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Lango in the Mission and SOMA

Posted by Cindy on October 11, 2011

Oct 112011

SOMA – San Francisco

Mary at Howard Streets

This piece was done by Lango, a tattoo artist here in San Francisco. I have tried to contact him to ask him about this mural, but according to a friend of his I met the other day he is extremely shy. I respect that, and figure his work speaks for him, it is really spectacular.

This is on the Howard side of the building.

This is also by Lango. It was commissioned by an auto repair shop. I had fun chatting with the guys who own the shop. They were rather fond of their piece of art work. This is at 4 Shotwell at 14th Street.

Lango at 22nd at Folsom

Portland, Oregon Mills End’s Park

Posted by Cindy on October 10, 2011

Oct 102011

Mill End’s Park

Portland, Oregon

Mill Ends Park is a small park located in the median strip of SW Naito Parkway near SW Taylor Street in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was created on St. Patrick’s Day, 1948, to be “the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland,” according to its creator, Dick Fagan. It is the smallest park in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, which first granted it this recognition in 1971.

In 1948, the site that would become Mill Ends Park was intended to be the site for a light pole. When the pole failed to appear and weeds sprouted in the opening, Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, planted flowers in the hole and named it after his column in the paper, “Mill Ends” (a reference to leftover irregular pieces of wood at lumber mills). Fagan’s office in the Journal building overlooked the median.

Fagan told the story of the park’s origin: He looked out the window and spotted a leprechaun digging in the hole. He ran down and grabbed the leprechaun, which meant that he had earned a wish. Fagan said he wished for a park of his own; but since he had not specified the size of the park in his wish, the leprechaun gave him the hole. Over the next two decades, Fagan often featured the park and its head leprechaun, named Patrick O’Toole, in his whimsical column.

Fagan died of cancer in 1969, but the park lived on, cared for by others. It was named an official city park in 1976

The day I visited it was nicely planted with clover and a very small pine tree.

Portland, Oregon – Cathedral Park

Posted by Cindy on October 9, 2011

Oct 092011

Cathedral Park

Portland, Oregon

This is Cathedral Park in Portland, Oregon. It is believed to be one of the 14 Lewis and Clark landing sites in the Vancouver-Portland area. It’s cathedral-like appearance comes from the fact that it sits under this gorgeous bridge.

The St. Johns Bridge is a steel suspension bridge that spans the Willamette River. It is the only suspension bridge in the Valley. The bridge has two 408 foot tall Gothic towers, a 1,207 foot center span and a total length of 2,067 feet. It is also the tallest bridge in Portland.

It was dedicated on June 13, 1931, and during the ceremony, the bridge engineer, David B. Steinman said: “A challenge and an opportunity to create a structure of enduring beauty in the God-given wondrous background was offered us when were asked to design the bridge. It is the most beautiful bridge in the world we feel.”

Bernal Heights, San Francisco October 8, 2011

Posted by Cindy on October 8, 2011

Oct 082011

Bernal Height

Mission District

Noe Valley

Transit Systems

Due to a strong art commission in San Francisco we are fortunate to see art most everywhere. The fun thing is finding it when you least expect it. Our transit system has lots of art, but sometimes you just pass it by. This is at the corner of Mission and 22nd, and as you can see, it is a bus stop. This is titled Layla and Swingdaddy by Joe Mangrun.

Joe was born in Florissant Missouri. At the age of 16 he was awarded a trip to India sponsored by the Asia Society of New York 1986. He received his BFA with a focus on painting and photography from the School of the Art institute of Chicago. He currently resides in New York City and has taken up sand painting.

This panel and iterations of it are on the Church Street line of Muni. They are by Tirso Gonalez. Hailing from Mexico, Tirso first started drawing when he was in middle school. He started off drawing caricatures of friends and teachers, he later began to draw cartoons about social issues that affected the people of his city and state. His first work as an artist began at a local newspaper; it took him only one visit to the news editor to get a job as the editorial cartoonist of a major newspaper in his home state.

Tirso left Mexico for the San Francisco Bay Area in 1982 and a year later, was introduced to Mission Grafica at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. He was invited to join Mission Grafica, where he learned to print silk screen posters. He went on to learn mural painting by collaborating with different muralists in San Francisco.

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This last series is along the Mission Street Bus line from Precita to Cortland. These are all by Brian Goggin. The amazing thing about these is the fact that they simply disappear. This section of the street has a utility box every foot. Sewer, Telephone, Water, Gas and Electric all appear in this form along the street, so you really don’t notice Brian’s work at all. The first one struck me as odd until I saw the neon sign just above it. The others, I think tell their own story.

