You might have noticed I personally love the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. The garden always refreshes my mind and sparks my creativity. It’s one of my favorite spots to write short stories. (I hope to have a new one finished soon!)
When I learned a new cultural exhibition would open today in the garden’s handsome Inamori Pavilion, I knew at once that I had to check it out. The exhibition is called Art in Bloom – Floral Art of Japan.
The diverse pieces of artwork on display feature exquisite flower designs. By reading several signs in the exhibit, I learned about the symbolism of certain flowers in Japan. For example, I learned the camelia represents spring.
After feasting my eyes on the Art in Bloom exhibit, I walked up a winding path through the Lower Garden and carefully searched the grove of Japanese cherry trees for spring blossoms. None yet! One of the knowledgeable master gardeners informed me we have several weeks to go!
(Don’t forget to attend the certain-to-be-amazing 2018 Cherry Blossom Festival. This year it will be held on March 9 through March 11.)
Here’s a pic taken outside the Inamori Pavilion, followed by photos of a few works of the floral art inside…
Flowers at the Japanese Friendship Garden near the Inamori Pavilion, where the Art in Bloom exhibition is located.
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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!
A cool prism wall sculpture, beneath reflections of nearby downtown buildings.
Walk or drive in downtown San Diego past the corner of Broadway and Front Street, and you might glimpse rainbow colors splashed every which way!
For more than thirty years, a very cool sculpture has added surprising color and life to the public plaza at the entrance to 101 West Broadway. Titled Light, Rock and Water, the prism wall and accompanying elements were created by renowned New York artist Charles Ross. According to a small plaque, Ross has described his work as “cinematic in nature, seen as a sequence of spectrum images, some muted, some bright, but not all visible from any single vantage.”
I recently approached this public artwork and walked slowly all around it.
Here are some photos…
Walking along the public plaza near the corner of Broadway and Front Street in San Diego.This fantastic sculpture at 101 West Broadway attracts curious eyes with its changing prismatic colors.Light, Rock and Water, by Charles Ross, 1985. This is a prism wall environment with elements of light, rock and water. The renowned New York artist’s first outdoor sculpture.Light reflecting from and passing through the prism wall reflects from a basin of water.A cool optical sculpture which includes various natural physical elements.The colors of the visible spectrum appear like linear rainbows at one’s feet near this surprising sculpture.A colorful work of public art in downtown San Diego!
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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!
Workers install Jaume Plensa’s new sculpture Pacific Soul in the public plaza by the Pacific Gate condominium tower in San Diego.
This evening, after dark, I walked past the nearly completed Pacific Gate by Bosa condo tower and noticed an elaborate sculpture is being installed in the building’s public plaza near the corner of West Broadway and Pacific Highway.
I asked one of the workers about the artist and learned this new public art installation is the work of Jaume Plensa, the renowned Spanish artist whose monumental sculptures can be found in major cities and museums around the world. He designed the Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
This new sculpture, which is titled Pacific Soul, looks intriguingly complex. According to one article I found, it’s inspired by the tangled roots of rainforest trees and is composed of stylized characters from diverse alphabets. When finished it will be about 25-feet tall and appear like a seated person gazing west toward the Pacific Ocean.
I think it’s going to be amazing! I can’t wait to see the finished work!
Pacific Soul by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, when completed, will be about 25-feet tall and appear like a seated person gazing west toward the ocean.
UPDATE!
I walked down Broadway to see what progress had been made on Friday morning–about two days later. Workers were getting ready to assemble large sections of the monumental sculpture. Here are some photos…
Sign explains that you are viewing the installation of Pacific Soul by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. (Click image to enlarge the sign for easy reading.)Worker installs Pacific Soul in the public plaza by the new Pacific Gate high-rise condos in San Diego.
ANOTHER UPDATE!
On Saturday the several sections of Pacific Soul had been pieced together. I was told the sculpture will be lit at night from below, and that people will be able to walk through it!
More photos…
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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 journey through the city I often see mysterious visions underfoot, produced by unknown hands. They are the dreams of wandering souls, made visible.
Dreams of the searchers . . . the restless . . .
Wherever you happen to walk, countless others have walked.
Free yourself, with a heart.Grace, one step up from fallen leaves.
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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!
I confess that I have a nefarious scheme. I have a hidden motive behind Cool San Diego Sights.
My wish is to have readers visit Short Stories by Richard. That’s where my short works of fiction are published.
