A free, family-friendly event was held today at Chula Vista’s Memorial Park.
The annual Arts in the Park festival brought the community together to enjoy music, artists, dance, food and all sorts of cultural fun! The event was presented by Chula Vista’s own Onstage Playhouse and CARPA San Diego.
So many smiles! So much creativity!
Take a look!
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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!
Summertime? A sunny Sunday? San Diego’s always amazing Balboa Park?
Combine these three to discover lots of fun, festive stuff!
Come with me. Let’s walk around Balboa Park this afternoon, taking in various cool sights…
If you’d like to see more colorful photographs from today’s House of Panama lawn program, click here!
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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 big celebration brought many smiles and a joyful whirl of color to Balboa Park today! The House of Panama hosted a lawn program at the International Cottages!
A good crowd turned out to enjoy cultural entertainment, and to share excitement over the recent opening of the House of Panama’s new cottage.
Dance groups came down to San Diego all the way from Los Angeles and San Francisco. There were performances by Panamá Lindo; Panamá, Molas, Polleras y Tambores (the official House of Panama Dancers); Congo Istmeño; and Viva Panamá. Many local dignitaries also attended the event.
As I walked around Balboa Park, I swung by the International Cottages a few times to enjoy the lawn program. The next three photos were taken outside and inside the beautiful new House of Panama cottage…
On the lawn stage, there was a sea of colorful Panamanian folk dance costumes!
I caught the singing of National Anthems, then an emotional speech concerning the hard work done to open a new cottage in Balboa Park…
Then the dancing began!
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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!
Yucateca Sentada is a beautiful bronze sculpture slightly off the beaten path at UC San Diego. It can be discovered by observant students passing down the Ridge Walk through Thurgood Marshall College, by the Administration Building. A walkway leads west to a bench that faces the life-size sculpture. (It isn’t far from Sojourner Truth, another bronze sculpture beside the Ridge Walk.)
Yucateca Sentada (Seated Woman of the Yucatan) was created by renowned Costa Rican-born Mexican artist Francisco Zúñiga in 1976. It was donated to UC San Diego in 1983 by Elsa Dekking and UCSD physics professor Keith Brueckner. That was back when Marshall College was called Third College.
Here’s a photo taken right after its installation, with Chancellor Richard C. Atkinson providing a few words. There’s also an article in the October 3, 1983 issue of The UCSD Guardian concerning the dedication. You can read that here on page 7.
When I first saw this beautiful piece, so radiant with elemental humanity and silent dignity, I thought it might be a work of famed San Diego artist Donal Hord. It’s similar to two works I’ve seen by Hord, Spring Stirring and Aztec.
Then I realized I’d seen another very fine sculpture by Francisco Zúñiga in San Diego. His Mother and Daughter Seated can be found near the front entrance of the San Diego Museum of Art.
I photographed Mother and Daughter Seated back in 2016, as it and various other sculptures were being installed in Balboa Park’s outdoor Plaza de Panama. You can enjoy those photos here.
…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!
History was made on Tuesday in San Diego. The Padres made what some are calling the most important trade in baseball history. But, of course, history is made every single day.
Let’s relive a few cool memories from five years ago!
Back in August 2017, events in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park recreated life in our city a century and a half ago; a fun community festival celebrated Logan Heights; and a couple of big Labor Day festivals–the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge and the Festival of Sail–were almost ready to open!
If you’d like to experience a little bit of San Diego history, click the upcoming links!
Click the following links to enjoy many photographs…
Trades That Shaped the West demonstrated in Old Town!
History at the Los Peñasquitos adobe ranch house.
Days of the Vaqueros in Old Town San Diego!
Cool photos from Steampunk Day at the Library!
Cool photos of the Imperial Avenue Street Festival!
Three cool sand sculptures at the Broadway Pier!
Natural beauty at the West Coast Shell Show!
Festival of Sail tall ships at sunset!
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Many years ago I happened to attend a Spreckels Organ concert featuring an up-and-coming young organist who’d recently attended La Jolla High School. Her name was Chelsea Chen.
This evening, Chelsea Chen, now an internationally renowned organist, who has played in more famous venues and won more prizes than I can mention, returned triumphantly to San Diego, receiving loud and sustained applause for her performance during the 2022 International Summer Organ Festival.
