I’ve always loved Spanish Village in Balboa Park. I still remember going there as a young adult and immediately feeling a sort of spiritual connection. One feels free and alive in this magical place.
Today I was walking through Spanish Village when I paused outside Studio 13. My feet are often drawn to this particular studio. I’m not sure why.
Sylvia Mejia, the ceramics artist who works in Studio 13, and I spoke a few friendly words. She invited me inside.
I found myself surrounded by many faces.
Happy faces.
Soulful faces.
Expressive, deeply human faces.
Have a look with me:
Sylvia Mejia, in Spanish Village Art Center’s fantastic Studio 13, surrounded by her ceramic creations.
May you live all the days of your life.
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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!
Here are photos of two colorful, super fun benches in National City’s Pepper Park!
Both painted concrete benches were created in 2006 by Doug Snider, member of the San Diego Potters’ Guild. He produces all sorts of amazing art at his Studio 15 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center. Step into his studio and you’ll feel as if you’ve entered a fantasy world full of whimsy and imagination!
I believe Doug has created four of these fantastic benches. In the past I photographed one of two that are located in Coronado. The one I saw is in Tidelands Park, and you can see it here!
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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 enjoy!
Beautiful works of art on display at the Glass Show and Sale in Spanish Village.
Glass art never ceases to fascinate me.
Pieces of shining glasswork often appear like gems that have been mined from a place deep in the artist’s heart, then melted, shaped and recrystallized, as if upon a fiery potter’s wheel.
This weekend the Glass Show and Sale is being held on the patio of Balboa Park’s Spanish Village. The twice-a-year event is the production of the Art Glass Guild in Studio 25.
I took some photos today and met a few of the gifted artists.
If you love beautiful things and happen to be in San Diego, head over before the weekend ends!
The first five photographs you see here show glasswork created by Patricia G. Yockey, who also happens to be very nice.
I like how colorful and cheerful these pieces are at one artist’s table.This photo and the next show kilnformed art glass produced by Rick Knight Designs. The tray is made of glass strips that are shifted and fused back together.
These magical lampworked beads are by Cornelia Jarst. They can be used for different types of jewelry and accessories.
Glass pumpkins in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving!The artist told me this amazing glass piece took a long, long time to make.
This cool glass robot and the next two photos are small pieces of hand etched “dichroic glasswear” made by ChrisStell CreativeArts.A fun, colorful face.
These clocks–some made with circuit boards from discarded computers–are the fused glass creations of The Glass Giraffe, Carol Korfin, artist.
Many beautiful works of glass art can be seen and purchased this weekend in Balboa Park at the always wonderful Spanish Village!
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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 enjoy!
Visitors to the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park walk through a sunlit paradise of color and creativity.
Over the past five years, I’ve blogged about Spanish Village Art Center many times, on Cool San Diego Sights and on my other website Beautiful Balboa Park. Spanish Village is one of my go-to places when I need to feel optimistic, free and alive.
Whenever I stroll around the many art studios, I feel like I’ve entered a kaleidoscope of living color and creativity. It’s a wonderful place to visit if you want to be inspired.
Lovers of art in San Diego need to swing on by. You’ll find yourself lingering. And smiling.
Sign lists 2018 events, including special shows and sales, in Spanish Village Art Studios in Balboa Park.Patio tiles leading visitors to the front door of Studio 26 seem like a Yellow Brick Road of many colors.Surprising colors grow in four pots.The rear of the Uni-two-corn by sculptor Kim Ogburn, which functions as a seat for two.A dreamlike canvas in front of Studio 31 in Spanish Village.Someone admires a glass vase created by the friendly glassblowers in Studio 19.Beautiful cacti in a planter near the front door of Studio 18.An amazing flower outside the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society building in Spanish Village.Colorful cats have gathered on the patio in front of Studio 16 in Spanish Village.The local artists in Studio 14 specialize in Kaleidoscopes, Egg Art and Handmade Art.A painter creates new artwork outside the window of the Southwestern Artists’ Association Gallery in Studio 23.Mary-Ella Bowles in Studio 6 created this fun Fairy House out of a gigantic hollow gourd!A colorful frog is standing on a big leaf outside Studio 10.
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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 enjoy!
People walk through Balboa Park’s sunlit Alcazar Garden on a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon.
I blog about Balboa Park frequently. I hope you’re not getting tired of it. I’m not.
I live downtown, very close to San Diego’s crown jewel, so I walk up to Balboa Park most Sundays. That’s what I did this afternoon.
It truly felt like spring today. The sun was out, the air was warm, flowers were blooming, fountains were splashing, and Balboa Park sparkled in its full glory.
