Tag: mosaic

Honoring the first gliders at Torrey Pines.

An old historical marker at the Torrey Pines Gliderport honors the pioneering glider pilots who were the first to launch themselves into the sky here.

The side of the marker that faces the ocean features two bronze plaques. The opposite, facing the Gliderport’s parking lot, was made beautiful with a colorful tile mosaic. The 30-year-old abstract artwork depicts green trees atop the bluffs, sun, water, a sailboat and gliders in the blue sky.

TO HONOR THE SPIRIT, INGENUITY AND ENTHUSIASM OF THE PIONEERS WHO FLEW GLIDERS IN THE 1930’S AT TORREY PINES

AND TO THE FUTURE PILOTS WHO WILL SHARE THIS GLIDERPORT AND CONTINUE THIS TRADITION THROUGH ALL FORMS OF MOTORLESS FLIGHT

JUNE 6, 1992

THE NATIONAL SOARING MUSEUM

HARRIS HILL, ELMIRA, N.Y.

AN AFFILIATE OF THE SOARING SOCIETY OF AMERICA

HISTORICAL SITE NO. 315

THE TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT

THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO

Here’s a fascinating web page of the National Soaring Museum that concerns the Torrey Pines Gliderport. You can see some old photographs. The site is designated the museum’s Landmark No. 5.

I posted a blog concerning the Torrey Pines Gliderport many years ago. If you are curious, you can check that out by clicking here!

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Beautiful tile murals at Vons in Coronado.

I love these three tile mosaic murals decorating the front of Vons in Coronado! You can spot them as you head down Orange Avenue.

I believe this artwork appeared in conjunction with the recent Vons remodel. The grocery store expanded into the old Cora Mart building space next door.

Several colorful scenes include an abstract Hotel del Coronado and kites in the blue sky, presumably pulling unseen kiteboarders across the ocean.

Who out there knows more about these murals?

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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 Twitter!

All People Touch the Earth in Normal Heights!

Thirty-year-old public art in Normal Heights still shines with wisdom and love.

All People Touch the Earth is a 310-foot-long entryway and seating wall north of the Adams Elementary joint-use park, at the corner of School Street and Mansfield Street. It was created in 1992 with the help of over 900 community members, including school children, parents, and staff from John Adams Elementary School.

Hand prints and bits of tile and other objects that were placed in wet concrete accompany wise quotes. All float among the planets of our solar system!

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Love your neighbor as thyself.

He who travels slowly to his destiny arrives whole.

Good Fortune

The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.

Locks and keys are not made for honest fingers.

All the sounds of earth are like music.

Music is the universal language of mankind.

Colors speak all languages.

Hitch your wagon to a star.

It is there that our hearts are set. In the expanse of the heavens.

He who seeks to understand the universe understands nothing.

For every person who has ever lived there shines a star.

One can see the universe in a grain of sand.

Live long and prosper.

It takes a whole village to educate a child.

Talk does not cook the rice.

It is good to warm one’s self by another’s fire.

Three years old habit lasts till eighty years old.

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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 Twitter!

Nature murals at Harbaugh Seaside Trails.

Extraordinary murals depicting native wildlife, birds, flowers and plants welcome people who enter a system of trails in and around San Elijo Lagoon north of Solana Beach.

Heading up Highway 101, you might see an outdoor installation with the words Harbaugh Seaside Trails. That’s the donor plaza where you’ll find these mosaics. If the beautiful ceramic artwork appears familiar, perhaps that’s because local artist Betsy Schulz created them. You might have seen her similar work elsewhere around San Diego.

Harbaugh Seaside Trails is a 3-acre coastal overlook between Solana Beach and Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Should you feel in an adventurous mood, you can walk from this scenic area down an easy trail that passes under the railroad tracks.

On the other side of the tracks is the San Elijo Lagoon State Marine Conservation Area, where you’ll discover a large wetland containing more natural beauty and wildlife. (I’ll be blogging about this shortly.)

You’d love to see these murals in person . . . and feel the fresh breeze, and watch birds moving down near the water, and simply experience this beautiful place.

Why not do it today?

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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 Twitter!

Two small, beautiful mosaics at Dog Beach.

