Walk through the front entrance of Chula Vista City Hall and you’re immediately greeted by very unique art.
Symbiotic is the name of this Civic Center exhibition. All of the pieces are by printmaker, painter, writer and poet Joelle Cook (@wolfprintsart).
As a nearby sign explains: Symbiotic is the debut solo show of artist and author Joelle Cook… Her art is an exploration of the ways the biological world and the architecture of manmade forms overlap, and how that lends to a new kind of worldbuilding driven by this mix of natural beings and hard shapes.
I noticed that for many of the artists’ pieces, images of living things are created by combining simple and complex polygons–“hard shapes” defined by rigidly straight lines.
In an unexpected way, these creations might remind viewers of a scientific truth. The astonishingly complex living world around us arises from more basic geometry. Think individual molecules and atoms.
Go check out this cool exhibition and see it all for yourself!
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An organization is turning an inspired idea into reality in Chula Vista. Why can’t vacant storefront windows become art galleries?
“Art Through the Glass” is an initiative of the San Diego Art Society. See their webpage concerning this project, and an example of a storefront gallery at the Chula Vista Mall, by clicking here.
Turning vacant storefront windows into galleries can benefit so many people: local artists who receive valuable public exposure, and the greater community, which receives enjoyment and a surprising cultural experience!
Look at those smiling people in my first photo! They’re the force behind this very cool initiative! I met them yesterday at the Chula Vista ArtFest.
I was told efforts are being concentrated on storefront windows in Chula Vista along Broadway. Seems to me this great idea could be applied everywhere! Why not?
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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.
I can’t believe how many great artists came out this afternoon to the 2025 Chula Vista ArtFest! The annual event, which celebrates local artists from South Bay, was held in the outdoor courtyard of Chula Vista City Hall.
A big crowd gathered to meet artists and view some live painting. Most of the creators I saw had a table overflowing with completed works for sale.
The festival also featured representatives from the City of Chula Vista, community organizations, art-related vendors, live music on a stage and plenty of food.
I met many of the artists, and was wowed by their amazing creativity. As you’ll see, one of the artists was winner of a super prestigious Eisner Award!
Consider supporting these artists by clicking links to their websites or social media.
First, let’s meet some smiling people working for the City of Chula Vista. They were providing information that helps residents care for the environment.
On Saturday, October 18, you can join others in your community to Beautify Chula Vista!
Learn more about this great volunteer activity by clicking here.
Now a few fun photos before we meet some artists…
First artist is Tanisha McCullough, aka Nini, a super talented youth who loves to create portraits in oil paint!
The next creator, Tony Washington, won a 2024 Eisner Award at Comic-Con! He’s also a New York Times best selling artist!
His professional accomplishments, which include work in comic books, animated movies and video games, will blow your mind. See them here!
Next artist I met was Ed Roeder. Check out some of his awesome pop culture stuff!
He and his wife, both artists, operate the website Castle by Design.
Next is cool self-taught artist T. Jay Santa Ana. He’s fascinated by Time, Space, and Line… an expressionist and a surrealist experimenting in a framework of abstractions.
@GRASSHOPPERCV.OFFICIAL was airbrushing shirts and stuff at Chula Vista ArtFest.
Last, but certainly not least, is Chicana artist Isabel Garcia (@artbyisbl) from Southeast San Diego. She was just as nice as the first time I met her, years ago! Still going strong!
Did you know National City in San Diego’s South Bay has a Historic Railcar Plaza?
The small museum-like building is located at the intersection of Bay Marina Drive and Marina Way. A train track running through the building is home to old Passenger Coach No. 1.
I posted a blog about the National City Historic Railcar Plaza almost ten years ago, after peeking inside. You can revisit that past blog post here.
From outside, anyone can peer through windows into four small display rooms at each corner of the building. When I walked by several weeks ago, it seemed that displays in two of the corner windows had changed. So I took photos!
In one window, dummies of passengers in Victorian-era attire stand or sit on a bench, as if waiting for a train or streetcar.
In a second window I found a variety of educational displays. They’re mostly about protecting the wetlands in National City and around the San Diego region.
According to one sign, the public is invited to participate in Creek Day on the last Saturday of every month, from 8 am to noon. The address where people meet is 1815 Hoover Avenue.
You can check out the Facebook page of Paradise Creek Educational Park by clicking here. (Unfortunately, that page doesn’t seem very active right now.)
Another sign inside the Historic Railcar Plaza indicates: “Display rooms are available to nonprofits to showcase artifacts and interpretive exhibits relating to the early railroads and local history. Contact the Port of San Diego Public Art Department for program information.”
What might I see the next time I walk past?
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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.
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.
Would you like to help clean the wetlands of south San Diego Bay? Would you like to do so while kayaking on the beautiful water? Would you like to do so for free? YES!
No kayak, no problem. They’re provided. No experience kayaking, no problem. It’s easy going. Cleanup materials are provided, too.
