Tag: genius

Unique art and ideas multiply at Zine event!

Individual free expression took center stage today at the Compressed Zine & Music Fair. The event, organized by Particle FM and Burn All Books, was held at Bread and Salt in Logan Heights.

Writers and artists (and dreamers who are doers) gathered from around the San Diego region to showcase hundreds of their uniquely created zines. (And other printed works of art!)

What is a zine? According to Wikipedia: A zine is a magazine that is a… noncommercial often homemade… publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.

As you might imagine, individuals printing their own zines can be boundlessly creative. They aren’t limited by the “demands” of societal acceptance or mainstream publication. Anyone with access to a copy machine or modest printer (and perhaps a stapler) can create a zine. It’s a cool way to easily get ideas out there and create something tangible that others can share.

You know those revolutionary pamphlets created by our nation’s Founding Fathers? In essence, they were zines.

Today’s zines can range from philosophically serious or politically satirical, to just plain silly or art for the sake of art. Some zines are love letters to people, places or things by devoted fans. Some are critiques. Many titles include wry humor.

Titles I spied while walking around the Compressed Zine & Music Fair include Copy Machine Manifesto, Shotgun Seamstress, Respawn Archive, Typical Natural Disaster, We Miss Jerry Garcia, This is a Critique of the X-Files, and My Feelings Are Not Wrong.

It appeared to me that the best part about making a zine is the simple joy of creativity.

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Dog Stick Library open in North Park!

What’s more fun than borrowing a book from a little lending library? Borrowing a stick from a Dog Stick Library!

Canines have the opportunity to borrow a stick to carry in their mouths while walking with their human companions in North Park. An innovative Dog Stick Library is open on the sidewalk near the intersection of Upas Street and 29th Street!

Is this clever, or what?

The absurdity–and sheer originality–had me stop in my tracks the other day. I love it!

How many dogs take advantage of this little lending library box? It was stocked up with a fine selection of sticks. Whether your four-legged best friend is a large Great Dane or a little Pomeranian, there appeared to be a stick perfectly sized for any mouth.

Now, the question must be asked: Do responsible dogs return the sticks? In good condition?

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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.

Feel free to share!

The eye-opening Art of Autism in Oceanside.

The Art of Autism: A Different Lens is an exhibition now showing at the Oceanside Museum of Art. More than a dozen neurodiverse artists have pieces in the museum, and their work is truly eye-opening. The brilliant creativity of special artists who possibly see the world differently than you or me is off the charts.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Oceanside Museum of Art and The Art of Autism, a non-profit whose mission is to empower and connect individuals within the autism community through participation in the Arts.

By viewing these works of art, visitors to the museum will appreciate how people on the autism spectrum and others who are neurodivergent have the ability to depict the world in uniquely insightful ways. Of course, interpreting our world in very different ways is what art is all about.

I enjoyed my experience of the exhibition last weekend. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the fine work you’ll discover.

If you’d like to expand your own understanding of this world we all share, visit The Art of Autism: A Different Lens by August 3, 2025.

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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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego canals, survival ideas, and a sky mirror!

I didn’t know what to expect when I recently visited the La Jolla Historical Society‘s museum to experience their current exhibition Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work.

The exhibition is described as a retrospective about the work of husband-and-wife team of Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison, who were among the earliest and most notable ecological artists. Founding members of the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego, Helen and Newton were local San Diego artists for nearly four decades, where they developed their pioneering concepts of Ecological Art.

Would I see paintings? What exactly was this ecological art?

What I discovered was unexpected and thoroughly thought-provoking!

The walls of the La Jolla Historical Society’s museum–the Wisteria Cottage–were covered primarily with technical drawings, maps and designs that conveyed innovative environmental ideas the couple developed over many years of working together.

If you love invention and human creativity, you’ll want to view this exhibition. You’ll see how human genius can create previously unthought-of technology that can benefit both people and the planet. You’ll observe how our understanding of nature and the ecosystems we all live in might conceivably be improved.

There were dozens of surprising ideas. I saw a proposal to create flood-reducing canals around downtown San Diego, practical Survival Pieces intended to create self-sustaining ecosystems (including a portable fish farm), and even a huge, Earth-orbiting sky mirror!

The Harrisons’ work is so expansive and full of variety that it’s hard to describe it all. So you’d better check it out yourself!

Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work is actually a multi-museum exhibition in San Diego County. The La Jolla Historical Society’s part of this exhibition is sub-titled Urban Ecologies, and traces the Harrisons’ collaborative practice during the late 1960s-1990s.

Additional parts of this exhibition can be viewed at the California Center for the Arts Escondido, and at the San Diego Public Library Gallery. Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work continues at all three locations through January 19, 2025.

If that’s not enough, this exhibition is part of a much larger Southern California event now underway: the Getty’s 70+ institution PST: Art and Science Collide!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

World Design Capital pavilion in Balboa Park!

The fantastic Exchange Pavilion has been completed in Balboa Park, and it is fulfilling its purpose: bringing people (and hopefully their ideas) together!