Her fingers easily mastered Verdi, Bach, an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley, and many more–even a jazz piano piece based on the theme of The Flintstones. And, of course, she played her own stirring composition Taiwanese Suite, which incorporates beautiful folk music from Taiwan.
Her warm, graceful notes filled many ears.
As I listened I thought: That concert long ago feels like yesterday. How did the years fly by so quickly?
Enjoy the special moments.
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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!
If you like excellent examples of urban art, you need to visit the museum exhibit now showing at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
Street Legacy: SoCal Style Masters features artwork representing diverse subcultures found in Southern California.
Artists have filled the museum galleries with paintings, murals, sculptures and other works inspired by graffiti, street art, skateboarding, surfing, tattoos, lowriders and more. In many works you’ll see the pride of heritage. Many pieces are bold and sensual.
If you travel around San Diego, you’ll probably recognize some of the local street artists. Each has a unique style. I’ve photographed much of their fine mural work during my walks through the city. I generally, however, do not photograph vandalism.
Visitors to the exhibition might be taken aback by images of guns and implied gang violence, and one piece depicting police officers as pigs. The artwork reflects the viewpoint of many on the streets. These images exist side-by-side with images promoting peace and love.
Together we live in a complex, often difficult world with differing personal experiences and perspectives.
Street Legacy: SoCal Style Masters runs through August 28, 2022.
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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!
These copper Batik Printing Blocks, combined like words on a page, seem to tell a beautiful story. A complex story about life.
You can find this huge “panel” of Indonesian tjaps at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park. The artwork has been installed on the second floor, near one of the doors that leads to the outdoor terrace overlooking the Plaza de Panama.
The copper blocks were used for wax resist textile printing. Each block, whose intricate design would be repeated on fabric, is combined with about 200 other unique blocks.
The cumulative effect is like a pile of golden Autumn leaves. Or shining memories collected like precious coins, spread on a table before one’s hands. Or a page ready set for a printing press.
It’s the story of a culture, created by many hands.
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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!
Would it be silly? Serious? Amateurish? Professional?
I really didn’t know what to expect when I purchased a ticket today for the Induction Dance performance during the 2022 San Diego Fringe Festival.
I took my seat inside the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park and waited for the dance to begin. And what we got was a guy in a gorilla suit playing guitar! Then a clown on a tricycle!
Okay, I thought to myself. It’s the Fringe Festival. Only 10 bucks.
But then the performance changed dramatically.
And some good ballet dancing began. Really good!
I was blown away by the fluidity, sensuousness, and gorgeous moves by two dancers who obviously knew what they were doing!
Philip Amer, the Artistic Director of Induction Dance, danced with Saori Maeda. When each of several dances were completed, the audience applauded loudly. It was deserved.
Philip Amer hails from Escondido. Over the years he has performed with numerous ballet companies across the country. He also teaches dance.
Saori Maeda is 23 years old. She’s from Japan, now studying ballet and training in Southern California. Her moves were graceful and flawless. She is destined to be a star!
The performance today included several humorous skits that worked quite well, including a dance with a cloth dummy, and a mime-like ballerina trying to communicate words with particular movements.
Philip Amer stated his object is to make ballet entertaining and accessible for ordinary folk. I don’t know about the guitar playing gorilla and clown on a tricycle, but the rest of the act was original, witty, magical!
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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!
The Central Library in downtown San Diego has a stimulating new exhibition in its Art Gallery on the 9th floor. Echoes of Africa opened last weekend.
Contemporary works by local African American artists are contrasted with African artifacts from San Diego Mesa College’s World Cultures Art collection, including objects that demonstrate the mastery of African artisans in metal, wood, ceramics, beadwork, and textiles.
One can see how the spirit and traditions of African ancestors live on, helping to guide the hands of inspired creators in our community.
As I wandered about the gallery, I was drawn to the abstract spray painted pieces by popular San Diego muralist and graffiti artist Maxx Moses. Traditional masks were translated into complex, colorful canvases full of symbolism. I was also stunned by some truly extraordinary wood artwork by Christopher Lloyd Tucker. Other talented artists in the exhibition are Andrea Chung, Angie Jennings, and Jermaine A. Williams.
Filling the gallery are dozens of fascinating pieces, accompanied by extensive descriptions, giving curious viewers an opportunity for contemplation and learning.
Additional objects from the extensive Mesa Colleges collection can be observed in glass display cases on the first floor of the Central Library.
The exhibition will continue through August 20, 2022.
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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!
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