Check out these unusual, wildly creative sculptures. They were recently placed on columns near the center of Spanish Village Art Center’s large outdoor patio. I had to stop in my tracks to look up during my Saturday walk through Balboa Park.
These five unique pieces are the work of two artists in the San Diego Sculptors Guild, which is located in Spanish Village. I’ve identified the artists in the next photo caption.
I don’t know if there’s a unifying theme. But this art does makes you look twice, to say the least!
From left to right, the sculptures are: Cupid’s Hammer by Sergey Gornushkin, Pinocchio by Yuriy Akopov, Holy Surf by Sergey Gornushkin, Seal the Deal by Yuriy Akopov, and Gotem by Sergey Gornushkin.
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There’s a very cool project now underway in Balboa Park’s always colorful Spanish Village Art Center. Artists from various Spanish Village studios have begun to paint metal trashcans that are placed around the big central patio!
It appears to me any subject matter is fair game. In this special place, where you can say hello to local artists and even watch them at work, it’s all about creativity!
These are the trashcans I spotted today…
What will appear 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!
The long absent Poet and Muse has reappeared in Balboa Park!
Le Poète et sa Muse–Poet and Muse–by Franco-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, used to stand near the Mingei International Museum’s main entrance. Now, as the Mingei is almost ready to reopen after a major renovation and expansion, the sculpture has returned to public view. It has been placed in a corner of the Alcazar Garden, near the House of Charm’s tower and a new public entrance to the museum!
The beloved Nikigator is also returning to Balboa Park! The fun sculpture, also by Niki de Saint Phalle, will again welcome kids near the Plaza de Panama entrance to the Mingei. I saw today that preparation is underway to move Nikigator back from Liberty Station, where it has been located temporarily during the museum’s renovation.
The redesigned, even more amazing Mingei International Museum will open to the public on September 3, 2021!
Preparing for the return of Nikigator…
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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!
Numerous amazing murals now fill an alley in downtown Escondido. The multi-phase project is called Esco Alley Art, and I had to check it out last weekend!
Artists have painted all sorts of colorful images, which are displayed in an alley just south of Grand Avenue and east of Maple Street. Some of the murals depict Escondido attractions, such as Cruisin’ Grand and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This expanding outdoor gallery is presented by the Escondido Art Association and the Escondido Downtown Business Association.
Phase II of the project was unveiled a little over a week ago. The vision is to keep adding more art, eventually expanding the outdoor gallery into other alleys!
Learn all about Esco Alley Art on its website here. You can see each mural and read about the artists, many of whom live in Escondido.
I walked along the alley admiring the diverse artwork while snapping these 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!
Very few know of this “hidden” public artwork in Point Loma. It can be found on a building’s rooftop at Liberty Station.
In the next photograph you can see green stairs climbing the side of the New Americans Museum. During all of my visits to Liberty Station, I’ve never seen a single person going up them. I myself had thought these stairs to the building’s roof were out of bounds to the public.
Not so!
Head on up, push open the swinging gate, and take a look!
The unique rooftop artwork is composed of colorfully painted skateboards. Appropriately titled Rolling It Forward, the installation was created in 2018 by local artist Jeremy Nuttall of Poway, California. The sculpture, according to a sign represents a boat and rolling waves made entirely of community-painted skateboard decks. It builds on the concept of “pay it forward,” and it required the support and involvement of the community…
The skateboards that compose Rolling It Forward have become weathered by several seasons of rain and sunshine. They are cracked and faded. They are rolling forward through time.
But the creative, often crazy images endure!
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
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I’ve published another short story today. It’s a very odd tale that you might enjoy reading.
It’s about moving through the night. Or about dreaming. Or about living. It is definitely about perception.
I’ve titled this strange little work of fiction Night Walking.
And now, having arranged these few words, I will head out my door and go day walking with my camera . . . through a world that often seems a dream . . .
Here are more photographs of fantastic art that I discovered during my recent adventure in Azalea Park.
This neighborhood on the south end of City Heights is full of surprises, with murals, sculptures and mosaics just about everywhere one turns!
If you’d like to see more public art in Azalea Park that I’ve already shared, you can click here or here or here or here.
Large mural at intersection of Poplar Street and Jamie’s Way by Gloria Muriel.Mural shows map of City Heights Urban Wilderness Trail.
If you’d like to see a detailed map of the City Heights Canyons Loop Trail, which connects four urban canyons, click here!
One of these days I’ll go hike it!