This open, geometric structure was erected in the Plaza de Panama because San Diego/Tijuana has been designated World Design Capital 2024. Various activations have taken form in San Diego during the yearlong international event, including the Bay to Park Paseo, but the landmark Exchange Pavilion appears to be at center stage!

Sunlight makes its curving, translucent orange skin glow, and colorful seats (that remind me of building blocks) entice Balboa Park visitors to relax in the shade. Electronic messages in English and Spanish scroll along the edges of the structure, but the people I saw seemed more interested in talking to one another or peering at their phones.

The Exchange Pavilion, as I understand it, officially opens tomorrow, so perhaps there will be more signage or elements added to inform the curious public. I’ve read that the pavilion will remain in San Diego until this fall, when it will be moved to neighboring Tijuana, Mexico.

UPDATE!

A few days later, I noticed this…

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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.

A legacy of beauty by James Hubbell.

Beloved artist James Hubbell has passed away. When I heard the very sad news today, I immediately thought of all the beautiful art he has left as a legacy around San Diego.

If you live in or near San Diego, there’s a good chance you’ve seen his public artwork. His sculptures and mosaics can be found from El Cajon to La Mesa to Del Mar to Oceanside to Mission Valley to Coronado to Shelter Island. His Hubbell Studios/Ilan-Lael Foundation compound in Santa Ysabel (which I’ve not visited, but have seen in photos) is an inspired, absolutely unique architectural marvel.

James Hubbell designed and created so many beautifully organic forms–often with the help of his wife, son, artists in residence or volunteers–that I’ll often encounter his work during a walk. To me, each work possesses a spiritual quality.

This world we live in has been greatly enriched because of James Hubbell’s genius and vision.

Here are some photos I’ve taken over the years…

Pearl of the Pacific on Shelter Island.

Pearl of the Pacific.

Pacific Spirit on Shelter Island.

Pacific Portal on Shelter Island.

Pegasus at Olaf Wieghorst Museum in El Cajon.

San Gabriel Arcángel sculpture at Mission San Diego de Alcalá.

Opus in front of Oceanside Museum of Art.

Marker on walkway at SDSU Mission Valley. Coffeeberry (Frangula californica).

Sea Passage in Coronado.

Mosaic on restroom at Briercrest Park in La Mesa.

Fountain at Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library in La Mesa.

A River of Time at the Del Mar Library.

Art displayed at exhibition James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation, now on view at the Central Library Art Gallery.

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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.

An extraordinary street organ in Balboa Park!

In Balboa Park last weekend, a large group of families and children gathered around Jim Coffee and his extraordinary street organ. I joined them.

As Jim turned a crank to produce cheerful organ music, we all watched as automata brought small magical scenes to life in front of the organ. The street organ and its lively automata were all hand made!

I first met Jim in Balboa Park seven years ago. See those photos on my dormant Beautiful Balboa Park blog by clicking here. Back then he entertained passersby simply with the music of his 20 pipe “Misty” street organ. Today eight motors activate incredible small scenes mounted to the same organ–a carnival with turning Ferris wheel and merry-go-round, a flying helicopter with waving people, musicians playing instruments, and more!

With the addition of this fun automata, everyone who gathers around to listen and watch is even more enchanted!

If you want to learn more about Jim and his wonderful creations, visit his website 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)!

Window to an imagined future in Balboa Park!

What might the future look like? Can science and technology, guided by human compassion, intelligence and imagination, bring forth a better world?

These questions might enter your mind as you peer at works of art created by UC San Diego professor Dr. Pinar Yoldas, now on display in Balboa Park at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Pinar Yoldas: Synaptic Sculpture is an exhibition that challenges the world that we presently know. It offers a window to a future that is possible. And some of the ideas are a little weird!

I visited the exhibition last weekend and loved the boundless creativity. Biology, artificial intelligence, psychology, environmental science and more–even mythology–are combined in unique ways by the speculative mind of Dr. Yoldas.

Imagine works of art in your home that grow environmentally beneficial algae! Imagine sitting on enormous molecules while having your mind calmed by an aroma-wafting sensory pendulum! Imagine having your life ruled by a cute kitten AI overlord! (Oh, wait. Would we really want that future?)

The free exhibition definitely stimulates a sense if wonder. It encourages open minds to speculate where all us human types might be headed.

If you choose, head to the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego in Balboa Park before June 23, 2024 when the exhibition closes!

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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)!

Creativity at Old Fashioned Lumber in Barrio Logan!

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)!

San Diego Stadium lights become art at Snapdragon!

Some very unusual art is installed in a concourse at Snapdragon Stadium. An array of 24 stadium lights has been mounted to one wall. Color changes at the center of each individual silvery floodlight. Over all are the words: San Diego.

When I attended a recent event at Snapdragon, I asked a knowledgeable employee who was working nearby about this art. I learned the old floodlights are from the demolished San Diego Stadium (aka Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, SDCCU Stadium), which stood on this same property in Mission Valley from 1967 to 2021.

Cool idea!

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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)!