many will recognize. Pac-Man. Ghostbusters. MTV. Rubik’s Cube. Cabbage Patch Kids. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Back to the Future. Nintendo Entertainment System. A video game arcade. A boom box. Music on cassette tapes…

Is this the coolest sand sculpture ever, or what? Why was it built? Each summer, during the annual Sun & Sea Festival, Imperial Beach is also known as Sandcastle City!

When I visited the festival late this morning, the local sand artists, including members of the Imperial Beach Posse Sand Carvers, appeared to be nearly finished. They’ve been working on their monumental work of art for several days.

I walked around the “Back 2 IB” sand sculpture and took these photographs of the sand sculptors hard at work…

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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.

Art students find magic in everyday things.

The museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido now features an exhibit titled A Practical Guide to Modest Magic.

The premise for the exhibition is brilliant. Art students at colleges in the San Diego region are presented with instructions to find magic in everyday things.

What are some of these instructions? Create an artwork using alchemy or magic to correct a problem. Make a mural commemorating the best day of your life. Create an artwork to say “thank you” for something in your life for which you are grateful. Make a medal or a trophy for someone that you think deserves one. Think of the worst idea you can for an artwork and try to turn it into a good idea. Make a piece of art that attempts to be universally understood as if an alien from another planet would view it thousands of years in the future…

Following assigned instructions, students artistically transform familiar things, and the pieces that result can be very personal or surprising. Human creativity is akin to real magic!

When I visited the museum today I didn’t know what to expect. What you see in these photographs provides a taste of what I found.

A Practical Guide to Modest Magic continues for only one more week. It can be viewed in the museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido through August 17, 2024. Then–poof–a moment of rare magic ends.

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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.

Rainbow artist brightens world with creative lamps!

A number of local artists were displaying their work today at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. I happened to walk by their event, so I had to check it out.

A display of fun, super creative table lamps immediately caught my eye. I was looking at the multi-media artwork of Rainbow artist Clark Warren.

He’s been assembling these wonderful, whimsical lamps for thirty years, Clark told me. People he knows give him the figurines and other found objects that are incorporated into his wonderful “sculpture” lamps.

He turned one lamp on that looked like a steampunk contraption, and the light continuously changed color. I saw photos of other lamps, including one that rises strangely from a sewing machine. His creativity knows no limits! And he’s too nice!

I wasn’t surprised at all when I learned his work will be exhibited at the Oceanside Museum of Art sometime in 2025.

If you’re interested in the Light Expressions art of Clark Warren, I’ve posted a photo of his business card.

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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.

More murals in San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor!

During my walk in San Ysidro last weekend, I discovered two relatively new murals painted in the Cultural Corridor. It had been a little over a year since I walked this way.

The San Ysidro Cultural Corridor extends north along Cypress Drive from San Ysidro Boulevard to the trolley tracks near the Beyer Avenue station. The alley-like corridor contains many colorful murals that change from time to time. Community development organization Casa Familiar is the driving engine behind this ongoing project.

Past blog posts that include photographs of additional murals in the Cultural Corridor can be found here and here and here and here.

My first images today show a happy mural on a wooden fence at the north end of the corridor. It was painted in 2023. The artist is Ivan Arevalo.

The second mural celebrates San Ysidro. It was painted by Ground Floor Murals. Sadly, you can see how the image of a proud bird of prey has been defaced by a tagger.

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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.

Erecting the Exchange Pavilion in Balboa Park!

A large steel structure is now being erected near the center of San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park! It’s the Exchange Pavilion, another initiative of World Design Capital 2024!

San Diego/Tijuana won the coveted title of World Design Capital for 2024. There have been many activities and activations related to this international honor, and the Exchange Pavilion is the newest of these.

The lightweight skeletal structure evident in my photographs is being built in the Plaza de Panama, in front of the San Diego Museum of Art. The pavilion is designed to bring people together, along with their diverse ideas and experiences. Interconnectedness and collaboration are appropriate themes for the first ever binational World Design Capital designation.

The Exchange Pavilion, when completed, will feature interactive digital displays, special lighting, and a space for lectures, performances, workshops and more. It was designed by HELEO in collaboration with Tijuana, Mexico based visual artist Daniel Ruanova.

