Senna Osawa, Tamayo Watermelon, mixed media, Second Grade, Kumeyaay Elementary.
Look what I discovered!
The San Diego Museum of Art has a free exhibition of art that was created by local school students. It’s called Young Art 2017: Beyond the Ordinary. You can find it in Gallery 15, which leads from the museum’s outdoor sculpture court to the restrooms that are often used by diners at Panama 66.
Every two years, a new exhibition of Young Art is presented by the museum. All I can say is once you step through the door your jaw will drop! Dozens of outstanding, truly amazing works of art line the walls and fill a few display cases.
Inspired students from Kindergarten to Twelfth Grade, from schools throughout San Diego County, have created all sorts of fantastic still life artwork, including paintings, drawings, mixed media, photography and ceramic sculptures. Some of the students have written a sentence or two explaining their thoughts and creative process.
My quick photos of these few examples barely scratch the surface. I just chose some of the art that I personally like. Funny–perhaps my favorite piece was created by a talented young artist in Kindergarten!
If you visit Balboa Park, you must take a look!
Beyond the Ordinary. Young Art 2017. Amazing, inspired artwork in a free exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park!Catherine Zhao, Message in a Bottle, painting, Twelfth Grade, Westview High School.The Great Fruit Bowl, a drawing by many Christ Church Day School Second Grade student artists.Fizzah Arshad, Tea, drawing, Ninth Grade, Otay Ranch High School.Arissa Diaz-Lelevier, Multi-media Still Life, mixed media, Eighth Grade, Stella Maris Academy.Mirabella Komniey, Pitcher, mixed media, Fifth Grade, Vista Grande Elementary.Emma Cecil, Enticement, painting, Twelfth Grade, Torrey Pines High School.Camryn Melendez, Apricot Sunrise, drawing, Eleventh Grade, Westview High School.Eric Pak, Flora and Skull, painting, Twelfth Grade, Westview High School.Karina Spinazzola, Lemons and Lilies, drawing, Eleventh Grade, Westview High School.Anh Huynh, Distilled, painting, Twelfth Grade, Westview High School.Caden Glazner, Time for Tea, painting, Third Grade, Del Sur Elementary.Joy Zou, Tea Time, drawing, Eleventh Grade, Westview High School.Bella Anderson and Cate Hunsberger, Medieval Lunch, painting, Seventh Grade, Coronado Middle School.Skylar Britt, O’Keeffe Flower, mixed media, Kindergarten, Kumeyaay Elementary.Jenna Vo, Magritte Floating Still Life, mixed media, Fourth Grade, Kumeyaay Elementary.
…
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!
Families, generous supporters, and many young heroes converged on Embarcadero Marina Park North this morning for the 2017 Celebration of Champions!
During my walk along the Embarcadero this morning, I encountered a legion of amazing young heroes! Courageous children who are fighting cancer–and those who have defeated cancer–were gathering with their families for the 2017 Celebration of Champions!
I learned the emotionally moving event is in its 22nd year. It features young cancer battlers passing a simulated torch, from one hand to the next, as participants run a very short distance. Money raised supports Rady Children’s Hospital’s social, psychological and emotional support programs.
Parents of brave children who lost their battle with cancer also attend the event, in a tribute to loved ones whose smiles and hopeful hearts were in this world too briefly.
Folks head to the annual Celebration of Champions event, which honors young people who are fighting and have fought childhood cancer.A youthful honor guard arrives before the ceremonies begin.I learned that later in the day, many young cancer-fighting champions would carry a simulated torch around the grassy park at the edge of beautiful San Diego Bay.Some very young children were excited to be greeted by princesses!Young champions would hand off a simulated torch once they finished running a short length of the park’s looping walkway.Go Champions!
Bat ray rises against glass of an outdoor tank at the Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista.
Before my hike through Sweetwater Marsh, I enjoyed a visit to the Living Coast Discovery Center, which is located inside the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Exhibits inside the center and clusters of wildlife tanks and enclosures outside allow visitors to see and learn about the animals that make this refuge their home. The place is just right for families, with kid-size educational displays, short, easy paths, and even some picnic tables. If I were a young kid, having a birthday party here would be really cool!
