I visited the amazing Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center today in Oceanside and learned they’ll have an art auction on Saturday, October 17 that will raise funds for the local Audubon Society.
Artistic birdhouses and other works of nature-themed art will be auctioned or for sale at the annual fundraiser.
There will be live music, food and drinks at this special event, too.
Very cool! Get some beautiful art while helping efforts to protect the environment!
To learn more, visit the Buena Vista Audubon Society website by clicking here!
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Paul Strahm, accomplished local plein air painter, was doing his thing in Pacific Beach today. I ran into him by the boardwalk south of Crystal Pier. He was smiling as usual.
I learned that one of his beach paintings is now on display at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park–part of their Changing Terrain exhibition. He has another piece, too, now on display at the Oceanside Museum of Art.
On my way home I swung by the San Diego History Center to check out his painting exhibited there. Here it is…
Mission Beach, 2024, Paul Strahm. Oil on canvas.
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Who in and around San Diego hasn’t heard of the artist James Hubbell? Between his architecturally fantastic Ilan-Lael residence and studios in Santa Ysabel, to his many works of public art around the city (many of which I’ve photographed), the beloved artist has earned a special place in the heart of San Diegans.
Did you know James had a brother named Bert who was also an artist?
During my recent visit to the museum, I noticed the art of these brothers is similar in certain ways. The construction of pieces is very organic, elemental. The works seem to have been extracted from or designed by the living Earth itself. While James lived and worked in Southern California, for over fifty years Bert lived in Kokubunji, Japan near sacred Mt. Fuji.
Their art’s earthy quality seems natural and familiar–perhaps that’s why it feels so spiritual.
According to the exhibition webpage, Bert…was profoundly shaped by Japanese culture, Shinto, Animism, and Native American art. Self-described as a “primitive artist,” he worked across mediums but most prolifically in ceramic sculpture. His fantastical creatures—reminiscent of yōkai—externalize inner fears and anxieties as a means of transformation and healing… Bert, who never sold his art, left behind an estimated 28,000 individual ceramic figures as well as paintings, drawings and found object assemblages.
The exhibition, which continues through September 6, 2026, provides an interesting contrast between the work of the two brothers. In places their pieces are placed side by side. In one gallery room a wall contains the work of James, and the opposite wall contains pieces created by Bert.
One gets the impression Bert could have reached the level of renown achieved by his brother. It seems, however, that he created art just for the personal joy and satisfaction of creating art.
Like any art, you need to experience it in person. A few photographs to entice you into visiting the Oceanside Museum of Art:
The art on the left and the bottom are by artist Bert Hubbell. The pieces are displayed in contract to the watercolor on the right, by brother James Hubbell.More work by artist Bert Hubbell, including Forks and Spoon and Sunburst, circa 1963. Ceramic.Photograph of Bert Hubbell, date unknown.Ceramic by Bert Hubbell atop Wood Pedestal by James Hubbell.Bert’s Mountain of Sculpture, Bert Hubbell, 1961-1963. Various ceramics.
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This might be the most fun interactive art exhibition you’ll experience all year! It’s showing for one more week at the Oceanside Museum of Art, and it’s titled Aaron Kramer: Sense of Wonder.
Do you love crazy, clever, fun-loving inventions? Upstairs at the museum you’ll find loads of them! Playful artist Aaron Kramer likes to tinker and make mechanical wonders using found objects.
Visitors to the Oceanside Museum of Art can turn cranks and press buttons that activate wacky kinetic creations. Wires, old springs, bottles and tin cans, cardboard, odd pieces of wood, broken things–magically become spinning whirligigs, dipping hummingbirds, dancing figures . . . even contraptions that trace images on paper!
I’ve always loved these sort of whimsical creations. Remember that scene near the beginning of the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang–that crazy, elaborate Rube Goldberg-style contraption that automatically made breakfast? These small works of art are just as fun!
If you’re young at heart, you’ll be pressing every button and turning every crank! Through August 23, 2026, that is, when this super cool exhibition wraps up.
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While strolling through the North County Health and Wellness Fair in Oceanside yesterday, I came upon an organization that helps underprivileged kids in North San Diego County. Two nice ladies introduced me to the Assistance League of North Coast!
