I’ve always loved Spanish Village in Balboa Park. I still remember going there as a young adult and immediately feeling a sort of spiritual connection. One feels free and alive in this magical place.
Today I was walking through Spanish Village when I paused outside Studio 13. My feet are often drawn to this particular studio. I’m not sure why.
Sylvia Mejia, the ceramics artist who works in Studio 13, and I spoke a few friendly words. She invited me inside.
I found myself surrounded by many faces.
Happy faces.
Soulful faces.
Expressive, deeply human faces.
Have a look with me:
Sylvia Mejia, in Spanish Village Art Center’s fantastic Studio 13, surrounded by her ceramic creations.
May you live all the days of your life.
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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!
Patrick Block, long-time Disney comics artist, draws the famous face of Donald Duck. A beloved character comes to life during the Creating a Comics Story event at the future home of the Comic-Con Museum.
This afternoon I attended one of the coolest events EVER!
I and other spellbound people sat in the auditorium of the future Comic-Con Museum, watching as veteran Disney comics artists Patrick and Shelley Block brought Donald Duck to life! With the help of the audience, right before our eyes, they created an absolutely original, hilarious and brilliant comic book story! The penciled five page story was about Donald Duck working as janitor at a comic book convention, and much of the story’s essential plot came spontaneously from the audience!
It was pure magic. Patrick sketched with practiced ease while sharing his thought process, and Shelley Block contributed humorous banter and brilliant inspiration. From the tip of a number 7 mechanical pencil, Donald Duck emerged into our world–reminding readers that much in life is inherently funny, and that a cartoon about a zany “everyperson” duck can reinforce a sense of our own humanity.
During the event all sorts of questions were asked by the smart audience, and I wish I had taken notes. But the entire experience was simply too mesmerizing.
If this is a preview of coming events at the Comic-Con Museum, which we learned is slated to open in May of 2021, it’s going to be one of the most amazing museums in the world. That’s no exaggeration.
I can’t wait!
Art and writing team Patrick and Shelly Block, Disney comics creators for 26 years, talk about the creative process.Three pages of the five page Donald Duck comic are nearly done. Through an odd series of funny events, Donald has become janitor at a comic book convention!Donald Duck wants to see the masquerade ball, and after many gags and catastrophes ends up winning it!Original Donald Duck artwork created by Patrick and Shelly Block for the Comic-Con Museum. Don’t forget us funny animal comics!
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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!
During my walk around downtown yesterday morning, I wandered past The New Children’s Museum. My camera immediately took aim at the 1950s Dodge pickup Flower Truck out on the Paint Patio. Kids have applied so many coats of paint to the museum’s current Painted Object that the vintage truck appears to be covered with dripped candle wax!
I also enjoyed looking at the long, rainbow-like SMILE mural on the museum’s entrance bridge, painted by street artist Paola Villaseñor, who signs her work PANCA. Her urban artwork, which is usually more “adult” and grotesque, can be found in both Tijuana and San Diego.
Those words on a low wall bordering the museum’s playground and The Garden Project are part of FOLLOWING THE WORDS, poetry by Quincy Troupe, professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego.
In late 2014 I posted photos of the small garden and other lines of the linguistically lip-lively poem here.
Perhaps one day I’ll photograph the entire long poem!
Section of SMILE, by artist PANCA. The fun 48-foot-long mural decorates the bridge leading to the entrance of The New Children’s Museum.YOU ARE YOUR OWN SONGHIP AS FLIP-FLOPS KIDS HAVE ON
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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!
This morning I was walking down First Avenue, a couple blocks north of the San Diego Convention Center, when I made a cool discovery! Glancing through a window of Simon’s Cafe, I spied some new Comic-Con related artwork by local artist Suzka!
Back in 2017 I posted some of her fun Comic-Con themed paintings here!
I didn’t order anything at Simon’s Cafe this morning, having already eaten breakfast, but the friendly lady at the counter said I could take these photos.
If you want to learn more about Suzka, visit her website here!
Able To Leap… by artist Suzka.Miz Apple by artist Suzka.Birdic-Con by artist Suzka.Gaslamp-Kitty by artist Suzka.
UPDATE!
In late May I enjoyed a yummy breakfast plate at Simon’s Cafe. I noticed some new artwork on the walls…
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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!
Right half of MMCXVIII/MDCCC, 2018, Emma Laraby. Digital painting.
A fascinating exhibition opened yesterday at the SDSU Downtown Gallery. It’s titled Futures Past and Present.
