Tag: wood

Star of India readies for her November sail!

This year world-famous tall ship Star of India turns 160 years old. The last time she sailed out of San Diego Bay into the Pacific Ocean was five years ago. (To see photographs of Star of India heading out to sea in 2018, click here!)

Today I took a long walk around downtown San Diego. When I visited the Maritime Museum, I noticed work being done on the poop deck of Star of India. I learned that the Star is being readied for her upcoming November sail!

As you might imagine, the world’s oldest active sailing ship requires constant upkeep and repairs. The sun, salt and weather can be very hard on any vessel.

After climbing up to the poop deck, I watched museum volunteer Bob H. removing old varnish from the saloon’s skylight structure. In my photos you can see how the wood will then be sanded, removing an old coat of stain.

The smooth bare wood of the teak bench will be newly varnished. It will turn beautifully golden like the smaller companionway bench beside it.

A section of the pin rail on the ship’s port side is also being repaired. Part of the wood rail had to be removed to deal with rust on the standing rigging.

(Back in February, I watched as a skilled woodworker chiseled away at a section of pin rail. See those photos here!)

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Sensuous Environment at the San Diego History Center.

A new exhibit recently opened at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. It’s titled The Sensuous Environment – Sim Bruce Richards, Architect.

San Diego architect Sim Bruce Richards is best known for designing houses that appeal not only to the eyes, but to other human senses as well. The museum exhibit, with its many photographs and drawings, celebrates the unique vision of an architect whose creations feel both rustic and modern. It’s an aesthetic that appeals to an essential human connection with nature.

His houses are truly homes. They are warm and welcoming. They contain natural, textured materials that are pleasant to the senses, like stone, adobe, and beautiful woods, including mahogany, redwood and aromatic cedar. Fireplaces are centerpieces where life gathers. Natural outdoor light shines through large windows. As one display explains: Richards took inspiration from his Cherokee heritage, his apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright, and fondness for the work of San Diegan Irving Gill and other early twentieth century architects…

Reading the fascinating displays, I learned he often collaborated with noted San Diego artist James Hubbell.

Richards also designed commercial and church buildings using the same aesthetic. Did you know the Morley Field Tennis Club building in Balboa Park was one of his projects?

Beautifully inviting furniture that he designed is also part of the exhibit.

The Sensuous Environment – Sim Bruce Richards, Architect presents material from the archives of the San Diego History Center and UC Santa Barbara’s Art, Architecture and Design Museum.

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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 Twitter!

Woodies park in Carlsbad’s art alley!

Venture into Carlsbad’s art alley and you’ll find several woodies parked along one wall!

These cool classic vehicles with wood side panels are lined up opposite the Alley Art Wall, which you can learn about here. The woodies are pictured with surfboards at the beach.

You can find the alley near Village Kabob, at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Tyler Street.

The art panels are signed C. Serna, 2016.

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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 Twitter!

At work in Star of India’s sail maker’s cabin!

Master woodworker Kevin Deal was working today in the sail maker’s cabin of Star of India. I saw him chiseling away at some wood as I visited the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and I had to ask what he was doing.

I learned that Kevin was improving a belaying pin rail that is part of Star of India’s poop deck. A length of brass trim applied to one edge of the pin rail will protect the wood from being slowly eroded by ropes that run across it.

He showed me a few small hand planes that he will use. They are genuine antiques–from 125 to 150 years old! It seems only appropriate, as the pin rail is part of a historic tall ship that is turning 160 year old!

Kevin was also training today to be a Sail Rigger on the Maritime Museum’s tall ships.

The museum’s volunteers, young and old, come from all walks of life. Their diverse talents are put to good use!

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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 Twitter!

A look inside Old Town’s Wood Shop!

The working Blacksmith Shop is one of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s most popular attractions. At one end of the blacksmith shop is a small wood shop, where I seldom see any activity. But that wasn’t the case today!

Gary, a California State Parks volunteer, was busy working on some projects inside the Wood Shop. He was nice enough to describe the elegant Mediterranean chair that he is creating, plus a beautiful wooden cabinet and stand!

He then demonstrated some of the old-fashioned tools one can see in the wood shop. Many of the historical tools hanging on the walls are so old they are no longer very functional. But they do provide an idea of what a wood shop might have held in the early days of San Diego, around the mid-19th century.

I asked him about Old Town’s cannon carriage project that I blogged about over a year ago. He has the materials ready, but he’s awaiting word concerning it!

Gary explained that the above tool is an antique drill press. (Sort of looks like a massive mousetrap!)

By pulling a cord, this rather primitive lathe smoothly rotates a length of wood around a horizontal axis. I forgot to ask Gary, but I believe this might be an old bow lathe.

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I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.

You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

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!

Archive and Witness sculpture at Liberty Station.

