Tag: museums

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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Pumpkins launch from San Diego Air and Space Museum!

Lots of pumpkins were chucked off the roof of the San Diego Air and Space Museum today, to the delight of watching children! The event was part of the museum’s annual Halloween-themed Pumpkin Chunkin’ celebration!

Some pumpkins were frozen, some not. Some pumpkins were hollow, some not. Some had parachutes attached, some not. As they were dropped in pairs, curious onlookers could view and compare the results of each toss!

The pumpkin launching was just one family-friendly activity hosted at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. I photographed several of the outdoor drops during my walk through Balboa Park!

Inside the museum, kids (many wearing costumes) could construct a catapult and parachute to launch and safely land candy pumpkins, use 3D pens to make creepy sculptures, and drive robot ghouls!

Did you know October is Kid’s Free Month at the San Diego Air and Space Museum? It is!

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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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Barrio Logan exhibit during Archives Month!

We are now in the middle of San Diego City Clerk’s 6th Annual Archives Month!

Through October 18th, 2024, the public can experience a fascinating San Diego City Clerk Archives exhibit concerning the history of Barrio Logan. Extensive displays can be viewed just inside the front entrance of San Diego’s downtown City Administration Building, at 202 C Street.

The exhibit is titled Telling Our Stories–Preserving Our Histories: The Chicano Movement in San Diego. It features photographs, articles and City Clerk documents that pertain to the culturally rich Barrio Logan neighborhood and how it has changed over time. There is an emphasis on the creation of Chicano Park, the work of Chicano activists, the origin and influence of Neighborhood House, and the tuna canning industry that once thrived in Barrio Logan down by the water.

In addition, there’s a video that visitors to the exhibit are invited to watch. It shows how residents were adversely affected by the construction of Interstate 5 and the Coronado Bay Bridge, and how they worked together to help preserve the community’s identity and establish Chicano Park.

The exhibit is curated by the San Diego City Clerk Archives in partnership with the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center.

I enjoyed looking at the displays and learning important facets of San Diego history. I encourage anyone who travels downtown to check it out. The City Administration Building is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here are a few photographs that I took…

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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.

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!

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.

Forgotten mural atop Horton Plaza garage.

In 2011, a large mural was installed on the top level of Horton Plaza mall’s parking garage in downtown San Diego. Today that mural can still be seen, although it is badly damaged from its long exposure to sun and weather.

The Circle (on 7 Lemon) is named after the mural’s circular design and its location: the seventh level of the large parking garage in a section that is designated “lemon.”

As you can see from these photographs taken yesterday, the top of the garage was completely empty. Horton Plaza mall and its shoppers have vanished–the property is being redeveloped. The mural is all but forgotten.

A plaque still can be found by the old mural. It explains that the art was created by Chor Boogie and Writerzblok. Mural commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Horton Plaza in conjunction with the exhibition Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape…

Here’s on old web page that describes that exhibition, which featured works both in the Museum’s galleries as well as at public sites throughout downtown San Diego.

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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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Graphics outside Navy SEAL Museum San Diego.

Last week I was hurrying through downtown San Diego in the very early morning to catch a trolley for work, when I noticed a crane beside America Plaza, directly across Kettner Boulevard from Santa Fe Depot. Then I saw something strange.

Two submersibles were sitting on the sidewalk near the crane! I learned that they were to be lifted through a second floor window to become an exhibit inside the future Navy SEAL Museum San Diego!

It was too dark for my camera, unfortunately, and I couldn’t wait. But someone pointed out to me that graphics had been newly applied to the front of the museum.

The interior of the Navy SEAL Museum San Diego is presently under construction. The museum is scheduled to open next year.

I returned later to take these photographs in the daylight…

UPDATE!

Many new graphics have appeared in the following days! Navy SEAL images can now be found on all sides of the museum. Here are more photos…

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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.

Find the world-famous art in this photograph.

In this photograph and the next two, you can see art created by and artist who has been called “one of his era’s greatest sculptors.” Can you find it?

These photos were taken a couple days ago behind the old luggage terminal of Santa Fe Depot, in downtown San Diego. The historic terminal, needed back in the days when train travel was a very common mode of transportation, would become the downtown home of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. A year or so ago the museum moved entirely up to their beautiful La Jolla location.

What you see here is the patio between the old luggage terminal and a Santa Fe Depot trolley platform.

What are those metal cubes?

Those six large cubes, together weighing 156 tons, is an art installation commissioned by MCASD in 2004 titled Santa Fe Depot. The artist is Richard Serra.

Richard Serra was a giant in the art world. He died earlier this year, March 26, 2024, at the age of 85.

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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.

Amazing chalk art in front of Timken Museum!

Take a look at this amazing chalk art! It was created in San Diego’s Balboa Park about a week ago. Still in good condition, the artwork can be found directly in front of the Timken Museum of Art.

The chalk art replicates Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan, a fantastic painting by Kehinde Wiley.

Until recently, Wiley’s painting could be viewed inside one of Timken’s galleries. It was displayed among major works by old masters. Wiley’s painting is inspired by Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck’s equestrian portrait from 1634-35 depicting Italian military commander.

The chalk art was created by Erick Toussaint (@sidewalk_chalk_dad). You might remember his other work in front of the Timken in past years.

I’ll soon be blogging about the Timken’s newest exhibition, In Blue Time, so stay tuned!

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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.

Votes For Women at San Diego History Center.

The Women’s Museum of California has made its home inside the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. Visitors who walk into the history center can now view a museum exhibit concerning the struggle by women to obtain the right to vote in the United States.

Votes For Women: A Portrait of Persistence follows the efforts of suffragists to amend the U.S. Constitution and change state election laws by lobbying in their community and in the halls of Congress. As one display explains, the suffragists wrote articles, circulated petitions, gave speeches, organized marches, and were sometimes imprisoned for their protests. Over time these tactics won support for woman suffrage that led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

Visitors will learn how the fight for women’s right to vote lasted more than 80 years. Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was required to eliminate the suppression of voting by women.

In addition to many interesting posters, there are garments on display that suffragists might have worn, including a bloomer costume, named for writer and women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer.

Kids can also enjoy fun activities. There’s a San Diego History Center image scavenger hunt and the opportunity to take selfies with a suffragist sash and protest signs!

After you check out the Votes For Woman exhibit, take a stroll around the rest of the San Diego History Center. There’s a lot of history to see!

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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.