Yes, I enjoy walking all around San Diego taking photographs, but there is something that I love infinitely more: writing creatively. When the muse is present, and my pen is moving, I feel that I can grasp the entire cosmos with one hand. I feel that I can clearly interpret the Ultimate for one brief instant. I have a sense of purpose. I feel completely alive.
My walks by water, past art, through parks, around hills and gardens, down busy sidewalks–my short daily journeys are a source for inspiration. Framing photographs energizes the eyes. Searching in every direction for life helps me to find it.
Writing short stories in San Diego is my passion. Even when my mind is blocked, my eyes and heart are not. There is always plenty of sunshine.
Short Stories by Richard now has thirty nine stories and two small poems. I welcome you into my private scheme. Come peer into secret places.
Abstract calligraphy panels on a wall facing E Street near 11th Avenue. This large mural was created by Brazilian multimedia artist Yomar Augusto for Design Forward San Diego.
There are two dynamic new murals in East Village. Actually one is a painted mural, and the other appears to be an enormous patchwork banner stretched upon a wall. Both face E Street in the vicinity of Park Boulevard.
The abstract calligraphy mural by Yomar Augusto was completed in October of 2017.
The dazzling artwork adorning the IDEA1 Apartments is brand new–the building had its Grand Opening in December.
Here are a couple of fun photos!
A large colorful banner stretched on the northeast corner of the new IDEA1 Apartments in East Village.
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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!
If you love fine art, there’s something you really need to see. Legacy in Black is an exhibition featuring the work of local African American artists who enjoy national and international acclaim. You can enjoy this exhibition for free by visiting the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park.
A number of outstanding pieces represent the work of eight artists who’ve made significant contributions to our city’s cultural life. Many of the artists have produced public art around San Diego and California. Faith Ringgold has had works exhibited in places like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Museum of American Art, and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Ernest Eugene Barnes Jr. was the official artist of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Kadir Nelson was the lead conceptual artist for Steven Spielberg’s film Amistad, and his work is often featured on the cover of The New Yorker magazine. All eight artists featured in this exhibition are exceptional.
Legacy in Black is a collaboration between the San Diego History Center and the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art. Head on over to Balboa Park before the exhibition closes on March 28, 2018!
Sandlot Football. Ernie Barnes, acrylic on canvas.Legacy in Black, an exhibition of work by local African American artists, is now on display at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park.I’ll Fly Away. Manuelita Brown, bronze with painted wood base, 2003.Coming to Jones Road Part II #5, Precious, Barn Door and Baby Freedom. Faith Ringgold, acrylic on canvas with fabric border, 2010.The Valley. Jean Cornwell Wheat, acrylic on canvas, 2014.Gridiron Hero. Ernie Barnes, acrylic on board.
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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!
Third Victoria, oil on canvas, 1959. Jorge Gonzalez Camarena, Mexican, 1908-1980.
The impressive, first-ever exhibition of Modern Masters from Latin America is now on display at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. On Christmas Eve I was given a special tour of this exhibition, and I must admit it’s fantastic! For a limited time, visitors have the rare privilege to experience one of the finest collections of modern art in the world.
Modern Masters from Latin America: The Pérez Simón Collection contains almost a hundred memorable paintings, by the likes of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Joaquín Torres-García, Fernando Botero, Alfredo Castañeda and Fernando de Szyszlo. Many nations, cultures, themes, moods and styles are represented. You’ll see impressionistic landscapes, lively scenes depicted through the lens of cubism, weirdly rendered surrealism, and mind-bending, eye-teasing abstraction. Many of the works reflect different Latin American national identities. Many contrast modernity with the culture and memory of indigenous people.
I was struck by the deep emotion that radiated from most of these works. I detected human pride and passion, childlike innocence and gnawing guilt, deep love and intense anger, inexpressible suffering and irrepressible joy. These emotions were often presented in confused contrast.
One masterful work by Frida Kahlo titled Girl from Tehuacán, Lucha María or Sun and Moon shows an innocent girl sitting between ancient symbols of night and day–the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. She is seemingly lost in a barren desert, a model of a World War II bomber in her hands. Her quiet expression contains resignation and sadness.
My few photos here are a modest representation of the actual exhibition. To see the true colors, the touches of light and seeping darkness, the diverse textures and stunning vibrancy of these many paintings, head down to the museum while you can. You might not have a chance to see this amazing collection again.
Modern Masters from Latin America is on display at the San Diego Museum of Art through March 11. Among the fantastic works are two by Frida Kahlo, but to see those you must visit by January 14.