This very unique installation will remain in Balboa Park all summer long. It will then be relocated to Tijuana in the fall. I was told it will be completed and will open this Saturday, August 10!

I suppose I’ll have to swing by this weekend to check it out!

UPDATE!

I walked through the Plaza de Panama on Friday afternoon and saw that construction of the pavilion is still underway. The narrow digital displays appear to be functioning.

I was told by someone at the site that the Exchange Pavilion will now open on Wednesday!

ANOTHER UPDATE!

I walked by again on Sunday. I learned the pavilion will now open next Saturday 17, 2024.

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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.

Destination JOY and the art of David Gomez!

Destination JOY was a wonderful, very unique event held today in San Diego. San Diego Trolley riders could enjoy diverse entertainment and activations while on the trolley or at select stations!

The event included music, art, poetry readings and more at the Iris Avenue Transit Center. Inside a dark trailer, a makeshift art gallery presented The Goldie Collection by local artist David Gomez (@the_art_of_controversy).

Check out some photographs of his shining mixed media artwork. As a sign explained: The paintings in this collection tell a story of innocence lost, betrayal, hope and a friendship that spans generations… While the story and images might appear a bit exotic, the themes are universally human. Cool art, right?

David was also painting outdoors for the Destination JOY trolley event. I’ll be blogging about this fun San Diego event in my next post!

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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.

Gerardo Meza street art in Hillcrest and Bankers Hill!

The distinctive street art of Gerardo Meza (@mezarte) has been showing up in both Hillcrest and Bankers Hill!

I’ve noticed several electrical boxes painted in the last year in the two neighborhoods by the prolific artist. His colorful street art can be observed in communities all around San Diego.

Should you walk through San Ysidro just north of the Mexican border, you’ll find many examples of his work. Gerardo Meza is Chairman of the Border Public Arts Committee. Among other accomplishments, he’s also Coordinator of Art Box San Diego and Cofounder of the San Diego Art Society.

Gerardo’s artwork with its Mexican flavor is unmistakable. It can be weird, distorted, humorous, frightening, sexy, hip, mythological, ironic… It’s very original and definitely attracts your attention!

My first four photographs are of two boxes in Hillcrest…

And here come photos of two boxes in Bankers Hill…

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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.

Old Globe engages San Diego with Henry 6 Project.

Walk into The Old Globe theatre complex in Balboa Park and you’ll observe the sculpture of a golden crown. You’ll also pass rows of festive banners and signs. Their colorful graphics tell the story of The Old Globe’s special Henry 6 Project.

The Henry 6 Project has engaged the people of San Diego with groundbreaking community outreach. Not only can the public enjoy a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s several Henry VI plays, but as one of the graphics explains: The Globe’s radically inclusive vision opened every step of the creative process to the citizens of San Diego, weaving them into the fabric of the production not only with performance opportunities, but also through innovative, direct collaborations on nearly all elements of the production design.

Last week I photographed some of these signs and banners. Read the photo captions to learn a little more about the Henry 6 Project. Better yet, head over to beautiful Balboa Park and see all of this for yourself!

The world premiere of Henry 6 at The Old Globe is a two-part adaptation of Henry VI, titled One: Flowers and France and Two: Riot and Reckoning.

To read about this unique production on The Old Globe’s website, click here!

Director Barry Edelstein’s adaptation, Henry 6, is made by, with, and for the community of San Diego.

The Old Globe’s Reflecting Shakespeare program works with individuals who are incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, or justice-involved, and provides a vehicle for healthy interaction, reflection, creativity, and personal growth…

Community workshops explore scenic design. Other workshops and activities concern sound, lighting and costume design and music. Nearly 200 individuals were filmed for crowd scenes projected in the production of Henry 6.

38 plays over 89 years. With this summer’s production of Henry 6, The Old Globe completes the Shakespeare canon…and (has) joined a small and select list of American companies to have achieved this feat…

The Globe For All Shakespeare tour was designed for on-the-road performances to be enjoyed by audiences throughout San Diego County and in Tijuana. Performed free of charge in non-theatrical venues…these productions give audiences an intimate and compelling professional theatrical experience.

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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.