Cindy

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 29, 2012
Apr 292012
 
Fort Mason
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The Eel: Eliciting Ethereal Light by VeeV Design

The eel explores relationships between physical environment and human sensation. Traversing the spectrum from corporeal to ethereal, the eel responds to external stimuli by emitting both heat and light with ranges of color intensity. The eel is clearly solid matter. Yet – at times – it appears intangible and diffuse.

According to their vast, and fascinating website: Raveevarn began her design education in Bangkok, Thailand, at Chulalongkorn University. She continued her graduate studies in both Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Raveevarn received The Arthur Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship Award from Harvard University in 1996 and the LEF Foundation Grant in 1999.

Raveevarn is now an Associate Professor in Architecture Design at University of California at Berkeley. She is also a visiting professor and serves as a design critic at numerous academic institutions both in the States and abroad. Most recently, she holds a visiting professorship at University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Both of her design and academic work have been exhibited and published widely in the US and abroad.
The sculpture lights up, and in that context the title makes considerably more sense. To see pictures of the sculpture in the night go here.

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 28, 2012
Apr 282012
 
Fort Mason
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Moor by Russell Baldon

“Simple chairs-fastened but movable-the same situation as the ships that once used the bollards”.

I must admit, this one so struck my fancy. The use of that gorgeous and immense bollard and the wonderful play on words were just perfect for this type of exhibit.

Born and raised in California, Baldon was a partner in his family’s wooden toy business before moving to San Francisco in 1984. After receiving his undergraduate and graduate degrees, he has studied and worked with some of the country’s leading studio furniture makers, including Garry Knox Bennett, Gail Fredell, Kim Kelzer, Thom Loeser, and Wendy Maruyama. In 1999, he helped to form a co-op studio in Alameda, California, where members pursue many commissioned and speculative furniture and sculptural works in a 5,000-square-foot wood and metal shop.

Since 2000 Russell has taught in the Furniture Program at CCA and additionally at Laney Community College.

Lincoln Park – Tile Bench

 Posted by on April 27, 2012
Apr 272012
 
Lincoln Park/Sea Cliff
32nd and California
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Aileen Barr

This project was made possible by the Friends of Lincoln Park, San Francisco Parks Trust and the San Francisco Department of Parks and Recreation.

Aileen Barr has a large body of tile work around San Francisco. She studied Ceramic Design at the National College of Art and Design In Dublin, Ireland, graduating in 1985. She worked in New York for a number of years and it was here that she discovered her fascination with handmade tile. Working in tile and architectural ceramics allows for the creation of larger works of art and can open up endless possibilities.

The imagery for the Lincoln Park bench was derived from historic photographs from the 1890s, including the Sutro Baths and the Midwinter International Exposition in 1894, filtered through Barr’s creative vision. The tiles themselves were produced in Barr’s ceramic studio in San Francisco, supplemented by the rectangular tiles supplied by Heath Ceramics in Sausalito.

Installation of the tiles was a challenge, handled by Riley Doty and Phylece Snyder, with assistance from Justin Unverricht.

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 26, 2012
Apr 262012
 
Fort Mason
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Floating by Valerie Gnadt
“A tactile experience. Sit. Close your eyes. Feel the texture of fabric and air.  Listen to the foghorns and seagulls. Imagine floating in the Bay surrounded by Fort Mason’s History.  A truck tire covered with hand-woven fabrics from out door materials, tarps and a marine cording.”

Land’s End – Lincoln Highway

 Posted by on April 25, 2012
Apr 252012
 
Land’s End
Legion of Honor

The Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental auto trails in the United States of America.

Conceived and promoted by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, the Lincoln Highway spanned coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. In 1915, the “Colorado Loop” was removed, and in 1928, a realignment relocated the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia. Thus, there are a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and over 700 cities, towns and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history.

The first officially recorded length of the entire Lincoln Highway in 1913 was 3,389 miles. Over the years, the road was improved and numerous realignments were made, and by 1924 the highway had been shortened to 3,142 miles. Counting the original route and all of the subsequent realignments, there is a grand total of 5,869 miles.

