Becoming an artist really wasn’t the plan. Jennifer Anne Bennett was 18 and jumping off the cliffs in Hawaii when she saw a woman painting the landscape and flowers around them.
“I recall my amazement that this was something one could do on an afternoon on an island, just for the pleasure of it,” she says, setting it aside in her mind for at least a year until taking classes at Grossmont College in the early 1990s.
That’s when she took her first art class while working on a cross-cultural studies degree, later studying art at San Diego State University and earning her bachelor’s degree in 1998. After working in an art store, a gallery and as a security guard at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, she went to graduate school and got a teaching assistantship. Teaching also wasn’t something she’d previously considered, but it didn’t take long to find that she loved it.
“Teaching and making art are a perfect pairing, and a lifelong learner, I appreciate the opportunity to serve my students and the campus community,” she says, working as a professor of art at Grossmont College, where she’s been teaching since 2006. “After 25 years of teaching, I am excited to focus more on sharing my artwork with the larger San Diego community.”
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Her abstract landscape paintings are currently on display, alongside works by Los Angeles-based artist Jeanne Dunn, in “Into the Woods: Resplendent” at the San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery through April 24. (Both artists will be part of an artist talk from 5 to 7 p.m. April 22 at the gallery.) Bennett has 28 pieces created between 2022 and earlier this year in this exhibition, ranging from smaller works on panels and larger works on canvas. An artist and educator, Bennett, 50, lives in San Diego’s Redwood Village neighborhood with her husband, artist John Brinton Hogan. She took some time to talk about her creative process, her relationship to nature, and some of her favorite local places to spend time outdoors.
Q: Can you talk a bit about your creative process for the works you created that people will see in this show? What were you thinking about as you went through concept to execution?
A: The works in this show were inspired by trips to Palm Springs and Mt. San Jacinto, Anza Borrego Desert and Indiana. My creative process is to recall how I felt in these places, the feelings and emotions I experienced there, the colors, temperatures and quality of light. Finally, if I work from images I took of the places, I work from poor-quality images so that I cannot get too precious or specific about details in the photographs.
I try not to think about it too much or I just won’t get to the painting part. Getting started is tough enough, so I mainly think about setting myself up for success to find time to get into the studio. Since I work full time, I need to carve out studio time over school breaks, on holidays and on the weekends.
Q: What did you want to say about nature and the idea of its splendor through the pieces you’ve chosen to include in this exhibition?
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A: Painting these special places allows me to revisit and reimagine my time there. I can reconnect to my past visit and share that with the viewer while working in the studio, like visiting an old friend, but discovering something new as the conversation takes a surprising path as the artworks unfold with color and mark-making. The abstract landscapes invite the viewer to enter their world of light and space while the organic contour lines sing like notes across sheet music.
What I love about San Diego’s Redwood Village …
I love that Redwood Village and Rolando Park Community Councils collaborate on community cleanups. We also host our monthly meetings together. Go team!
Q: You were born in Hawaii and grew up in Lemon Grove? How would you describe your own relationship to nature? What you recall of your introduction to it, the impact it’s had on you in your life, when/how/in what ways it began to show up in and influence your artwork?
A: Growing up in the ‘70s, nature was the playground. We ran wild in the canyons, built things, drew in the dirt, made designs with rocks, costumes out of seaweed. I love the ocean, the pulse of the water and the sparkle of the sand. I think it found its way into my work without me giving it much thought.
Q: You’ve said that you “want to create a nurturing visual space where we can enter, explore, daydream, rendezvous with a lover or friend, enjoy music, or encounter the unexpected.” Why is it important to you to create that kind of nurturing quality in your work?
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A: Perhaps that is why I turn to art, to find a sense of place that can bring one a moment of peace and beauty in a world where there is so much pain and anxiety. Moments in the safe space that is the world of this exhibition at the Mesa College gallery should come as valued and supported by those who visit.
Q: In the time that you’ve been teaching art, are there lessons or new perspectives that your students have taught you over the years?
A: I learn so much from my students! I love teaching, and I’ve learned that everyone learns differently. Never assume; repeat, ask them questions, be patient and laugh. I need to remember to apply those to my life and work!
Q: What inspires you in your artwork, in the creative process?
A: The quieting of the mind, getting in the zone, the meditative quality of making artwork.
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Q: Do you have favorite local spots that you like to visit when you want to be in nature?
A: Anza Borrego Desert, Mission Trails Park, Coronado Beach, Chollas Lake. I am drawn to native plants and wildlife, as well as other local residents.
Q: What’s been challenging about your work as an artist?
A: Making time to get into the studio.
Q: What’s been rewarding about this work?
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A: Bringing people joy when they see the work in person.
Q: What has this work taught you about yourself?
A: It has taught me that I like to work both large and small, and I want to work even larger!
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: To focus on what you can control.
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Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?
A: I did not do art as a child.
Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.
A: Mat pilates in the park, go for a green juice, walk or hike, then out for some pho. The next day, work in the garden with my husband, play with our cats, read and paint. I’m a homebody!
Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song – San Diego Union-Tribune
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SUNG-MUN SONG
Position(s): Third base, second base
Bats / Throws: Left / Right
2026 opening day age: 29
Height / Weight: 6-foot / 194 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2025
Contract status: A four-year, $15 million deal will see Song make $2.5 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $3.5 million in 2028 and $4 million in 2029 if he does not opt out of last year; Half of his $1 million signing bonus is due in January 2026 and the other half in 2027; There is a $7 million mutual option for 2030.
