There’s an extraordinary bronze sculpture in Encinitas at a place that overlooks the wide blue Pacific Ocean. It’s titled Humanity.
Head west on J Street until you can go no farther, then up the steps to the J Street Viewpoint. Keep your eyes open.
The beautiful sculpture was created in 2013 by Del Mar artist Maidy Morhous. It was installed in the park in 2018. The sculpture was commissioned by local filmmaker Sue Vicory of Heartland Films, whose film “One” explores human connectivity.
You can read more about this artwork’s inspiration here.
Humanity is part of the Encinitas Public Art Collection.
Look at these photos. Touch them with your eyes.
One touch forever connects us with Humanity.
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Look at all these beautiful new faces in City Heights! I saw them today during a morning walk.
An incredible 263-foot long mural is gradually coming to life at the south end of Teralta Park, which is located on the freeway cap over Interstate 15. The mural is being painted by talented San Diego graffiti artist Sake, whom I met last year.
Last time I photographed the mural-in-progress, several faces at the left end had been finished. Since then, more faces have been completed! And other painted details throughout the very long mural are appearing as well.
City Heights is a community in east San Diego that is home to many immigrants and refugees from all around the world. That diversity is reflected in this colorful, positive artwork!
If you’d like to see photographs of artist Sake at work last year, and find links to even earlier photos, you can click 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!
If you’ve ever walked from Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach toward Highway 101, you’ve probably noticed a large, super colorful mural. The artwork is painted on the west side of the Saddle Bar, on Acacia Avenue.
During my most recent visit to Solana Beach, I ambled up to the mural and discovered the old building it decorates has a Solana Beach Civic Historical Society plaque.
The building was originally the Mayme and Charles Karn’s Bicycle Shop back in 1924. It served as a United States Post Office from 1936 to 1953.
The mural was painted in 2019 by Cardiff-by-the-Sea artist Dustin (Brane) Hull.
Images in the artwork include: a friendly dog; a woman surfing; carrying surfboards on the beach; a kid skateboarding; a musician performing at the famous Belly Up Tavern; a Coaster train and the Solana Beach station; and Fiesta Del Sol, an annual festival held on the nearby streets.
I love this mural. It really captures the happy vibe of this beach community.
I took these photos!
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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!
On the south side of National City’s Kimball Park, near 16th Street, a footbridge crosses Paradise Creek. Look up near the bridge and you’ll spy beautiful small sculptures mounted atop high posts.
These shining metal sculptures at the Paradise Creek Gathering Place were created by San Diego artist Vicki Leon, in collaboration with high school students at A Reason To Survive (ARTS), an organization in National City that uplifts local youth using the power of creativity.
The Paradise Creek Gathering Place sculptures together are titled Migratory Flight. They resemble silvery birds taking wing. Solar-powered lights illuminate bits of colored glass in clear tubes beneath each sculpture.
The environmental sculptures, symbolizing wildlife that depends on Paradise Creek, were installed in 2018. Many in the community came out to help build and beautify the Paradise Creek Gathering Place, including the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center’s Kitchenistas and students from San Diego City College and San Diego State University. You can read more about the project here and here.
Lead artist Vicki Leon has also helped to beautify her own City Heights Azalea Park neighborhood. You can see photos of more amazing public artwork that I took during a special visit to Azalea Park here and here and 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!
A new mural was painted at the 1st Street Bar in Encinitas several months ago. I didn’t see it until this weekend, during my walk down South Coast Highway 101.
The mural is a colorful, mystical work by artists Amanda Lynn and Carly Ealey. It’s overflowing with visions of nature’s beauty and cosmic mystery.
This fantastic artwork replaces an older environmental Sea Walls mural at the same Encinitas location, painted by the same artists. I took photos of the previous 1st Street Bar mural in 2019 and posted them here.
It’s interesting to contrast the styles of the two murals. I particularly like this newer one.
Enjoy!
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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!
Giant butterflies take flight in the blue sky above three National City parks!
Should you visit Butterfly Park, Kimball Park or Las Palmas Park, you’re certain to spot many large butterfly wings! The colorful sculptures were created in 2015 by families throughout the National City community.
