The building at 2905 Commercial Street in San Diego was recently spray painted with a huge, very cool mural by graffiti artist Qvo (@qvo_one). The graphics depict various space ships and Yoda from Star Wars using The Force!
Check it out! Do you see the upside down Darth Vader helmet?
The proximity of cars parked by the narrow sidewalk made photography awkward, resulting in some odd angles. I took the photos into the sun, which explains the less than ideal lighting. Contrast was increased for most of the photos to bring out the colors.
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Reclaiming wood from demolished structures or trees whose life had ended, then transforming the once-living wood into furniture, art and other uniquely beautiful products, is inspired. That’s what Old Fashioned Lumber in Barrio Logan does!
I visited Old Fashioned Lumber a couple weekends ago during the San Diego Architectural Foundation Open House event. The public was allowed to peek into the inner workings of the place. These photographs represent much of what I saw.
Old Fashioned Lumber sells their handcrafted furniture and other artistic objects directly to the public. They also work with hotels, restaurants, and businesses of all types, producing conference tables, benches, bars–you name it!
They even created a set of furniture out of reclaimed avocado wood for the studio of San Diego music legend Jason Mraz!
During my visit I was shown a big heap of wood salvaged during the Hotel del Coronado renovation. If you’d like to have them design something with this historic Hotel Del wood, make a request! I also noted they have wood reclaimed from the 1887 Grand Pacific Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter!
Converting used wood that might have been tossed into a landfill into something completely new is also environmentally friendly. Brilliant!
Learn more about Old Fashioned Lumber and its founders by clicking here.
The following stack of wood is from the Hotel del Coronado…
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
An exceptionally beautiful work of public art was installed today in Normal Heights. Kaleidoscope of Butterflies now takes wing on a corner of the City of San Diego Adams Recreation Center!
The artwork, consisting of eleven interlocking mosaic panels, features combined elements of very different butterflies. It was created by artist Kim Emerson, who lives a few blocks away. She and her husband, Dennis Reiter, are founding members of Normal Heights Urban Arts (NHUA).
Kim Emerson’s mosaics and sculptures have already been enjoyed by many San Diegans. You can see a couple examples of her fantastic public art here and here.
Kim’s website has a description of her Kaleidoscope of Butterflies and the history of its creation. Read her words, and see photos of the mosaics being pieced together, then installed on the Adams Recreation Center here.
Here’s an inspirational article about the artist, her work with renowned artist James Hubbell, and her calling to create. As we each can do in life, she picks up broken pieces and combines them into new beauty. But that’s not all. When this project is finished, Kim has decided that it’s time to pass on her knowledge to other artists and agencies seeking qualified artists, to help elevate the awareness of contemporary mosaic art. She plans to mentor other artists, teach mosaic from her home studio and experiment more with her personal mosaic work.
If you drive east on Adams Avenue near 35th Street, you can’t miss the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies. Plus many other butterflies that have been painted on nearby electrical boxes by Normal Heights Urban Arts.
I arrived this afternoon after installation of the eleven panels had been completed. I took the following photos under overcast, drizzly conditions.
The art is like sunshine for the soul.
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
In 2023, a long mural was created in the alley behind Bread & Salt in Logan Heights. Transmutation – Exploring art & Healing is the title in English. It’s by San Diego artist May-ling Martinez.
The artwork combines various elements, including geometry, anatomy, natural forms and design. It seems that creativity is in our human DNA.
I saw this mural for the first time a few days ago when I explored the old Weber’s bread bakery, the historic building in which the Bread & Salt cultural center is located.
In late 2020 I walked around the same building and through the same alley, taking photos of different murals, many of which remain today. See those here.
Looking at the artist’s website, I see she created fun art that I photographed almost ten years ago in East Village. It’s the closet-like mural titled Inside Outside that you can see here!
Here are more photos of Transmutation, taken along the alley as I walked from left to right…
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
San Diego area artist James Hubbell is beloved by many. He has achieved international renown. His beautiful, uniquely organic sculptures can be found all around the city. I’ve photographed much of his public art over the years.
Starting today, his visually stunning artwork can be enjoyed inside four different San Diego Public Libraries!
The exhibition James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation can now be viewed at the Central Library Art Gallery, the Scripps Miramar Ranch Library, the Mission Valley Library, and the Otay Mesa-Nestor Library. The citywide event will continue through August 4, 2024. To discover what you might find at each of the four libraries, click here!
I was granted a quick sneak peek inside the Central Library’s Ninth Floor Art Gallery this afternoon. The following photographs provide a taste of what you will experience…
Several special programs at the Central Library coincide with this exhibition.
On Tuesday, March 19, there is a film screening of James Hubbell: Between Heaven & Earth.
On Monday, April 22, there is a Dave Hampton lecture titled “James Hubbell at Midcentury: His Early Years in the San Diego Art Community.”
On Tuesday, May 21, there is a Keith York lecture titled “James Hubbell & Sim Bruce Richards: Collaborations.”
On Friday, May 17, there’s a stained glass workshop taught by ArtReach San Diego.
For more information about these programs, and to register, click here!
