Tag: mexico

Bonita Museum’s Border Blasters in Balboa Park!

On Saturday, the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center brought part of their Border Blasters exhibition to the World Design Capital’s temporary Exchange Pavilion in Balboa Park!

Border Blasters is an exhibition by artists from Mexico and the United States that explores the impact of Tijuana and San Diego radio, television and music in the region. As experienced by those who live on either side of the border, the diverse media coming via the airwaves is seen and heard by many eyes and ears.

The art of Border Blasters celebrates this unique, shared culture.

As I walked through Balboa Park yesterday, the first thing that attracted me to the Exchange Pavilion (the orange structure that stands at the center of the Plaza de Panama) was a gigantic skull! The skull has a name: Francisco!

The colorful sculpture, made of paper mache and other materials, was created by artist Maricruz Alvarado. That’s her above, standing by Francisco!

Francisco is hollow and very light. He can be wheeled around! I stepped inside the big skull and this is what I saw. Images of the band La Cruz!

Next, I noticed what appeared to be rows of seashells arranged inside the Exchange Pavilion. They were created by Endangered Concepts. I learned they are actually composed of compressed unrecyclable plastic!

One of the sculptures I was shown was made to appear like a Pacific Triton Conch. Blowing through it produced a trumpeting sound!

Next, I spied a strange musical invention. It’s called QUADRA. The conceptual art piece is by multi-disciplinary artist and San Diego native Jason Soares. You turn the square dials and different electronic sounds are generated!

Jason was still setting everything up when I took these photos.

As one sign explained, QUADRAs FRONTERAs configures the QUADRA for the first phase of a multi-location quadraphonic autonomous zone that seeks to connect multiple geographic locations together. All I know is the generated sound coming from the speakers was very cool!

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History of El Hispano Americano newspaper in San Diego.

A fascinating exhibit on the 9th Floor of San Diego’s Central Library concerns the history of the old El Hispano Americano newspaper, founded in San Diego by Hernando Limón Hernández, who had been a general in the Mexican Army.

Display cases in the library’s Marilyn & Gene Marx Special Collections Center contain photographs, printed art, old newspapers and documents, detailing the life of General Hernando Limón Hernández and his groundbreaking newspaper in San Diego.

While living in Mexico, the General had been tasked with designing and building lighthouses across Mexico’s main ports. He and his family would settle in San Diego by 1916, where the retired General became a Spanish teacher at the military compound in Coronado.

He soon purchased the new El Hispano Americano newspaper, and began to operate its print shop in downtown San Diego.

El Hispano Americano was the first modern Spanish language newspaper published in California. It would become the first binational newspaper that circulated simultaneously in Southern California and Northern Baja California. At its peak, in 1932, El Hispano American averaged 25,000 daily readers.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Make a paper marigold at the San Diego History Center!

The San Diego History Center in Balboa Park has erected a community ofrenda (altar) for Día de los Muertos. Visitors are invited to contribute in a special way by making their own paper marigolds and adding them to the altar!

When I visited the History Center today, I noticed their ofrenda includes photos of notable people from San Diego’s past. And a non-human too! Bum, San Diego’s famous town dog!

A table near the community ofrenda has instructions on how to construct a marigold from the orange paper that is supplied. Perhaps you’d like to make your own! I’ve included a photo of the instructions and I’ve transcribed the words…

The Spanish word, ofrenda, refers to an altar of offerings set out to honor the deceased. Traditional household ofrendas have three distinct tiers representing the heavens, the earthly world, and the deceased… Marigolds represent the warmth of the sun…

How to make a marigold!

1) Stack four sheets of tissue paper so they align; 2) Pleat the paper in an accordion fold; 3) Cut a half-circle shape at each end; 4) Wrap a pipe cleaner around the middle of the paper to hold it in place. This will also act as the stem; 5) Fan out the tissue then gently pull the layers apart to create a fluffy petal effect.

Between October 2nd and November 2nd, visit the free San Diego History Center in Balboa Park to make your own marigold!

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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!

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Old Town gets ready for Día de Los Muertos.

Día de Los Muertos is about a month away, but Old Town San Diego is already preparing for the big event!

For 2024, Día de Los Muertos will be as big as ever, spilling from Old Town San Diego State Historic Park down San Diego Avenue. For three days the public is invited to the free celebration!

On Friday, November 1, there will be a fun family screening of The Book of Life. The movie will be shown in the grassy plaza at the center of Old Town State Park.

That Saturday and Sunday, the Día de Los Muertos Festival will take over Old Town. In addition to entertainment, there will be tours of more than 40 unique Day of the Dead altars, and anyone can join the annual candlelit procession from Immaculate Conception Church down San Diego Avenue to El Campo Santo Cemetery.

Learn more about everything here.

During a morning walk today, I saw a beautiful altar set up already at Casa de Freds restaurant, and one being prepared in the park next to the Whaley House Museum. Many fancy Catrinas are already set up at Fiesta de Reyes. Calaveras, marigolds and sugar skulls are appearing all over!

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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.

Ballet folklórico, joy, and the Gift of Dance!

Enjoy a collection of colorful photographs. I took them today during the Fiestas Patrias event in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

These young ballet folklórico dancers are from Gift of Dance, a school Where Love, Technique, Joy and Tradition brings Communities and Families Together!

I’ve seen this group at other San Diego events. When they perform, I feel that life is indeed good. All the troubles of this world melt away, and one can see how the human race might be. Simply joyful.

After a fun Fiestas Patrias parade around Old Town’s central plaza (in which the costumed dancers participated), two separate dance performances were staged on the grass. Onlookers enjoyed a variety of traditional Mexican baile folklórico folk dances, including La Raspa, Los Machetes, and even a Mexican Waltz. Beginning dancers included a two-year-old!

