Tag: tijuana

Super fun Lucha Libre exhibit opens in San Diego!

A super fun exhibition opened in San Diego today at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park. It’s all about Mexican lucha libre wrestling!

Sangre, Sudor, y Mito: The Art and Tradition of Mexican Lucha Libre features so much cool stuff, I hardly know how to describe it all!

Young and old, lucha libre fans and those who are merely curious–all will enjoy seeing actual masks and costumes worn by wrestling stars, not to mention artwork, posters, comic books, championship belts, collectibles and more.

Fans of Chula Vista’s own legendary Rey Mysterio, popular favorite and many-time international champion who continues to work for WWE, will love seeing how he is generously represented in the exhibit, too!

I was fortunate to get a sneak preview this morning. The exhibition is substantial, taking up the entire second level of the Comic-Con Museum. It has been assembled with the help of Museo de Lucha Libre Tijuana Mexicana.

Topics explored in the exhibition include lucha libre’s origin in Mexico; its impact on the popular culture through many generations; its mythic qualities; the varieties of male luchador and female luchadora characters; luchadora pioneers and their ongoing struggle for recognition and equality; how lucha libre has become increasingly influencial around the world . . .

Yes, anything and everything concerning lucha libre is celebrated!

In essence, lucha libre performers are living, breathing superheroes (or villains). Certain legendary luchadores are revered by millions of fans throughout Mexico. How formidable are these masked wrestlers? Movie posters have them battling gangsters and even vampires!

Lots of fun! Bring the kids!

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Hoover High School students exhibit at MCASD!

An exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego features art by students who attend Hoover High School in City Heights. Across the Chaparral includes the work of students in two classes: Advanced Drawing and Painting, and AP English Language.

The students, after viewing and learning about relevant pieces in the museum, were asked to interpret contemporary life in our complex, uniquely dynamic, culturally diverse border region.

Across the Chaparral can be experienced in the museum’s Axline Court, a magical architectural space that I blogged about yesterday. See those photographs here.

Here is some of the student art…

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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.

Feel free to share!

Library exhibit celebrates Hubbell art in Mexico.

The Otay Mesa-Nestor Library currently has a great exhibit in their community room. Informative displays concern the work of renowned San Diego artist, architectural designer and sculptor James Hubbell in Mexico.

The exhibition, Architecture of Jubilation: Lado a Lado, was supposed to conclude in 2024, but has been extended. A librarian told me they’re hanging onto the exhibit as long as they can!

This afternoon I visited the library and gazed at photographs and descriptions of Hubbell’s amazing, organic architectural work in Mexico, including the elementary school Colegio La Esperanza in Tijuana, which he and thousands of community volunteers built.

Another display concerns his Kuchumaa Passage art park, which honors our region’s native Kumeyaay people. Hubbell, with artist Milenko Matanovic, assisted by more volunteers, created beauty on the grounds of Rancho La Puerta fitness spa and resort in Tecate, Mexico. The community-built art park would lead to the creation of Hubbell’s later Pacific Rim Park projects. (The one on Shelter Island–Pearl of the Pacific–can be seen here.)

Other Hubbell projects covered by the Architecture of Jubilation: Lado a Lado exhibit include the Museo Kumiai in Tecate, and Jardín de los Niños in Tijuana.

As one poster explains: Tijuana and San Diego are important cities that exist side by side, along a border that both divides and connects. James Hubbell honors this contradiction by using his art to bridge the border and build a tapestry of community. Thread by thread, Hubbell invites everyday people from Baja California and San Diego to join him in creating spaces of beauty and importance…

James Hubbell passed away last year, but his work will inspire many people and brighten our world far into the future.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego organization rescues dogs in Mexico.

There’s a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from high kill shelters and the streets of Mexico. The Animal Pad rescues all breeds with its connections in Baja California–particularly in Ensenada and Tijuana.

The Animal Pad has many lovable, adoptable furry friends who are ready to join your family today!

Early this afternoon, as I walked through San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, I met smiling volunteers who were engaged in community outreach. I learned a little about the good work they are doing. The Animal Pad rescues dogs from Southern California as well as Mexico. They provide veterinarian care and rehabilitation for the rescued dogs before four-legged friends head to loving foster homes.