Natural beauty and wildlife one might see exploring the canyons of City Heights, including nearby Manzanita and Hollywood Canyons.Teach the Youth above graffiti and Mexican sweet bread, painted on the side of a bakery near the entrance to Azalea Park.I learned from local artist Jim Bliesner that these colorful palm trees on Poplar were originally located on University Avenue in City Heights.Murals on The Brown Building community center.Abstract mural with eyes by Isaias Crow.Mural on building’s southwest side by @SART95.A suspended leaf on a street corner. A common sight in Azalea Park, whose street names come from plants and trees.Amazing artwork on the fence of a very artistic resident of Azalea Park!Shipping containers by the playground at Azalea Community Park are covered with fantastic murals!Cool spray paint art by muralist Maxx Moses.A wall just east of the Azalea Park Water Conservation Garden has been decorated with beautiful murals. Gloria Muriel teamed with several other artists.Calla Ditos and Gloria Muriel, aka Glow.Amandalynn and Lady Mags together are known as Alynn-Mags.
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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!
There’s an outdoor sculpture garden in San Diego that very few know about. It’s called the Azalea Park Water Conservation Garden. You can find this special place in Azalea Park, a neighborhood in south City Heights, at the east end of Azalea Community Park.
Last weekend I was given a tour of the sculptures by local artist Jim Bliesner and members of the Azalea Park Mosaic League!
As you can see in my photos, all of the garden’s imaginative artwork is made of recycled materials. What I really loved is the pieces were all created by people who live in the neighborhood!
Come wander with me through this peaceful garden, down several dirt paths through native drought tolerant vegetation, and let’s see what we might discover…
A tall sculpture attracts those who are nearby. Curious eyes will discover something special.
PEACE BEACON
INSTALLED ON JUNE 12, 2016
IN HONOR OF THE VICTIMS OF THE SHOOTING THAT OCCURRED ON THIS DATE IN ORLANDO, FL.
Donated to the Azalea Park neighborhood, where people of all faiths, cultures, and ethnicities proudly live together as one community. May we shine as a beacon to the rest of the country.
Artist: Vicki Leon, 2016
Installation team: Vicki Leon, Bonnie Brooks, Jennifer Lindsey, Brent Lindsey, Aiya Lindsey, Aiden Lindsey. Title by Aiden Lindsey (10 years old).
City Heights artist Jim Bliesner stands by his fun sculpture Joy Ride. It’s made of colorfully painted car hoods!A dreamcatcher made of recycled metal objects.A bull made of old car mufflers.
“The Bull”
By Karim Carlock
Welded by Jose Orozco
I.W.U. Local 229
All the sculptures in the Azalea Park Water Conservation Garden are wonderful. Take a look at this!
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
I arrived at the Danza event in Chicano Park about an hour early on Sunday, so I walked randomly around the Barrio Logan neighborhood, curious to see what I might find.
What I discovered was a lot of cool art!
Some of the murals appeared fairly new; other time-faded artwork I hadn’t observed or photographed during previous walks…
Colorful mural spray painted on side of Corner Studios Barrio Logan.La Tortuga painted on the FamilyHealth-Youth Counseling Center.The amazing front of Farallon Design in Barrio Logan.Tiles with shell designs.Ocean waves in one swelling sculptural mosaic.Colors fill a beautiful seashell.Skater girl on one side of a utility box.Devilish second side of the same box.One happy and one stubborn character painted on a third side.Amazing huge mural painted by San Diego artist Michelle Ruby, aka Mrbbaby, on wall of U-Stor-It Barrio Logan.Fun graphic by entrance to Barrio Cuts Barbershop by @paradigmartworks.Pig on a box.Mexican dancers painted on ¡SALUD TACOS! by ShoLove.Aztec figures brighten the restaurant’s black exterior, again by ShoLove.Barrio Logan building on Logan Avenue painted by graffiti artist Dave “Persue” Ross.BunnyKitty among other fun characters.I’ve seen this fearsome simian in other Persue artwork. Don’t know his name.Big eyes above the door of Hola Swim.All sorts of murals on either side of a construction site on Logan Avenue.Young smiling face on tiles at the Chicano Federation of San Diego County Barrio Logan Child Development Center.A second face at left side of front entrance. I think this art might be by Mario Torero.Very colorful spray painted fence by local Chicana artist Jessica Petrikowski.Painted silhouettes of cacti and bird of prey.Painted skeletons on boards appear to be by Mexican artist Mizar Martin (MZR MRTN).Feline eyes by Ground Floor Murals.Feline mouth by Ground Floor Murals.Trashcan in front of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Station 7 painted with a firefighter skull!Family rides bike on a nearby electrical box.More street art with bright sunny abstract designs.Other side of the same box.Smiling mural in alley remembers a departed loved one.
UPDATE!
Here’s a couple more from a later walk…
By artist C. Castaneda, 2018.I believe this mural is by artist Sand One.
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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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