Look at all the inspirational street art painted in Allied Gardens, just outside Stephen C. Foster Elementary School!
The artwork on several electrical boxes was painted by Mindful Murals, whose positive messages inspire and motivate students at a variety of schools around San Diego.
Colorfully written outside Foster Elementary are the words Creativity Is Contagious…Pass It On. To encourage learning, there are also images of a pencil, a palette, a book and a computer, a question mark inside a light bulb, and the mathematical symbol for pi.
As I walked through Allied Gardens this past weekend, I was excited and pleased to happen upon this great Mindful Murals art!
Three years ago I was given a cool tour of their motivational art at Edison Elementary School in City Heights. See those photos here!
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A fascinating display in one window of the Unarius Academy of Science in El Cajon shows students engaging in psychodrama, reenacting past-life experiences.
I walked past the Unarius Academy of Science today. It’s located in downtown El Cajon. You might have seen their flying saucer car or the space murals by their parking lot.
According to an educational sign in the window, beginning in the late 1970’s, students were filmed during their elaborate psychodramas to help them recognize and overcome past-life shocks and traumas.
Comic books and graphic novels can be used in schools to stir excitement for reading, and to explore and teach a variety of subjects.
Today a panel of educators shared their thoughts about Words and Pictures Together. The hour-long panel was part of a Will Eisner Week event at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum.
Will Eisner was a pioneering cartoonist and writer whose work both inspired and influenced almost every comic artist that followed him. He practically invented the graphic novel. His amazing artwork is legendary. His stories are often complex, surprising, challenging and philosophical. Not unlike great literature.
The panelists at the Comic-Con Museum yesterday discussed how they have used Eisner’s work and other comics in the classroom.
As I sat in the audience listening, I learned there are many benefits to using certain comic books or graphic novels as educational tools.
Perhaps most importantly, they are accessible to young people. Particularly kids who struggle with reading. Those who resist reading or have limited language skills will often turn the pages of a comic, greedily devouring both words and pictures. After all, most comic books and graphic novels are written to engage and excite.
Another benefit can be the development of critical thinking. There are plots to analyze and characters to understand. Allusions and themes can provide subject matter for discussion. Stories that involve historical events or contemporary issues can open a young mind to interesting ideas and questions.
And there is the graphic art itself. Why did the artist make certain choices? The page layout, typography, style, visual point of view . . .
What I found most inspiring was that students can be encouraged to make their own comic art. To tell their own stories. Express their own thoughts and feelings. When you’re a young person, secretly unsure of many things and trying to figure out life, personal expression can help you grow.
By producing their own comic or graphic novel, students also learn how to plan a creative project and execute it. And they write!
What’s more, the opportunity to show their finished art provides a sense of accomplishment!
The panelists mentioned a few works and web pages that you can use or peruse:
Years ago I described how high school students in San Diego were creating their own graphic novel. Their amazing Jasper and the Spirit Skies was launched last year at Comic-Con@Home! You can revisit that past blog post here.
There’s another reason why I found this panel of educators so interesting. Classrooms around the world are reading my short story One Thousand Likes. This small work of fiction (no pictures!) concerns the use of social media and human isolation. Read the story here.
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On the south side of National City’s Kimball Park, near 16th Street, a footbridge crosses Paradise Creek. Look up near the bridge and you’ll spy beautiful small sculptures mounted atop high posts.
These shining metal sculptures at the Paradise Creek Gathering Place were created by San Diego artist Vicki Leon, in collaboration with high school students at A Reason To Survive (ARTS), an organization in National City that uplifts local youth using the power of creativity.
The Paradise Creek Gathering Place sculptures together are titled Migratory Flight. They resemble silvery birds taking wing. Solar-powered lights illuminate bits of colored glass in clear tubes beneath each sculpture.
The environmental sculptures, symbolizing wildlife that depends on Paradise Creek, were installed in 2018. Many in the community came out to help build and beautify the Paradise Creek Gathering Place, including the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center’s Kitchenistas and students from San Diego City College and San Diego State University. You can read more about the project here and here.
Lead artist Vicki Leon has also helped to beautify her own City Heights Azalea Park neighborhood. You can see photos of more amazing public artwork that I took during a special visit to Azalea Park here and here and 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!
An exhibition at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park assembles the genealogical research of students at High Tech High.
The High Tech High “Rubber Duckies” have discovered the fascinating stories of their ancestors, and have shared them online. The stories contain joys, struggles, successes and failures–they are memories of complex lives filled with humanity whose echoes still touch the living.
At the museum, visitors can scan QR codes to read the stories. Or you can read them now by clicking Pre 1900, 1901-1950, or 1951-Present. Then click Family History at the top of each story summary to read the student report.
