Mosaic scenes of Hispanic life, culture and history decorate benches and seats at a San Diego Trolley station.
In Logan Heights, the 25th and Commercial Street station of the San Diego Trolley’s Orange Line features public art at both it’s east and west platforms. A week or so ago, I enjoyed looking at colorful mosaics made of tiles on the base of various concrete seats and curving benches. The small mosaics depict Hispanic life, culture and history. There are abstract scenes of immigrants working in fields or in construction, of family at home, and of organized activism.
I took these photos at the eastbound platform. The mosaics are part of a project titled Achievement / Progress / Community: In the Spirit of Cesar E. Chavez that was completed in 2006. The mosaics were created by artist John Hiemstra. The trolley stop is dedicated to civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.
Photo along length of 25th and Commercial Street trolley station of the Orange Line. This is the eastbound platform.A small tile mosaic scene features a red trolley in front of downtown’s Santa Fe Depot.A family at home around a table laden with food.Migrant workers planting seeds in a field.Mosaic shows what appears to be a ranch in a Southern California landscape.Farm worker is harvesting tomatoes or strawberries.Saguaro cacti in a Southwestern scene.Beautiful abstract mosaic. Tiles of different colors, sizes and shapes.Hispanic workers build a wall.A laborer hard at work.Two figures stand near automobiles on a highway.A diverse group appears to hold up signs in a protest.A priest and an activist.Hispanic youth together, perhaps students. Another scene of life, learning, hope, struggle.
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Hang On To Your Hats! Art of the Horse, created by artist Daphne Gaylord.
Breeders’ Cup racehorses are running down a street in Del Mar–and through several nearby cities, from La Jolla to Cardiff-by-the-Sea!
These horses–fiberglass sculptures to be precise–are life size versions of the Torrie Horse used for the Breeders’ Cup Trophy. Each one has been painted by a local artist and placed along a stretch of coastal San Diego County for the upcoming event, which will be held on November 3 and 4 at the Del Mar Racetrack. The project is called Art of the Horse. There are a total of 20 statues.
I’ve spotted four more Breeders’ Cup horses racing down Camino del Mar, south of the racetrack!
Milliner’s Joy. Art of the Horse, created by artist Robin Raznick.Banner proclaims that The Best Are Coming. The Breeders’ Cup will be held at the Del Mar Racetrack in 2017, November 3-4.La Mare De La Mer. Art of the Horse, created by artist Nancy Fraser.American Flag. Art of the Horse, created by artist Vincent Dalmaso.Hang on for the ride of your life! The Breeders’ Cup is coming to Del Mar in less than two weeks!
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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!
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Someone in downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park peers through a spy hole into a tiny Model Home.
The La Jolla Playhouse has invaded Horton Plaza Park! Several red houses have been placed inside the downtown San Diego park, and inside these tiny houses professional actors and actresses perform. A public audience can freely watch through spy holes!
Model Home is the name of this improvisational performance art concept, and anyone can check it out through Sunday. It’s a part of the La Jolla Playhouse’s annual Without Walls Festival which this year takes place in venues around downtown.
The genius behind Model Home is Mimi Lien, and I believe the idea is to inspire thought about what makes a home, and about those things in a home that individuals deem to be important.
A home is like an enclosed stage where humans act out much of their lives. As one nearby sign says, houses aren’t just structures, but contain human identity, memory and experience. Peering through the various spy holes in these Model Homes is like secretly peering into the mind of another person. It’s an inner life that the observer can never truly know.
I spoke to a couple of friendly La Jolla Playhouse folks and learned the actors and actresses inside the houses perform all day long, with periodic breaks. They are aware that eyeballs are staring in at them, but as trained acting professionals they aren’t fazed at all.
I also learned that at certain times the tiny house that is dangling from a crane is swung around through the air in a Crane Ballet! Perhaps I’ll “swing” by again this weekend and “crane” my neck at what must certainly be an unusual sight!
If you’re in downtown this weekend, you really should check it out!