A thought-provoking sculpture can be found at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Created by San Diego artist Trevor Amery in 2021, the wood sculpture, Archive and Witness, stands in front of the Dick Laub NTC Command Center.

A nearby sign explains that Archive and Witness takes the form of…a fallen tree in a forest…Through…decomposition and decay, it…provides a home to animals and insects…The fallen tree is not the end of a life cycle; it is a transformation as well as a beginning…

The slab from the dead tree, whose tree rings represent a finished life, seems to pulse outward with abstract rings symbolizing future life. At least, that’s the way I see it.

It was interesting to read that artist Trevor Amery’s father was stationed at the old Naval Training Center San Diego here years ago. The human world, like a forest, is interconnected in surprising ways.

Archive and Witness stands where the Mingei International Museum’s Nikigator sculpture stood while that Balboa Park museum was undergoing its renovation a couple years ago.

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Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.

You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

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!

New beauty inside historic Santa Fe Depot.

I believe that efforts to revive the life and beauty of historically important buildings should be celebrated. So today let me celebrate a project underway inside San Diego’s historic 1915 Santa Fe Depot.

Earlier this week, as I was waiting for Jimmy at the Santa Fe Depot concession stand to microwave a burrito, I noticed some yellow tape. The enormous Waiting Room’s wooden benches were being sanded down and newly varnished!

When I walked through the depot this morning, the work had progressed. More of the benches were richly shining! Jimmy had informed me it took about one day to complete each bench.

The interior of an amazing space in downtown San Diego is becoming even more beautiful.

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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!

Echoes of Africa at San Diego Library.

The Central Library in downtown San Diego has a stimulating new exhibition in its Art Gallery on the 9th floor. Echoes of Africa opened last weekend.

Contemporary works by local African American artists are contrasted with African artifacts from San Diego Mesa College’s World Cultures Art collection, including objects that demonstrate the mastery of African artisans in metal, wood, ceramics, beadwork, and textiles.

One can see how the spirit and traditions of African ancestors live on, helping to guide the hands of inspired creators in our community.

As I wandered about the gallery, I was drawn to the abstract spray painted pieces by popular San Diego muralist and graffiti artist Maxx Moses. Traditional masks were translated into complex, colorful canvases full of symbolism. I was also stunned by some truly extraordinary wood artwork by Christopher Lloyd Tucker. Other talented artists in the exhibition are Andrea Chung, Angie Jennings, and Jermaine A. Williams.

Filling the gallery are dozens of fascinating pieces, accompanied by extensive descriptions, giving curious viewers an opportunity for contemplation and learning.

Additional objects from the extensive Mesa Colleges collection can be observed in glass display cases on the first floor of the Central Library.

The exhibition will continue through August 20, 2022.

Benin, 2022, Maxx Moses. Spray paint and acrylic on canvas.
Detelumo (Helmet Mask) of the Ejagham (Ekoi) People of Cross River, Nigeria. Wood, animal skin.
AGAIN, 2021, Christopher Lloyd Tucker. Padauk, wenge, rosewood, aromatic cedar, purple heart, walnut, maple, poplar and epoxy resin.
Bwoom (Helmet Mask) of the Kuba People of Democratic Republic of Congo. Wood.
Kuba Cloth of the Kuba People of Democratic Republic of Congo. Raffia fiber.
Ceremonial Dance Skirt of the Kuba People of Democratic Republic of Congo. Raffia fiber.

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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!

Restoring a great San Diego treasure!

The historic ship Star of India is one of San Diego’s great treasures. Its figurehead, depicting the Greek Muse of music and lyric poetry Euterpe, is undergoing restoration at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Euterpe was the original name of Star of India when it was launched in 1863 at the Isle of Man.

Should you venture down into the hold of Star of India, you’ll see how the carved wooden figurehead has had many layers of paint removed, in order to remove rot and fill in cracks. The last time the figurehead was removed from the tall ship’s bow was back in 1988.

The figurehead was carved from a single piece of pine wood by a worker at a Glasgow boatyard named George Sutherland. By sheer coincidence, that is the exact name of the Maritime Museum crew member leading today’s restoration effort!

If you’re interested in seeing history close up, this is your chance! Head down to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, step aboard Star of India, the world’s oldest active sailing ship, and descend from the main deck down two levels into the hold, where you can view the renewal of beautiful Euterpe!

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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!

Leaf Throne at Lindo Lake County Park!

I have no idea what this seat carved from a tree trunk at Lindo Lake County Park in Lakeside is called. Or whether it even has a name. So, for the fun of it, I’ll refer to it as the Leaf Throne!

Sit in this high chair near the southwest corner of Lindo Lake and you’ll have a perfect view of action at the Lakeside Skatepark!

Who created this? Apparently it was carved from a dead tree.

Very cool!

The mighty Leaf Throne commands this view:

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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!