The Animal Pad also has a youth education program and operates the fun Camp Tappy Tails for dog loving children ages 7-12. Their La Mesa facility hosts birthday parties, too!

The Animal Pad website explains: The Animal Pad is only able to do what we do through the efforts of a wide network of volunteers, fosters, donors, sponsor organizations, and adopters. It truly takes a village. And we are always looking for help! The Animal Pad is seeking new avenues for fundraising, veterinary and pet supply connections, and anything else that can assist TAP in helping these innocent souls.

Would you like to adopt a new friend? Do you want to be a hero and help out in some other way? Go to The Animal Pad website 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.

Thank you for sharing!

Advocates work for accessibility in Tijuana.

An important presentation was made this evening in San Diego’s Balboa Park. A thoughtful audience, assembled inside the World Design Capital’s Exchange Pavilion, learned how the organization Tijuana Access is working to make Tijuana and Mexico more accessible for the disabled.

Eduardo Lopez Ruiz explained how Tijuana Access is raising awareness and lobbying for greater accessibility south of the border. He explained that our neighbors to the south are a bit behind the United States when it comes to making buildings, streets and city facilities more friendly for those who have difficulty functioning in a world full of potential obstacles.

Working to make our world more accessible, Eduardo affirmed, is a matter of compassion. Not only are a significant number of people born with or develop a disability, but most of us become elderly–right?

There are all sorts of ways to make a city more accessible. Automatic doors, ramps, lifts, slip resistant materials and tactile paving can be adapted to enhance mobility. Handrails, rest furniture, properly placed buttons and switches, Braille printing and other changes can make life much easier and safer for many.

The presentation was mostly in Spanish with an interpreter helping us English speakers. I asked how I could link to Tijuana Access with my blog, because readers might like to help in some way. The Tijuana Access Instagram page is here. Their Facebook page is here.

To my readers in Mexico, perhaps this is a cause you’d like to support. Or simply spread the word to help to raise awareness!

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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.

Sacred Architecture photo exhibit in La Jolla.

Sacred Architecture of San Diego and Tijuana is a free exhibition now showing at the La Jolla Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage. The exhibit features stunning architectural photographs in the cottage’s museum-like galleries.

You won’t see photos of “old” church architecture–with ordinary steeples, gothic decoration and the like. San Diego is a relatively young city. Many places of worship in our region were built in the 20th century, and consequently reflect a more modern, unadorned, experimental style.

I noticed that much of this “sacred architecture” makes use of simple geometric forms like triangles, circles and waves. The basic forms feel simple, elemental and universal, and yet the structures are often a bit strange: elongated as if striving heavenward, or modest and sheltering near the earth where we stand. Much of the architecture produces a sense of wonder–at least for me.

Notable architects highlighted in the exhibition include Irving Gill with his masterful protomodern designs, and midcentury modernists Richard Neutra, Albert Frey and Jaime Sandoval. Postmodern buildings include a church by Charles Moore. La Jolla’s own Sim Bruce Richards is also represented.

The exhibition is being presented in conjunction with San Diego/Tijuana’s selection as World Design Capital. These stunning architectural photographs will be on display through September 1, 2024.

In San Diego, I’ve enjoyed architectural tours of several prominent places of worship. You can read descriptions and see photographs by clicking the following links:

Colorful stained glass windows of The Abbey.

An architectural masterpiece in San Diego.

A quick peek inside St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Beautiful sanctuary of historic San Diego church.

Photos inside the historic Ohr Shalom building.

History and faith at St. Agnes Catholic Church.

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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.

World Design Capital pavilion in Balboa Park!

The fantastic Exchange Pavilion has been completed in Balboa Park, and it is fulfilling its purpose: bringing people (and hopefully their ideas) together!

This open, geometric structure was erected in the Plaza de Panama because San Diego/Tijuana has been designated World Design Capital 2024. Various activations have taken form in San Diego during the yearlong international event, including the Bay to Park Paseo, but the landmark Exchange Pavilion appears to be at center stage!

Sunlight makes its curving, translucent orange skin glow, and colorful seats (that remind me of building blocks) entice Balboa Park visitors to relax in the shade. Electronic messages in English and Spanish scroll along the edges of the structure, but the people I saw seemed more interested in talking to one another or peering at their phones.