Inside one tiny house I saw an actor in a small kitchen baking bread!Model Home, in downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park, is part of the La Jolla Playhouse Without Walls WOW festival! (Click image to enlarge.)Several tiny red houses stand in Horton Plaza Park–and one is dangling high in the sky from a crane!People pause to read a sign that describes some very unique and thought-provoking performance art that can be enjoyed freely by anyone passing by.Peering through one of the spy holes…Inside this very bare Model Home an actor seemed to be sleeping in poverty. But every small “stage” and improvised performance invites the viewer’s personal interpretation.Inside another Model Home were the abandoned remnants of a birthday party. I didn’t see an actor. (Perhaps the kids ran outside to play…)And inside this Model Home an actress was studying a feather, holding it up and turning it about in the soft light. She seemed to be quietly thinking.
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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 artwork painted by Dolan Stearns for the PangeaSeed Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans project in 2016 depicts the harmful presence of non-biodegradable plastic trash in the oceans.
I got off the Orange Line trolley the other day to capture photos of some cool street art on Commercial Street just east of 20th Street.
Like many other PangeaSeed Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans artwork that one can spot around San Diego, this one has an environmental message about taking care of the ocean. The mural, which illustrates the harmful effects of plastic pollution on marine life, was painted in 2016 by Dolan Stearns.
The left side of the mural shows a big, ugly yellow head spewing pollution into the water.The right side of the mural features a large pink whale.The three-eyed whale has a mouthful of plastic bags, bottles, cups and junk.The yellow human head, topped by city buildings and a smokestack, vomits disgusting waste into the blue ocean.
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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!
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A huge 16-feet-tall robot stands guard on Commercial Street!
Take the Orange Line of the San Diego Trolley down Commercial Street and you might encounter a giant 16-feet-tall robot! As if waiting to repel malicious invaders, the friendly-looking robot patiently stands guard near the corner of 22nd Street!
This unique public art was designed to add fun to the front of Paseo at Comm22, a housing project in Logan Heights east of downtown San Diego. The sculpture was created by artists Jamex and Einar de la Torre, who are brothers. The old school robot, complete with dials, gears and antennae rising from its cylindrical steel head, contains panels of stone that were carved in Tecate, Mexico. Many of these panels contain inventive, humorous Mayan designs!
Very cool!
The cool robot sculpture, made of steel and stone, was created by artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre.
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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!
One of the metal Wind Palms in front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront catches golden light at the end of an autumn day.
I walked along the Embarcadero late today. As I reached the Hilton San Diego Bayfront the sun was beginning to set. Looking up, I observed that golden rays of waning sunlight had been magically captured by some peculiar palm trees…
Sunset begins behind the trees of Embarcadero Marina Park South.Late sunlight on one of the rotating Wind Palms created by artist Ned Kahn in 2008.People walk and jog along San Diego’s Embarcadero as evening approaches.Waning rays of sunlight, magically captured.
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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!
Look at these photos! You’ll be surprised by some of the super cool art that greets local skateboarders at the Washington Street Skate Park!
I’ve always known there was some sort of outdoor art near this public skateboard park–many times I’ve glimpsed it while passing by on the trolley. So this morning I finally decided to check it out.
And I was blown away!
In addition to some simple metal rebar art along the enclosing fence, there’s a bunch of awesome mosaic tile artwork near the skatepark’s east entrance and on a dark, seldom seen wall along unused railroad tracks under Interstate 5. The above photo with the large word RESPECT was taken as I stood on the other side of the tracks. The additional photos you see were taken from a closer range.
There’s even more cool art inside the Washington Street Skatepark (which is also known as WSVT) and my camera captured one example of it. But unfortunately the park was closed this morning, so I couldn’t explore further.
In case you want to see this surprising art for yourself, the Washington Street Skate Park is located under Interstate 5 between historic Mission Brewery Plaza and Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. Look for the intersection of West Washington Street and Pacific Highway, northeast of Lindbergh Field.
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
This year, Trolley Dances includes several performances at San Diego’s downtown Central Library!
Trolley Dances in 2017 is as cool as ever!
Trolley Dances is an annual event in San Diego that uses unusual public spaces as settings for dance. The inspired, provocative performances are produced and choreographed by the San Diego Dance Theater.
Buy a ticket for this year’s event and you’ll be led on an adventure for mind, body and spirit. Mobile audiences, following Trolley Dances group leaders, disembark the San Diego Trolley’s Blue Line at various stops to view performances from Chula Vista to downtown San Diego.