Most significantly, the Lincoln Highway inspired the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which was championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, influenced by his experiences as a young soldier crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway. Today, Interstate 80 is the cross-country highway most closely aligned with the Lincoln Highway. In the West, particularly in Wyoming, Utah and California, sections of Interstate 80 are paved directly over alignments of the Lincoln Highway.

The Lincoln Highway Association, originally established in 1913 to plan, promote, and sign the highway, was re-formed in 1992 and is now dedicated to promoting and preserving the road.

If you are interested in learning more check out the book  Divided Highways by Tom Lewis.  Also, Modern Marvels  (a series on the History Channel) produced a very interesting show on the highway system, titled America’s Highways.  I am sure you can catch it in reruns fairly easily.

 

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 24, 2012
Apr 242012
 
Fort Mason
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Benches by The Bay by Leslie Bruning

“Designed to look like varied sizes of the Shovelnose Guitarfish, a species of the shark family living in the San Francisco Bay, these benches are meant for a human family to sit upon.”

According to Bruning’s website: Leslie Bruning was born in Syracuse, KS and raised in Nebraska. After studying at Graz Center in Austria, he graduated with BA-Art from Nebraska Wesleyan University. In 1970 he was awarded a MFA -Sculpture from Syracuse University. He is currently Chair of the Art Area of Bellevue University, Bellevue Nebraska.

Haight Ashbury – Murals

 Posted by on April 23, 2012
Apr 232012
 
Haight Ashbury

There are murals everywhere in the Haight, these are just a few of the better ones.

 Haight and Masonic by Lango

Jimi Hendrix by an unknown artist.  This mural is at 1524 Haight Street, the home of Jimi Hendrix when he lived in San Francisco.  It is now Ashbury Tobacco Center.

This doll is on the Bettie Page Clothing Store at 1529 Haight. (Bettie Page was one of America’s great pin-up girls).  This mural was painted by Amanda Lynn.   Amanda studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art with an Illustration major. After school, she worked independently and freelances on many mural productions and theater set paintings.

If you are interested in learning more about Bettie Page – There is a wonderful article about her life and art here.

 

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 22, 2012
Apr 222012
 
Fort Mason
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Kissing Bench by Kent Roberts
Kent Roberts has several pieces around San Francisco, including a boat in the Marina.  He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico and a BFA and MFA from San Francisco Art Institute and he works at SFMOMA.

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 21, 2012
Apr 212012
 
Fort Mason
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Bow Seat by Oliver Dicicco

“An homage to all the small boats that have plied the San Francisco Bay.”

According to Oliver DiCicco’s website: Oliver displays the versatility of a renaissance artist. He is a multi-talented designer who is at the same time sculptor, fabricator, scientist, engineer, and musician. The mix of playful curiosity, technical capability and aesthetic sensibility required to accomplish his broad range of work is astonishing.

After perusing Oliver’s website, I couldn’t agree more, his range of work truly is astonishing.

Land’s End – El Cid

 Posted by on April 20, 2012
Apr 202012
 
Land’s End
Palace of the Legion of Honor
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El Cid by Anna Huntington

This piece is part of the Collection of the Fine Arts Museum. It sits on the lawn in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043 – July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador (“The lord-master of military arts”), was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat. Exiled from the court of the Spanish Emperor Alfonso VI of León and Castile, El Cid went on to command a Moorish force consisting of Muladis, Berbers, Arabs and Malians, under Yusuf al-Mu’taman ibn Hud, Moorish king of the northeast Al-Andalus city of Zaragoza, and his successor, Al-Mustain II.

The name El Cid comes from the article el (which means “the” in both Spanish and Arabic), and the dialectal Arabic word سيد sîdi or sayyid, which means “Lord” or “The Master”. The title Campeador means “champion” or “challenger” in Spanish.

