Tag: imagination

Amazing mosaic wall at the Del Mar Library!

Walk down the sidewalk to the front of the Del Mar Library and you’ll suddenly stop in your tracks. That’s because your eyes will be captivated by the amazing Del Mar Mosaic Wall!

The mixed media mural, created by artists Betsy Schulz and Pat Welsh with the help of community volunteers, was finished in 2003. Found objects, brick and stone were combined with clay forms to produce beautiful images of coastal wildlife, including sea birds and fish. The low walls beside steps climbing to the public library’s front entrance depict dozens of Garibaldi fish, each with the name of a donor to the project.

If the artist Betsy Schulz sounds familiar, that’s because she has created some of the most amazing mosaics around San Diego. If you want to see more of her work, click here or here or here or here or 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!

Read a book and take flight!

I love this fun street art on Aero Drive. You can find it right next to the Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Branch Library parking lot. Painted on an electrical box is what will happen when you read a book. Your imagination will take flight!

If the library is closed and books are unavailable, your mind can take flight in a different way. Simply turn north and watch as small airplanes take off and land at nearby Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (which is more commonly known as Montgomery Field.)

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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!

Music, eating, cycling and flying brains!

There’s a crazy batch of colorful street art painted on electrical boxes at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and 43rd Street.

I see music, eating, cycling and flying brains! And masks, eyeballs, history, culture, art…

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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!

Artist paints big, fun mural in City Heights!

Sandra Escobar paints a cool mural on the side of Super Cocina in City Heights.
Sandra Escobar paints a cool mural on the side of Super Cocina in City Heights.

This afternoon Sandra R. Escobar, a multi-award winning artist from Orange County, finished painting a large, very colorful mural in City Heights. I arrived as she was applying the final touches to her canvas–a portion of the east side of Super Cocina!

Check it out!

Her work has a unique style of its own, as you can see at the artist’s website here. Sandra Escobar is also a digital artist, and I learned this fun mural, with its crazy jumble of eyes and noses and other facial features, was designed digitally in advance.

The title of the mural is 6 Feet Apart. It’s the largest mural she’s painted yet!

The new mural appears between two others that were previously painted on the east side of Super Cocina.
The new mural appears between two others that were previously painted on the east side of Super Cocina.
Finishing another very cool mural on University Avenue in City Heights!
Finishing a very cool mural on University Avenue in City Heights!

UPDATE!

I received some photos from Love City Heights of the mural being created…

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Photo courtesy Love City Heights.
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Photo courtesy Love City Heights.

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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!

Star Streams at the Center for the Arts.

As you approach the front entrance of the Museum at California Center for the Arts, Escondido, you might think you’re flying through the coronas of two fiery stars. Looking down, you see beautiful Star Streams beneath your feet!

Star Streams/THRESHOLD TESSELATION is the name of some very cool artwork that was installed in front of the Museum in 2017.

The 128-square foot LithoMosaic was created by artists Robin Brailsford, Wick Alexander and Doris Bittar. It’s the first of a series titled COLD CALL/ Museum as Muse, which involves the creation of LithoMosaic plaza public artwork for six museums across the United States.

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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!

Murals in and around Alley Art Man Way!

Long Live Vista! ¡Viva Vista!, by artist Kim Maria Cruz, 2019.
Long Live Vista! ¡Viva Vista!, by artist Kim Maria Cruz, 2019.

Public art thrives in Vista, California!

In addition to dozens of amazing sculptures, which I recently blogged about here, numerous colorful murals can be found throughout town!

Last weekend I walked randomly around downtown Vista and came upon an alley with an unusual name: Alley Art Man Way. It’s located between Main Street and East Broadway, South Citrus Avenue and Hanes Place.

As I wandered through and around the alley, I discovered many walls painted with fantastic artwork!

As you can see on the City of Vista Public Art Map, which you can check out here, there are many additional murals out there to be discovered. One day I’ll return to find more!

I’ve captioned my photographs using information obtained from the interactive map.

Alley Art Man Way in downtown Vista, California is home to many colorful murals!
Alley Art Man Way in downtown Vista, California is home to many colorful murals!
Vista Fire Department 1929, by artist Doug Davis, 2000.
Vista Fire Department 1929, by artist Doug Davis, 2000.
Water World, by artist Doug Davis, 2016.
Water World, by artist Doug Davis, 2016.

Tribute to Margarita, by artist Daniel Toledo, 2018.
Tribute to Margarita, by artist Daniel Toledo, 2018.
Crazy, colorful mural by front door of Backfence Society, where North County artists gather and create.
Crazy, colorful graphic by front door of Backfence Society, where North County artists gather and create.
Boogie Birds, by artist Chor Boogie, a.k.a. Joaquin Lamar Hailey.
Boogie Birds, by artist Chor Boogie, a.k.a. Joaquin Lamar Hailey.

Space Coyote, by artist Sarah Spinks et al.
Space Coyote, by artist Sarah Spinks et al.

Delpy's, Vista Mercantile, Beattie and Travis, by artist Chuck Rose, 2001.
Delpy’s, Vista Mercantile, Beattie and Travis, by artist Chuck Rose, 2001.
Trees painted on either side of the door to Visions In Art.
Trees painted on either side of the entrance to Visions In Art.
Lilac Cat on the Hunt, by artist Sarah Spinks and friends.
Lilac Cat on the Hunt, by artist Sarah Spinks and friends.

