A beach scene mural that shows the Oceanside Pier, a woodie and three girls with a surfboard on the sand has appeared in downtown Oceanside. You can view it on the parking lot side of Finney’s Crafthouse restaurant. Postcard-like words read: Greetings From OCEANSIDE.
The artist is Jerry Ragg. The mural was painted in 2024 in memory of JT Ragg.
I spotted the cool artwork during my weekend walk in Oceanside and took these photographs into the sun. Consequently, I had to increase the contrast of each image quite a bit.
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Are you old enough to remember the golden age of surf culture? You know–those years when the radio was filled with pop music by The Ventures, Jan and Dean, and The Beach Boys. Back when surfing movies were on the marquee of your local theater, and Gidget was a popular show on television.
If you love nostalgia, the California Surf Museum has a really great exhibit that might tickle your fancy. It might also bring back memories. Star, Cars and Guitars – The Birth of the Modern Surf Era: 1958 to 1965 features photographs, posters, rare artifacts and memorabilia from those days when the surfing subculture sprang forth and quickly took center stage in the popular culture.
I visited the California Surf Museum last Saturday and enjoyed looking at the extensive display.
This era came right before I was born, but in my youth echoes of it still lingered on the radio and on television. I remember I had the incredible Endless Summer album by The Beach Boys which I loved to hear on my scratchy record player. Yes, that was a long time ago!
(How many San Diego area locations are mentioned in The Beach Boys hit song Surfin’ U.S.A.? Well, let’s see: Del Mar, Trestles, Swami’s, San Onofre, and La Jolla!)
The museum exhibit covers those golden days when surfing’s popularity exploded across California, the U.S.A. and the world, including the era’s trailblazers and athletes, surfboards, fashion, cars, popular surf spots and early surfing competitions.
Honestly, all of the exhibits in this one-of-a-kind museum are cool. If you live in Southern California and you’re at all into surfing or the lifestyle, and you haven’t visited the California Surf Museum, you’re really missing out!
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Visitors to the Oceanside Museum of Art might have their view of the world suddenly disrupted! Nearly fifty paintings by Southern California artists challenge the way we view familiar things. The exhibition is titled More Disruption: Representational Art in Flux.
Flux is defined as the action or process of flowing. Flowing implies change, movement. These paintings are full of dynamism, drawing the viewer in with bold strokes and color, exciting curiosity with abstraction that can be strangely fluid.
The surprising art reveals unexpected contrasts and inner mystery. In the age of social media, where images flash by on a phone with the flick of a finger, these paintings might cause one to stand for a minute and consider.
The pieces chosen for display were selected from over 1,700 entries. As one sign explains: The concept for this juried exhibition was to present outstanding paintings by Southern California artists that showed signs of being disrupted, either formally or thematically. Disruption, in this framework, means that the forces of contemporary life and existence somehow altered or affected the way the work was created and challenged the norms of representation…
A very friendly museum docent struck up a conversation with me and shared some of her favorite pieces. She was amazed that one of the pieces, exuding youthful hipness, was painted by an 80-year-old artist. But that’s the limitless potential of human creativity!
By disrupting familiar things, reshaping what we know, our minds and hands can bring to existence anything that we imagine. We can change this old world–enlarge it–even make life more meaningful.
More Disruption: Representational Art in Flux will be on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art through September 15, 2024.
I can tell you this art is certainly not dull! My photographs provide a few examples.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
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Many electrical boxes near the Mormon Battalion Historic Site in Old Town San Diego have been colorfully painted–I believe recently.
Artist signatures state Mormon Battalion Sisters. Many of the painted images show cactus-filled landscapes, aspects of the Old West, and what might be early San Diego history.
I took these street art photographs yesterday during my sunrise walk through Old Town.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 Sun & Sea Festival returned to Imperial Beach for 2024, attracting a good crowd as usual. And, as always, the annual event beside the Imperial Beach Pier featured sand sculptures!
A monumental sand mega castle was being finished by a group of local artists late this morning when I walked through the festival.
The “Back 2 IB” sculpture celebrates nostalgia. Carved into the sand are fun retro images that bring back fond memories of the 1980s, from Back to the Future, to Ghostbusters, to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, to Cabbage Patch Kids, to Rubik’s Cube, to Pac-Man. (I’ll be sharing more photos of the amazing sand sculpture in my next blog post!)
The festival also featured a Kids-n-Kastles competition, with 15 team entries built on the beach north of the pier. There was no adult competition this year. Sadly, there weren’t enough sponsors.
The COVID pandemic and sewage coming from the Tijuana River polluting the ocean off Imperial Beach have visibly hurt this long-running event, not to mention the Imperial Beach community and local businesses. Nobody was out in the water, apart from several surfers who were seriously risking their health.