After checking out the exhibits at the Living Coast Discovery Center, I ventured over to an adjacent building that is the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex headquarters. Some great displays outside provide more information about the unique and beautiful wetland that stretches in all directions. Not far from this building, one can easily find a hiking trail that leads across the marsh to San Diego Bay.
The Living Coast Discovery Center, located in the Sweetwater Marsh Unit of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, is where to get Back to Nature.A short bus ride takes one from the parking lot near Interstate 5 through the protected Sweetwater Marsh to the kid-friendly education center.People near the green sea turtle exhibit at the front of the Living Coast Discovery Center.Many species of reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and fish are on display inside the small center. There’s even a mouse house popular with kids.Outside, visitors can explore exhibits featuring sharks, rays, birds and tortoises. One can also look across the surrounding Sweetwater Marsh.Actions on land affect San Diego Bay. Pollution runoff flows via creeks, rivers and storm drains into the marsh then out to the ocean.A leopard shark. They are plentiful in the waters off San Diego.This 3-million-year-old fossilized tusked walrus skull was found in the area. 470 different species have been found as fossils here, including sperm whales and now extinct flightless auks!Enclosures in the aviary area contain clapper rails, shorebirds and ducks.A blue-billed ruddy duck swims in a pool of water at the Living Coast Discovery Center.In other parts of the aviary area one can see vultures, hawks, eagles and owls.A red-tailed hawk.Beautiful artwork on one building’s side shows a beach and birds in flight. Swallows have built nests above it near the roof.Bronze sculpture of a coyote. Many other works of wildlife art can be viewed around the center.Sign near an enclosure describes the Sonoran desert tortoise.A tortoise take a slow stroll outside the Living Coast Discovery Center.This amazing art depicting marshland birds is just outside the entrance to the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex headquarters.Large signs explain the role of a wildlife refuge.National Wildlife Refuges are safe havens for species. The first one, at Pelican Island in Florida, was created in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt.Map of the extensive San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge.The wildlife refuge contains great biodiversity. The animals and plants are all parts of a complex and sensitive ecosystem.Different forms of life can be found in subtidal channels, mudflats, the low marsh and high marsh. The changing tide allows birds to feed and variously adapted species to thrive.Wildlife can find it hard to thrive in urban areas. The conserved habitat of this refuge is a critical safe harbor for many native species.This place is special. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helps to protect its wild residents.A green sea turtle, one of those residents of San Diego Bay!
…
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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Fun LEGO creations on display during the House of Denmark lawn program in Balboa Park.
Wow! Check these out! Here are some super cool LEGO creations that I saw today in Balboa Park!
I was walking among the International Cottages when I spied tables with all sorts of fun and amazing stuff made of LEGO bricks. The builders were more than happy to show off their creations!
When I was told the House of Denmark was having their lawn program today, it all made sense. The LEGO company is based in Denmark, of course.
I also enjoyed looking at some cool Viking weapons and crafts displayed on the lawn nearby. If you want to check that out, visit my Beautiful Balboa Park blog by clicking here!
This tent was a magnet for the young and young-at-heart. Talented LEGO builders were showing off some amazing creations!I learned this castle was built from a kit. Everything else on display, however, was an original creation.Here we go! I see a fun train, a Viking ship and what looks like cars from an amusement park ride.Look at all the LEGO characters! I see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel comic book superheroes and supervillains and many others!This first batch of LEGO creations was put together by Matt Armstrong, who runs MonsterBrick Creations!Now let’s check out some cool Star Wars characters made of LEGO bricks. These were created by Miro Dudas of Humble Bricks.His detailed Viking ship was awesome!An up-close look at the LEGO ship and its Viking warriors!This American flag created by another skilled LEGO builder was inspired by the Carlsbad Flower Fields! It took a long time and much patience to assemble!There are three levels of colored flowers. The first level had to be installed first, then the second, then the third. The end result is amazing.OMG! One of my favorite movie scenes! It’s a LEGO version of the Chocolate Room from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!Pure imagination! A meadow full of candy made of LEGO bricks! I think Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, would have been delighted by this.I was told that is Augustus Gloop near the bottom reaching for a chocolate flower. Don’t fall into the river! Watch out for the pipes!Here comes an Oompa Loompa sailing down the chocolate river! The Chocolate Room was built by LEGO master John Cooper!A young man had made a number of super cool LEGO characters using his imagination.Awesome!The young man demonstrates how to make an adjustment to one LEGO creation.This table on the International Cottages lawn contained all sorts of unique LEGO creations made by visitors to the House of Denmark event.I’m not sure what these guys are making. It could be literally anything!
