Tag: libraries

Beautiful butterfly arrives at San Diego Museum of Art!

A large, very beautiful butterfly has fluttered into the San Diego Museum of Art’s library. It has spread its welcoming wings on the floor, inviting children to take a seat during the SDMA’s monthly Storytime in the Library!

This sculptural multi-piece rug, if I can call it that, arrived at the museum a couple weeks ago. It made its official debut today. I just happened to see a sign pointing the way!

The interdisciplinary Chicana artist artist who created this amazing fabric artwork is Katie Ruiz. Ring a bell? She’s the artist behind the Pompom Project. I blogged about one of her installations at Civic Center Plaza back in 2023. You can see those photographs by clicking here.

This new many-colored butterfly is a cozy place for kids to sit while listening to readings of fun art-inspired children’s books. It sort of feels like sitting in a (p)lush, flowery garden. You can see a video of its creation on the San Diego Museum of Art’s Instagram by clicking here.

Do you have children who’d like to enjoy Storytime in the Library. It’s free, every second Thursday of each month. Readings are at 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

The San Diego Museum of Art’s library can be found by walking through the museum’s sculpture court and Panama 66. Look around–you will find it! You’ll also find the big, beautiful butterfly that now makes the art library home!

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San Diego Library’s new book bicycles!

Two very unique bicycle-driven libraries debuted in San Diego this weekend!

The San Diego Public Library was demonstrating their new “libraries on wheels” for the first time at the San Diego Lunar New Year Festival in City Heights!

Is ice cream in there? No, something better! Books!

I learned these bikes that transport books will be utilized for increased community engagement. All those cool books will also encourage people to sign up for a free library card.

This “Access in Motion” project has been supported by the California State Library, and their statewide Stronger Together: Improving Library Access program.

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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!

Library exhibit celebrates Hubbell art in Mexico.

The Otay Mesa-Nestor Library currently has a great exhibit in their community room. Informative displays concern the work of renowned San Diego artist, architectural designer and sculptor James Hubbell in Mexico.

The exhibition, Architecture of Jubilation: Lado a Lado, was supposed to conclude in 2024, but has been extended. A librarian told me they’re hanging onto the exhibit as long as they can!

This afternoon I visited the library and gazed at photographs and descriptions of Hubbell’s amazing, organic architectural work in Mexico, including the elementary school Colegio La Esperanza in Tijuana, which he and thousands of community volunteers built.

Another display concerns his Kuchumaa Passage art park, which honors our region’s native Kumeyaay people. Hubbell, with artist Milenko Matanovic, assisted by more volunteers, created beauty on the grounds of Rancho La Puerta fitness spa and resort in Tecate, Mexico. The community-built art park would lead to the creation of Hubbell’s later Pacific Rim Park projects. (The one on Shelter Island–Pearl of the Pacific–can be seen here.)

Other Hubbell projects covered by the Architecture of Jubilation: Lado a Lado exhibit include the Museo Kumiai in Tecate, and Jardín de los Niños in Tijuana.

As one poster explains: Tijuana and San Diego are important cities that exist side by side, along a border that both divides and connects. James Hubbell honors this contradiction by using his art to bridge the border and build a tapestry of community. Thread by thread, Hubbell invites everyday people from Baja California and San Diego to join him in creating spaces of beauty and importance…

James Hubbell passed away last year, but his work will inspire many people and brighten our world far into the future.

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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!

Meet children’s book illustrators at La Jolla library!

On Sunday, January 5, 2025, the public has the rare opportunity to meet professional children’s book writers and illustrators. The free event takes place in the Community Room of the La Jolla-Riford Library from 3 to 5 pm.

If you can’t make this very special event, swing by La Jolla’s library during its open hours to see artwork by these creators. They’re all members of the San Diego Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Dozens of their pieces are now displayed on the walls of the Community Room.

You can view this wonderful library exhibit, which is titled Stories Imagined, through February 24, 2025. All of the pieces can be purchased, too!

I checked out the imaginative art yesterday and took photos of several pieces I liked…

Orb Weaver’s Tightrope Dance, by Cheryl Boeller.
Beaver Hydrologist, by Michelle McCunney.
Distracted, by Livna Genchel.
Parental Unit (Betty Builds It), by Julie Hampton.

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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.

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The Splinter in the Eye–of La Jolla.

The provocative title of the current exhibition at La Jolla’s Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is The Splinter in the Eye. Does artist Carlos Castro Arias want the viewer to remove the log in their own eye before offering criticism?