Finally, enjoy a photograph I took near the Central Library’s front desk. The beautiful sculpture is by James Hubbell. Opus, made of bronze, was created in 1970. It belongs to the City of San Diego Civic Art Collection:
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Ikebana is the ancient Japanese art form of flower arrangement. Certain rules and a certain symmetry, containing contrasts and elegance, make this art form a bit like poetry. Every part of the arrangement, like every word in a poem, is potent in itself and vital. The assembled composition is more beautiful than the sum of its parts.
During the flower show, participants could learn the essentials of ikebana while watching live demonstrations by masters of the art.
If you love exquisitely beautiful things–or unspoken poetry–keep your eyes peeled for future ikebana shows in Balboa Park.
Meanwhile, enjoy these 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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Could kids find and create art at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering? Yes!
Today was Expo Day, a free event held at Snapdragon Stadium. Thousands of young people wandered through the stadium’s concourses, viewing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) displays, and partaking in experiments and activities provided by about a hundred exhibitors!
The annual event is absolutely gargantuan and impossible to cover in one blog post. I’ve blogged about Expo Day several times in past years, when this educational extravaganza was held at Petco Park.
Winding through the crowd, I discovered the Art Pavilion and, with permission from various exhibitors, my camera got busy.
Enjoy a few photos of artwork created by students, teachers and artists attending the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering. Read the captions!
Families explore the Art Pavilion during Expo Day 2024, a San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering event at Snapdragon Stadium.Are those molecules or cool sculptures? Kids get creative with the help of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.Two hands, liquid and bending light by artist and educator Sheena Rae Dowling.This cool STEAM artwork, full of creative ideas, won a blue ribbon!Demand evidence. Think critically. Erica, a biology student at National University, created this scientific artwork!The Art Club of Patrick Henry High School created these colorful Science Pyramids: Temples of Truth. If you point your phone at the artwork, you can experience augmented reality bursting from each pyramid!Beautiful art depicting native flora and fauna presented by the San Diego Natural History Museum.Space exploration art from a C.A.R.T. student.Lunna, founder of VAINANA, creates art with bananas to fight hunger and promote food sustainability.The colorful work of EcoArts Kids. Students create environmental art in afterschool programs at several San Diego elementary schools.Part of the SoRoART group exhibition of soft robotics by SDSU students. Air periodically inflates these lungs, as if they’re breathing!
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Dozens of sculptures are scattered around Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. Together they constitute the amazing Wolfstein Sculpture Park!
I walked around Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla recently and took photographs of many sculptures. There are dozens all together, and it turns out I missed several. You can see all of the art presently on display and read plaques that include artist information by clicking here.
What you see here is one of several Wolfstein Sculpture Parks! Another smaller sculpture park can be found around the Scripps hospital in Encinitas. Last year I checked out those sculptures and posted photographs here.
Why are these parks named Wolfstein? Nathan Wolfstein developed the process for purifying the blood thinning anticoagulant drug Heparin. Countless lives have been saved as a result of his discovery. Ralyn and Nate Wolfsteindonate art to healing and educational centers and to help promote Arts for Healing Programs.
If you’re ever in La Jolla near Scripps Memorial Hospital, a very pleasant walk can be enjoyed outside the hospital and around nearby medical buildings!
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
The 31st San Diego Latino Film Festival promises to be bigger and better than ever!
The increasingly popular film festival will be taking place from March 14 to March 24, 2024, at the AMC Theatres at Mission Valley mall. You can check out the event website, which includes the full film schedule, by clicking here.
I’ve learned film lovers will have plenty to sink their teeth into. Among 56 features and 79 shorts there is comedy and tragedy, fantasy and realism, and everything in between. Many diverse stories emerge from Latinx experience.
Established and emerging artists are represented. There is animation and there are documentaries. There are films concerning music, and films about dance. Some films are in English, while others have subtitles. There’s so much that audiences can enjoy!
This year there’s a special emphasis on Argentinian cinema, with ten award-winning films featured. In Argentina the film industry faces various challenges, including censorship.
Each curated film is celebrated for its creativity, authenticity and excellence.
There will be a closing night award ceremony and concert, where ticket holders can mingle with guest filmmakers and actors. There is also the opportunity during two closing night films to meet Cheech Marin!
You want to check this out! Go to the San Diego Latino Film Festival website for everything you need to know by clicking here.
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
The epic Bay to Park Paseo is a 1.7 mile long, art-filled walking experience that is now being created in downtown San Diego!
Many creators and designers will soon be installing unique artwork along the Bay to Park Paseo, which celebrates the designation of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024!
Most of the new art will be installed along Park Boulevard, up a corridor that connects San Diego Bay to Balboa Park. The Bay to Park Paseo will start at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, cross the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge, and run up the east side of Petco Park, continuing north up Park Boulevard.
Many of you know a lot of old art can already be found along this long corridor!
I’ve photographed most of it over the years.
Here are a few photos of preexisting art on the Bay to Park Paseo…
To enjoy blog posts that feature preexisting art along the Bay to Park Paseo, click the following links. I’ve arranged these links from south to north. (Check the bottom of each blog post for the approximate date I took the photos.)
Some of the painted artwork you see in these old blog posts has since faded, been replaced or badly marred by graffiti.
An idea! Before the Bay to Park Paseo officially opens, perhaps original artists could be contacted in order to restore some of this great old art!
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 