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Get lost in a ‘nurturing visual space’ of nature-based artwork

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Get lost in a ‘nurturing visual space’ of nature-based artwork


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!

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San Diego, CA

How to buy 2025 San Diego Padres MLB playoff tickets, Padres postseason scenarios

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How to buy 2025 San Diego Padres MLB playoff tickets, Padres postseason scenarios


With one week remaining in the regular season, San Diego Padres fans are hoping 2025 is the year the team finally wins a World Series.

After an 85-plus win season, the Padres clinched a spot in the National League Playoffs for the fourth time in the last six seasons.

With Padres fans hopeful for another deep postseason run, the time is now to secure playoff tickets. Check back as San Diego’s playoff scenarios, and ticket prices continue to update during the final week of the MLB season.

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San Diego Padres 2025 MLB playoff tickets

Padres postseason tickets are available for every scenario. If you purchase a ticket and San Diego doesn’t play in that round, tickets will be refunded. See below for all the potential Padres playoff scenarios.

San Diego Padres 2025 MLB playoff scenarios

The Padres have already clinched a playoff spot, but could still end the season as the No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 seed. If San Diego overtakes Los Angeles for the NL West crown and the No. 3 seed, they will earn homefield for at least the Wild Card round. If the team ends as the No. 5 seed, they will play the No. 4 seed and be the road team in the best-of-3 Wild Card series and beyond.

San Diego Padres 2025 Wild Card Tickets

The Padres’ most likely scenario is to finish as the No. 5 seed and play on the road for the Wild Card round, but if they rise to the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the National League, they will host all three potential games in a Wild Card series. Here are the ticketing options for each Wild Card home game:

San Diego Padres 2025 NLDS Tickets

Should the Padres win their Wild Card matchup, they would advance to the National League Divisional Series. If the With San Diego entering as the lower seed, they would host Game 3 and a hypothetical Game 4 as long as the series doesn’t end in a sweep.

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San Diego Padres NLCS Tickets

If the Padres advance to the National League Championship Series, it becomes a best-of-seven game series with the winner heading to the World Series. If the Padres are the favorite, they will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. In the more likely scenario that the Padres are the lower seed, they will start the series on the road and would host Games 3, 4 and 6.

San Diego Padres World Series tickets

Should the Padres make the World Series, homefield advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record. While that’s not a likely scenario given the team’s current record, it’s not out of the question. If the Padres did have the better regular-season record, they would host Games 1, 2 and hypothetical Games 5 and 7. If not, they would host Games 3, 4 and then Game 6 should the series require it.

*= if necessary

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Helen Woodward’s kid-focused Humane Education Campus opens

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Helen Woodward’s kid-focused Humane Education Campus opens


This spring, Helen Woodward Animal Center Education Center opened the doors on its new Sharron Lee MacDonald Humane Education Campus, named for MacDonald, a Rancho Santa Fe philanthropist. The $7.5 million project in Rancho Santa Fe features classrooms, animal enclosures and playgrounds, a special place for the more than 13,000 children that visit the center each year to learn and foster a forever love for animals.

The new center, which encompasses two buildings totaling 10,500 square feet with 20,000 square feet of accompanying outdoor space is the new home for Critter Camps, interactive exposure with animal ambassadors, educational programs with schools and Scouts and even birthday parties.

Haylee Blake, the center’s associate director of education, said what she loves most about the new facility is “just having a really intentional space for the kids”.  From the floor to ceiling, whimsical wooden tree sprouting in the corner of the lobby to the playful classroom spaces and many opportunities to get up close and personal with an animal, she said they wanted to create a space that was inspirational, fun and engaging, a place to spark curiosity and empathy for animals and the natural world.

Humane education has always been a focus for Helen Woodward, teaching compassion and care for all animals.  Blake said the new center will continue to be a place for kids to encounter animals, learn about science and debunk myths about certain animals that they may be fearful of.

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When kids are able to interact hands-on with an animal, learn its name and personality, they might become interested in learning more and about how to protect it—even the less cuddly animals like insects and snakes: “They all matter when it comes to a good, healthy ecosystem,” Blake said. “We believe strongly that having live animal presentations is important….It creates a personalized experience.”

It took a long time for this dream campus to come to life.

In 1972, Helen Woodward, a native Californian and Del Mar resident for 40 years, bought a 12-acre farm in Rancho Santa Fe that was covered with weeds, a little house and a falling-down barn to establish what was then known as the San Dieguito Animal Care and Education Center. Many of the center’s structures were built after her death in 1983 and the center was renamed in her honor in 1986.

The Ocean Room at Helen Woodward Education Center’s Sharron Lee MacDonald Humane Education Campus. (Courtesy HWAC)

For many years, the old house on the property was used for the children’s education programs. When construction on the new and improved adoptions center started in 2018, the education program moved into trailers under the covered riding pavilion. Their old stomping grounds became the temporary “Adoptions Village,” and the center’s therapeutic riding program moved to an arena on the back of the property.

Planning for the new humane education campus started at the end of 2019 and was slowed by the pandemic. After breaking ground in the fall of 2023, construction took a little longer than expected to get going, after months of moving dirt around to lift the property out of the flood plain. During the year-long construction, the educational programming didn’t miss a beat. As soon as they snipped the ribbon at an opening ceremony in May, summer camps started rolling in the next week.

