A surprising new exhibit opened yesterday at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park. Farm to Craft: Grains in Global Folk Art is now on display in the museum’s first floor Entry Level, where admission is free to all visitors.
The beautiful handmade crafts from around the world are a treat for the eyes. These artistic works come from farms–from grown material like straw, rice, wheat or corn.
Crafts include dolls and toys. Some of the creations are made to be worn. Others were designed to be useful farming tools or containers. Excessive plant material that might otherwise be discarded is made useful!
I took a few photographs.
These exquisite crafts from the museum’s collection will be on view through January 10, 2027.
Perhaps, after viewing the exhibit, you’ll be inspired to fold your own corn husk creation–such as those roses made by street performers. Here’s a short video on how to craft a simple, easy corn husk flower!
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If you love San Diego Comic-Con, you’ll love Black Comix Day!
All this Valentine’s Day weekend, artists, writers and publishers of African descent will be showcasing their work at the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. The annual event is free, and it will blow your mind!
The last two years at Black Comix Day I met dozens of friendly creators. This year I saw quite a few new participants.
Together they have produced fantastic comics, graphic novels, books, animation, films, figurines, posters and more. Much of the work is informed by their unique experiences as artists of African descent.
Many of the participants come from outside San Diego. Most are self-publishing entrepreneurs with big dreams. Some of the artists have worked professionally or won prestigious awards.
Everywhere you turn, both outside and inside the WorldBeat Cultural Center, there’s something new and very cool. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, Afro-futurism, superheroes, just about anything the human mind can imagine. It’s pop culture heaven!
Read the photo captions and click links to learn about some stuff I saw…
Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls is the Civil War story of a man who escaped enslavement. He’d go on to make a huge impact on American history. There’s a graphic novel, and a major motion picture is in development! Click here.Buy some great books at this outdoor table and you’ll support the Malcolm X Library in Valencia Park!Derek Johnson wrote the noir supernatural horror The Caretaker. He’s a Las Vegas filmmaker and comic creator! Click here to support his work!Mike Haynes-Pitts created The Surge Series! It’s about Afrofuturistic, cyberpunk Africa hundreds of years in the future! His Instagram is here.Smiles at the Wingless Entertainment table. They publish comic books, coloring books and more cool stuff. Click here!The Agents of S.O.U.L. and creator David Phillips have many adventures! Check out the DP Comix website here.New Creation Comics is an independent Christian Publisher. Look at all the cool superhero-like covers! Their website is here.Vampires! Blade! Vampirella! Look at the cool pop culture images created by Attiba Royster at his website here!Bryttney-Mischele Salvant was creating a beautiful surreal expressionist piece at her table. To see more, visit her Poetic Artistry website here!More smiling creators! It’s cartoonist and printmaker Lyssette Williams, and Annika B., who wrote Current Objective and was busy creating a business card!What would happen if you turned the Frankenstein monster into a werewolf? To find the answer, check out this website by Eisner Award winning editor, writer and producer Chris Robinson!
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What would Balboa Park be without its dedicated volunteers?
What is the park with its volunteers? Much more beautiful and amazing!
Today I noticed a crew of people beautifying the Alcazar Garden. I learned that in several weeks new spring plantings will be made. But the garden is always lovely.
Let’s all give thanks to the raking, weed-pulling, hard-working Garden Stewards you see in these photographs and the many other volunteers!
I encountered more volunteers busy roaming about Balboa Park picking up litter!
Check out the bags of garbage in the next couple photos. Those bags represent only one hour of work!
It is the generous work of many volunteer hands.
Would you like to volunteer, too?
There’s lots of different stuff you can do! No experience required!
Today was the very first free resident day at the Gaslamp Museum!
On the second Thursday of each month, San Diego residents, active military and seniors now receive free admission to the museum. The Gaslamp Museum is located at 410 Island Avenue in the historic Davis-Horton House.
I last visited the house nine years ago and took some interior photos with an inferior camera. To see those dark photographs, click here. You can also read more about the museum and the house’s rich history.
Today I took a few more inside photos. Visitors can see various rooms as they might have appeared in the 19th century.
If you love history–in particular the history of early San Diego–you should visit yourself!
Mysterious symbols and figures can be seen at your feet when you stand on the passenger platform at the SDSU trolley station. Lean over in the dim light and look closely. What are they?
The mystery is solved when you learn these symbols are part of a larger public art installation at the SDSU Transit Center. In 2005, when San Diego’s only underground trolley station first opened, artist Anne Mudge and the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) debuted the art.
