Sunday night after our zoo trip, Dan and Annie came over for dinner.  After dinner Dan went through the pictures that he had taken out in California.  Dan took pictures at four out of the five schools that he visited.  The four schools that he took pictures at were University of California, Long Beach (UCLB), California Institute for the Arts (CalArts), Claremont and University of California, San Diego (UCSD).  At the fifth school, UCLA, he didn’t have much of an opportunity to photograph. 

Most of his pictures were taken to convey to Annie a sense of what each of the different schools had to offer.  They showed each art school’s facilities, including the individual student workspaces, the shared studios and workshops and some examples of student art.  I have selected a few pictures from what was left, that I found interesting. 

The blue pyramid is a sports arena at the UCLB, a rather distinctive landmark.  The main entrance to CalArts is rather low key, but the school’s background is anything but so.  CalArts was the creation of Walt Disney.  Supposedly, half of Pixar’s creative staff has passed through this institution.  The eucalyptus tree is from Claremont.  Although Claremont is a collection of about a half dozen smaller schools, the graduate art program seems to be centralized from them all.  The entranceway to the UCSD art school seems to me to be reminiscent of eucalyptus trees.  The eucalyptus tree is actually an invasive species in California.

The remaining photographs are from last weekend.  Dan visited a model railroad museum that we had once taken him to when the boys were smaller.  His friend Cat is pictured there.  She also is seem photographing herself while looking into a nine mirror arrangement.  All of these pictures were taken in Balboa Park.  Named for the Spanish conquistador that “discovered” San Diego, Balboa Park is to San Diego as Forest Park is to Saint Louis.  Next up is a picture of the bell tower of an old Spanish era cathedral in the park.  Finally, there is a picture of an E-2 Hawkeye, on board the USS Midway.  San Diego was when I lived there and is still today a big Navy town.