The mixed media, sensory installation challenges a naïve view of the world. To me, it appears to highlight historical disruptions and destruction resulting from developments brought on by civilization. It also suggests the ultimate failure of human ambition–the materialism and the conceits.

One thing is certain. These works by the artist can make one feel uneasy.

Severed limbs, the severed head of missionary priest Junipero Serra in a birdbath, visions of dripping blood and a baptismal pool of blood, bloodlike crosses projected onto the floor as if through the stained glass of a cathedral, dead taxidermy birds from a museum, fractured relics, plants growing through skeletons and blue jeans…all framed by rigid two-by-fours, as if the unstoppable construction of new things divides and overwhelms all.

Pieces in the exhibition have bizarre titles like Eating the Guts of Those Who Loved Me, Botox Against the Machine, Caffeine Overdose, and (don’t shoot the messenger, please!) Borderline Retarded. Yes, the effect of it all is rather depressing. Apart from representations of the ancient and the natural world, there seems to be little or nothing envisioned that is hopeful.

I know, many artists like to shock people with criticisms of modernity–in particular Western Civilization and its Christian heritage–but is the world of today really that bleak?

My question is: has the artist removed the log from his own eye?

Now I’m in trouble, I suppose.

Perhaps my attempt at interpretation is terribly uninformed. Perhaps I’m overreacting.

If you’d like to explore this bold artwork and come to your own conclusions, head on down to the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla before the exhibition ends on January 11, 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.

Thank you for sharing!

Holiday Train at the Coronado Public Library!

Those who walk into the children’s section of the Coronado Public Library are in for a treat during the holiday season! A gigantic glass case inside the Children’s Library entrance contains the Holiday Train!

The big O-Scale train layout contains a snowy winter scene filled with characters that kids love, including Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, Sylvester the Cat, Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear. And there’s a Santa Claus reading to a gathered audience of small teddy bears, too!

Many of the figures rotate or move about as the Holiday Train rolls merrily around the oval track.

A librarian told me this Holiday Train is a Coronado Public Library tradition that goes back to the 1990s.

If your family visits Coronado during the holidays, swing by the library! They have a beautiful Christmas tree near the front desk, too!

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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!

Oceanside’s holiday Crafty & Big Book Sale!

Look what’s coming next Saturday, December 7th in Oceanside! A big, holiday craft and book sale that benefits the Oceanside Public Library!

Need some special Christmas gifts? From 10 am to 4 pm, the Civic Center Library’s community rooms and courtyard will be bursting with hand-crafted items for sale that were donated by volunteers and library staff. And there will be hundreds of books and DVDs for a mere $1 each!

There will also be a silent auction for a local Airbnb stay and much more, all donated by local Oceanside businesses!

The event is being put on by the Friends of the Oceanside Public Library.

Finish up your holiday shopping in one easy trip! (And, while you’re there, check out the library’s dinosaur Christmas tree and other super fun decorations!)

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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!

San Ysidro Library’s 100 years celebration!

A big celebration was held yesterday at the San Ysidro Branch Library. It was the San Ysidro Library’s 100th Year Anniversary!

Refreshments, entertainment and plenty of South Bay history greeted those who stepped into the library’s community room or outside onto the patio courtyard. I arrived too late to hear a noon presentation, but I did enjoy a great performance by San Ysidro High School’s mariachi band!

In the library’s Lloyd De Llamas Community Room, the South Bay Historical Society projected images of old San Ysidro onto a wall, and the fourteen historical photographs displayed in the room attracted curious eyes. History was visible wherever one looked.

The original library can be seen in the above photograph. Built in 1924, the small but quite beautiful building became a Teen Center in 2022.

Concerning the above photo, which was taken in 1930, Jack Gechter of the South Bay Historical Society wrote:

In 1924 Frank Beyer donated money for the construction of the San Ysidro Library located at 101 West San Ysidro Blvd. The library was formally opened on October 16, 1924. The building had the unique distinction of being the First Branch Library building owned by the County of San Diego and the only library in the country to have a smoking room for men; Beyers insisting: “that most men wish to smoke while they read.” In 1957 San Ysidro was annexed to the City of San Diego. A remodel of the Historic San Ysidro library in 1983 kept the Historic Facade intact and expanded the building to its current size of 4,089 square feet. On November 11, 2000 the San Ysidro Library was added to the list of Historical Landmarks in the City of San Diego. It is designated as HRB # 451. In October, 2014 we celebrated the 90th birthday of our Historic San Ysidro Library and a Historic Plaque was added near the Easterly entrance to the building. On August 10, 2019 we celebrated again as it was the last day of business for the San Ysidro Library after 95 years of service to the San Ysidro Community. We moved to our New San Ysidro Library at 4235 Beyer Blvd and the Grand Opening was on September 7, 2019.