…
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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
A young student’s colorful poster celebrates equal rights and protections. These are established by the United States Constitution. Equality for all. We the people.
Please enjoy a few photos that I took yesterday as I walked down Broadway past the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse. My eye was attracted by happy, colorful artwork created by children on display in some windows.
These posters were designed by young students last year for 2016 Law Week. They celebrate principles that are enshrined in the United States Constitution.
(I have many blog posts coming up pertaining to this weekend’s San Diego Architectural Foundation OPEN HOUSE 2017 event. A couple of the locations will probably be featured on my Beautiful Balboa Park blog. And it might take me some time to prepare everything. Stay tuned!)
2016 Law Week Poster Contest winners in a window of San Diego’s downtown Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse. Students from a variety of local schools participated.…insure domestic Tranquility… We get along with each other.…in Order to form a more perfect Union… Make things better for all who live here.…Secure the Blessings of Liberty… We have freedom.We the People of the United States…
…
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!
Smile Train is a charity that helps local doctors perform cleft surgery for children around the world. Each operation transforms a life.
This week, as I walked to and from work, I noticed posters that promote two different charities. Both organizations help vulnerable children around the world.
I figured I’d blog the photos and help out just a teeny tiny bit. If you’d like to read the posters and learn more, and perhaps become involved or provide a donation, click the images and they will enlarge.
Child Fund International fights poverty. They help deprived and vulnerable children worldwide to be healthy and receive an education.
Lots of tiles painted with happy environmental themes. Together they form a mosaic that decorates this trash can in downtown San Diego’s Pantoja Park.
I love mosaics that are composed of ceramic tiles painted by ordinary people–young people in particular. It’s like a patchwork of inner visions, expressed from many hearts.
The Envirocan in downtown San Diego’s Pantoja Park is a special trashcan that is decorated with tiles that were hand-painted by young artists. Most of the colorful images express environmental themes. Clean air, clean water . . . plus lots of smiles. Smiles are good for the environment, right? Of course they are.
ESI Art Corps San Diego. Envirocan – Donated by Dick Butler. “One Who Cares”One side of the Envirocan features a female face. Perhaps it is Mother Earth.Colorful tiles painted by many creative hands form a mosaic on the Envirocan’s other three sides. Here’s a happy face in a tree, and some flowers.Keep our Earth clean!A house in a beautiful pristine landscape.Flower PowerA human eye. A smudge of something looks like a tear.Fish enjoy a clean blue ocean.I’m not sure what this is, but it looks pretty cool!Someone is poking their nose over a fence.One tile on the Envirocan features the Enviro-can!A happy face of many colors.Another lively underwater scene.And another beautiful face!A clean river flows down from green hills between trees.Wisdom is often found in a balance. Yin and yang. All things are connected.Looks like a weird underwater scene. Not sure about the cube with tentacles.Birds in a clear blue sky under a golden sun.Lots more smiley faces! They almost look like leaves to me.A red heart on patchwork colors. Love.
…
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 jaw-dropping night scene of a gigantic model train layout in Old Town San Diego!
During my walk through Old Town San Diego today, I stepped through an ordinary door into a fantastic dream! Before me stretched a positively enormous model train layout!
The Old Town Model Railroad Depot is a truly amazing attraction that anyone would enjoy seeing. The gigantic layout features O-Scale model trains, and as you can see in these photos, just lots of fun buildings, landscapes, moving figures and special effects.
I must say, in my opinion this layout even beats the two awesome O-Scale layouts at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. Now that really took some doing!
And the two guys I spoke to at the Old Town Model Railroad Depot were really friendly! Next time I walk past, you can be sure I’ll venture inside again!
