Tag: public art

Frogman statue coming to Navy SEAL Museum San Diego!

A large bronze statue that honors Navy frogmen is planned for the new Navy SEAL Museum in San Diego, which is scheduled to open later this year at downtown’s America Plaza.

The impressive statue will stand south of the museum entrance, in an outdoor space that is adjacent to the America Plaza trolley station. (You might recall, how years ago, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego had their Hammering Man sculpture located in the same spot.)

I’m told the diver statue should resemble one now situated at the original Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, in front of their Memorial Wall.

The statue that is coming to San Diego will stand atop a granite pedestal inscribed with the BUD/S classes that become plank owners of the new museum.

The museum’s Plank Owner BUD/S Class Campaign is presently underway. Those who contribute will become part of a legacy that will motivate and inspire generations of Americans for years to come.

As this webpage explains, the museum is reaching out to the Navy SEAL community. Donations are being accepted of any size to help with the construction of the Museum which will preserve our history and tell our stories to the nation.

Every donation will receive recognition on the museum website here. For those Classes reaching the $5,000 goal, the Class Number will be permanently etched into the granite pillar which holds the bronze Navy SEAL Sculpture.

Would you like to inspire future generations, and help build the Navy SEAL Museum in San Diego? Visit their website by clicking here!

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Winter solstice sand sculpture at Hotel del Coronado!

The winter solstice occurred early this morning. The days will now begin to grow longer. Christmas is nearly here.

On the beach by the Hotel del Coronado, Bill Pavlacka, The Sandcastle Man, created a unique sand sculpture today that pays tribute to the 2024 winter solstice!

His fun sand sculpture, and another that rises a few steps away, also celebrate the holiday season! Season’s Greetings!

This is the 17th year that The Sandcastle Man has been making sand sculptures in Coronado. Whenever I walk along the ocean side of the Del, I always look for his latest creation!

Some photographs…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Native and Indigenous Healing Garden and mural at SDSU.

In 2022, the Native and Indigenous Healing Garden debuted at San Diego State University, to one side of the Communication Building. The circular garden, which also serves as an outdoor classroom, is filled with healing herbs that can be freely harvested. Life grows in sunshine around a central stone fountain.

The plants in the garden represent various indigenous cultures: the Kumeyaay, the Aztecs, the Mixtecs and Zapotecs, and other indigenous people in California and Mesoamerica.

Painted beside the garden on one side of the Communication Building, visitors will also find a large, very beautiful mural.

This website provides details about the 30’ x 60’ mural: Designed by students as part of an Arts Alive SDSU project by History Professor Paula DeVos and Art Professor Eva Struble, the artwork includes various plants, animals, and designs with deep ties to Native Indigenous culture throughout California and Mesoamerica.

If I lived near SDSU, I know I’d walk by frequently, simply to sit on the shady bench you see in my photographs. One feels drawn to this healing garden, the smell of sage and other life springing from the earth, and the quiet beauty of the place.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

The Flag Raising at Escondido Charter High School.

Five students made of bronze stand around a flagpole in front of Escondido Charter High School. They watch reverently as the American flag is raised.

At the base of the flagpole are two plaques.

Flagpole Donated in Honor of

Ray T. Graddy, LT US Army 1942-1946

William W. Patrick, SR. CPO USN 1948-1969

For their Dedicated Service in the U.S. Military

Phyllis Peuker Raynes, The Flag Raising, Bronze, August 2003

Commissioned by Escondido Charter High School

I took these photographs during my most recent walk in Escondido.

Here’s an article concerning the Valley Center artist, sculptor Phyllis Peuker Raynes, and her creation of this patriotic public art.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Four more colorful Murals of La Jolla!

The Murals of La Jolla are constantly changing. Older murals are taken down; colorful new ones appear.

Every time I walk through the Village of La Jolla, it seems, I spot murals that I hadn’t seen previously. And indeed that happened last weekend!

Two of the four murals I photographed are fairly new. The others I must’ve missed in the past.

Enjoy these photographs!