A visitor to the San Diego Museum of Art explores Modern Masters from Latin America, from the Perez Simon Collection.Aqueduct, oil on canvas, 1918. Diego Rivera, Mexican, 1886-1957.Ship Graveyard, oil on canvas, 1930. Benito Quinquela Martin, Argentinian, 1890-1977.Crying Woman, pyroxylin on Masonite, 1944. David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican, 1896-1974.Death in Life or Black Christ, acrylic on plywood, 1963. David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican, 1896-1974.Young Girls with Shells, Duco on canvas, 1945. Mario Carreno, Cuban, 1913-1999.City of Quito, oil on canvas, ca. 1980. Oswaldo Guayasamin, Ecuadorian, 1919-1999.The Mexican or Young Woman with Rebozo, oil on canvas, 1935. Agustin Lazo, Mexican, 1896-1971.House Eight, oil on canvas, 1978. Fernando de Szyszlo, Peruvian, 1925-2017.The Native, oil on canvas, ca. 1936. Alfredo Ramos Martinez, Mexican, 1871-1946.Girl from Tehuacán, Lucha María or Sun and Moon, oil on Masonite, 1942. Frida Kahlo, Mexican, 1907-1954.Constructive Composition in Planes and Figures, oil on canvas, 1931. Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Uruguayan, 1874-1949.Concert, oil on canvas, 1941. Emilio Pettoruti, Argentinian, 1892-1971.Peasant, Industrial, and Intellectual Work, oil on wood, 1956. Jorge Gonzalez Camarena, Mexican, 1908-1980.World’s Highest Structure, oil on canvas, 1930. Jose Clemente Orozco, Mexican, 1883-1949.Green Structures, oil on canvas, 1964. Gunther Gerzso, Mexican, 1915-2000.Study for The March of Humanity, oil on recovered plywood, ca. 1968-69. David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican, 1896-1974.Portrait of Maria Felix, oil on canvas, 1948. Diego Rivera, Mexican, 1886-1957.
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I recently published an odd, moving short story about a world made of bones. You can read it here.
A tiny dog dressed like Santa Claus attracts a lot of attention. The friendly musician performing by the Balboa Park reflecting pool didn’t seem to mind.
Christmas is coming on Monday. So I was given this afternoon off from work.
Even on the second day of winter, San Diego is pure sunshine.
As I got my legs pumping, Balboa Park seemed like the perfect destination. It’s a magical place that’s always full of new wonders and unexpected discoveries.
Something very cool is coming this weekend. I’ve been invited on a special tour of the Modern Masters from Latin America exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art. I’ll probably blog about the experience on Tuesday, the day after Christmas. Meanwhile, I’m going to take a short break here and perhaps do a bit of writing.
I hope you all have a wonderful and very merry next few days!
Young and old peer into a magical fountain near the Botanical Building.People move past light-filled archways, turn a corner…I was told these guys were filming the pilot of a funny show called “Cult of Kyle” in the outdoor courtyard of the Casa del Prado.Many faces among fallen leaves. Sketches discovered unexpectedly in Spanish Village, on a worktable outside Studio 10.Bright sunlight on trunks and leaves at the edge of Balboa Park’s Palm Canyon.The effort to save the Starlight Bowl has made great progress! They finally have a Special Use Permit from the City of San Diego!I was told that two shiny new marble benches outside the entrance of the San Diego Air and Space Museum are about one month old. They were donated by retirees of North American Aviation.People are entertained on El Prado one beautiful winter’s day in Balboa Park. The facade of the Casa del Prado makes a fantastic backdrop.This cool guy near the Zoro Garden had a long rope that generated zillions of bubbles at once!I often see this silent busker in Seaport Village. He was juggling and performing magic today in Balboa Park.A musician breathes life into the park. A small scene in front of the San Diego Natural History Museum.
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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!
Mosaic of Flowers: Hibiscus by Kirstin Green. City of Coronado Public Art Collection installed 2017.
During my walk around Coronado this afternoon I made a cool discovery! I noticed two exquisite flower mosaics now adorn the public restroom building in Spreckels Park. One can be found above an outside sink on the north side, the other on the south side. Both are made of many small colorful tiles.
This public artwork is bright and cheerful, a perfect match for the beautiful, spacious park which is home to the annual Coronado Flower Show.
A close-up photo of a beautiful sunflower-like zinnia made of small yellow, orange and white tiles.Mosaic of Flowers: Zinnia by Kirstin Green. City of Coronado Public Art Collection installed 2017.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 