Anna Hyatt Huntington, (b. 1876 Cambridge, MA – d. Redding, CT 1973) became one of the best-known and most prolific sculptors of the 20th century. Her father, a paleontologist, interested her in animals. She began to make sculptures of animals that she observed on farms and at the New York City Zoo. She trained as a sculptor, first in Boston, then at the Art Students League in New York, and was taught by Hermon Atkins MacNeil and George Barnard. She also worked for the sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

In the early 1900s, she shared an apartment with the figure sculptor Abastenia St. Leger Eberle. They collaborated on sculptures; Anna Hyatt made the animal figures and Abastenia the human figures. She also studied and worked in France and Italy. One of her earliest public works was the equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, exhibited at the Salon of 1910 in Paris. Several replicas were made, and the statue won Anna the Legion of Honor from the French government. In 1927, she made her first sculpture of ‘El Cid Campeador’ for the city of Seville, Spain.

In 1923, she married the wealthy philanthropist/poet/Spanish scholar Archer M. Huntington (Archer was the adopted son of Collis P. Huntington, the railroad magnate). The couple later (1929) bought 10,000 acres of land near the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, named it Brookgreen Gardens and made it a showplace for Anna’s work and for the work of dozens of American figurative sculptors. It was also a sanctuary for plant and animal life of the region. The couple gave the estate, with an endowment, to the state of South Carolina in 1935. It is still a major tourist attraction.

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 19, 2012
Apr 192012
 
Fort Mason
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Safe Harbor by Jefferson Mack

“Public seating for humans and bicycles, an essential for re-creation, personal development, and civilization. Reflect on values overlooked in your modern life.”

According to Jefferson Mack’s website he has been involved with the metal arts since 1990. Aside from architectural products, Jefferson Mack Metal features increasingly complete lines of furniture, lighting, fire and hearth accessories, as well as works for public commission.

Lower Haight – Love in the Lower Haight

 Posted by on April 18, 2012
Apr 182012
 
Lower Haight
Ursula Young

This is on the corner of Laguna and Haight Streets.  It is part of the Love in the Lower Haight Project.  I have showcased a few artists in this area before.  Started in October 0f 2010 the project is on the walls of a UC campus slated for demolition, as long as the walls are standing the artists project will continue.

This piece by Ursula Young is so very, very girls of San Francisco for me, it just made me smile.  According to her blog:

Over the past fourteen years illustrator, painter and designer Ursula Xanthe Young has become known for her unique flowery urban fairytale illustrations. Graduate of Parsons School of Design (Illustration, BFA, New York 1996) Ursula exhibits frequently in the Bay Area and has sold paintings in New York, London, Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong and all across the U.S.

Ursula finds inspiration in the organic yet urban landscape of San Francisco and its surrounds; the crossed wires, Victorian buildings and fog-filled horizons, that are often backdrop to her brightly painted doe-eyed flower girls. She is also highly influenced by her frequent travels to the far-flung reaches of the globe and the variety of colorful characters that she encounters – both real and imagined – along the way.

Due to her love of electronic music since the early 90’s, and the culture that surrounds it, Ursula’s art can be seen on CD & record covers of dance music labels including Om records, Safe In Sound Music, Loveslap recordings, 2 Block Radius & Panhandle records. Along with murals, apparel & club flyers, her art can be spotted in magazines & ipod covers and in boutiques across the city of San Francisco and beyond.

Originating from the green rural dales of Northern England, Ursula has spent much of her time since then traveling and has studied art in New York City, Florence, Vermont, Oslo, and London. After ten years making her mark in the Lower Haight neighborhood of San Francisco, she recently relocated to the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California – this time to a remote spot in the forest – where she’s busy finding a whole host of new inspirations.

 

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 17, 2012
Apr 172012
 
Fort Mason
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“The Bracket Collection” by Pallet Studio provides dignified seating for anybody in mundane and over looked spaces.

The Pallet Studio artists are Michael Wlosek, Lukas Nickerson and Andrew Perkins.  According to Michael Wlosek’s Facebook Page he studied architecture at California College of the Arts and is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

According to Lukas Nickerson’s website: “I am interested in existing within the confluence of old century craft and modern technology, starting in the present and exploring the past; investigating what isolation from the modern world can bring back to the 21st century city.”  He is a wonderful furniture designer.