On this rainy Monday, would you like to see two beautiful mosaics at Dog Beach in Del Mar?

I spotted these small works of art as I walked along the path through the garden near the beach. I don’t know when these colorful mosaics were created, or by whom.

I once shared photographs from the Dog Beach Memorial Garden. You can see the great love people have for their four-legged friends. Those photos are here.

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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 Twitter!

Pelicans on a bench at Del Mar lifeguard station.

I love this public art at the 17th Street Lifeguard Tower in Del Mar!

A tile mural depicting pelicans in flight decorates a concrete bench in front of the lifeguard station. The artwork was created by Betsy Schulz, whose fantastic, very beautiful mosaics can be seen all over San Diego County. I’ve photographed many.

Poetic words beneath the mural provide a wish: May your joys be as deep as the ocean, your sorrows as light as its foam. -Anonymous

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Creating beautiful mosaics for Little Saigon!

Stunning public art is being created in the heart of San Diego’s Little Saigon!

Planters at the intersection of El Cajon Boulevard and Menlo Avenue are being decorated with bright, colorful mosaics. As you can see in the following photographs, which I took several days ago, the project is ongoing.

These beautiful mosaics are being assembled by City Heights artist Vicki Leon and the volunteer Azalea Park Mosaic League!

(You’ve seen their artwork elsewhere on my blog. Click here!)

The shining images I noticed on three different planters are of sunshine and water and radiant lotus flowers. The lotus is Vietnam’s national flower.

When I walked past the same intersection two years ago, one of these mosaic planters appeared to be finished. You can see it, a commemorative “The Little Saigon District” plaque, and other street art photographs that I took back then, here.

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Beautiful new stained glass panels in Vista!

Check out this amazing new public artwork!

Many additional stained glass panels have appeared in Vista along South Santa Fe Avenue in the past couple years.

It was the summer of 2020 when I last explored the Paseo Santa Fe street improvement project and found an early set of panels along the sidewalk. (You can see those photographs and learn a little more about the project here.)

The panels are numerous now. They show various aspects of life in Vista, California. Many of the small scenes depict local plants or agriculture.

To the best of my knowledge, the artist creating all of these beautiful mosaics is still Buddy Smith.

Given the direction of my walk last weekend, I probably didn’t find every finished panel. But I hope you enjoy looking at these…

UPDATE!

I’ve learned from Buddy, the artist, that there are now 28 finished panels! Super cool!

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The stunning Ocean Nomads mural in Barrio Logan!

If you haven’t yet seen the Ocean Nomads mural in Barrio Logan, you’ll be surprised at the stunning beauty of this public artwork!

The three dimensional mosaic was created in 2013 by the Rainforest Art Project, with the help of young students from nearby Perkins Elementary School and Our Lady’s School. Hand-cut stained glass pieces glisten in sunlight, depicting a school of tuna swimming in the blue ocean off our coast.

The Rainforest Art Project, based in San Diego, works with schools in our region to create amazing works of art. Such as this!

Ocean Nomads can be found a few steps south of the outdoor fountain at Mercado del Barrio. Walk around a bit and you’ll find it!

If you want to see more great artwork by the Rainforest Art Project, check out their patriotic mosaic in La Mesa here. Or see the gorgeous art decorating their headquarters on National Avenue here. (In that old blog post I had labeled their building Farallon Design, which I believe might have been a previous occupant.)

It’s quite possible I’ve photographed more of their work around San Diego without realizing it!

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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!

Beautiful fountain at Herrick Community Health Library.

A beautiful fountain invites meditation near the entrance to the Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library in La Mesa. I discovered it by pure chance while walking in La Mesa last weekend.

And, to my surprise, I learned the fountain, topped by a sculpture, is by none other than James Hubbell, whose mosaics also grace nearby Briercrest Park!

This public art in the Community Health Library’s outdoor courtyard is titled Moving Circles (O’s on the plaque). Water runs from the sculpture, then drips down from rugged stonework into a blue basin, where a watery mosaic ripples in the sunlight.

Moving Circles is dated 2002. I was told this particular project by renowned artist James Hubbell was separate from his work at Briercrest Park.

If you’d like to see those nearby park mosaics, which are also amazing, I took photographs of them, too. I posted those pics 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!