Tag: sculpture

Walking through Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper.

Yesterday I walked through Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper.

What’s that?

Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper is the unusual name of a very cool sculpture that rises in recently opened Progress Park. Progress Park is located in downtown San Diego near the waterfront, at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive.

The beautiful new park is part of the Research and Development District (RaDD) complex. The sculpture is part of the RaDD Artwalk. It was commissioned by IQHQ, through the City of San Diego Art in Private Development program.

The creator of this very unique public art is gt2P (Great things to People), a Santiago de Chile based collaborative studio collective.

This unusual sculpture is a geometric structure that utilizes something called Voronoi tessellation. The mathematical concept is nicely described on this webpage.

Until recently, the new park was surrounded by a construction fence. But yesterday I noticed the fence was down. So I had to walk under and through the sculpture with my camera!

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The Surreal World of José Sacal in downtown San Diego!

A great exhibition of art in downtown San Diego is scheduled to close this weekend. A UNIVERSAL MEXICAN: The Surreal World of José Sacal, on view at UCSD Park & Market, continues through October 25, 2025.

I’m glad I experienced José Sacal‘s bronze sculptures today, before they vanish. You can see from my photos how the artist has interpreted famous people and images from photographs and paintings.

As this UCSD Park & Market webpage explains, the exhibit invites audiences to experience emotionally charged, politically resonant sculptures that reimagine cultural and historical figures—from Einstein and Gandhi to Frida Kahlo and Don Quixote—through Sacal’s distinctive abstract lens. Known for his expressive bronze and ceramic works, Sacal challenged traditional forms to explore themes of identity, justice, and the human condition.

If you want to view these sculptures in person, do it soon. Head upstairs to the second floor of UCSD Park & Market.

The sculptures are arranged along the windows of the art gallery. Reflection and shadow from incoming sunlight gives these unique pieces additional character.

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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 X.

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A butterfly in the Garden of Transformation!

Liberty Station in Point Loma boasts many great works of public art. The Garden of Transformation, with its colorful, luminous butterfly, is one of my favorites! You can find it in the North Promenade near the Stone Brewing patio.

Sunlight shines through the monarch butterfly’s translucent wings producing a rainbow-like effect. It’s magical.

Garden of Transformation was dedicated almost exactly a year ago, in October 2024. The steel and dichroic laminated acrylic sculpture was created by San Diego artist Kaori Fukuyama. (Perhaps you’ve seen her Wave of Change on the front of the Target store in North Park.)

The small garden where this stunning butterfly lives is an official Monarch Waystation. The space contains milkweeds and other nectar plants. According to a sign near the art, between early spring and fall you might observe adult butterflies, young caterpillars, chrysalis, and other pollinators here.

A native seed library stands nearby.

The artist, in her statement, envisions “this installation as a welcoming space where people from diverse backgrounds can come together to observe monarch butterflies and learn about the conservation of this important species…”

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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.

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Under the Same Sun sculpture in San Ysidro!

UNDER THE SAME SUN – BAJO EL MISMO SOL

These unifying words–in English and Spanish–are suspended in the sky above San Ysidro.

During my last walk up San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor, I noticed this public art for the first time. According to a plaque, the painted steel sculpture is dated 2023. It’s by artist Janelle Iglesias, who lives in San Diego. It was commissioned for the residents of San Diego by the Commission for Arts and Culture.

Where is the Cultural Corridor you might ask?

San Ysidro’s alley-like Cultural Corridor extends north along Cypress Drive from San Ysidro Boulevard to the trolley tracks near the Beyer Avenue station. Walk up it and you’ll see many colorful murals.

At the north end you’ll pass under these words. They remind us that we all live under the same life-giving sun.

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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.

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Frogman statue installed in downtown San Diego!

A lifelike bronze statue of a Navy SEAL frogman was installed this morning in downtown San Diego!

The frogman sculpture arrived by box truck, which parked on Kettner Boulevard near One America Plaza, just outside the future Navy SEAL Museum San Diego. (The museum opens very soon–on October 4, 2025.)

With extreme care, slowly, methodically, the new public art was removed from its crate and elevated to its black marble pedestal, which had been installed outside the museum a few days ago.

I and some bystanders were wondering how exactly the operation would proceed. We watched with great interest, and I snapped a bunch of photos.

Words engraved on the pedestal explain:

This statue is adapted from the original at the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida. It depicts a SEAL placing a limpet mine, an underwater explosive device.

It was designed by master bronze portrait sculptor Lena Toritch, and honors the U.S. Navy SEAL combat diver: a symbol of unwavering courage, stealth, and precision, standing as a testament to their dedication, rigorous training, and selfless service to our nation.

Cleaning the top of the pedestal…

Injecting epoxy into four holes atop the supporting pedestal…

Aha! They’re going to use straps.

Tilting the diving frogman sculpture upright.