Every butterfly is composed of two pieces of cut aluminum, and the separate sides of each butterfly are uniquely decorated with different colors of reflective vinyl tape. I’ve been told that car headlights shining on the butterflies at night reveal bright bursts of life!
The project, led by local artist Roberto Salas, is called Butterfly Path. Its creation was made possible through a commission from the San Diego Museum of Art’s “Open Spaces” program, supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation.
The first time I spotted some of these butterflies–last year at Kimball Park–I didn’t know a thing about them. Comments made by readers provided great information. Revisit that old blog post here.
Since then I’ve seen more of the beautiful sculptures, and have learned more about them, particularly during an amazing tour of Butterfly Park, which you can read about by clicking here.
These artistic butterflies symbolize an ongoing metamorphosis in National City. The transformation is to an even more proud, healthy and environmentally friendly community that shines with greater and greater beauty.
Here are just some of the butterflies you might encounter, in no particular order…
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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!
A huge, absolutely amazing mural in downtown San Diego’s East Village has been painted right next to the Quartyard. The mural is in support of wildlife conservation efforts, and is titled Empowering Hope. The artists are Carly Ealey and Christopher Konecki.
According to the promoted Key Conservation website, one can download their Key App to hook up with and support various global conservation organizations, who are working to save animals from extinction. It appears the project is presently a work in progress and more funding is needed.
If you’d like to check it all out, you can visit the Key Conservation website here.
UPDATE!
I took a photo when the amazing mural was finished…
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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!
Have you seen the cool Trevor Hoffman mural painted on the rear wall of Hansen Surfboards in Encinitas?
I finally did!
Ground Floor Murals painted this San Diego Padres mural last November.
So far, I’ve photographed their Tony Gwynn, Fernando Tatis, Jr., Manny Machado and Yu Darvish murals. Click the links to see the photos and learn more about these talented artists. Their awesome Padres baseball player murals are located all around San Diego!
For many years, Trevor Hoffman held the all-time pitching saves record in Major League Baseball. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Go Pads!
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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!
Some very colorful abstract art was spray painted last month on a long wall beside the Massachusetts Avenue trolley station parking lot. The artist is Maxx Moses, whose distinctive work can be found all over San Diego.
The first time I glimpsed this mural I was riding the Orange Line. With sudden surprise and excitement, I jumped off.
I love the murals of Maxx Moses, they are so jammed with creativity and imagination. They often show technology fused with ancient culture, producing unique images of humanity that make you simply stand and stare with wonder. His artwork is simultaneously weird and familiar. All of it is filled with heart.
(Perhaps you recall seeing photos of another phenomenal mural he helped to create at the 62nd Street/Encanto trolley station, which just is a short ride up the Orange Line. If you haven’t, they are here!)
To view more cool art by Maxx Moses, check out his Instagram page 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!
A beautiful transformation began in National City in 2013. Hundreds of community members came together to make a positive, permanent change. Butterfly Park, a blighted strip of land near the corner of 20th Street and Palm Avenue, became more like its namesake!
I first learned about this wonderful transformation on Sunday, during an incredible tour provided by Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center’s super nice Cooking for Salud Coordinator, Patty Corona.
We walked through the park and were greeted by colorful butterflies everywhere we turned!
I learned how, during the course of several days, families from throughout the neighborhood, school students, the Kitchenistas of Olivewood Gardens, and even the mayor of the time worked in the park installing butterfly beauty: mosaics on benches, a table and a trashcan, beautiful metalwork on posts, and an outdoor stage shaped like a butterfly wing! Vegetation that attracts butterflies was planted, too!
According to this article, “The project was led by Pomegranate Center… Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center…pitched the idea for a community gathering space in November 2012.“
(The Pomegranate Center was also instrumental in creating the Manzanita Gathering Place in City Heights. See those photos here.)
As we walked through the park, I learned the wavy metal sculptures on posts were created by Sweetwater High School welding students, and the log benches were the work of former National City Mayor Ron Morrison.
In 2015 the very colorful aluminum butterfly sculptures you see in my photos were decorated by community members using reflective vinyl, under the leadership of local artist Roberto Salas. This “Butterfly Path” can also be found in two other National City Parks: Kimball Park and Las Palmas Park.
I’ll be posting more photos of them in an upcoming blog post!
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 