Bernal Heights – Odonatoa

Posted by Cindy on October 7, 2011

Oct 072011

Holy Park Playground

Holy Park Circle

Bernal Heights

Odonatoa by Joyce Hsu

Bernal Heights is a wonderful area that has some of the cities best weather. This sculpture sits on top of a delightful park that has views of all around the city. Bernal had its origin with the 1839 Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo Mexican land grant It remained undeveloped, though, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Built atop bedrock, the hill’s structures survived the temblor, and the sparseness of the development saved much of Bernal from the ravages of the firestorm that followed. The commercial corridor of Cortland Avenue filled in with shops as the pastureland on the hilltop was developed for workers’ homes during the rapid rebuilding of the city. Some of the tiny earthquake cottages that the city built to house quake refugees still exist in this area. During World War II, the area saw another population surge of primarily working class families. During the Vietnam War, the neighborhood was known as “Red Hill” for the anti-war activists in shared households and collectives who moved in among the working class families.

Born in Hong Kong, Joyce Hsu received her BFA from the Mount Allison University in Canada in 1996 and her MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998. She works out of Oakland and creates all kinds of mechanical sculptures.

This kinetic sculpture of painted stainless is one of many insects that Joyce has created. It was commission by the SFAC in their 2006-07 budget at a cost of $14,500.

I would like to add this addendum to this post. The blog Bernalwood reposted this and received a comment from Eugenie Marek. Her comment is here :

My memory is a bit fuzzy. Here’s what I remember.
When Holly Park was being renovated, the Arts Commission invited 5 or 6 residents to meet to consider from among projects that had been submitted for this location.

It was a difficult choice because the submissions were all imaginative and well executed. What made it even harder was that two of the artists lived in Bernal. We were given some direction by the Arts Commission facilitator. Because Holly Park is so windy, we looked to select something that included movement. This artist’s work was unique enough to convince us.

Unfortunately, the Odonatao ran into trouble because it was just too responsive to the wind! It was quite something to see when the parts were in motion. The artist tried several times to slow it down, and finally disengaged it.

I’ve always been sad to see it frozen– but it is neat to look at! Certainly one of a kind.

Thank you Eugenie.

Visitacion Valley Community Center

Posted by Cindy on October 6, 2011

Oct 062011

243 Leland Avenue

Visitacion Valley Community Center

Artist: Victor Mario Zaballa

A prolific and fascinating artist Victor Zaballa is an Aztec originally trained in aeronautical engineering in Mexico City. He has lived and worked in San Francisco for a number of years where he is a popular and respected member of the artist community. He works in every medium including cut paper, painting, tile, steel, wood, and wire sculpture, puppet theater, and music composition, performance and musical instrument invention and construction. His performing group “Obsidian Songs,” has been heard in numerous venues throughout California. He has had a kidney transplant and is a very loud voice in the Latina community for organ donation and education.

Why windmills? Rancho Canada de Guadalupe, La Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo was named in July 1777 by a party of Spanish priests and soldiers who lost their way in heavy fog while en route to the Presidio. Now called Visitacion Valley, this area was the only Mexican land grant within San Francisco deeded to an Anglo. Windmills pumped water to irrigate the fields of early settlers’ cattle farms, nurseries, and vegetable gardens, leading to the nickname “Valley of the Windmills.” Eventually the pastoral scenery gave way to a mix of housing and commerce, and today Visitacion Valley is one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Fire Station #44

Posted by Cindy on October 5, 2011

Oct 052011

Fire Station #44 Formerly #47

1298 Girard Street

This piece is titled “Diagonal Relief” by Elizabeth Saltos. According to Elizabeth she creates sculpture from a continually evolving series of geometric configurations using a visual alphabet of shape, color and surface in dialogue with its architectural environs.

This piece is on Firehouse #44. It was originally Firehouse #47 and is the oldest firehouse in the City of San Francisco still in use. The portion with the sculpture is a new section built in 1973.

The older side was completed and ready to be occupied in 1913. The two-story brick building, designed by John Reid Jr., has terra cotta cornices with acanthus leaf molding and brackets. “SFFD” and “No. 47” are embossed in terra cotta medallions on either side of the apparatus door. Small iron balconies embellish the three windows of the upstairs dormitory.

