The Balboa Park Centennial celebration is nearly underway.<\/p>\n
To commemorate the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) has partnered with local artist RD \u201cRandy\u201d Riccoboni and award-winning writer Ann Jarmusch to create the first-ever art traveler\u2019s guide to Balboa Park.<\/p>\n
Riccoboni, who has a longstanding reputation for donating his time and talent to charitable organizations, said \u201cThe Art Traveler\u2019s Guide: A Portrait of Balboa Park\u201d has been a decade in the making.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout 10 years ago, I gave myself a personal challenge to create 100 paintings of Balboa Park in advance of the Centennial,\u201d Riccoboni said. \u201cWhen I was done I started to wonder what I\u2019d do with all of them. I\u2019ve always loved SOHO and all the work they do, so I thought it would be great to partner with them to create an educational outreach program using the artwork I\u2019d created.\u201d<\/p>\n The brilliantly colored paintings span everything from the park\u2019s museums, to its gardens and most-beloved landmarks.<\/p>\n Although some may wonder if Riccoboni had a hard time deciding which landmarks to depict, the artist said it wasn\u2019t difficult at all; he started by painting his favorite spots.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of my favorite places within the park are also the favorites of others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n SOHO Director of Education and Communications Alana Coons said the portable, soft-cover, saddle-stitched chapbook was designed for walking tours or as a handsome history-and-art portfolio that can serve as a valuable reference.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so nice it really deserved to be a hardcover book, but then we had our goal always in mind, that we want people to really use it, to be able to toss it in a backpack or purse, and easily carry it by bicycle or wheelchair,\u201d Coons said.<\/p>\n Though the full walking tour in the book would take approximately three hours to complete, Coons said it can easily be broken up into several visits.<\/p>\n \u201c[Using the guide] I think people will be able to discover things about the park that might otherwise go unnoticed. It gives them a chance to look at Balboa Park in a different way, whether they do it on foot or by bike.\u201d<\/p>\n Jarmusch, who won numerous journalism and preservation awards during her time as the San Diego Union-Tribune\u2019s <\/i>architecture critic, provided the text for the guide that accompanies the artwork.<\/p>\n Historic preservation has always been a personal passion, she said, and she\u2019s enjoyed being able to partner with SOHO and do some writing for the cause.<\/p>\n \u201cI love art, architecture and historic preservation equally, so for me, this guide is a bonanza,\u201d Jarmusch said. \u201cYou can\u2019t help but be captivated by Randy\u2019s vivid paintings, made with intelligence, love and passion.<\/p>\n \u201cI think of the guide first as a sumptuous art portfolio to be enjoyed anywhere, anytime,\u201d she continued. \u201cThen, as a source of basic historic information about the main exposition buildings and other familiar park spaces, accompanied by a map for a walking tour.\u201d<\/p>\n With SOHO publishing the guidebook just in time to celebrate the Centennial, Jarmusch she hopes it will engage people, especially those just discovering the park.<\/p>\n \u201cSo they recognize its deep historic roots and significance, and support its preservation in whatever way they can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n And while the guide covers the history of the park in a fun, entertaining and visual way, Jarmusch said they were diligent in making sure the text was historically accurate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe research and writing totaled about six month\u2019s work over about two years; there is so much to learn about the park\u2019s history,\u201d she said. \u201cThen, two Balboa Park experts reviewed the text and made excellent suggestions and some corrections.\u201d<\/p>\n The revisions took another couple of weeks to complete, but the guidance, she said, was invaluable.<\/p>\n Coons, who edited the booklet and whose husband Bruce \u2014\u00a0 SOHO\u2019s executive director \u2014 wrote the forward, said she thinks the guide fits in perfectly with the park\u2019s Centennial celebration, particularly for the art and preservation communities.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can look at the historical buildings and cultural landscape and the fact that Balboa Park is a national historic landmark [and] one of the highest and finest forms of art in the county,\u201d Coons said. \u201cIt is a beautiful piece and a great gift.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Art Traveler\u2019s Guide: A Portrait of Balboa Park\u201d <\/i>will be released on Jan. 11, 2015. It will be available for purchase at SOHO\u2019s Museum Shop at the Marston House Museum and Garden in Balboa Park, and at all SOHO Museum shops, for $10.95. For more information about the guide, visit rdriccoboni.com<\/a>. To learn more about SOHO, visit sohosandiego.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"goodhueDreamwebtoop\"](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/goodhueDreamwebtoop.jpg\")
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