According to Andrew Perkins website: “Born and raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Andrew now calls San Francisco his home. Designing and building locally with organic and recyclable materials is central to his work. However, Andrew strongly believes that sustainable design is foremost about the quality and emotional longevity of the object. Andrew strives for this core principle by combining his experience as a cabinetmaker with a world class education in design. He knows that if the idea isn’t present than the object will not persist.”  He too is an accomplished designer and furniture manufacturer.

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The Haight – Evolutionary Rainbow

 Posted by on April 16, 2012
Apr 162012
 
The Haight
Haight and Cole
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Called Evolutionary Rainbow, this mural was originally done by Joanna (Yana) Zegri in 1967 when she was a manager for the business in the building. She has returned to restore the mural in ’81, ’83, and ’06. This landmark Mural depicts a stage of evolution in each color, visible when you study the mural up close.

Excerpt from San Francisco Bay Area Murals by Timothy W. Drescher:

The earliest community mural in San Francisco was begun by Joana Zegri in 1967. It was never formally titled, but was called Evolution Rainbow because as the colors of its rainbow design progressed from dark to light, details within each color depicted the evolution of animals from early protozoa through dinosaurs up to modern species. ..

The first pause came when the artist, in the middle of painting the mural, took time off to give birth to her first child. After several months she completed the mural, and even restored in in 1981 with stronger paints. In 1982, the business of the wall of which the mural was painted changed hands, and the new owner had the mural painted out….In this instance, the destruction catalyzed community forces in a way that indicates the role such murals play in forming social communities. Protest, petitions, complaints by the store’s customers, letter writing campaigns, and meeting late into the night followed…the store owner contacted Zegri and asked her to repaint the mural.

Lincoln Park – Pax Jerusalem

 Posted by on April 15, 2012
Apr 152012
 
Lincoln Park
Legion of Honor
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Pax Jerusalem by Mark di Suvero

This piece sits on the sculpture pad in front of the Legion of Honor, one of our finer museums in San Francisco.  It is by Mark di Suvero, who has been in this blog before.  It was controversial the day it was installed.  Many felt is was not representative of the quality people had come to expect from di Suvero, it also was a runner up, when the city lost out on a sculpture by di Suvero’s boyhood friend Richard Serra. Di Suvero and Richard Serra grew up on the same block in San Francisco. Both their fathers worked on the docks. Being by the water and the docks and the wharfs and the piers plays a powerful role in their work.

The piece is owned by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and was purchased in 1999.

The Legion of Honor was the gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of the sugar magnate and thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder Adolph B. Spreckels. The building is a three-quarter-scale version of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur also known as the Hôtel de Salm in Paris.  This version is by architects George Applegarth and H. Guillaume. It was completed in 1924.

 

Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 14, 2012
Apr 142012
 
Fort Mason
 
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This piece is high up on a retaining wall. The chair is by Brian Goggins and is very similar to his Defenestration Piece running South of Market.

The description that accompanies the piece is “Fortitude” A submarine chair transforms our perception of space and objects. This “submarine chair” is a chair found on WWII submarines known to be “fashionably indestructible”.

People in submarines eventually need to sit down, and in 1944 aluminum company ALCOA collaborated with the U.S. Navy on the purpose-built 1006 Chair, also known as the Navy Chair or Submarine Chair. The design brief had at least one interesting bulletpoint: The chair had to be “torpedo-proof.”
The resultant super-strong chair is still in production today, manufactured by aluminum chair company Emeco.

Emeco even teamed up with Coca-Cola to make the chairs from recycled plastic.

Western Addition – World Walls for Peace

 Posted by on April 13, 2012
Apr 132012
 
Western Addition
Page and Buchanan Street
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In 1999, with consultation and training from the organization, World Walls for Peace, residents of the Western Addition became participants in a Peace Empowerment Process. Volunteers taught a program in two elementary schools and over fifty community based organizations, focusing on tolerance, understanding, and non-violence. Participants learned ways to develop positive solutions to resolving conflicts and defusing anger. The project was developed and implemented by residents for residents—a true community endeavor.
As part of their participation, people of all ages painted over 1,800 tiles on the theme of peace, to be installed on a retaining wall that encircles Daniel Koshland Park on Page and Buchanan Streets in San Francisco.

