Artwork now on display in the SDSU Downtown Gallery includes extraordinary furniture!
Some fantastic, highly innovative art is now on display at the SDSU Downtown Gallery. Tom Loeser: Please Please Please is the title of the surprising exhibition.
Walk through the door of the SDSU Downtown Gallery and you might not be sure whether you’ve entered a bizarre furniture and hardware store or a dream-place where art conforms to your body. Those abstract paintings on the wall actually unfold into chairs! Those shovel handles in a row form the back of a beautifully crafted wooden bench! That colorful “luggage” tossed in a heap in one corner seems more appropriate for a comfortable living room than a cargo hold!
According to a sign in the gallery, Tom Loeser imagines new ways that the body, furniture and space can interact. He wonders: if the furniture we sit on were totally different, how might our lives be different too?
I can tell you resting on these pieces (and you’re allowed to actually sit on a few of his tumblers) would put me in a very creative and happy state of mind.
As I sat I might gaze at Tom Loeser’s artwork on the gallery’s walls, which includes fantastic blue cyanotypes and strangely elemental pyrography. Transformed by the artist’s genius, ordinary objects seem to radiate a weird spiritual essence. The images, like his furniture, seem to present a vision of unexpected potentialities in our practical, solidly physical world.
If you love really clever art, check out the SDSU Downtown Gallery before this exhibition ends on October 28, 2018!
The art exhibition Tom Loeser: Please Please Please is now showing in downtown San Diego.Two works of art by Tom Loeser. Not a Dozen Even, 2014, cyanotype. Double Dig, 2016, white oak and shovel handles.S/M/L, 2014, cyanotype by artist Tom Loeser.A room full of practical objects made dreamlike.Dig for Three, 2015, walnut and shovel handles by artist Tom Loeser.LA/Chicago/New York, 2016, plywood, wood, felt, paint by artist Tom Loeser.A colorful tumbler that can be sat upon comfortably any which way.Folding Chair, 1987, painted plywood, maple, stainless steel by artist Tom Loeser.Scythe by Scythe, 2016, maple, hickory, scythe handles by artist Tom Loeser.
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Some of the coolest posters you’re likely to ever see are now on display at the SDSU Downtown Gallery! Take a look at a few examples!
The exhibition is titled Give-and-Take: Poster Design by Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell. Thirty-four awesome posters by the husband and wife team leap out from the walls and make the viewer feel they’ve entered dazzling, conceptually complex three-dimensional puzzles.
In their posters the two artists have created a unique fusion of analog and digital technology. Skolos is a graphic designer and Wedell is a photographer. Many of the posters were brainstormed and carefully worked out by collaging bits of colored paper and images cut from magazines. The posters in the gallery were produced between 1980 (many years before the advent of high quality digital design) and 2017.
Skolos-Wedell posters have been collected by the likes of the Smithsonian Design Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.
This very special exhibition at the SDSU Downtown Gallery runs through July 22, 2018. Admission is free!
Give-and-Take: Poster Design by Nancy Skolds and Thomas Wedell.The SDSU Downtown Gallery now has a very cool exhibition concerning poster design.
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Spaces from Yesterday is a collaborative exhibition at the SDSU Downtown Gallery featuring the art projects of three San Quentin inmates. (Click image to enlarge for easier reading.)
There’s a fascinating exhibition right now at the SDSU Downtown Gallery. It’s titled Spaces from Yesterday and features the artwork of three San Quentin inmates.
The artwork was created in collaboration with San Quentin State Prison art teacher Amy M. Ho, who also has a few related pieces in the exhibition. But the work that I found most interesting came directly from the hands of the inmates.
All three of the artists summon happy memories from their childhood. These images are warm, but also hard-edged and unpeopled. One work, The Hallway by Dennis Crookes, almost looks like a long, harsh, narrow prison hallway that finally leads to a home’s light-filled kitchen.
I could find no explanation why these three were incarcerated in the San Quentin correctional complex, which contains California’s only death row for male inmates. That would seem to be an essential part of the story, and might explain certain qualities of the art. But the anecdotes that are written do reveal a common yearning for a past life that is fondly remembered.
The following photos show a description of each piece, followed by the actual artwork.
Spaces from Yesterday will be on display through January 28, 2018. Those interested in art, creativity, and often hidden aspects of human life should check it out. Admission to the SDSU Downtown Gallery is free.
Prison art teacher Amy M. Ho and Dennis Crookes began planning The Hallway collaboration while Crookes was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.The Hallway, Dennis Crookes, acrylic on canvas, 2016.The Garage, a collaboration with inmate Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., contains warm memories from a playful childhood.The Garage, Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., mixed media on cardboard, 2016.Chanthon Bun painted memories from a childhood that included a play fort in an abandoned lot, comic books, baseball cards and a fish pond he created with his siblings and young relatives.The Last Summer, Chanthon Bun, acrylic on canvas, 2017.
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Legendary musician Oscar Amezcua performs on stage with his sons during a Cinco de Mayo concert in Balboa Park.
