John Franklin Ritchey. First Black player for the San Diego Padres.
A series of street lamp banners celebrating Black History in San Diego can be observed on Market Street, between Sixth Avenue and Tenth Avenue. Depicted are eight notable pioneers of downtown!
If you’d like to learn about many of our city’s Black pioneers, entrepreneurs, sports heroes and others who’ve contributed to our city’s rich history, here’s a good page to visit!
To see a timeline of Black history in San Diego, check this page out!
Sylura Barron. Civic leader and women’s rights activist.Jasper Davis. Second Black police officer in San Diego.Blossom Lorraine Van Lowe. First Black teacher in San Diego.Dr. Robert Matthews. Educator and civil rights activist.Rebecca Craft. Founder of Black Women’s Civic League.George A. Ramsey. Entrepreneur and business owner.Dr. Jack Kimbrough. President of NAACP, San Diego, 1947.
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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!
The UC San Diego 2022 Powwow began late this morning with Bird Singers from the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.
As people slowly arrived at Marshall College Field, the singers sang ancient stories of the world’s creation. Traditional dancers and shaken gourd rattles moved in rhythm with the words.
In the San Diego sunshine, the culture and history of the Kumeyaay was alive, passing from heart to heart, from generation to generation.
One of the bird singers explained how culture and spirituality live together hand in hand. The singing takes much time and sacrifice. It is for the people. It brought him and others happiness, enriching life in many ways.
Bringing this beautiful music to our world helps many to thrive in this day and time.
I listened. Took some photos. I stretched my legs and ate some Kumeyaay fry bread with powdered sugar and drizzled honey. Yum!
Bird Singers were followed by Gourd Dancers.
After a little while, I felt the urge to move forward through this amazing world, and I walked again down my path.
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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!
An epic, 263-foot mural in City Heights keeps slowly coming to life!
Unity in the Community, by artist Sake, is a work in progress that promises to be one of San Diego’s most amazing public artworks once completed.
I walked along the south end of Teralta Neighborhood Park today and discovered more human faces have taken form since my last visit in January. Work on the enormous mural has been going on for a year or so.
If you’d like to see photographs of San Diego graffiti artist Sake painting the mural, and of the long mural in various stages of completion, click here.
Here is some of that new life I spotted today…
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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!
One seldom observes public art that features poetry. It’s even more rare when the poems are composed by people who are frequently ignored.
Transcending Perception is public art that debuted in Liberty Station back in October, 2020. I hadn’t seen this installation until last weekend, when I walked down a pathway on the east side of THE LOT movie theater.
The images of Transcending Perception, according to the nearby information sign, “were created in a series of workshops that combined theater, poetry, and photography with the intention of ‘returning the gaze’ on both current and historical representations of those who are often excluded or misrepresented in the dominant media…”
This artwork was created by Josemar Gonzalez/Diana Cervera/The AjA Project.
Should you visit Liberty Station in Point Loma, you might want to read these potent words and consider what they mean and why they were written.
We all lead unique lives, with our own experiences and assumptions. It’s enlightening to put yourself in another’s shoes.
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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!
What an outstanding community event! Today I experienced the 37th Annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade, and I gathered lots of photos!
I’d never before attended this annual event, and was blown away by the diversity, colorful entertainment, and all the smiles!
Numerous community organizations had set up canopies along on Linda Vista Road, and were greeting neighbors walking past. I was interested to learn there are plans to create a community garden. I saw many friendly people working to improve the lives of Linda Vista residents.
As I walked around, I smelled lots of yummy food. I saw kids super excited to go on rides in a fun zone. For several minutes I paused to watch and photograph a variety of cultural dances at the two festival stages.
Just before the parade began at 11 o’clock, I headed a bit north up Linda Vista Road to view the spectacle away from most of the crowd.
Personally, I liked the many roller skaters and their fun, musical routine. Linda Vista is home to Skateworld San Diego, and roller skating is a unique part of the community’s identity!
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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!
Selected works by artists teaching at colleges around San Diego County are now on display at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
Campus Creatives: Featuring San Diego’s Fine Art Faculty showcases pieces created by 49 teaching artists from 14 local institutions, ranging from smaller community colleges to San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and UC San Diego.
I headed up to Escondido today to experience this mostly contemporary art.
The museum galleries contain many unusual and experimental pieces that utilize a surprising variety of materials. As one might expect from college faculty, certain social, environmental and political themes were plentiful. I also saw examples of arresting beauty and art for art’s sake.
Some of the pieces obviously required a good deal of time and effort. I was stunned by a couple of large, very complex woven tapestries. You’ll see one in the upcoming photographs.
I asked the friendly gentleman at the museum’s front counter what he liked best about the exhibition. The variety, he told me.
I concur one hundred percent!
Go check it out!
Meanwhile, enjoy a few examples.
Campus Creatives: Featuring San Diego’s Fine Art Faculty will be on public view through May 15, 2022.
Corvid: Suspicion, 2021, Joanne Hayakawa. Graphite on mylar with steel frame.Explanation of Colors, 2019, Leslie Nemour. Oil, mm on found map.Petals to the Metal, 2019, Joshua Eggleton. Charcoal.Albedo, 2021, Bill Mosley. Oil on canvas.The Creation of the Virus, 2021, Carlos Castro. Woven tapestry.Maintaining Bearings, 2022, Stephanie Bedwell. Wood, fiber.Cactus Transformation, 2019, YC Kim. Porcelain and light.Yuri-Tobabay, Japan 1932, 2017, Julie Goldstein. Woodcut, graphite, recycled fabric.Masquerade, 2021, Serena Potter. Oil on canvas.