My first three photos are of a large mural from 2024, by artist Todd Gray. It’s titled Ghosts in the Machine.

The next mural in La Jolla is also from 2024. Artist Amy Adler titled it Location.

The next mural from 2023 is titled The Scripps Gill Loggia. The artist is Rex Southwick.

Finally, the next two photos are of a mural titled Time. It’s from 2021. The artist is Gabriella Sanchez.

UPDATE!

Oops! I’d forgotten that I photographed The Scripps Gill Loggia last year. To see those photos, click here.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Mural painted near Chula Vista trolley station!

A big, very fun mural is now being painted on a long wall in Chula Vista! The artwork, which appears to be almost competed, can be seen by San Diego trolley Blue Line passengers along the tracks north of the E Street station.

The mural is part of the ongoing MTS Color the Corridor project. The design is by prolific Southern California artist Michelle Ruby (aka Mr B Baby). With a colorful Mexican flavor, the mural contains doll-like characters that one often finds in her artwork. You’ve likely seen her murals all over San Diego.

The painted wall is in the trolley right-of-way and cannot be approached on foot. I took these photos through the slightly dirty window of a moving trolley this morning. They show small but notable parts of the long mural. I had to enhance the images to make them less blurry…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Art and history at the Boulevard Transit Plaza.

Those walking through or waiting for a bus at the Boulevard Transit Plaza in City Heights might feel inclined to pause for a moment. This landmark bus station on El Cajon Boulevard over Interstate 15 features colorful public art and a collection of historical photographs.

The large transit plaza is split in two, divided by El Cajon Boulevard. Opposite sides serve east and west bound buses. Stairs and elevators also descend to Interstate 15 below where passengers can catch Route 235 rapid buses.

Public art and photographs are found on both sides of the split plaza. On either end of each platform, a post is decorated with colorful mosaics and dedicated to an adjacent community. The four communities served by the Boulevard Transit Center are Normal Heights, Kensington, Corridor and Teralta West.

I recently got off a Route 215 rapid bus at this stop to walk around the plaza. The artwork I’ve photographed here was installed in the past year or two–if you know more about the project, please leave a comment!

(There’s additional public art on the freeway level platforms–both here and at the nearby City Heights Transit Center–that I’ll document at some future time.)

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Voronoi tessellation in San Diego at night!

I took these photographs this morning while it was still dark. They show new public artwork in downtown San Diego. My camera was placed up against the construction fence surrounding the not-yet-opened Progress Park (at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive) at the new RaDD complex.

This very cool sculpture, which is illuminated in the night, is titled Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper.

Yes, that’s an interesting name! Even more interesting is the fact that the sculpture’s geometric structure utilizes Voronoi tessellation.

Huh? What?

Learn more about this sculpture, Voronoi tessellation and this new public park coming to San Diego’s waterfront by visiting a past blog post by clicking here!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Fun skate mural in Escondido’s Washington Park

While walking through Escondido’s Washington Park this weekend, I noticed a new mural. It depicts kids having fun at the Washington Park Skate Spot.

This mural replaces another that I spotted in the summer of 2023. See that old mural here–it’s the one with a hand reaching for splashes of color.

If you want to see several colorful murals painted on Washington Park’s community center buildings, and learn something about them, click here.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Colorful new mural at Oceanside Transit Center!

This very colorful new mural was painted a couple months ago on the north side of the Oceanside Transit Center parking structure. It celebrates Oceanside–its Spanish mission and fishing history, and the nearby Pacific Ocean!

Jonny Pucci created the striking mural. See his Instagram page here.

According to this article, the work is part of MainStreet Oceanside’s Art that Excites program, which aims to install up to 10 murals in public spaces throughout downtown Oceanside.

I love how so many Southern California cities and communities continue to enliven neighborhoods and destinations with public art. No matter where I walk, I always seem to encounter something new. That was certainly the case yesterday!

Next time I walk in Oceanside, I have no doubt I’ll stumble upon more cool sights like this. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more outdoor art that I also discovered yesterday–in Escondido!

Enjoy a few more photos of the Oceanside Transit Center parking garage mural…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!