The Old Town Model Railroad Depot is a cool attraction featuring a gigantic room full of working model trains! It’s one of the largest O-Scale layouts in the country!Fun gifts, artwork and items for model train hobbyists can also be purchased at San Diego’s unique Old Town Model Railroad Depot.A locomotive for sale among other unique and fascinating stuff.Lots of nostalgic historical railway posters decorate one wall.The huge train layout has two halves–one represents daytime, the other night. Kids can stand on platforms to see–and hear–all of the exciting action.Many model buildings populate the O-Scale train layout. It’s the same scale used by classic Lionel Trains.Tiny human figures and vehicles can be spotted everywhere one looks on the realistic layout.I really enjoyed the night side of the layout. It seemed even more realistic and dynamic. Special lighting effects include fireworks bursting over a stadium and lightning stabbing down from clouds!A tiny mechanic works in a tiny garage at night on a tiny truck.A detailed scene recreates firemen fighting a fire at night. I see miniature police, an ambulance, reporters and a small crowd of evacuated people!Your kids will go crazy. You have to see it to believe it. And it’s free! But leave a donation!
UPDATE!
I stepped into the Old Town Model Railroad Depot a second time! And I loved it even more than my first visit!
I met Gary Hickok, the creator of this stupendous layout, and learned he has been collecting the various pieces you see for 15 years. There are hundreds of tiny unique human figures, and they all seem to tell a story. Their unique poses are all part of a huge, bustling scene. The stories are often humorous!
Here are some more random photos that came out okay. These were all taken on the “day side” of the O-Scale model train layout. I hope you enjoy them!
…
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!
If victory is your destination, make excellence your governing value and perform the work necessary to become great. Wisdom on a plaque outside Olympic archery training range in Chula Vista.
It’s not often you get to visit where Olympic athletes train!
Today, my favorite part of the Celebration of Champions event at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center was checking out where Olympic archers hone their skills. There was more to see than the immense indoor and outdoor archery ranges. My eyes and mind were captivated by a large museum-like display of the history of archery at the Olympic Games.
Please enjoy the following photos. To learn more, read the captions!
A special public event is held at the Easton Foundations Archery Center of Excellence, part of the U.S. Olympic Training Center, which is now called the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.Kids see what Olympic-level archery is like during the Celebration of Champions event.Outdoor archery targets in a row. Some of the world’s greatest athletes take aim at these!Words inside the archery building at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. To be disciplined athletes of great character; challenging ourselves to achieve excellence in the pursuit of glory.Photos on the wall inside the front door show Olympic archers together and in competition.Bows await inside the immense indoor archery range at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.Participants and spectators against the back wall of the indoor archery range.Youth learning archery skills check arrow positions on targets after a period of shooting.An Easton arrow flying through the air lit the Olympic flame at the 1992 Summer Games.A display case shows artifacts relating to the history of organized archery and Easton bows and arrows.Along a corridor running the length of the Archery Center of Excellence are museum-like displays concerning archery during past Olympic Games. (Click image to enlarge.)The first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens, Greece in 1896. Archery was featured in some of the early years.Photo of FITA President Mrs. Inger K. Frith who helped archery to become reestablished as an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee.Early year displays include a 1904 program for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and an early version of archery competition where the bird target sat atop a 31 meter pole.As one proceeds down the hallway, time moves forward. In 1972 John Williams became archery’s first male gold medalist and Doreen Wilbur won the first gold for women’s archery.Walk down this hallway and you might rub shoulders with Olympic athletes!The 1972 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada saw the United States set new archery records.In 1984, at the Los Angeles games, New Zealand’s Neroli Fairhall was the first paraplegic athlete to compete in Olympic archery.The 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta based the competition on head-to-head single elimination, a change that proved very popular.In 1996 American and crowd favorite Justin Huish became first male to win individual and team gold.In 2000 South Korea’s women dominated archery at the Sydney Summer Olympic Games.More fascinating Olympic Games history on display at the indoor archery range at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its birthplace: Athens, Greece. The archers competed in the marble Panathinaiko Stadium which is about 2300 years old!Beijing, China hosted the 2008 Olympic Games where many records were broken.And perhaps, one day, these young people will break world archery records!
…
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!
Kids get a chance to practice archery at an outdoor range where Olympians train! A special activity during the Celebration of Champions event at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center!