Islais Creek Park

Posted by Cindy on October 4, 2011

Oct 042011

Islais Creek Park

Quint, Third and Berry

The Ohlone Indians were harvesting mussels, clams, and shrimp on the shores of Islais Creek long before Europeans arrived in 1769. The creek appeared on Mexican maps in 1834, named for Los Islais (is-lay-is), a hollyleaf cherry and favorite Indian food. On today’s map it is the gateway to (the former) Butchertown, Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods.In the 1850s Islais Creek provided fresh water to Franciscan friars from Mission Dolores and irrigated the produce that Portuguese, Italian, and Irish vegetable farmers grew in the Bayview district. The Gold Rush marked the start of the creek’s decline when hordes of forty-niners swarmed out of the city and settled into the makeshift housing on the water’s edge. In 1870, the slaughterhouses of Butchertown came in, and Islais Creek, red with blood and offal, reeking of garbage, sewage, and unfit for any use, was diverted to a culvert and its contents sent out to the Bay.

Until the 1950s, the waterway was an open sewer, known colloquially as “S____ Creek.” Things changed in the 1970s with construction of a water treatment plant nearby and the clearing out of Buchertown’s auto-wrecking yards. But it was not until 1988 when neighbors banned together to create this wonderful little park. Today it is even greater, and bigger than they imagined.

The piece above marks the entry, and yet I could find nothing out about it or its artist. (Read update below)

I have always loved this structure, you see it just before you enter San Francisco coming from the airport. The five-story high copra crane unloaded dried coconut meat at Islais Creek’s copra dock from 1947 to 1974. Rescued as a San Francisco landmark, it will tower over the new promenade slated for this area.

A new note. In November I contacted Robin Chiang, an architect and active participant in the Islais Creek Renovation. He told me this about the sculpture.

The tower in your photograph was rescued from the Granax property on the north side of the channel when SFMTA bought it from the Marcos family (of the Philippines). It was used for hanging hoses. I designed the metal fish with cut out letters and commissioned metal artist Todd Martinez to fabricate and install it. When the SFPUC was expanding its booster pump station (at 3rd & Arthur) they asked us what we wanted. We wanted the expansion to be all glass so people could see the pumps, but that was not allowed for security reasons. So I sketched the marquee that proclaims ISLAIS LANDING and SFPUC had it fabricated for the pump station as a marker for the northern gateway to the Bayview.

Bayview/Hunters Point Muni Stop

Posted by Cindy on October 3, 2011

Oct 032011

Bayview/Hunters Point

3rd Street Light Rail

Kirkwood/Oakdale Station

The Marquis Pole

Horace Washington was the artist for the third station. His work represents the tradition of shipbuilding and the history of WWII in the neighborhood.

At the start of World War II the Navy recognized the need for greatly increased naval shipbuilding and repair facilities in the San Francisco bay area, and in 1940 acquired property on the waterfront and named it Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The property became one of the major shipyards of the west coast.

The first USS Pike (SS-6) was a Plunger-class submarine in the service of the United States Navy. She was laid down on December 10th, 1900 at San Francisco, California by Union Iron Works, launched on January 14th, 1903, and commissioned on May 28th, 1903 at the Mare Island Navy Yard with Lieutenant Arthur MacArthur, Jr. (the elder brother of future General of the Army Douglas MacArthur) in command. Pike operated out of the Mare Island Navy Yard for over three years, operating principally in experimental and training roles. Members of the Pike’s crew took part in the relief efforts following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires.

Launched on the 20th of August and commissioned on the 16th of October 1916 at the Union Plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in San Francisco, California. This ship was the sixth Astral, a name originating as a brand name for a water-white kerosene refined at the Pratt Works in Brooklyn, NY. In appearance Astral was easily distinguished by three masts – the only tanker in the fleet so provided. The Astral disappeared without a trace, and no documented reason. Some feel she simply sank, others that she was torpedoed.

Horace Washington studied at Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio before moving to California to study sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute and then completed his graduate studies at Cal State University, Sacramento. He is a San Francisco sculptor and muralist whose works include numerous projects in a variety of materials for public facilities in California.

Bayview – Hunters Point Muni Stop

Posted by Cindy on October 2, 2011

Oct 022011

Bayview/Hunters Point

3rd Street Light Rail Project

LaSalle/Palou Station

The Marquis signpost

The Canopy

This station designed by Frederick Hayes deals with Afro-Centric issues. Hayes uses a kente cloth roof design and African language and cowrie shell symbols on the platform.