I took so many photos, I’ll be posting many of them on my other website, Beautiful Balboa Park. Those upcoming posts will concern the amazing art collection of the San Diego History Center, and loads of fun artwork that I spotted in Spanish Village. Look for those photos in the next couple days.
Have a great week ahead!
The Southern California Plumeria Society was having their annual cutting sale inside the Casa del Prado. I learned they’ll have many more cuttings at the May 26th Fiesta Botanica event in Balboa Park.Someone plays with a hula hoop in the Casa del Prado’s outer courtyard.Bright yellow sunflowers in hand blown glass vases in Spanish Village Art Center.A park squirrel seemed fascinated by this shiny dragonfly sculpture at the edge of a rooftop in Spanish Village.Playing sprightly music for passersby near the House of Hospitality.A clay female figure on display in one glass case outside the entrance to the Mingei International Museum.A family walks toward the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. It’s a perfect spring day to be outside in San Diego.A bicyclist has arrived for the two o’clock Sunday organ concert in Balboa Park, which is always free.A gorgeous spring bloom in the Japanese Friendship Garden.Some people emerge from a walk through green Palm Canyon.I watched a bit of folk dancing by the Cabrillo Dancers inside the Balboa Park Club.This year’s youthful House of Pacific Relations queens stand on stage during a program at the International Cottages.It seems there is now limited time to save the historic Starlight Bowl. If you want to help, please take action and visit savestarlight.org today!I’m a big supporter of restoring the Palisades section of Balboa Park. Learn more at the Committee of One Hundred’s c100.org website.Looking down at the fountain inside the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden.Thousands of beautiful spring roses are in bloom.Walking over the Park Boulevard pedestrian bridge from the rose and desert gardens, back toward the San Diego Natural History Museum and Plaza de Balboa.A guitarist plays in some shade near the Bea Evenson Fountain in the Plaza de Balboa.
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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 enjoy!
Riding bicycles over the Cabrillo Bridge into the heart of Balboa Park.
Here are some photographs from my Sunday walk through Balboa Park. I enjoyed plenty of culture, sunshine and life. That’s why I go there so often.
Visitors enjoy the quiet, sunlit beauty of the Alcazar Garden.Rise Up For the Arts and Culture. Preserve Penny For the Arts. A sign in Spanish Village, where the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership and San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition recently held an event.Lots of fun balloons on El Prado on another perfect Sunday afternoon.A green banner near the entrance to the Balboa Park Visitors Center anticipates St. Patrick’s Day. A banner with bright flowers and a hummingbird anticipates the arrival of spring.People relax at a table under a red umbrella in the Plaza de Panama. The House of Charm, home of the Mingei Museum, rises in the background.Trombonist Eric Starr joins Robert Plimpton on the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. They are practicing before the Sunday afternoon concert.The free concert begins. Sweet music fills the park.The House of Chamorros hosted this Sunday’s International Cottages lawn program.Many wonderful Chamorro arts and crafts were displayed at the event.People converge in Balboa Park to celebrate culture, sunshine and life.
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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 enjoy!
A tiny dog dressed like Santa Claus attracts a lot of attention. The friendly musician performing by the Balboa Park reflecting pool didn’t seem to mind.
Christmas is coming on Monday. So I was given this afternoon off from work.
Even on the second day of winter, San Diego is pure sunshine.
As I got my legs pumping, Balboa Park seemed like the perfect destination. It’s a magical place that’s always full of new wonders and unexpected discoveries.
Something very cool is coming this weekend. I’ve been invited on a special tour of the Modern Masters from Latin America exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art. I’ll probably blog about the experience on Tuesday, the day after Christmas. Meanwhile, I’m going to take a short break here and perhaps do a bit of writing.
I hope you all have a wonderful and very merry next few days!
Young and old peer into a magical fountain near the Botanical Building.People move past light-filled archways, turn a corner…I was told these guys were filming the pilot of a funny show called “Cult of Kyle” in the outdoor courtyard of the Casa del Prado.Many faces among fallen leaves. Sketches discovered unexpectedly in Spanish Village, on a worktable outside Studio 10.Bright sunlight on trunks and leaves at the edge of Balboa Park’s Palm Canyon.The effort to save the Starlight Bowl has made great progress! They finally have a Special Use Permit from the City of San Diego!I was told that two shiny new marble benches outside the entrance of the San Diego Air and Space Museum are about one month old. They were donated by retirees of North American Aviation.People are entertained on El Prado one beautiful winter’s day in Balboa Park. The facade of the Casa del Prado makes a fantastic backdrop.This cool guy near the Zoro Garden had a long rope that generated zillions of bubbles at once!I often see this silent busker in Seaport Village. He was juggling and performing magic today in Balboa Park.A musician breathes life into the park. A small scene in front of the San Diego Natural History Museum.
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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!