For 23 years the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista has been utilized by hundreds of Team USA athletes. It has now transfered ownership from the United States Olympic Committee to the City of Chula Vista. Although the large 155-acre facility is now called the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, it remains one of the most important U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training sites. And now non-Olympic athletes, including people who live in the community, will have a chance to develop their sporting skills here, too!
Today, a fun Celebration of Champions event was held to showcase this state-of-the-art facility to the public, and to honor local achievers. I’d never visited the place, so of course I had to go check it out!
And I took some photos! As usual, read the captions!
The colorful driveway into the 155-acre Elite Athlete Training Center complex includes graphics depicting many different Olympic sports.The state-of-the-art facilities at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center are located in the Eastlake community.Folks enter the Copley Visitor Center courtyard to enjoy a special celebration. The 23 year old Olympic Training Center today officially becomes the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center!While the adults checked out event tents, kids were playing with soccer balls on the nearby grass. Perhaps some of these youth will one day be Olympic medal winners!People sign up for a special tour of the elite athlete training complex, which includes grass fields, an indoor and outdoor archery range, a BMX track, and more. Future plans include a gymnasium and pool.One of two cool bronze sculptures near the main door to the Visitor Center. This male Olympic athlete appears to be a wrestler.The other bronze sculpture appears to be a female Olympic swimmer or diver.A large Olympic flame is blazing in the circular courtyard in front of the Visitor Center. Many outdoor booths were set up by various community organizations for the special event.Perhaps a future athlete will wear this baby clothing. Team USA had lots of cool stuff for sale.Several plaques are arranged around the courtyard. This one lists all the host cities of the Olympic Games–both Summer and Winter.Sign describes in detail how host cities are chosen for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. (Click image to enlarge.)The history of the Paralympic movement is described on this sign. Sport for athletes with an impairment has existed for more than 100 years.People slowly converge on an outdoor stage where a ceremony will celebrate the transfer of ownership of this training complex from the United States Olympic Committee to the City of Chula Vista.I spotted this plaque while heading over to join the audience.Ernest W. Hahn, 1919-1992. Visionary developer and philanthropist whose tireless efforts to fund and build the ARCO Training Center will inspire athletes from across America to pursue their Olympic dreams.While I had a chance, I should have headed over to take pics of the kids trying out the super awesome Olympic-level BMX track. You can see them with their bikes in the distance.Everyone prepares for the big ceremony, which will also honor local champions! Those are the champions assembled to the right!Chula Vista mayor Mary Salas kicks off speeches by gathered dignitaries.Nearby on the grass, these kids were more interested in sports. Talk is cheap–action is what matters!Representative from the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs speaks a few words. This training center in San Diego is used by a very large number of Team USA Olympians.To symbolize the transfer of the complex to the city of Chula Vista, a Paralympic track and field athlete who has won numerous medals carries a torch onto the stage!These walkers in the audience were recognized as champions during the ceremony!Many champions from San Diego’s South Bay head up onto the stage to be honored and given a medal by the mayor. Some excel in sports; others are teachers, coaches, community leaders, law enforcement officers, artists…About halfway through the ceremony, I sneaked off to check out the Visitor Center while few people were inside.Huge graphics greet visitors inside the front door. The Chula Vista Olympic Training Center is dedicated to the development of America’s future elite athletes.Today’s training center has sport venues and facilities for archery, beach volleyball, BMX, canoe and kayak, cycling, field hockey, rowing, rugby, soccer, tennis, plus track and field!Several displays inside the Visitor Center include a video of great Olympic athletic performances.A cool exhibit devoted to David Wagner, who plays Wheelchair Tennis. He is a champion at his sport!After the ceremony I walked around. I regret now that I didn’t sign up to take a tour. Here’s the BMX track. Looks like a bumpy ride!Here’s one of the grass fields. It appears to be used for rugby, field hockey or soccer.I was drawn toward the archery range, which was so cool I’m going to blog about it next! Here’s some outdoor action during the event.Walking toward the archery complex, I saw this inspirational quote concerning the Olympic Path by Conrad Hilton. Life’s journey is worthwhile. Choose a meaningful path.Kids try their hand at archery at the Celebration of Champions event at the Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista!
…
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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Cool San Diego Sights! 