Many of the students have immigrant ancestors with stories that will break or lift your heart. Some distant ancestors are quite surprising, such as William the Conqueror.
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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!
Have you seen the amazing 300-foot mosaic wall along A Avenue at National City’s Kimball Park? If you haven’t, you really need to!
This extraordinary public art was created in 2015 by local students, community volunteers and the nationally recognized local organization A Reason To Survive (also known as ARTS). It is part of ARTS’ Creating Vibrant Neighborhoods Initiative. Numerous public art projects have beautified National City and uplifted young lives.
The long A Avenue mosaic wall depicts water flowing through National City’s watershed to the ocean. Tiles, clay shapes and small objects represent blue water, fishes, birds, animals and meaningful bits of life from the community. The wall stretches along a row of parking spaces just east of City Hall.
A Reason To Survive has been working for years to beautify our small corner of the world, and perhaps more importantly, to provide hope and inspiration to at-risk South Bay youth. Their innovative art programs have transformed literally thousands of young lives. The ARTS Center is located on 12th Street a short distance east of this wall.
I believe another mosaic wall that I blogged about this year was also a Creating Vibrant Neighborhoods Initiative project. That wall is near the National City’s War Memorial and Veteran’s Wall of Honor, also located at Kimball Park. You can see those photographs here.
I’ve taken additional photos of other nearby ARTS mosaics, which I’ll be blogging about shortly!
(One more thing. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but A Reason To Survive also helped to create the Manzanita Gathering Place in City Heights. See those photos here.)
Okay! Now enjoy a look at this truly amazing A Avenue wall…
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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!
During my walk through Chula Vista last weekend I noticed a bunch of colorful murals at the MAAC Community Charter School. The school was closed, so I walked through the parking lot around the perimeter of the building to check out the artwork.
I recognized the piñata character Chucho, found in the spray paint art of Michelle Ruby (aka MrBBaby), which you can see in my first two photographs. The other murals I know nothing about. They are obviously designed to inspire students and celebrate heritage. As always, please leave a comment if you have more information!
According to the MAAC Community Charter School website: As an MCCS graduate I will maximize my P.O.W.E.R.: Potential, Ownership, Wisdom, Expectations and Respect.
From one mural it also appears that leadership is an important value.
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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!
Possibly my favorite part of today’s Grand Avenue Festival in Escondido was the robotics demonstration.
Students from several local high schools were showing their sophisticated robots, which can operate both autonomously and by manual control. These amazing robots are built every year to compete in the international FIRST Robotics Competition!
I saw one particular robot shooting balls into the air. One crazy looking robot with pipes sticking out of it was built to launch t-shirts!
All of the students I met were friendly and clearly smarter than me. Several provided technical explanations, which promptly went over my head.
I saw teams from Rancho Bernardo High School (Team E-Motion), Poway High School (Team Spyder), San Pasqual High School (Team SuperNURDS), and Escondido Charter High School (Team Daedalus).
Over the years, these local teams have had great success competing in the prestigious FIRST Robotics Competition. The acronym FIRST means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
The games that challenge the competing robots are changed each year, so students must utilize creativity, logic, engineering skills and sheer ingenuity. Robotics is one fun way to implement STEM education in schools!
Check it out!
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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!
This year, the festival is primarily taking place in Memorial Park, where families can enjoy Arts in the Park. A full day of entertainment is scheduled for the big stage, and artist booths abound. The event is produced by the people of OnStage Playhouse, which is a community theatre located in Chula Vista.
I enjoyed the first hour or so of the festival, which included an inspiring dance performance as you’ll see in the upcoming photos!
Lots of family fun can be enjoyed at Arts in the Park during the 2021 Chula Vista Lemon Festival.Artes en el Parque includes music, dance, and an evening performance by the Fern Street Circus!A familiar piratical smile. I believe I’ve spotted it during past Comic-Cons!A smiling mermaid!Volunteers from Arts in the Park pose for a photo!Students from Chula Vista Learning Community Charter Middle School were making art! And the community joined them!Painting our beautiful Earth.A String of Stories at one of the school’s tables is about Sharing in Community.Unidos por la paz. United for peace.I took some photos as I waited in Memorial Park’s amphitheater for the entertainment on stage to begin.The helpful Honda people came by and offered me a water bottle! Thank you!
Do you know anyone who could use a helping hand? Check out the San Diego Honda Dealers “Random Acts of Helpfulness” web page here. Maybe they’ll provide some assistance! I hope so!
Okay! The program begins with a couple of short speeches…
Ashley Gardner from OnStage Playhouse is introduced. She was instrumental in organizing this great event. Hopefully it becomes a long-lived community summer tradition!
Then the entertainment begins!
An amazing, super positive and energetic hip hop dance group from Steele Canyon High School takes the stage! They’re the Club Groove Dance Team!
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 