By May 2007, all the tiles were painted, fired, organized, labeled, and photographed; the SF Arts Commission had approved the project; the retaining wall had been resurfaced and repaired in preparation for tiling.  This is a photograph of the long side of the park as well as the interior stairwell.

 Justine Tatarsky was the lead artist on the project, her work is really quite beautiful, you will recognize hers not only for the refinement but also the initials TOT on her work.

There is a brass plaque on the wall that reads:

This Peace Wall celebrates our community’s commitment to PEACE, and is dedicated to families that have lost children to violence in the Western Addition.
This Peace Wall stands to remind us that we have the power to be creative and heal ourselves and our community.  We are all artists.  May we find inspiration and strength in these messages of love.
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Fort Mason – SEATS

 Posted by on April 12, 2012
Apr 122012
 
Fort Mason
SEATS Exhibition
Solstice by Brian Martin
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This is part of the SEAT installation at Fort Mason.  The seat exhibit showcases work that reflects on the history of fort mason center and responds to the natural elements of the site. Each piece is meant to be gently sat on and then you can use your mobile phone to dial up a phone number that will tell you about the piece.
According to the artist:  This piece represents the dates and times that so many people have entered and exited into our city. Set in a specific position to the horizon, the sun lines up with the eye and the seated, revealing the time and date of something very special. ((Hint….the answers to the timing and position are etched onto the head of the seat)
Brian Martin is a metal artist, designer, and fabricator. He moved to San Francisco in 1997 to attend the Academy of Art, during which he apprenticed with Eric Powell until 2001. After leaving Eric Powell, he  started Brian Martin Metals, working for designers, architects and homeowners. In the past few years he has concentrated on building fine furniture and sculpture.

 

The Haight – Listen to this wall.

 Posted by on April 11, 2012
Apr 112012
 
Haight and Schrader
On the wall of 540 Schrader

According to the Listen to This Wall website – “Listen to This Wall is an initiative to bring a creative antidote to the ever increasing visual noise that crowds our urban landscape. Working with artists and designers to produce original works that offer new ways of seeing and being inspired in our city spaces.

The first of our walls is located in the historic district of Haight Ashbury in San Francisco and will feature a rotating selection of creative work.

Thank you to the building owner for donating this wall to the cause.”

 

The Haight – Buggin Out

 Posted by on April 10, 2012
Apr 102012
 
RAI Care Center
Haight and Shrader
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Buggin’ Out by Fresh Paint, was inspired by the relationship between the evolution of insect species and the evolution of aerosol lettering. Both may have once originated at a single source, yet through time altered their forms when migrating and adapting to different regions and their various conditions.
The mural was painted to represent a bug display case, replacing a few tiny critters with aerosol signatures from artists who’s styles are interconnected through influence.

Fresh Paint has a mural on the adjacent building as well as in Chinatown.

 

The Haight in Murals

 Posted by on April 9, 2012
Apr 092012
 
RAI Care Center
Haight and Schrader

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This mural in the Haight Asbury district was dedicated to the rich history of the Haight Ashbury. It focuses on the elements born from the Summer of Love, and the movement sparked in 1967 towards a more peaceful society. It is located on the corner of Haight and Shrader, just half a block from the epicenter of the Summer of Love and where shows were played in the park.

The wall was rendered as 4 large psychedelic posters, the 3 to the right pay homage to the 3 big elements of the time: Peace, Poster Art, and Music. Each poster design gave nods at original 70’s posters, adorned with the lettering styles reminiscent of Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley & Stanley Mouse. Just like back then, aesthetics were mixed, like photorealism, cartooning, illustration and a heaping spoonful of aerosol techniques.

The poster on the left are the signatures of the painters, integrated in a psychedelic poster art background. It is a way to tie the mural in with more personal roots of the artists, and showcase the legacy of illegible lettering styles.

The work was done by Lost, Satyr and Wes Wong of Fresh Paint.  This crew is responsible a great dragon mural in Chinatown.