Vista Avocados, by artist Art Mortimer, 2011.
Vista Avocados, by artist Art Mortimer, 2011.

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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!

Happy art and the Escondido Students’ Tile Mural.

Do you ever blink your eyes at an oh-so-serious adult and wonder what they were like as a small child? Before growing up and becoming terribly sophisticated, did they love to draw simple things like hearts, flowers and smiles?

I saw this amazing tile wall in Escondido last weekend as I walked from the California Center for the Arts toward Grape Day Park. A plaque states it’s the 1994 Escondido Students’ Tile Mural. Hundreds of names from local schools appear on this happy, quilt-like mosaic.

The tiles were painted 26 years ago.

I have no doubt that many who painted their tile with small hands long ago still love hearts, flowers and smiles.

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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!

Amazing sculptures around downtown Vista!

There’s so much art to discover around downtown Vista it makes one’s head spin! I don’t think I’ve observed a greater concentration of public art anywhere else in San Diego County.

In addition to many murals (I’ll share photos of those shortly), there are fun, super creative sculptures almost everywhere one turns: on sidewalks, on street corners, on walls, rising from pedestals into the sky!

There are crazy steampunk sculptures, abstract sculptures, healing sculptures along Veterans Memorial Park, joyful sculptures based on the theme Kites Over Vista.

There are so many public sculptures that I only photographed a fraction of them last weekend as I enjoyed a semi-random walk around downtown Vista.

If you follow Cool San Diego Sights, you probably noticed I already posted photographs of two of these sculptures. Wild Horses here, and Love Locks here. (I’ll soon be sharing photos of one additional very special sculpture.)

To discover much more of this amazing public art, visit the City of Vista Public Art Map by clicking here.

Big Blue Kite, by artist Robert Rochin, 2008.
Big Blue Kite, by artist Robert Rochin, 2008.
Into the Current, by artist Janis Selby Jones, 2017.
Into the Current, by artist Janis Selby Jones, 2017. (Represents the swirling Great Pacific Garbage Patch.)
Joy Figure, by artist Josh Bowman, 2008.
Joy Figure, by artist Josh Bowman, 2008.
Healing, by artist Vicki Leon, 2016.
Healing, by artist Vicki Leon, 2016.

Freedom, by artists Jaydon Sterling Randall and Rick Randall, 2016.
Freedom, by artists Jaydon Sterling Randall and Rick Randall, 2016.
Remembrance, by artist Buddy Smith, 2016.
Remembrance, by artist Buddy Smith, 2016.

Plaques set in the Paseo Santa Fe sidewalk contain sculpted avocados.
Plaques set in the Paseo Santa Fe sidewalk contain sculpted avocados.
Prima Vista, by artist Michael Angelo Venturello, 2016.
Prima Vista, by artist Michael Angelo Venturello, 2016.
Bloom in Time, by artists Thomas and Sylvia King.
A View in Bloom, by artists Thomas and Sylvia King, 2006.
Carnival, by artist Rick Randall, 2019.
Carnival, by artist Rick Randall, 2019.

Alley Cat, by artists Rick and Jaydon Sterling Randall.
Alley Cat, by artists Rick and Jaydon Sterling Randall.

Tortuga de Mar, by artist John Meyer, 2018.
Tortuga de Mar, by artist John Meyer, 2018.
Peace Arrow, by artist Alex Gall, 2019.
Peace Arrow, by artist Alex Gall, 2019.

A Flock of Kites, by artist Robert Rochin, 2008.
A Flock of Kites, by artist Robert Rochin, 2008.

Alley Art Man.
Alley Art Man.

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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!

Commonplace Abstractions displayed at America Plaza.

Untitled (Yardstick), Eric Snell, 1990.
Untitled (Yardstick), Eric Snell, 1990.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is now displaying some very unique abstract artwork inside the America Plaza office building. One America Plaza, the tallest building in San Diego, stands across Kettner Boulevard from the museum’s downtown location.

This small exhibition of art is titled Commonplace Abstractions. The pieces, on view behind glass, were selected from MCASD’s collection. Each work of art incorporates one or more ordinary objects from everyday human life.

Step into the front entrance of America Plaza, head down the corridor to the left that leads to the nearby trolley station, and you’ll see how contemporary artists can use creativity and ingenuity to rearrange elements in our familiar world, and make it even more mysterious, thought-provoking, and strangely wonderful!

My photos provide a few examples of what you’ll see.

Painting with Coat Hanger, John Armleder, 1984.
Painting with Coat Hanger, John Armleder, 1984.
Office Depot, Mónica Arreola, 2003.
Office Depot, Mónica Arreola, 2003.
Day by day is good day, Peter Dreher, 1990, 2007.
Day by day is good day, Peter Dreher, 1990, 2007.

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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!

Ladies Who Paint and a wall on F Street.

Last year amazing local artists who together go by the name Ladies Who Paint created two more murals on a wall on F Street, just east of 14th Street. Their artwork is part of the Ladies Who Paint Mural Walk in East Village. Last weekend I finally got around to taking photos!

These two murals were created on a blank space of wall left of the blue “HI hello HOLA” mural that I photographed here.

Other cool Ladies Who Paint murals that I’ve photographed can be seen here, 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!