At the end of each performance, the audience was invited to come up and dance on the grass, too!

I hope these photos convey the joy…

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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!

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Photos of Fiestas Patrias in Old Town State Park!

A great event was held today in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Mexico’s Independence Day was celebrated with a fun, cultural Fiestas Patrias!

California State Park employees and volunteers teamed up with the Boosters of Old Town San Diego and the Old Town San Diego Chamber of Commerce to bring an assortment of free activities.

It all began with a late morning kick-off parade circling the historic park’s Plaza de las Armas. The very colorful Fiestas Patrias parade was led by Old Town’s beloved rescue donkey Dulce. Then there were two wonderful performances of ballet folklorico by beautifully costumed young people, representing Gift of Dance.

On the perimeter of the grassy plaza, living history activities could be freely enjoyed by anyone, young or old. There was a calligraphy learning table, tortilla making and traditional crafts. Kids were excited to make corn husk dolls and Mexican cascarones.

What’s more, there was a Guac’ Off Competition! For five bucks the public was invited to try samples of guacamole and judge which was best!

For those who wanted a good look at San Diego’s early history, Historic Adobe Tours were also available to the public, with groups setting off from the Robinson-Rose House Visitor Center.

I walked around the event late this morning and took some photos…

Everyone could get a small Mexican flag to wave during the fun, cultural event.

Here comes the Fiestas Patrias parade!

Dulce the Old Town donkey leads the Fiestas Patrias parade.

Smiles and period attire on parade!

The parade included volunteers of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

Many traditional Mexican folk dances would follow the parade.

Young dancers from San Diego ballet folklorico school Gift of Dance.

Pure joy.

Fiestas Patrias activities for families in Old Town’s historic central plaza.

A smile from Strenger Studio, which provides calligraphy workshops and supplies in Old Town.

A young Fiestas Patrias visitor learns calligraphy.

Kids were learning how to make confetti-filled cascarones here.

Traditional tortilla-making demonstration.

Friendly Boosters of Old Town work the Guac’ Off Competition tent.

Which guacamole is best? Winner gets bragging rights for a year!

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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!

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Fiestas Patrias parade in Old Town San Diego!

A colorful parade moved through Old Town San Diego State Historic Park late this morning. At eleven o’clock, to kick off a big, family-friendly Fiestas Patrias celebration, the parade gathered near the Cosmopolitan Hotel then proceeded around the State Park’s grassy plaza!

The parade, celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day, was led by Old Town’s rescue donkey Dulce. It was her first parade in years. Sadly, Dulce was not joined by her old companion donkey Don, who passed away earlier this year. (I’m told Dulce is now doing well.)

Included in the parade were Old Town San Diego State Historic Park volunteers in period attire and young ballet folklorico dancers from Gift of Dance. The procession moved past restored buildings from San Diego’s early history. The park interprets a fascinating period of time, back when the newborn city was a part of Spain, then Mexico, then the United States.

After circling the plaza, the costumed dancers filed onto the grass in front of the stage, where they would entertain the gathered crowd. (Later today I’ll post photographs of the dancing!)

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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.

An eruption of Blue at the Timken Museum!

It’s like a volcano erupting with the deepest blue! That was my first impression of two large monochromatic blue drawings at the Timken Museum of Art. They are part of this summer’s exhibition In Blue Time by the Timken’s most recent Artist-in-Residence Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio.

Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio is originally from Mexico. While living in Mexico City, she became fascinated by that city’s many murals.

Her large works of art are certainly eye-catching. Perhaps you remember her gigantic COVID mural on the side of the tall Bread and Salt building in Logan Heights, easily seen when driving back to San Diego over the Coronado Bridge. I posted photos of that mural back in 2021 here.

Much of Tatiana’s work has a cloud-like appearance–cloudy and nebulous, like memory. She has stated, per the museum website: “Memory is written once, then rewritten, manipulated, reinvented and recreated. Each time we reach for a memory it becomes something else. Forgetting is the distance from our past, the nebulous blue horizon of a memory standing at the edge allowing us to continuously reshape who we are.“

In the Timken’s temporary Exhibition Gallery, you’ll also find a recent large-scale drawing, created in collaboration with musical composer Stefan Cwik and inspired by the concept of time. It’s in my final photograph.

There are more of her works to see, too, plus you can add to the blueness! A community mural that anyone can help create awaits those who feel inspired. It’s entirely in blue!

In Blue Time is only on view for another two and a half weeks, through September 29, 2024.

The Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park is free and full of masterpieces by old masters. Nowhere else in San Diego will you find a painting by Rembrandt!

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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.

World Design Capital pavilion in Balboa Park!

The fantastic Exchange Pavilion has been completed in Balboa Park, and it is fulfilling its purpose: bringing people (and hopefully their ideas) together!

This open, geometric structure was erected in the Plaza de Panama because San Diego/Tijuana has been designated World Design Capital 2024. Various activations have taken form in San Diego during the yearlong international event, including the Bay to Park Paseo, but the landmark Exchange Pavilion appears to be at center stage!

Sunlight makes its curving, translucent orange skin glow, and colorful seats (that remind me of building blocks) entice Balboa Park visitors to relax in the shade. Electronic messages in English and Spanish scroll along the edges of the structure, but the people I saw seemed more interested in talking to one another or peering at their phones.

The Exchange Pavilion, as I understand it, officially opens tomorrow, so perhaps there will be more signage or elements added to inform the curious public. I’ve read that the pavilion will remain in San Diego until this fall, when it will be moved to neighboring Tijuana, Mexico.

UPDATE!

A few days later, I noticed this…

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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.