 

Lower Haight – Murals

 Posted by on April 8, 2012
Apr 082012
 
The Lower Haight
650 Haight Street

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Painted by Sam Flores, these were commissioned by the eight owners of the building.  They replaced murals done by small children in the same places, and while we all know it is important to encourage children in their art, I saw the originals and these are such a massive improvement to the area.

A New Mexico native, Sam Flores’ mythology is populated with costumed urchins and lithe beauties swathed in flowers; he is a painter of masked child-heroes with oversized hands. Flores’ subjects convey a melancholy power, resisting the gaze of the onlooker as if they alone understand how the world can be so painful and so beautiful at the same time.

 

This is what they look stitched together, you can see they really do tell a story.

 

 

 

Hayes Valley – Ghinlon/Transcope

 Posted by on April 6, 2012
Apr 062012
 
Hayes Valley/Western Addition
Octavia Boulevard
between Market and Hayes
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Ghinlon/Transcope by Po Shu Wang 2005

Commissioned by the SF Arts Commission for the Octavia Boulevard Streetscape Project, these transcopes invite you to observe the comings and goings along Octavia Boulevard and Patricia’s Green. There are twelve of these installed along the medians and the Green. The view through them can be twisted, converted or even upside down. While this was probably a wonderful concept, it fails in execution. To look into them is awkward. While one design is set at a height that works for the handicapped and small children, the other meant for standing adults were difficult for this 5’3″ author to use. Unfortunately, the view holes are so small that you really don’t see much anyway.

This is a paragraph from the SF Arts Commission’s Press Release regarding the installation:
The artist created a series of slender pole-like sculptures equipped with kaleidoscopic lenses that function as miniature observatories providing pedestrians with a transformed view of the surrounding environment and passing cars. The mounted scopes transform vehicular movements, colors, shapes and lights into extraordinary and beautiful real time moving pictures. Each observatory is equipped with a unique mirror lens combination giving the viewer an ever-changing kinetic snapshot of their environment. The sculptures have two standard designs: one for standing adults, and one for person in wheelchairs and/or children. The sculptures have a 60-degree vertical swing and a 180-degree horizontal swing. The slender support column on each sculpture includes the artist’s prosaic interpretation of the unique lens/mirror combination.

Born in Hong Kong, Po Shu Wang is an artist working out of Berkeley, California. His art projects are site-oriented viruses. Each individual artwork is a specific strain that intimately linked with a particular host environment. They co-evolve, mutate, and conflict with their hosts within a larger reality.

These pieces were part of the SFAC 2006-2007 budget and were commissioned for $150,000.

Union Square – Manifest Destiny

 Posted by on April 5, 2012
Apr 052012
 
Downtown/Union Square
453 Bush Street
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Manifest Destiny by Jenny Chapman and Mark Reigelman

Southern Exposure (SoEx) is a nonprofit visual arts organization that supports emerging artists.  This project, the first of its kind for SoEx is a result of the support of The Graue Family Foundation. In 2009, the foundation offered Southern Exposure a major gift to support the public art initiative, SoEx Off-Site, and the creation of The Graue Award.

Jenny Chapman, a San Francisco-based architect, and Mark Reigelman, a New York-based artist, created this piece.  It is “a simultaneous tribute to and critique of the romantic spirit and arrogant expansion of the Western frontier.” It is a temporary rustic cabin in “one of the last remaining unclaimed spaces of downtown San Francisco.” The artists used traditional architecture and building materials, to create work that will recall the city’s early settlements, providing a welcome contrast to the contemporary streetscape and ultimately integrating past, present, and future. It will remain, and let the elements take their toll until October 2012.

 

Embarcadero Center – La Chiffonniere

 Posted by on April 4, 2012
Apr 042012
 
Embarcadero Center
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Jean Dubuffet – La Chiffonniere

 

With “La Chiffonniere,” French artist Jean Dubuffet conveyed a woman dressed in rags by utilizing petal-like layers of curved stainless steel edged in epoxy

Dubuffet (1901-1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called “low art” and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making. He pioneered Art Brut, featuring amateur art made primarily by children and people in mental institutions, which he considered the purest form of expression.

While not the best website, the Dubuffet Foundation maintains a site where you can see a nice collection of his works.