San Diego State University students and faculty from the School of Art + Design have creatively addressed human society and the passage of time. Unique works of art reflect how the future has been forecast in the past, and how our present informs what is yet to come.
Visions that are presented range from the utopian to the dystopian, and many aspects of human experience and its possibilities are mixed into the artwork. Technology, the environment, urban growth, cultural transformation, and philosophical points of view are some of the themes contained in four sections: Alternate Realities, Building the Future, Inventing the Future, and Personal Prophecies.
Curious minds will enjoy this exhibition. Those who love science fiction, art or futurism should definitely head downtown to check it out!
Futures Past and Present is a very cool exhibition now showing at the SDSU Downtown Gallery in San Diego.Pulp magazines in a display case recall early visions from science fiction. As human life and technology evolve, the genre also evolves.CareLink: transmitting internal data, 2017, Kelly Temple. Archival digital print and other materials.K-bots (10 robots), 2019, Andrew Blackwell. Beech, brass, plastic.BLDNG #6 two views 2008 (In and Out), 2018, David Fobes. Archival inkjet print.Time Capsules Project. SDSU art students created small time capsules and messages that speak to the future.Occupying one corner of the gallery are tools of the past and present. HARD_COPY – Unforgetting Futures Past – a temporary reading room and bindery.Bubble, 2018, Brandie Maddalena. Copper, felt, paracord, steel, human interaction.Washington Marbles, 2018, Tyler Young. Oil paint, acrylic paint, cardboard, dirt and plaster on canvas.The Same, 2018, Tamayo Muto. Archival digital print.The Drain, 2016, Vincent Cordelle. Cast bronze, steel, insulated pipe.Untitled (Potential 40 Units), 2018, Eleanor Greer. Oil and charcoal on canvas.Extravehicular Activity Kit #5, 2018, Zac Keane. Birch ply, hickory, steel, duct tape, nylon.Little Miss Sunshine, 2018, Melissa Salgado. Acrylic and oil on canvas.
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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!
As I waited for a trolley at America Plaza early this afternoon, I thought I’d peer into a window of the Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego. A gentleman inside saw and motioned for me to come on in!
I was welcomed by Max, a super nice Gallery Educator, who was applying ink to a silk screen. He was using screen printing to create bold messages in the Sanctuary Print Shop!
The project titled Sanctuary Print Shop is the brainchild of artists Sergio De La Torre and Chris Treggiari. The idea of this exhibition is to start conversations concerning the very topical and divisive issue of immigration. People are encouraged to write their thoughts about immigration, and messages are created to paper one wall.
Even though there’s a certain political bias to the exhibition, Max did agree that it’s a complex human issue. There are many different thoughts concerning it. And it’s an issue with many personal connections.
Human creativity and the written word fascinate me, so I enjoyed meeting Max, watching him at work, and reading what others have said!
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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!
A couple of heads are missing! I’ve discovered two strange, disembodied heads sitting on the ground by the sidewalk!
I observed that first rather fierce-looking head early this afternoon as I rode on a bus down Pacific Highway, just north of the Old Town Transit Center. (Why was I on the bus? I had several adventures this morning in North County! Stay tuned for more cool blog posts!)
The second head, which looks kind of like a painted Dia de los Muertos skull, was discovered beside a sidewalk about a week ago as I walked through Mission Valley on my way to work!
Has anyone out there lost their head? Or heads?
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights (and have more fun) via Facebook or Twitter!
During my Sunday walk along Broadway toward Golden Hill, I passed the new Broadstone Makers Quarter apartments.
I noticed some artwork on display in a few of the leasing office windows, so I took photos. I don’t know the artists, but I thought their creations were definitely cool!
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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!
Cool mechanical shark on parking lot wall behind Undisputed Fitness Center in East Village.
It’s going to be a rainy day in San Diego . . . with even more heavy rain coming later in the week.
Instead of walking about in the cold, I plan to stay warm and dry under a roof!
Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, I’ve assembled the following links. They will take you to photos of awesome street art that I’ve spotted over the years! Unfortunately, some of these works, including truly amazing murals, have been damaged, defaced or no longer exist. Time marches on…
Cool San Diego Sights is now over five years old, so these links represent just a fraction of all the street art I’ve photographed. But I think you might like these!
This blog now features tens of thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
I was walking through downtown San Diego this morning, on my way to catch the trolley for work, when I noticed that a store owner had written on their window: A giant sequoia tree is the result of one tiny seed.
As I looked about, the only gigantic things I could find were surrounding buildings.
Then a startling truth occurred to me.
Even the most towering skyscraper is the result of one tiny seed . . . in the human mind.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 