.214 — Song’s isolated power in 2025, a career high as he prepared for a jump to the majors. Isolated power measures a player’s raw power (extra bases per at-bat) and Song had a .190 OPS in 2018, in his third year as a pro in Korea, before it dropped to .101 in 2019 and then a career-low .095 in 2023. Hitting 19 homers pushed Song’s isolated power to .178 in 2024 and then a career-high 26 homers push it even higher in 2025.
TRENDING
Idle — Drafted by the Heroes in 2014, Song debuted in the KBO the following year but didn’t become a regular until 2019. A drop-off in production — he had an .884 OPS in 78 games in 2018 and a .597 OPS in 103 games in 2019 — was followed by losing the 2020 season and a chunk of the 2021 season to military service obligations. Then three straight sub-.700 OPS seasons forced Song to rethink his approach to professional baseball, especially in the face of the likes of Ha-Seong Kim,Jung Hoo Lee and Hyeseong Kim generating big-league buzz. Song started with weight training and nutrition. A hitting coach also helped him with balance, pull-side power and the ability to catch up with the sort of fastballs that seem to dog Korean players when they arrive in the States. It all added up to a breakthrough year in which Song paired 19 homers, 104 RBIs and 21 steals with a .340/.409/.518 batting line. To prove it was no fluke, Song followed up his 2024 season with another strong effort that solidified his wish to try his hand in the majors. The ensuing, four-year, $15 million deal that Song signed with the Padres in December cost his new employer a $3 million posting fee to be paid to the Kiwoom Heroes.
2026 OUTLOOK
Like Kim before him, Song appears to be joining the Padres as a utility player with the hope that he blossoms into more as he gets comfortable in a new country and league. Song had experience in Korea at third base (500 starts), second base (149 starts) and first base (38 starts). Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller even mentioned outfield reps in passing as he assessed how Song could help the Padres in 2026.
Former KBO player Sung-Mun Song shakes hands with Padres vice president of amateur and international scouting Pete DeYoung after signing a contract with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Saturday. (Photo by Armond Feffer/San Diego Padres)
Drivers traveling through the city of Poway may have noticed a dramatic change to the landscape. Since September, more than 1,400 trees — many of them eucalyptus — have been removed as part of the city’s hazardous mitigation grant project aimed at reducing wildfire risk and improving public safety.
Poway is spending roughly $3 million on the effort, which focuses on removing trees that are dead, dying or considered dangerous. Much of the cost is being reimbursed by FEMA. Officials say the project is designed to make emergency evacuation routes safer while improving the overall health of trees along major roadways, rights-of-way and open spaces.
“I was relieved that there were some efforts being put into improving our resiliency to wildfire in our community,” said Poway Fire Chief Brian Mitchell.
Mitchell said spacing out trees can slow the spread of a wildfire and prevent roads from becoming blocked during an emergency.
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“That certainly has the potential to block our first responders from accessing somebody’s house in the middle of an emergency,” Mitchell said.
City leaders also point to storm safety as a key reason for removing hazardous trees under controlled conditions rather than risking falling limbs or entire trees during severe weather.
“I don’t want to be driving down that street and just a random limb just happened to collapse, you know, just hit me,” said Poway resident Dawn Davis.
Davis said she also worries about the threat the trees pose to nearby homes.
“I don’t want anybody’s homes here to be damaged, either by them or fire,” Davis said.
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A Poway spokeswoman said a certified arborist evaluated nearly 6,800 trees in Poway. About 2,800 invasive trees were recommended for removal.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.
The front of the Fowler Athletic Center at San Diego State includes a pair of double doors that open from the inside out. Replacing them with revolving doors would seem appropriate, given all the comings and goings nowadays.
SDSU had two dozen football players — including five starters on the defense — enter the NCAA transfer portal, which opened Friday. The first wave of candidates to replace them visited over the weekend.
And by Sunday afternoon, SDSU announced its first two signings. It was a package deal.
Sophomore offensive linemen Charlton and Mercer Luniewski are Michigan State transfers from Cincinnati. And twins.
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Charlton Luniewski’s social media says that he goes by “Big Chuck,” although Mercer is listed as an inch taller and 13 pounds heavier at 6-foot-6, 320. Mercer is also, by the way, 45 minutes older.
Charlton profiles at guard and Mercer at tackle, though SDSU typically works players in multiple spots to find the ideal fit. The twins are expected to challenge for spots on the two-deep if not the starting O-line, which lost three starters to graduation.
The twins were highly recruited two years ago out of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, where they also competed in track and basketball. They have three years of eligibility remaining.
The Luniewskis were among a dozen transfer recruits who visited SDSU over the weekend. Commitments have come from half of them. More recruits are scheduled for the coming this week as the Aztecs look to replenish the roster.
SDSU also received a commitment Sunday from Nate Henrich, a 6-6 edge from Division II Gannon University in Pennsylvania. Henrich had six tackles at Gannon, but he is viewed as having high upside with good size and length. He could provide needed depth at a position where the Aztecs lost four players to the portal.
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SDSU also expects commitments from Oregon State edge Kai Wallin, Portland State safety Isaiah Green and College of the Sequoias wide receiver Marshel Sanders.
Wallin is a 6-5 senior from Sacramento who played in nine games this season (seven starts) for the Beavers, making 17 tackles with one sack and four quarterback hurries. Green, a 6-1 junior from Oxnard, had a team-high 101 tackles at Portland State. Sanders is a 5-11 junior from Fresno who had 70 receptions for 929 yards and four touchdowns.
Bostick back
SDSU wide receiver Jacob Bostick announced on his social media Sunday that he is returning for the 2026 season.
His post read, in part: “Excited to get back to work with my coaches and teammates.”
Bostick had 11 catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns over six games before suffering a season-ending knee injury during practice six games into the season. He anticipates being ready to return by fall camp.