What a treat! This evening I got to listen to legendary Mariachi Leader Oscar Amezcua perform in a special Cinco de Mayo concert in Balboa Park!
Along with stirring performances by the City Heights Music School Mariachi Ensemble, Jarabe Mexicano and the really outstanding SDSU Jazz Ensemble, Oscar Amezcua wowed the crowd with his passionate voice and irrepressible personality! Two standing ovations were well-earned!
The 87-year-old musical legend has performed for American presidents, dignitaries and countless adoring fans. It’s no mystery why he is loved by so many. Life sparkles in his eyes. His timeless voice comes directly from the heart.
A free concert in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion on Cinco de Mayo featured beloved, world-famous Mariachi Leader Don Oscar Amezcua.Donation box for the Kiwanis Club of San Diego, who along with the SDSU School of Music and Dance presented the special Cinco de Mayo Concert in the Park. Over the years Kiwanis has provided many generous scholarships for SDSU students.Event emcee Carlos Amezcua, son of Oscar Amezcua, and his KUSI Good Morning San Diego co-host Lisa Remillard get the program started with a few words.Kevin Lomes sings Granada with a powerful voice that deeply moved the audience.Art Stillwell of the San Diego Kiwanis Club remembers benefactor Bill Gibbs by ringing a Tibetan singing bowl.The City Heights Music School Mariachi Ensemble plays for the large crowd.Oscar Amezcua comes onto the stage at the Spreckels Organ Pavillion, introduced by his popular journalist son Carlos.Legendary Mariachi Leader Oscar Amezcua was born in Jalisco, Mexico. He immigrated to San Diego in 1945 and proceeded to make music history.The ageless Oscar Amezcua sings. Mariachi music is full of vigor, passion and joy.San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer presents a plaque. May 5, 2017 is officially Oscar Amezcua Day.Oscar, his three sons and daughter on stage together. I saw some tears. A moment in history.People can’t help dancing.Love of life. Pure and simple.
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People walk along Broadway near the entrance of the SDSU Downtown Gallery.
One of the sites that I visited this weekend during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s OPEN HOUSE 2017 was the SDSU Downtown Gallery. I’d never stepped into the small art gallery before. Rotating exhibits feature the work of faculty and students at SDSU.
The building in which the gallery is housed, located at the corner of Kettner Boulevard and Broadway, served as the 1911 Station B power plant of the San Diego Electric Railway. The historic railway, which served a large area of early San Diego, was established by John D. Spreckels.
According to a short tour and handout I was given, a circa 1900 building at this location served as an earlier San Diego Electric Railway power house, railcar barn and paint shop. Some enormous doors still exist in the building today where train cars would enter and exit. I also learned the extravagant 1897 Los Banos bathhouse stood at the building’s northwest corner–but there remains no trace of that historic old structure.
In 1921, San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric Company purchased Station B, and two additions to the building were subsequently made. The additions were designed by famed architect William Templeton Johnson.
Today the original Station B power plant contains powerful works of art, and forms a section of the base of the skyscraping Electra Building, a modern residential development built in 2008.
Please enjoy some photos of the gallery and the historic building.
If you love art and find yourself downtown while the gallery is open, swing on by!
Now part of the high-rise Electra Building, this originally was the 1911 Station B power plant of the San Diego Electric Railway.Historical ornamentation above the front entrance of the SDSU Downtown Gallery.Walk through these beads to enjoy a small but dynamic art gallery in downtown San Diego.Works on the gallery walls were produced by faculty and students at San Diego State University. Exhibits change every few months.Description of current gallery exhibit by faculty and students of San Diego State University. Every Which Way investigates artistic experience and human movement.Visitor to the gallery checks out thought-provoking artwork.Fear/Less, 2016, by Troy Guard.Works of human imagination along one wall.The serigraphs on this wall were made by students in the SDSU Graphic Design program. Imagery depicts ocean and desert ecosystems as migratory environments.More eye-catching works of art.Some of the pieces are quite unusual and creative.A short tour begins in the SDSU Downtown Gallery–Just one fascinating tour during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s OPEN HOUSE 2017.We are shown various photos, including Station B behind Santa Fe Depot in the 1960s. The smokestacks were removed in the 1980s.Old photo of Los Banos, a bathhouse which was located just south of Santa Fe Depot. The neo-Moorish structure designed by William S. Hebbard and Irving J. Gill opened in 1897.One of the enormous, heavy doors is opened from inside the historic building. I was told these were used for a railcar barn.Our small tour group walks down the sidewalk along the Broadway side of the SDSU Downtown Gallery building.Now we are at the southeast corner of the large Electra Building, which rises above the historic San Diego Gas and Electric building.A symbolic painting inside the SDSU Downtown Gallery. Waves Inside, 2016, by Alison Zuniga.
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It’s true! I have indisputable proof of what many in San Diego will never believe. I took the shocking photograph a couple days ago at Petco Park.
For the first time ever in recorded history, that outspoken, highly opinionated San Diego Padres and SDSU Aztecs play-by-play radio announcer Ted Leitner aka Uncle Teddy . . . was left . . . wordless!
