Tag: imagination

1936 mural in Balboa Park predicts future!

In 1936, during the second year of Balboa Park’s extended California Pacific International Exposition, a 450-foot-long mural was painted on the inside circular wall of the Ford Building. The building is now home of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The epic mural, which underwent a restoration in 1979, is called the March of Transportation.

The artist, Juan B. Larrinaga, depicted the progress of transportation technology over time. And at the very end of the mural he painted what he thought the future world might look like!

You can see this fantastic vision of the future near the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s exit into their gift shop.

Gazing up at the mural, I spotted strange aircraft that appeared to be a combination helicopter/flying saucer. And what appeared to be an elongated spaceship shot from a cannon. There are dirigible airships and massive skyscrapers. But the automobiles are quaintly nostalgic!

I found it difficult to take photos of the mural due to the proximity of the museum’s F/A-18 A Hornet “Blue Angel 1” and dim lighting conditions high on the wall. I apologize if the images are a bit fuzzy. But you can see how cool the imagined future is!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Rare butter-ball-fly-ball in Normal Heights!

During my walk in Normal Heights today, I spotted a very rare “butter-ball-fly-ball” butterfly. The strange insect was clinging to an electrical box next to the Adams Recreation Center!

This fun butterfly street art is just a few steps from the baseball field at Adams Community Park.

You mean it’s a make-believe species?

And I spotted other nearby butterflies! These boxes were painted in 2021, thanks to Normal Heights Urban Arts.

Several other electrical boxes along the sidewalk near the Adams Recreation Center were painted with butterflies back in 2020. I documented those during a past walk 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 Twitter!

Sewing Dr Jekyll. Carving Mr Hyde.

There’s a mysterious cabinet in downtown San Diego.

This seemingly ordinary cabinet is designed to hold both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

I saw the cabinet today when I stepped into the studio of artist James Watts (@jewattso). And I was shown bits of both Jekyll and Hyde.

I was shown how the cabinet, painted pitch black inside, has a sliding door. Dr Jekyll will stand inside the cabinet on one side. Mr Hyde will stand on the other side. For a surprising revelation, slide the door open in either direction!

You can see the cabinet here…

(To the right of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde cabinet stands Frankenstein’s monster. Perhaps you saw that monstrous creation displayed at the Oceanside Museum of Art last year!)

In the next photo, James Watts is carving Mr Hyde’s bones out of basswood.

He has already hand-sewn parts of Dr Jekyll together. Here’s his face…

James Watts explained that every stitch of the canvas Dr Jekyll is by hand. And that’s important.

I first met James Watts almost five years ago when I stumbled into his utterly fantastic downtown studio. You can see the blog I posted that day here.

As the Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde cabinet progresses, I’ll provide updates!

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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 Twitter!

Mural painted at New Village Arts in Carlsbad!

A large new mural was recently painted on the back wall of the New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad!

New Village Arts is a professional theatre group whose building is presently undergoing a major renovation. It will be reopening early next year.

The amazing mural is titled Reflection. It’s by CLYDE (@clyde_0000), a graffiti artist out of Tempe, Arizona.

I happened to spy this new mural yesterday as I walked near the roundabout east of the Carlsbad Village train station. Of course, I had to go check it out!

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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 Twitter!

Painting at Carlsbad’s new Alley Art Wall!

During my walk in Carlsbad today, I stumbled upon a friendly gentleman painting a swath of the new Alley Art Wall!

The Alley Art Wall features a large composite mural featuring the permanent work of 17 artists. You can find it on the side of Village Kabob, at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Tyler Street.

The Alley Art Wall debuted early this year. It is a project of Carlsbad artist Bryan Snyder. (Years ago he started a different Carlsbad Art Wall with rotating artists at nearby Señor Grubby’s.)

A rectangular area within this new Alley Art Wall is called the Recreation Mural Space. It’s an ever-changing designated creative space where any inspired muralist can paint as they please!

The gentleman I ran across today, painting the rectangular Recreation Mural Space in my photos, is Lee. He envisions kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Carlsbad adding their own artwork to the space!

Very cool!

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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 Twitter!

Super creative piñatas fill the Mingei!

Would you like to see a jaw-dropping exhibition of super creative piñatas?

Would you like to see fantastic works of art that have been inspired by the traditional Mexican piñata?

Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration is now on display at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park!

I’ve never seen so many unique piñatas all in one place. And so many unusual ones!

In addition to more familiar traditional piñatas, visitors to the exhibition will see unusual piñata costumes, creative piñata wall art, piñatas with political messages, humorous piñatas, pop culture piñatas . . . even a life-size car piñata! (That car piñata would hold a lot of candy!)

According to the Mingei’s website, this is one of the first-ever exhibitions to spotlight piñatas as a traditional craft and vibrant contemporary art form.

I was excited to see so many unexpected creations. It never occurred to me that piñatas might be crafted as small hummingbirds or butterflies, or a bag of Cheetos, or a bottle of COVID-19 vaccine!

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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 Twitter!

New art in Artist Alley Oceanside!

During my North County adventure last week, I noticed that new artwork has appeared in Artist Alley Oceanside!

First, the long mural on the low wall identifying the alley has changed considerably. You can compare how it looked previously by checking out this blog post from two years ago.

You’ll also notice a couple of cool new murals on either side of Ikigai Artifacts, and a painting that greets customers just inside their front door.

Sadly, the Van Gogh sunflowers mural at one end of the Artist Alley, which I photographed here, has been vandalized again. Hopefully somebody restores it and keeps an eye on it!

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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 Twitter!

Gerardo Meza art in Sherman Heights!

I really like the art of Gerardo Meza (@mezarte). It contains a lot of humor and personality.

You can see many examples of his colorful street art down near the border in San Ysidro. But during my walk through Sherman Heights yesterday, just east of downtown San Diego, I discovered two electrical boxes that he’d painted!

Here they are!

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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 Twitter!

Christmas Imaginarium Carriage visits Balboa Park!

The wonderful, eye-popping Christmas Imaginarium Carriage visited Balboa Park this morning! It arrived for the Deck the Cars event in the parking lot by the San Diego Automotive Museum.

People around San Diego might see this unmistakable vehicle driving about from time to time. I first saw it over 9 years ago.

During Deck the Cars, a crowd of car enthusiasts converged to admire the Christmas Imaginarium Carriage, which, like a mobile work of art, is decorated with angels, nutcrackers, Santas, small houses and buildings, Christmas trees, lights, ornaments, and painted winter holiday scenes.

Enjoy this look at one man’s fantastic dream made real!

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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 Twitter!

Inspired people Aspire in Vista!

Look at this inspirational public art in Vista! The metal sculpture, a large tree whose silver leaves shine brightly in the sunshine, is titled Aspire.

Look closely at the tree’s trunk. Several human figures reach up, their outspread arms transformed and branching, touching the blue sky.

Like a living tree, Aspire was grown by local artists Melissa Ralston and Robert Rochin.

The sculpture was placed in a newly created roundabout on the Paseo Santa Fe corridor a little over two years ago. You can view this wonderful artwork at the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and Guajome Street.

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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 Twitter!