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While funding for the project came mainly from MacDonald, the Jack and Marilyn McManama Charitable Trust, the Selander Foundation and the LaureL Foundation, donors contributed to the project in a variety of ways, from pitching in $5,000 to pledging $25,000. Throughout the new center, donors and supporters are recognized with names on features of the building or on colorful, animal-shaped donor plaques.

One of Blake’s favorite donor features is the concrete dog on the playground, which was auctioned off at their annual Spring Fling fundraiser. The winning bidder, the Viterbis, were able to get the dog painted to look like their beloved dog Lou—the climbing feature that sits sweetly on the playground even has a dog tag with his name on it.

Making it even more special, Lou was a Helen Woodward alumni: “Now he has been immortalized and will provide a lot of fun for kids,” Blake said.

The education center now has six classrooms for programming, all meant to be very fun and immersive spaces, themed around different animal habitats including the Desert Room, the Jungle and Woodland Room ( a larger room that can be split in two), Ocean Room, Tundra Room and Pets Room.

Graphic artist Brise Birdsong created all of the art in the rooms digitally—about 220 different are animals are depicted all  of them native to the habitat featured, including the polar bear in the Tundra Room and the California mule deer in the Woodland Room, based on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Pets Room features more domestic animals in a park and home environment—dogs and cats, a bearded dragon and goldfish. Birdsong painted one dog in memory of her dog Pepper who passed away at the end of the project.

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As the focus of the classrooms was on making them easy to clean, there are a lot of hard surfaces which Blake can create a lot of echoing, not conducive to instruction or lots of excited talking. The acoustic panels were incorporated into the design—in the Pets Room they are clouds and in the Ocean Room it’s as if you’re submerged underwater with a whale swimming overhead. The constellation painted on the ceiling panels in the Desert Room is based on the actual constellations in the night sky on the day the center was founded on August 8, 1972.

Inside, all of animal ambassadors, from the bunnies to the birds to the lizards and snakes, all have new safe and spacious enclosures with lots of enrichment. New outside enclosures currently house chickens, goats and the newest arrival, an adorably fuzzy baby doll harlequin sheep yet to be named. One enclosure is currently vacant with plans for possibly a mini cow or alpacas—Blake said it’s all about finding animals with the right temperament for the educational programming.

Outside, two animal enrichment patios include bleacher seating with enclosures to keep larger animals like horses during an outdoor presentation.

The center’s outdoor space also features two new playgrounds, which they never had before beyond some bean bags, hula hoops, balls and donated playhouses.  Now the younger kids ages 2-5 have a woodsy, nature-themed playground with logs for kids to climb on and through, with animals scattered throughout including a raccoon, bear, the beloved dog Lou and an eagle perched up high.

The playground for ages 5-12 on the other side of the center has a pollinator theme—the play structure is topped by a monarch butterfly and one of the climbing obstacles mimics a giant spider web. There’s a giant beehive and bee to climb, and a pretty hummingbird slide.

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Each playground is connected to a large room specifically designed to host birthday parties, craft activities or camp lunches, each outfitted with two long tables.

The new building also includes offices for the staff and spaces for instructors and volunteers to work and collaborate, with room to grow.

Future phases of work at Helen Woodward Animal Center could include remodeling of the center’s equine hospital and the Club Pet boarding facility. Plans are still up the air for the old covered pavilion, it may revert back to therapeutic riding program or converted to parking.

To learn more about the education campus offerings or more at Helen Woodward, visit animalcenter.org

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Crusaders Soccer Club highlights captains for program’s 40 top teams

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Crusaders Soccer Club highlights captains for program’s 40 top teams


Overview: Crusaders Soccer Club

Director of Coaching Victor Melendez noted, “Between our competitive and recreational teams, we have nearly 1,500 players wearing Crusaders uniforms. Of those players, 483 are on one of our 40 competitive teams, and 12 of those teams are now playing at a national level.”

On Sept. 2, the Crusaders Soccer Club held our annual Competitive Team Captains ceremony in the sanctuary of the Mission Trails Church.

The sanctuary was packed with the families of the players as they received their official team captain arm bands for the 2025/26 season.

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Assistant Director of Coaching for the soccer club’s Competitive Program, Seth Tunick, was the master of ceremonies and coordinated this special event.

Tunick commented, “Each of our 40 competitive teams has two captains. This is a significant reward for these players. These players continually show dedication to the game of soccer and their team, while maintaining a positive attitude and, of course, demonstrating their leadership qualities. These young men and women are now responsible for demonstrating these abilities throughout the season for their team and the club.”

Director of Coaching Victor Melendez noted, “Between our competitive and recreational teams, we have nearly 1,500 players wearing Crusaders uniforms. Of those players, 483 are on one of our 40 competitive teams, and 12 of those teams are now playing at a national level.”

The first games of the 2025/26 were played Sept. 6-7. Among the competitive and recreational divisions, there were 64 games that weekend.

Nearly 1,000 recreational players on 88 teams also played the first of their 11 Saturday games that weekend. The slate continues through Nov. 16.

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“Because of the advanced level of play of our recreational division, our competitive coaches will be scouting our recreational teams, looking for the next group of competitive-level players for future teams,” said Director of Coaching for the Recreational Program, Modesto Gardiniello.

He also wished “to sincerely thank all our volunteer recreational team coaches and coordinators, who ensure the complicated puzzle of assembling teams and ensuring everything goes smoothly throughout the 11-week season. Come out and watch a game. Our teams will be playing. Stop by just about any grass field on a Saturday in the Navajo area and enjoy a soccer game.”




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