Up it goes!

So far, so good!

Centering it…

Workers screw in four rods, which will descend into the epoxy-filled holes on top of the pedestal.

Success!

As I understood it, the statue would remain this way for a while as the epoxy hardened. So I left.

I returned several hours later and found…

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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.

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An artistic seed library in Barrio Logan!

A very cool seed library stands in Barrio Logan. The metal sculpture, resembling a growing plant, can be found on the sidewalk outside Libélula Books. I saw it the other day while walking around.

I spoke to someone at the bookstore. She didn’t know who placed the seed library here. Perhaps someone reading my blog knows.

This is definitely the most creative seed library I’ve ever found!

When stocked, community members can find seeds to plant in their yard or garden. It’s a great concept. Seed libraries promote food security, local biodiversity, and self-reliance.

Here’s proof they can double as a work of art, too!

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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.

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Oars row again through Chula Vista sky!

Wind Oars are rowing again through Chula Vista’s blue sky!

During previous walks through Chula Vista’s Bayside Park, I’d noticed the oars of the public art sculpture were missing from their posts. Yesterday I saw they’re back!

The wind-driven oars had been taken down temporarily to be refurbished once before, many years ago, so I assume that’s what happened again.

As I walked beside San Diego Bay yesterday afternoon, finding the oars rowing through the blue summer sky, I had to take a few photographs. The immense, newly opened Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center is visible in the background of one photo.

Wind Oars, as explained by Port of San Diego’s self-guided Chula Vista tidelands art tour, was created by George Peters and Melanie Walker in 2004. The kinetic sculpture is made of aluminum, polycarbonate and prismatic film.

You can visit the Air Works Studio website of artists George Peters and Melanie Walker 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.

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Eduardo Chillida’s amazing sculptures in San Diego!

Fantastic public sculptures by world-renowned Spanish Basque artist Eduardo Chillida stand in cities around the globe. San Diego is fortunate that many Chillida sculptures–large and small–can now be experienced in an important exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art!

Eduardo Chillida: Convergence includes dozens of amazing abstract pieces that challenge museum visitors with their visual complexity.

Many of these sculptures combine sharp angles with sinuous curves, and are puzzle-like. They can make one wonder about the composition of reality–how space and matter interact.

As the San Diego Museum of Art web page explains: Each of these creations are points of convergence where myriad forces, including nature and culture, material and immaterial, form and void, all meet.

I like how many of the sculptures appear like paper cut in irregular ways with scissors then twisted impossibly every which way. Gazing at the sculptures from different angles, I wondered if their divergent parts could somehow be pieced together.

They somehow recall that three-dimensional puzzle cube I once played with as a boy. One docent at the museum told me a child called these sculptures Puzzles of the Gods. How appropriate!

The sculptures can be made of oak, iron, alabaster or other earthy materials. There are also works on paper. For very abstract works of art, they are strangely natural, weirdly familiar. Chillida liked to call himself a realist sculptor.

Visitors have the opportunity, for an additional five dollars, to experience a virtual reality flight around Comb of the Wind XV, Chillida’s famous installation that rises above the bluffs of La Concha Bay in San Sebastián, Spain.

This awesome exhibition continues through February 8, 2026 at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Stimulate your eyes and brain and go see it!

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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.

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Archaic Passage at the Old Town Transit Center.

Travelers at the Old Town Transit Center might find themselves walking through an underground passageway. The tunnel safely crosses beneath the San Diego Trolley and train tracks. In this shadowy place curious eyes will encounter public art titled Archaic Passage.

Not in a hurry to catch your bus or other transportation? There are plaques on either end of the passageway that you can read. They provide information about this unique art…

“ARCHAIC PASSAGE”

COMMISSIONED BY SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT BOARD JUNE 1996

DESIGNED BY SAN DIEGO ARTIST PAUL HOBSON, “ARCHAIC PASSAGE” CELEBRATES THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF OLD TOWN, FROM NATIVE AMERICAN TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES. ART MATERIALS USED–CARRIZO CANE, WOOD, STUCCO, ADOBE, BRICK, CLAY ROOF AND DECORATIVE TILES–REPRESENT BUILDING MATERIALS USED TO BUILD OLD TOWN. EACH GEOLOGICAL STRATA-LIKE WAVE REFLECTS A SIGNIFICANT ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.

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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.

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Two sculptures seen entering Escondido!

If you’ve driven into downtown Escondido from Interstate 15, there’s a chance you’ve spotted these two fun sculptures on West Grand Avenue.

The first, a red, white and blue rooster, stands at the end of Hawthorne Country Store’s lot.

The second sculpture is located a very short distance away, in front of Raining Cats & Dogs. This one is covered with colorful mosaics depicting sea life.

I can’t tell you a thing about either sculpture–apart from the fact I love them.

Know anything? Leave a comment!

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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.

Feel free to share!