Five years ago the San Ysidro Library moved to its much larger, modern building on Beyer Boulevard. I’ve posted photos in the past, here and here, that show art inside and outside the beautiful new library.

I enjoyed the 100 years anniversary celebration yesterday and took these photos…

I saw many Friends of the San Ysidro Branch Library helping with the festivities.

Lots of treats were enjoyed by those in attendance.

The Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park has many educational STEM programs that serve San Diego area communities, including San Ysidro.

Kids watch a balloon inflate with carbon dioxide from dry ice.

Community organization Casa Familiar was on hand, providing a smile and information about their many quality of life programs for those who might be underserved.

Students from San Ysidro High School pose for a photo!

A mariachi musical performance at San Ysidro Library by students from San Ysidro High School.

Cool cars had gathered in the library parking lot!

A fine day to come together and celebrate!

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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.

San Diego civic art at Rancho Bernardo Library.

Various works belonging to the San Diego Civic Art Collection can be experienced by visitors to the Rancho Bernardo Library. I took photos of three prominent examples a couple weekends ago.

The first work is titled Ampersand. Matt Rich, Assistant Professor of Art at the University of San Diego, created the eye-catching acrylic on canvas in 2018. It hangs on a wall above the library’s main stacks.

This particular painting is part of a series of works that riffs on the symbol of the ampersand. The ampersand holds, both symbolically and formally, the ability to represent the idea of connection.

Connection perfectly describes any library. Shelves connect readers with unexplored worlds.

The next artwork I observed in the library hangs high on a wall roughly opposite the front desk. It’s titled Salta pa’ lante (Jump Forward), by artist Alida Cervantes. The dynamic art was created in 2020. A pair of aluminum panels come alive with acrylic spray paint and oil.

Alida Cervantes is a Mexican artist who lives and works in the Tijuana and San Diego border region. Traveling daily between the US and Mexico, Cervantes’ work is characterized by an interest in power relations between race, class, gender and even species.

This diptych…is part of the artist’s exploration into the Mexican casta (caste) paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries…Cervantes presents two figures that are the offspring of individuals not only from two different races but also from two different times in history: the present and the colonial…

Finally, here’s a piece titled Primary Waveform (half circle), by artist Kelsey Brookes. The optically mysterious acrylic on wood was created in 2018. You can find it up on the second floor of the Rancho Bernardo Library, at the top of the stairs.

Kelsey Brookes is a research scientist turned artist. His paintings experiment with pop, abstract, and traditional styles while exploring scientific subject matter, including molecules, atoms, and modern biochemistry...

This sculpture is one of a series of works inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and waveforms...

From a distance the painted wood almost appears like basketwork, but give it a closer look. What are those tiny figures? Is that a reflection you see, or a complete circle that curves beyond your reach?

Stand near Primary Waveform (half circle), then gaze across the library for a commanding view of those first two works of art!

Additional works in the San Diego Civic Art Collection can be found at the library’s glass wall and gate entrance, exterior courtyard, and in the library’s study rooms.

Why not visit the Rancho Bernardo Library and see it all for yourself?

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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.

Creative fun at San Diego Museum of Art!

At the San Diego Museum of Art, you can do more than walk through its amazing galleries. You can create amazing art, too!

Yesterday, during my visit to Balboa Park, I stumbled upon two art-making workshops at the museum.

A table was set up on the grass of the museum’s outdoor sculpture garden. Participants in this Community Art Workshop would use geometry and compass to design their own birthdate star marker. The cool markers have an antique appearance, and depict a person’s birthdate and corresponding constellation.

This workshop will be repeated on Saturday, October 19th.

Next, I was kindly permitted to view a Book Binding activity inside the museum library.

According to the SDMA website, participants explore Islamic book binding techniques and the practices of codex creation by engaging in folding, wrapping, decorating, and binding a book.

This Community Art Workshop is inspired by the astrolabes on view in Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World, a special exhibition on view at The San Diego Museum of Art September 7, 2024–January 5, 2025.

If you’d like to create your own art at the museum, keep an eye on their event calendar here. You’ll find future opportunities!

Next month there’s a chance to create a Jasper Johns-inspired work of art!

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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.