For the first time ever in San Diego history, Padres and Aztecs play-by-play announcer Ted Leitner is left wordless!
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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!
Face of iconic sculpture Aztec, presented to SDSU in 1937 by San Diego artist Donal Hord.
An iconic work of art can be found at San Diego State University. The diorite sculpture is considered by many to be a modernist masterpiece–some have called it one of the finest stone figures ever sculpted. Its renowned artist, Donal Hord, who lived most of his life in San Diego, referred to his creation as Aztec or The Aztec. He presented the amazing sculpture to SDSU in 1937 during a Founder’s Day celebration.
I headed over to SDSU yesterday to see the sculpture for myself and hopefully take some photos. I was struck by the quiet strength, nobility and simplicity of the work. I could have rested my eyes and mind upon the Aztec for a very long while. It touched my innermost feelings about humanity–elevating those feelings. Art done well cuts deeper than philosophy. It reaches deep inside like potent magic.
Donal Hord with Aztec, 1937, at San Diego State University. Public domain image from the collection of the Archives of American Art.The sculpture’s base, which was presented to SDSU by the graduating class of 1937, has a plaque with the title Montezuma. The artist himself called his piece the Aztec.A tranquil, bold sculpture that evokes feelings of human nobility.Side view of the Aztec shows gracefully folded hands and strongly planted feet.The diorite sculpture seems to be carved from the eternal substance of the black, star-filled cosmos. Light upon its curving surface is like gentle light on rippled water.An expression of strength, thoughtfulness, humility. An iconic image one will not soon forget.
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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 share and enjoy!
Fans of local sports teams pose with favorite mascots during the big Celebrate San Diego event at Petco Park!
Check out these fun photos! This morning I headed down to Petco Park to enjoy Celebrate San Diego, a big event today that thanks and promotes local sports teams, both professional and college. I believe the special event was designed to give a boost to local teams, now that the NFL Chargers have left San Diego. A great idea!
We’ve got lots of exciting sports action in San Diego, from baseball to hockey to soccer to college football and basketball . . . you name it! Teams strutting their stuff at the big event today included the San Diego Padres, the San Diego Gulls, the San Diego Sockers, and the athletic programs of local colleges SDSU, UCSD, USD, Point Loma Nazarene University, and California State University San Marcos. I hope I didn’t forget anybody!
The event was so cool and uplifting, why not do this every year?
Now, I suppose I need to go watch some of these teams play!
UPDATE! Wow! I just now saw that a summer Padres Blood Drive was announced during the event after I left! (Maybe somebody read my earlier blog post concerning the idea, or the Padres employee I spoke to while waiting for the gate to open relayed the idea. In any event–hooray! Lives will be saved!)
Heading toward Petco Park, where the San Diego Padres play major league baseball. An event today promoted many local pro and college teams, now that the NFL Chargers have left our city.A big crowd waits to enter the gates at Petco Park.Thousands came out today to Celebrate San Diego! We have some awesome sports teams!Many tents were set up in Petco’s Park at the Park by local radio stations and broadcasters. Lots of free stuff was given out. I got a cool MLB Padres cap!Lots of photos and selfies were being taken!The event had barely begun and already the Park at the Park was getting packed!I liked this fun balloon guy on stilts. It was hard to miss him!A table promoted the second round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, which takes place March 14 – 19 at Petco Park in San Diego.The ball field is seriously messed up with mounds of dirt and bulldozers. Oh–now I remember–Monster Jam is coming next weekend to Petco Park.The San Diego Padres happy mascot, the Swinging Friar, greets visitors to the popular local sports teams event.A city firetruck had a Padres flag flying from their ladder behind the Tony Gwynn statue.Kids were enjoying various sport-related activities at Park at the Park, including shooting hoops.A player from the legendary San Diego Sockers indoor soccer team defends a tiny goal as a young man prepares to shoot.Local colleges had tents up promoting their teams and schools. All sorts of games were scattered around the grass including table football.The small baseball diamond at Park at the Park was alive with excitement. This young fan smashed a line drive.Running the bases wearing an old Chargers team shirt. Now that those guys have “bolted” we can boost our support for other local teams!Posing for photos with Gulliver, the San Diego Gulls hockey mascot, and Sunny the Socker, the new mascot of the San Diego Sockers!According to a countdown clock on the Western Metal Supply Co. building, there are 55 days until baseball’s Opening Day!A family descends stairs near a thank you to Padres members.Diego Torero, mascot for the University of San Diego, hangs out with the crowd at Celebrate San Diego!Cheerleaders get the crowd pumped as free swag is thrown from the stage to the gathered sports fans!Cheer squads performed from UCSD, SDSU, USD, Point Loma Nazarene University and California State University San Marcos. I hope I didn’t forget anybody!King Triton, mascot of University of California San Diego, gives me a hearty greeting!Just good fun. The way sports is supposed to be.These kids seems a bit unimpressed by the Aztec Warrior, mascot of San Diego State University.UCSD cheerleaders start an energetic routine!What a perfect day. It’s a fine city with lots of great sports fans.San Diego came out today to celebrate and root on their local sports teams!
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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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