Ocean Connectors organizes fun Kayak Cleanup Events that anyone can freely join. I happened to observe one such event today during my visit to Pepper Park in National City.
I spotted a sign concerning the event at the boat ramp, then wandered over to the parked Chula Vista Water Sports truck to ask all about it. Chula Vista Water Sports provides the kayaks. They partner with Ocean Connectors.
I saw the participating kayakers were busy across the Sweetwater River channel, removing bits of litter, cleaning our environment, cruising slowly, gently along. I think I might try this! Each event lasts 2 to 4 hours.
Check out this page to learn all about these Kayak Cleanup Events and book your future participation. Groups up to 15 can join. And yes, it’s all completely FREE!
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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.
As I walked along the Paradise Creek Trail in National City, I noticed someone in an orange vest moving about near the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, in a shrubby area at the edge of Paradise Marsh. He was working just off the roadside trail, a little north of the Pier 32 Marina. I had to ask what he was up to.
I had met Rob of Tierra Data. His company is working with the Port of San Diego to restore habitat by removing Acacia cyclops, also called coastal wattle. He was using super precise GPS to mark where he found living stumps. The stumps need to be effectively removed.
Acacia cyclops is native to Australia. Like eucalyptus trees, it thrives in San Diego’s similar climate. The plant has invaded parts of California, growing in fragile wetland habitats and among riparian communities.
I asked Rob how he recognizes which stumps belong to Acacia cyclops. He explained how seed pods lying in the soil around the stump allow for identification.
I’m so glad I paused to talk for a moment or two. Rob was pleased to explain his activity. (And he described birds he has seen and studied, too!)
There’s always more to learn!
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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.
A completely new beach has opened in National City!
Fine white sand and shady umbrellas now await beach lovers at Pepper Park, on the edge of the Sweetwater River near San Diego Bay!
The perched beach might be relatively small, but it’s the perfect place for a picnic, a spread blanket, a comfy lounge chair or a sandcastle. The beach is one of many improvements presently being made to Pepper Park.
One major improvement on the way is a new pirate-themed playground that kids will love. A hillside play area, a splash pad and a new entrance plaza are also coming.
According to this Port of San Diego web page, which includes conceptual renderings of the project, Pepper Park could eventually be expanded by 2.5 acres, adding even more features.
Pepper Park has historically been a venue for festivals in San Diego’s South Bay, such as the Mariachi Festival. These big improvements should make this great public park even more awesome!
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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.
During my last couple walks in National City, I noticed many electrical boxes have been beautifully painted with native flora and fauna. It’s almost as if wildlife has joined me on the sidewalk!
These photos were taken on National City Boulevard, a little south of 8th Street. I’ve observed boxes like these elsewhere in National City.
It appears many of these electrical boxes were painted last year by artist Laura Green (@lauragreenstudio). It’s part of the National City Utility Box Project.
Some of the boxes also specify the names or species of the painted subject.
What a great way to beautify an urban environment! One can learn to recognize our wild neighbors, 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.
The newly opened Sweetwater Park on Chula Vista’s bayfront has a very unique architectural feature.
At one end of the public restrooms a sheltering roof contains an oculus. What’s an oculus? It’s a circular opening that allows natural sunlight to shine through.
During the day, the oculus casts a circle of light on bands in the concrete underfoot. You can see those curving bands in the above photograph.
By observing the light’s movement along the bands, Earth’s rotation can be tracked, as the sun “rises” in the east and “sets” in the west. Depending on the season of year, and the angle of the sun’s path through the sky, the projected light will follow a particular band.
On the wall is an explanation…
The Theory of the Seasons.
The Earth’s rotation axis is tilted by 23.5 degrees with respect to the ecliptic and is always pointed to the celestial poles as the Earth moves around the Sun. Sometimes the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun and the Sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere at a shallow angle.
The Summer Solstice marks the beginning of Summer and is the longest day of the year, just as the Winter Solstice marks the beginning of Winter and is the shortest day of the year.
The Equinoxes; Equi meaning Equal, and Nox meaning Night, telling you that the day and the night are of equal length. This occurs when the Sun is directly over the Equator, in between the two Tropics and occurs around March 21st and September 23rd marking the beginning of Spring and Autumn.
If this sounds like a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo, fortunately there’s an illustration to help one visualize the concept…
Now consider my next photograph.
On June 21, as the summer begins, the sun will be at its highest in San Diego, here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Because of this, the sun’s light projected through the oculus will come from a high angle, and follow the lower band as Earth turns and the day progresses.
It just so happened that I visited Sweetwater Park on June 18. I arrived at the oculus a little after noon.
You can see the circle of light is almost atop the June 21 band, and is now to the right of the central drain, past the 12 PM mark.
The light would continue to move right along the same band as the sun descends in the sky toward the horizon.
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 