What you’ve discovered at your feet is called Stepping Stones. As this page on Anne Mudge’s website explains: Etched into the surfaces of 60 granite “stepping stones” are symbols of various cultural and academic disciplines found on the SDSU campus. The granite stones interrupt and redirect the linear flow of bricks around them, just as ideas impact the surrounding intellectual and cultural environments.
Visit the above link for descriptions of other works in this art installation, which are visible inside and around the SDSU Transit Center.
Students waiting at the trolley station can step from ideas to microchips to the Earth to people to atoms…
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Yesterday I photographed two murals on Adams Avenue that celebrate San Diego’s historic Normal Heights neighborhood.
The first one is painted on the side of Dino’s Barber Shop at 3184 Adams Avenue. The mural features an old streetcar, colorful shops and the Normal Heights landmark sign.
The fun, nostalgic art was created by muralist Caroline Birch.
Can you spot two barber poles in my first photo?
A short walk away, a bit north on 32nd Street, you can find another very cool Normal Heights mural.
This one was painted by Hanna Daly of Hanna’s Murals back in 2022.
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I think this is a burro. It has long ears. This particular critter, whatever it might be, is also extremely colorful! Perhaps it’s a huge piñata.
I spotted the painted metal sculpture as I walked down Adams Avenue in North Park, just east of 30th Street. It stands on the sidewalk in front of El Zarape Mexican Eatery.
I like this fun burro so much, I took several photos!
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Valentine’s Day is coming up next Saturday. I noticed today that Balboa Park is getting ready. Hearts are appearing all over San Diego’s dearly beloved park!
First, look what I found when I stepped into the Balboa Park Visitors Center. Smiles and matching hearts!
I noticed Valentine’s Day balloons in the Plaza de Panama…
The 50th Annual Small Image Show is taking place in Spanish Village’s Gallery 21, now called the Village Arts Outreach Gallery. The free exhibition continues through Sunday, February 22, 2026.
I found a heart among the small works of art!
Here’s a beautiful kiln formed glass heart created by Spanish Village artist Jackie Murphy.
Perhaps not the heart you were expecting! One of many unique works at the San Diego Sculptors Guild seems made for pumping . . . love?
I found another heart–this time in the House of France cottage at the International Cottages.
This cool old 1909 International Harvester 5-Passenger Tourer at the San Diego Automotive Museum has a big heart!
Sign in the House of Germany cottage states: Balboa Park is the heart of San Diego! Keep it FREE for Everyone!
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Have you been inside the San Diego Library’s branch in Mission Valley? The library offers beautiful views, particularly from the second floor mezzanine and the adjacent outdoor patio.
These first few photos are from the Mission Valley Library mezzanine, where there are desks perfect for quiet reading or study. Artistic ceiling supports appear like trees with spreading leafy branches.
One can gaze down at the interior of the library. Aesthetically, it’s quite pleasing. The silvery gray metal and light brown wood makes the space feel very clean, orderly and open.
Now we’re looking from the interior mezzanine toward the outdoor patio. Much natural light comes through those windows.
Outside, the partially enclosed patio is a wind-sheltered place where anyone can lounge in the sun, breathe fresh air, and gaze out over the trolley tracks and the Fenton Parkway Station toward trees along the San Diego River. The grassy SDSU Mission Valley river park stretches to the east, where people walk and play sports.
Wouldn’t you like to hang out here?
Finally, here’s what the south side of the Mission Valley Library looks like from outside. That’s the semi-circular patio up above.
The library building opened in 2002. It has received the award for Best Institutional Design from the American Institute of Architects.
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These friendly ladies in old-fashioned attire were working on a quilt!
They showed me how they’re creating a new quilt that honors the women of Old Town.
The square in my next photograph depicts the three daughters of Juan Bandini, one of early San Diego’s most prominent residents.
As this article explains: During the Mexican-American war and during the United States’ “Conquest” of California, Juan Bandini supported the Americans. His three daughters are even credited with making the first American flag that was raised in the Old Town Plaza on July 29, 1846–the day John Charles Fremont arrived in town.
That explains the inclusion of a United States flag.
The ladies of Threads of the Past are also working on their annual quilt to be raffled during the next Fourth of July celebration in Old Town. Kids have contributed art to many small squares. The project raises funds for the Boosters of Old Town San Diego.
If you’re ever walking in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, look for Threads of the Past. If their door is open, step inside!
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Cool San Diego Sights! 