Trolley Dances runs for only two weekends. It’s a brilliant concept that’s a lot of fun and full of surprises.
A few of the performances this year take place at San Diego’s downtown Central Library. I took some quick photos so that you can get a taste of what you will experience!
A mobile audience has arrived on foot from a nearby trolley station. They are led into downtown San Diego’s dynamic public library to enjoy fantastic dance performances!The dances all contain raw organic energy and beautifully expressed emotion.The dancers use the Central Library’s public entrance as an unusual stage during Trolley Dances. In another superb dance, which I didn’t photograph, the nearby escalators were used to produce an outstanding dramatic effect.Outside the library, in the courtyard, the audience now watches dancers framed in glass windows!The dancers come outside and engage the audience.Grace and power.A day enjoying the Trolley Dances makes for a great adventure!
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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!
Beside the Mission Beach boardwalk, across the street from the “Hamel’s Castle” surf shop, one can see the Green Flash.
I love fun, super creative public art!
Thanks to the imagination of Malcolm Jones, the San Diego artist who also created Imperial Beach’s Surfhenge, people can glimpse the Green Flash right next to the boardwalk that runs along Mission Beach!
This cool artwork is inspired by that rare sunset phenomenon called the green flash. An educational plaque also provides a scientific explanation of why the color green might briefly appear. I like to learn new things, too!
People head down the always busy Mission Beach boardwalk, not far from public art titled Green Flash.The Green Flash seems to rise just above the far horizon of the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean.A plaque says who created this unusual public artwork. Green Flash by Malcolm Jones, 2002. Solid cast acrylic and concrete.A beachgoer walks under the Green Flash in Mission Beach. I see Belmont Park’s Giant Dipper roller coaster in the background.The sunset phenomenon called the green flash is often cited but seldom seen. A diagram shows how near-horizontal sunlight is refracted through the atmosphere.I think I’ve finally glimpsed the elusive Green Flash!
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Amazing works of art are being created by the world’s top sand sculptors at the 2017 U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge in San Diego!
This morning I headed to the 2017 U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge. Here are photographs of ten amazing pieces of art that were being worked on by some of the world’s top sand sculptors. These amazing artists have won numerous sand sculpting championships. It’s easy to see why!
The theme this year is Now and Then. The sculptures all had something to say about the passage of time. I saw youth and old age. I saw glimpses of eternity. I saw essential human beauty: profound, elegant, alive. Carved in mere sand.
If you want to be awestruck, go see these sculptures before time (and a broom) sweeps them away. They’re down on the Broadway Pier inside the Port Pavilion through Labor Day.
Susanne Ruseler, top sand artist from the Netherlands, works on a fine sculpture that juxtaposes youth and old age.Bringing a profound vision to life using compacted sand and a few simple tools.A careful touch to bring out inner feeling.Master sand sculptor Ilya Filimontsev from Moscow, Russia creates an exquisite work of art. He won the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge in 2016.Master sand sculptor Dan Belcher from St. Louis, Missouri is creating an expressive, fantastic face.Thoughtful eyes gaze at each other.Abram Waterman is a Sand Master from Prince Edward Island, Canada. His sculpture is amazing, too.Looks like circuits in silicon that have come to life.Sue McGrew of Tacoma, Washington works on some monumental sand art that represents the continuum of time.Sue’s sketchbook provides some insight into her piece. The dividing line between past, present and future is an illusion.Numerals representing time whirl in the mind.Sand Master Thomas Koet, from Melbourne, Florida, creates amazing artwork that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated.Another fantastic work of art at the 2017 U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge.Rusty Croft from Carmel, California is carving a fantastic horse’s head made of sand.The sand horse’s interior appears to be made of mechanical parts!Sand Master Fergus Mulvany from Dublin, Ireland is creating a cool sculpture that is abstract and layered.Stepping back with shovel to have a good look. Fluid links seem to represent the flowing nature of time.Morgan Rudluff from Santa Cruz, California is creating some great sand art. It shows campers gazing from a mountaintop into the far distance. Looks to me like she’s just getting started.Melineige Beauregard from Montreal, Canada demonstrates what time does to even the most mighty.The most beautiful, amazing sand art on the planet right now can be found in San Diego–through Labor Day!
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
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