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The Coronado Historical Association’s Museum of History and Art presently features an exhibit titled Uprooted: The Story of the Japanese Americans of Coronado.
I visited the museum yesterday. The kind lady at the entrance allowed me to take a few photos when she learned I’m a blogger.
As I stepped into the first gallery, I was immediately pleased to see that the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park had contributed objects for display, including beautiful kimonos. I’m a member of the garden.
Then, as I looked at old photographs and read descriptions, I was stunned to learn that Coronado once had its own Japanese garden! Actually two tea gardens! And the second would be the setting for four motion pictures from 1913 to 1919!
Looking at the exhibit’s many historical photographs, I tried to imagine what life on the island might have been like years ago, particularly for Japanese Americans. The years covered are from the mid-1800’s when immigrants came to California seeking opportunity, to the forced detention of Japanese American citizens during World War II, to more recent and optimistic times.
Many of the displays are made possible by the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego.
Anyone interested in local history absolutely should visit this exhibit. I was surprised to learn so much!
More information can be found on the Coronado Historical Association website 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!
Anyone interested in inventions, technology and history would love an exhibit now on display at UC San Diego. The fourth floor of the Design and Innovation Building is where you’ll find Patent Models: A Celebration of American Invention.
The exhibit features 19th century patent models from the collection of the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware.
Some of the artifacts might appear primitive and quaint to those who live in the 21st century, but they’re a reminder that unlimited human imagination and generations of visionaries, experimenters and builders have produced the complex technology that we take for granted today.
I walked around the exhibit last Saturday, peering into various glass display cases and reading signs that detail the history and progress of American invention.
I learned that by the late 1860’s, during the golden age of American invention, more than 13,000 patents were issued every year. But as applications continued to increase in number, the resulting deluge of patent models became difficult to cope with. After a change in regulations by the Commissioner of Patents in 1880, models eventually became a rare part of the patent application process.
Inventors highlighted in the exhibit include women, immigrants and people of color, and there are descriptions of struggles through the years for equal recognition and opportunity. Many of the inventors were “everyday” people inspired by a really good idea.
Patent Models: A Celebration of American Invention is open through November 6, 2022. Reservations are required. You can reserve a tour by visiting this page.
I took a few photos…
The spirit of ingenuity characterizes America…Patent Model – Life-preserving state room for navigable vessels. Patent #20,426.Patent Model – Improvement in electro-magnetic induction-coils. Patent #138,316.Women invented in industries ranging from agriculture to shipping…Patent models by 19th century women inventors.
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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 newly opened art exhibit in San Ysidro provides hope and inspiration in these difficult times. It’s titled Love is an Action – Amor en los Tiempos de Pandemia (Love in Pandemic Times).
The exhibition features works by regional artists. Positive themes are plentiful, including compassion, acceptance, hope and healing. Most of the artwork concerns female experience and empowerment.
Love is an Action is the 15th DÃa de la Mujer Art Exhibition at Casa Familiar’s The FRONT Arte & Cultura museum.
I was struck by the power of many of these pieces. They are full of human feeling and authenticity. You can sense how many artists were uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which threw us all into isolation and uncertainty.
You can also clearly see that art can help us through life’s difficulties–to remind us of what is good and what is important–to make us feel alive once again.
This is just a small sample of what you’ll see…
Postcards that visitors can write a message of kindness or encouragement upon. They will be sent anonymously when the exhibition ends.Breakfast, 2021, Lourdes Araiza. Photograph mounted on wood. Image of Mom eating breakfast, whose loving smile full of gratitude was a blessing.Amor a lo Natural, 2020, Paola Segura. Oil on canvas. Pride and power, struggle and frustration are often depicted through the artist’s pieces.The Graduate, 2022, Monica Nunez Aragon. Acrylic.Tu Sola Alondra, 2022, Alondra Zamora. Acrylic on canvas. The artist’s love letter to her culture as a Mexicana.Prayer, 2022, Betty Bangs. Acrylic on canvas.Healing, 2020, Veronica Aranda. Mixed media on canvas. An image that came to the artist of a world healing without pollution.Re-Member Her site specific installation by Collectivo XoQUE. Imagery of Aztec goddess Coyolxauhqui explores women living on the border, and seeks to “create intimacy in the attempt to pick up the fragments of our dismembered womanhood and reconstitute ourselves in harmony with nature, body and soul, and the mind and spirit.”Braiding a Message of Love.
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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 47th Street station of the San Diego Trolley has newly painted public art! A mural along a low wall beside one platform is the work of San Diego artist Maxx Moses.
I stepped off the Orange Line today and took photographs of the cool new artwork!
According to this article, the long mural you are looking at is titled Seamless. Its theme is human connectivity through transit. I see that differently colored patterns combine and link to one another.
I’m not sure whether this artwork is completed. I’ll swing by during a future city adventure to see what might develop.
You can experience more art by Maxx Moses at three other San Diego Trolley stations, here and here and 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!
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