The Exchange Pavilion, as I understand it, officially opens tomorrow, so perhaps there will be more signage or elements added to inform the curious public. I’ve read that the pavilion will remain in San Diego until this fall, when it will be moved to neighboring Tijuana, Mexico.

UPDATE!

A few days later, I noticed this…

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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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Erecting the Exchange Pavilion in Balboa Park!

A large steel structure is now being erected near the center of San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park! It’s the Exchange Pavilion, another initiative of World Design Capital 2024!

San Diego/Tijuana won the coveted title of World Design Capital for 2024. There have been many activities and activations related to this international honor, and the Exchange Pavilion is the newest of these.

The lightweight skeletal structure evident in my photographs is being built in the Plaza de Panama, in front of the San Diego Museum of Art. The pavilion is designed to bring people together, along with their diverse ideas and experiences. Interconnectedness and collaboration are appropriate themes for the first ever binational World Design Capital designation.

The Exchange Pavilion, when completed, will feature interactive digital displays, special lighting, and a space for lectures, performances, workshops and more. It was designed by HELEO in collaboration with Tijuana, Mexico based visual artist Daniel Ruanova.

This very unique installation will remain in Balboa Park all summer long. It will then be relocated to Tijuana in the fall. I was told it will be completed and will open this Saturday, August 10!

I suppose I’ll have to swing by this weekend to check it out!

UPDATE!

I walked through the Plaza de Panama on Friday afternoon and saw that construction of the pavilion is still underway. The narrow digital displays appear to be functioning.

I was told by someone at the site that the Exchange Pavilion will now open on Wednesday!

ANOTHER UPDATE!

I walked by again on Sunday. I learned the pavilion will now open next Saturday 17, 2024.

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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.

Border Blitz of comic artists from Tijuana!

A new binational art exhibit opened last week at San Diego’s Comic-Con Museum. Three notable Mexican artists–Charles Glaubitz, Alejandra Yépiz Portillo, and Urbano Mata–have contributed large walls full of comic art in a collaboration between the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego and the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park. The exhibition is titled Border Blitz: Artistas del Cómic de Tijuana.

San Diego and Tijuana share unique qualities, including dynamic cultural cross-pollination between two nations. Border Blitz: Artistas del Cómic de Tijuana celebrates the selection of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024!

During my visit to the museum last weekend, I really enjoyed all the great, super creative artwork on display. I took the following photos as I explored the extensive upstairs gallery. To experience everything, make sure to visit the museum yourself!

The first group of photos represents the artwork of Charles Glaubitz. The artist’s work includes zines, graphic novels and animation, and transcends traditional visual arts. He intersects vibrant psychedelic imagery with ancient myths, quantum physics and spirituality! Pretty wild, right? Check it out…

The second artist is Alejandra Yépiz Portillo, who was born in Ensenada, Mexico. The pieces chosen for this exhibition represent the beginning of her work in professional comics. Her fun art is ever-evolving. She focuses on coming of age, comedy and drama with digitally drawn comics and panels imitating manga…

Finally, the third artist who lives in Tijuana is Urbano Mata. He asks: what is it like to live and love in a city divided by a border? He is noted for his comedic, cynical and carefree cartoon style. His characters are usually based on real people–affectionate portraits of people he knows closely…

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Bay to Park Paseo: Before There Were Borders.

Art was recently installed on windows near the main entrance of San Diego’s Central Library. Before There Were Borders depicts native wildlife and the languages of indigenous peoples who lived in our region north and south of the present-day U.S./Mexican border, long before the arrival of Europeans.

Animals such as roadrunners, whales, deer, mountain lions, pelicans, rabbits, butterflies, coyotes and bears are matched with their names in four languages: Kumeyaay/Kumiai, Kuupangaxwichem/Cupeño, Payòmkawichum/Luiseño, and Cahuilla.

But there’s much more to the installation. As this explains, a “digital art piece will be accessible within the arcade of the Central Library. Rob Quigley, designer of the Central Library, envisions it to be one of ‘stage’ and ‘performance.’ As participants move though the arcade, images will appear to entice further exploration using a simple scan of a QR code with a smartphone. The installation will include video holograms, viewing cultural objects through augmented reality, and immersive reality language experiences.”

Before There Were Borders is part of a 1.7 mile artistic walking experience along the Bay To Park Paseo, a project inspired by the selection of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!