As their fact sheet explains, the Assistance League of North Coast (ALNC) is one of 95 chapters of the National Assistance League, a nonprofit organization that puts caring and commitment into action through school-based philanthropic programs.
The many volunteers of ALNC serve the youth of Carlsbad, Oceanside and Vista by providing scholarships, teacher grants and more under the umbrella of Operation School Bell. In the past year they’ve provided elementary students with new shoes and socks, health kits, new clothing, new books, new jackets and blankets, and much more! Last year, 174 volunteers spent 24,266 hours helping kids!
Would you like to help them out? Here’s their website.
Should you find yourself in Oceanside, visit the Assistance League of North Coast’s thrift store, located at 1830 Oceanside Boulevard, Suite A. They’re open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10 am to 3 pm.
Thank you!
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It’s been well over a year since I visited the Artist Alley in downtown Oceanside. I walked through it again today!
Look what my camera found!
Most of this art must be fairly new, because it was painted in places where earlier murals existed.
(The two murals just inside the entrance of the multi-suite building that opens into the alley might have been there a long time–I don’t know. My first four photos are of those.)
I love how the artwork changes in the alley over time. Every time I walk through it I discover new creations!
Oceanside’s very cool, very magical Artist Alley can be entered directly south of the city library and civic center. Simply cross Pier View Way and you’ll find it!
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Perhaps you’ve seen this bench on the Oceanside Pier and wondered, like me, who Jerry Stapp is.
A beautiful bronze plaque with an image of Stapp’s face adorns the bench. On the bench are inscribed the words: IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD. RELAX AND ENJOY.
I found this article about the life of Jerry Stapp. For many years he was a community champion. Among other endeavors, he was a big supporter of the Oceanside Boys and Girls Club.
What a beautiful place on the Oceanside Pier, overlooking the beach and the wide, blue Pacific Ocean. What a fine tribute to somebody who made a positive difference in people’s lives.
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Much of social media is geared toward eliciting an emotional response. Much of art serves the same purpose. An exhibition of art in Oceanside fuses the simple emojis and memes of social media with framed artistic creation.
Neon Afterlife is the title of the exhibition. It can be freely viewed in the Oceanside Museum of Art’s annex gallery inside The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa, a short walk from the beach and Oceanside Pier.
Pieces by Southern California artists Magz Yang, Jon Savage and Evyn Hewett utilize the “language” of Gen Z and today’s digital pop culture–an increasingly illiterate culture saturated with adrenaline fueled gaming and provocative short videos.
These works of art, like many of the images on one’s phone, might arrest shortened attention spans. They produce an emotional response by using simplistic symbols and bright colors. It’s as if the small screens people endlessly scroll have been splashed onto the gallery walls.
I do love the creativity. And I smiled when I noticed fun is made of the pretentiousness of much social media.
Does an emoji or meme suffice for life’s complexity?
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A hot day for mid-March. I stayed near the beach–in Oceanside. As I walked out onto the Oceanside Pier, look what I saw! Someone was digging a huge skull and crossbones into the sand!
Turns out the friendly, creative guy was David. He was working on his pirate Jolly Roger flag design in the sunshine, while people strolling along the beach would stop, look and chat.
He’s been making artwork in the sand like this for several months, he told me. He’s created perhaps a dozen such works at the beach.
He told me there’s another guy who makes cool designs using a garden rake. That sounds awesome, too. Perhaps I’ll stumble upon that one day.
Here’s what I saw around noon as I walked out on the pier:
After I ate lunch, I returned to the pier and saw this:
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The subject matter for art is infinite, and sometimes it seems like the different paths for creating art are beyond count. That is certainly the case in a current exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art. Matrix multiplied: hybrid approaches to printmaking demonstrates that amazing art can be produced by utilizing multiple printmaking techniques.
Eighteen artists are featured in the exhibition. Many of their pieces incorporate different techniques, ranging from traditional handmade printing methods to digital technology. They are truly unique!
No particular theme is depicted among the pieces. You’ll see abstracts, portraits, landscapes . . . art books, hangings, sculptures . . . all produced in ways you might not have imagined. The exhibition is a celebration of artistic skill and creativity!
Go check it out through August 2, 2026!
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