Lands End – Labyrinth

 Posted by on April 3, 2012
Apr 032012
 
Land’s End
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This labyrinth is at Land’s End in San Francisco, on the Coastal Trail. Created by Eduardo Aguilera in 2004, it is a hike to get to but well worth the trek. The easiest hike is to park at the Palace of the Legion of Honor and walk towards the ocean. You can also park at the 48th and Point Lobos parking lot above the Cliff House and walk towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once you start walking you are heading towards Mile Rock Beach. There is a small sign at the top of the hill that says Mile Rock Beach but no sign to the labyrinth. At this point you start walking down towards the ocean. It is a very steep climb down, but the stairs are very well constructed. Take your time and enjoy.

Eduardo grew up in Baja California, Mexico and came to the US in 1966. Living in southern California until 1983 he moved to San Francisco, operating his own auto detailing business. After watching a show on PBS about labyrinths and making a visit to Grace Cathedral he went from enjoying labyrinths as a visitor, to wanting to create them. Tying a core theme of “peace, love and enlightenment” to his creations, he began building labyrinths in December of 2003 and having them prepared in time for Equinoxes and Solstices. This labyrinth was built on the Spring Equinox in 2004. For the 2004 Winter Solstice Eduardo lit the Lands End Labyrinth with luminaries. For the 2005 Spring Equinox the Lands End Labyrinth was set ablaze. If you go to Eduardo Aguilera’s website you will see photos of the labyrinth on the Equinox and also that it has changed quite a bit since its original creation.

Hayes Valley – Great Adventure

 Posted by on April 2, 2012
Apr 022012
 
Hayes Valley/Western Addition
Octavia and Page

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This is Growing Home’s Community Garden, their mission is to provide a community garden where both homeless and housed San Franciscans work side-by-side to grow nutritious food, access green space, and build community.

The mural on the back wall is by Ben Eine, he has several murals around San Francisco.

In an interview with Proxy SF, Eine said this about the piece, “My problem with this wall was the width between the windows. The first letter I sketched up on this was the ‘E’ and then that gave me the size of each letter going left or right of the ‘E.'” The interview is quite extensive, go to the link above if you are interested in reading it in its entirety.

Nob Hill – Pacific Union Club

 Posted by on April 1, 2012
Apr 012012
 
Nob Hill
Pacific Union Club
Flood Mansion
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This house, built in 1886 forJames Clair Flood, was the first Brownstone west of the Mississippi. It was the only great Nob Hill house to survive the 1906 Fire, saved just barely, thanks to its Connecticut brownstone walls.  The Pacific Union Club purchased it’s shell and William Bourn, who was on the building committee, secured the reconstruction commission for Willis Polk.
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This bronze fence surrounding the property is the city’s finest; Flood allegedly employed one man just to polish it.  With those days gone, it has been allowed to mellow to a fine patinated green.  The pattern was supposedly taken from a piece of lace that Mrs. Flood admired, and surrounds all four sides of the property.

At the time it was built the fence cost $30,000. (around $715,000 in 2012 dollars)

Flood was one of the “Bonanza Kings“, a saloon Keeper that came from New York in the 1870s, he made his fortune in one of the richest silver strikes in the United States – The Nevada Comstock Lode.

 

The Pacific Union Club is a highly private mens club.  Entry to the PU club for non-members is difficult at best.

Nob Hill – Dancing Sprites

 Posted by on March 31, 2012
Mar 312012
 
Nob Hill
Huntington Park
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Dancing Sprites by Henri Leon Greber – Bronze – Circa 1900

This statue sits on the California Street side of Huntington Park on the top of Nob Hill. It was donated to the city by Mrs. James Flood in 1942. It is owned by the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Henri Léon Greber (1855-1941) was a French sculptor, and this work of his is a group of three nude children holding hands in a circle. A ribbon of cloth drapes around the children. They are dancing with legs uplifted. The bronze sculpture stands in the center of a round concrete base which is in the center of a fountain basin.

The Flood family made their money in the gold and silver fields and Mr. James L. Flood piled up millions as one of the “Bonanza Kings.”

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