I spoke to people at a Surfrider Foundation tent. They said very slow progress is being made to solve the sewage problem. The ocean here has been off limits for about two years now. It’s a problem that seems to have no end.
In spite of this, however, there was plenty of fun to be had at the 2024 Sun & Sea Festival! Lots of food! Live music! A fantastic location and SoCal beach vibe!
Here are my photos…
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Next month, on September 14, 2024, a colorful new exhibition will debut at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park. It’s titled Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo.
As I walked through the Mingei last weekend, I came upon a display that previews the coming exhibit. Glass cases near the museum’s front desk contain exquisite crafts and works of art: blue glass, Shimaoka ceramics, and lapis lazuli colored objects and jewelry.
Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo is one of many exhibitions and programs to be presented in Southern California as part of Getty’s 2024 PST ART initiative. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science.
For me, the blue of sky and water and the indigo plant intersects with a feeling of wonder. So much beauty can be found in this world we live in. And much beauty can be created.
Learn more about the upcoming exhibition 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!
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An extraordinary mural officially debuted yesterday in downtown Escondido. Back in the Day was painted by local artist and prolific muralist Zane Kingcade on The Photographer’s Eye building, a few steps east of Heritage Park. The mural recalls Escondido as it appeared years ago. Look for this new public art near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Juniper Street.
On Saturday afternoon an enthusiastic group gathered to celebrate the new mural. Escondido’s Mayor White presented long-time resident and author Arlene Cook Shuster with a plaque in appreciation for her generous contribution to the project, then Arlene spoke at length about the historical places depicted in the mural.
We heard the history of the Escondido Lumber, Hay & Grain Company, Sunkist (founded in Escondido!), Shelby’s Grocery, the Times-Advocate, Havens’ Studio, Grape Day, Rube’s Fabulous Country Corner, Homer Heller Ford, The Wagon Wheel, and 15 cent Burgers! We learned that some of the places shown in the mural have vanished entirely, while a few of the old buildings, or remnants of buildings, remain to this day.
Zane Kingcaid then spoke about his creation of the mural–how in the dark of early morning over the course of a couple weeks he sketched images from old photos that were projected onto The Photographer’s Eye building.
Escondido artist Zane Kingcade gestures toward his newly created mural Back in the Day.Escondido Mayor Dane White introduces Arlene Shuster.Arlene Cook Shuster tells those who’ve gathered about the history of special places in Escondido.A special day in Escondido as history is painted into the present.
I also learned that Zane Kingcade recently finished another mural, one block north of Heritage Park on Valley Parkway. The artwork decorates the exterior of Joor Muffler & Complete Auto Service, not far from the big iconic Joor Muffler man! This mural is titled All Roads Lead to Esco.
I had to check it out!
Joor Muffler man.
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The premise for the exhibition is brilliant. Art students at colleges in the San Diego region are presented with instructions to find magic in everyday things.
What are some of these instructions? Create an artwork using alchemy or magic to correct a problem. Make a mural commemorating the best day of your life. Create an artwork to say “thank you” for something in your life for which you are grateful. Make a medal or a trophy for someone that you think deserves one. Think of the worst idea you can for an artwork and try to turn it into a good idea. Make a piece of art that attempts to be universally understood as if an alien from another planet would view it thousands of years in the future…
Following assigned instructions, students artistically transform familiar things, and the pieces that result can be very personal or surprising. Human creativity is akin to real magic!
When I visited the museum today I didn’t know what to expect. What you see in these photographs provides a taste of what I found.
A Practical Guide to Modest Magic continues for only one more week. It can be viewed in the museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido through August 17, 2024. Then–poof–a moment of rare magic ends.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
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Ready to have your mind blown? Take a look at these photographs!
This lowrider is named Timeless. It was on display today in San Diego during the Day at the Bay 2024 car show.
I saw dozens of amazing cars as I walked about the show, but I had to stop in my tracks when I spotted Timeless. It’s beyond incredible!
According to one sign, Timeless is an original lowrider first built in the 1970s whose multiple modifications and endless paint jobs have kept it relevant for more than 40 years. This work of art, with a local and national reputation, is said to be the most iconic lowrider in San Diego. It was built from a 1964 Riviera.
Timeless is a fantastic dream come true.
Look at the crazy interior! How would you like to take a ride in this?
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
Enjoy photographs of three fun murals I discovered last weekend while walking in Encinitas. I was winding my way from Coast Highway 101 to the parking lot above Moonlight Beach and back.
Yes, our Southern California surf culture is alive and well in coastal Encinitas!
I hadn’t seen this street art during previous walks, so my camera got busy!
Surfer on side of building at 2nd Street and C Street in Encinitas.Surfing Madonna and dolphins appear outside Moonlight Beach Apartments.A fun mural on the side of Raul’s Shack in Encinitas.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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! 