Tag: life

Visible/Invisible reveals students’ inner life.

I learned today this exhibit might be ending very soon. I found it inside the Comic-Con Museum, near the vending machines. It’s titled VISIBLE/INVISIBLE.

Work goggles were painted by students in Filipino Language classes at Mira Mesa High School and Bell Middle School. As a nearby sign explains: “Each pair of goggles reflects what students want others to see about them, while hidden elements inside reveal personal stories, identities and perspectives not always visible at first glance…”

It’s interesting to see what young people think about as they grow into this world. I realize that most youth seek social acceptance, so appearances are important. Difficult thoughts and feelings are kept secret and safe.

There is a reluctance to admit vulnerability. Come to think of it, that’s true for most adults, too. We humans seem to be built that way.

I was curious to find what might be hidden, not immediately seen. Some of the goggles are more revealing than others.

What do you see?

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Two artists explore memory at the Athenaeum.

Within the Context of Time: May-ling Martinez and Coralys Carter is an exhibition of art now showing in La Jolla at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library.

As its webpage explains, the exhibition explores memory, time, and family history through two distinct yet deeply resonant artistic practices . . . While Martinez uses symmetry and balance to shape her assemblages and drawings, Carter plays purposefully with off-kilter constructions and hand-spun details . . .

The variety of pieces seem like memories that vaguely return in dreams and daydreams. Hair, baskets, racquets, tools, shells, fabric, a projector screen and other common everyday objects are often combined, just as memories can suddenly surface and strangely intertwine.

Evocative, mysterious, beautiful, and often melancholy, these two artists create frameworks from which one can begin to ponder the edges of the human experience: the vastness of time and memory alongside the mundanity of daily life.

I can’t describe the exhibition with words better than that.

This is visual art, meant to be absorbed not through words but with searching eyes. When you enter the Athenaeum, turn left at the front desk and walk into the Joseph Clayes III Gallery, then add the experience to your own memories.

Within the Context of Time: May-ling Martinez and Coralys Carter continues through July 25, 2026.

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Treasure maps created in Golden Hill!

On a fence at the Golden Hill Recreation Center there’s a student art exhibit. Kids attending Golden Hill Elementary School created neighborhood treasure maps!

I took these photos when I visited the Goldenpalooza festival on Saturday.

According to the posted “My Neighborhood Treasure Map” sign: Students were asked to draw a map of their favorite spots in their neighborhood using any art supplies. They had the option to make it realistic, whimsical or pure fantasy. Students from TK up to 7th grade participated.

Questions to guide their personal journey were: Where do you feel happiest? Where do you love to explore? What place do you want to go back to again and again?

So, what is important in a young person’s life? Take a look at these maps to discover treasure!

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in San Diego.

A new exhibition is on display in the windows of The Courthouse Gallery in downtown San Diego. It’s titled Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I was walking down Broadway past the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse when I spied the beautiful artwork this morning.

You can learn more about the exhibition and the talented local artists by clicking here!

These photos represent a fraction of the current exhibition.

When you go for a walk, there’s no telling what you might discover!

Symbolism and family and one artist.

That’s San Diego artist James Watts (@jewattso) in the above photo. He was painting an image of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods (or Shichifukujin) on the downtown sidewalk outside his studio yesterday. It’s number 93 of the 100 paintings he’s presently working on.

I had to look up those lucky gods to understand what he was painting. He also showed me a painting of his own family, which got me to thinking.

Mythology, literature, and every creative work uses symbolism. We use symbols in order to better understand and engage with an infinitely larger reality.

Now, what do we understand best? Our own lives.

So it isn’t surprising the symbols we create reflect our human experience. The deities of mythology explain the mysteries of this world, but tend to be very human. The illuminating words of great literature rely upon human experience and interaction. In a strange way, created symbols and reality combine in our own minds. Symbols inform our living.

James Watts loves mythology, literature and life, and his symbolic art connects it all. Or so it seems to me.

His next painting is of the characters in Voltaire’s novel Candide…

The next photograph shows James Watts’ family years ago, when he was a youth. That’s him in a white t-shirt…

And here’s a painting he recently created, based on the old photo…

Symbols we create can be extremely powerful.

Might we all strive to understand, remember, live fully.

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Double Bill art exhibition in La Jolla!

Lovers of art in San Diego are in for a treat. Head down to the Wisteria Cottage Gallery in La Jolla and you can admire the work of two celebrated local artists who taught at UC San Diego.

Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson contains numerous fine works by this husband and wife team who made their home in Leucadia.

Paintings large and small, beautiful sketches, historical photographs, and books the pair published are all on display.

Both artists liked to create images of simple, familiar things. Family life and home are frequent subjects. The images are friendly and warm. If I could reach into two dimensions, I’d happily take the depicted scenes and objects into my hands and make them my own.

You’ll notice when you visit the gallery that Patricia often paints people and moments in life. Manny often creates collage-like images of ordinary objects. To viewers who love living, they can all make a powerful connection.

Here’s the exhibition webpage.

Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson will be open free to the public through February 1, 2026.

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Mary at the Stove at the Athenaeum.

Mary at the Stove is a painting by Patricia Patterson, a former professor of art at UC San Diego. You can find in heading up some stairs at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.

This beautiful work of art was originally painted on a plasterboard wall at the Athenaeum for an exhibition in 1993. Now it’s part of the library’s permanent art collection.

When I visited the Athenaeum a couple days ago, I told the friendly librarian at the front desk I would be walking over to the Wisteria Cottage Gallery next, to view the exhibition Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson. That’s when she told me about Patterson’s Mary at the Stove.

I love the image and its simple warmth. It shows ordinary life in an unpretentious, almost nostalgic way. It struck me this painting is something between a Japanese print and folk art. But what do I know?

As you’ll see in my next blog post, Patricia Patterson created many such wonderful images.

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Why I still believe Santa Claus is real.

I don’t recall when I first was told about Santa Claus. That was well over half a century ago. As they say, nobody’s getting any younger.

I seriously believed in Santa. With a shaky pen I carefully wrote letters to the North Pole. I remember the cookies vanishing and the presents magically appearing on Christmas morning. Santa always read my letters and somehow knew my heart’s desire.

Then one day I was told by everyone that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. It’s all make believe.

That was then, this is now. You know what I’ve learned as I’ve grown older? Those disbelieving people were wrong.

I’ve actually met Santa Claus on several occasions. That’s him in the above photo and the photo that follows. Perhaps you recognize him.

The Santa Claus I’ve met is someone who loves people. He’s a bright eyed someone whose love, humor and laughter lighten the world. No, he doesn’t live at the North Pole. He lives right here in San Diego.

He has created treasured moments for young and old and brought joy to countless hearts. He has produced memories that will never, ever, ever be forgotten.

He is the real Santa Claus.

As are all the others in this world who spread laughter, generosity and the gift of love on Christmas, and through every season of life.

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Put your Head Above the Clouds in Escondido!

Above the clouds–above confused mists and storms–life is clear, bright and essentially good.

There’s a place in Escondido where you can rise above confining clouds, and even sit on them!

Dave Eassa: Head Above the Clouds is an immersive exhibition now showing at the California Center for the Arts Museum. Stepping into the gallery full of bright art is to launch yourself into sunny heights where memory, love, hopes and happiness are unbounded.

Colorful paintings brimming with joyful everyday life and wonder fill every horizon. Four sails suspended in the atmosphere soar with dreams created by young hands.

Here’s the exhibition’s webpage. It explains how artist Dave Eassa created a dreamscape shaped by memory, love, and imagination. Drawing from personal and familial archives, Eassa transforms the gallery into a space for reflection and connection, where life-sized portraits become monuments, clouds anchor the ground, and suspended sails carry the dreams of youth and community voices.

Dave Eassa is a San Diego-based visual artist, curator, and cultural organizer. Here’s his website. He is the Director of Philanthropy and Engagement at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.

I learned that Dave Eassa himself helped children visiting the museum to create the art on the sails. The names of the young artists are even listed on one wall as visitors step into the gallery.

Super cool!

You have an opportunity to put your head above the clouds at the California Center for the Arts Museum through March 1, 2026.

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Day of the Dead and early San Diego residents.

Another year is passing by. In a couple of weeks, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) will be observed. Loved ones who’ve passed on from this life will be remembered.

The gravesites at El Campo Santo in Old Town are decorated already. Every early resident of San Diego buried here is remembered with flowers, papel picado, Day of the Dead skulls… Every person here was loved by someone.

This small cemetery is the final resting place of so many different people: the Kumeyaay, Spanish, Mexican, American. Newborn babies, the elderly. The rich, the poor. Public figures, unknown people. The lucky, the unlucky. Victims of old age, disease, accident, violence, injustice.

Mortals all.

Every one was loved by someone.

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