Kente cloth, known locally as nwentoma, is a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Cowrie shells, throughout Africa and South and North America, symbolize the power of destiny and prosperity. Spiritually, according to African legend, if you are attracted to cowrie shells you could be family to an ocean spirit of wealth and earth. It also represents Goddess protection which is very powerful and connected with the strength of the ocean.

This is Frederick Hayes self description: I use portraiture to as an impetus to act and react to various stimuli within the urban environment. To form first impressions, last impressions and indeliable marks. I also believe the portraiture can take many forms and to that end I include cityscapes and the facade. For me all three share my strong desire to frame, name and reconstruct the human condition based on the initial act of looking.

Hunters Point – Muni Stop

Posted by Cindy on October 1, 2011

Oct 012011

Hunter’s Point

3rd Street Light Rail Project

Revere/Shafter Station

A Second team led by Horace Washington created stops in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood. These artists attended many community meetings for input and direction about what kinds of concepts were desired for inclusion by neighborhood members. Many ideas were proposed including futuristic, ethnic, ecological and Victorian. Joe Sam was the developer of this one about birds.

The Canopy

Mosaics on the platform.

Joe Sam makes a home on both coasts of the U.S. One in San Francisco and one in Connecticut. Here is what he says about himself on his website: “I was born and raised in Harlem, New York City. I vividly remember looking at colors and textures. I spent a lot of time looking at hues of peeling paint. It was that old lead-based paint that peeled periodically, especially when the ceiling leaked. We always had these incredible designs on our walls.

I am a mixed media artist. Whenever possible I use materials in the state in which they were found. Whatever the media, the surface if my work is textured or shaped. My work reflects the fact that I’m a Black artist. My colors, patterns, and designs are multi-faceted and combine many parallel elements in a single piece of work analogous to the way African derived music combines parallel rhythmic and melodic elements. The content of my work reflects issues and ideas concerning people of color.”

Etchings on the Platform

San Francisco’s Muni Stops

Posted by Cindy on September 29, 2011

Sep 292011

Cable cars have been synonymous with San Francisco since the 1800’s. We correct people all the time in the vernacular of cable car versus trolly, but, we have trolly lines too. Our muni system is just that. Muni covers much of the city, and many people that visit our town ride the vintage trolly cars along the embarcadero. For twenty years the muni system sought to expand its line from 4th and King streets (one block from our baseball park) along 3rd street to Candlestick park. It finally accomplished this feat. Originally envisioned as a simple rail line with minimal stations and platforms it grew into a more elaborate system with raised platforms and dedicated roadway.

Street lighting along the entire corridor

During it’s conception the S.F. Arts commission selected a team of ten artists to participate in the project. Rather than have the art designed and sited independent at the end of the planning and design, the artists were brought in early on to give their input. As a result of this collaboration, several artists became involved in developing concepts for the corridor as well as for individual sites.

The station marquee pole is a primary element of the canopy.

A beacon at the top flashes to announce an oncoming train.

The design effort lasted about a year and included three community workshops and nine neighborhood workshops. The result was unifying elements in the design. These include the trackway paving, station elements, including crosswalks, ticketing, shelters, windscreens and signage, street lighting and color scheme. They also included unique elements that included, plantings, art elements and special streetscape elements.

Three of the stations have site specific art. The first of these is stop number one at Fourth and King Streets.

The station marquee represents the spokes of a train wheel, and spins with the wind.

These are just two of the many names of historic train companies that are etched in the platform pavement.

To top it all off, there are tracks running across the canopy.

Nob Hill – Resting Hermes

Posted by Cindy on September 28, 2011

Sep 282011

Nob Hill

Corner of Powell and California

This bronze statue “Resting Hermes,” is a remnant of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition that sits outside the University Club on California Street in San Francisco. If you ride the cable car and hop on or off at the top of Powell street, walk over and take a look. He sits along the wall on the California side of the club, between Powell and Miles Street.

The 300-lb bronze depicting the Greek god of merchants and shepherds – as well as travelers, translators, and some other things – was originally sent to San Francisco by J. Chivarri & Co. of Napoli for the Italian Exhibit at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915.

Later, the University Club purchased Resting Hermes for $300. It was stolen in 1974 and recovered following a plea by the San Francisco Chronicle columnist and pulitzer prize winner Herb Caen. It was stolen again in 2004, only to return to its rightful place after much ado and indignation by the citizens of San Francisco.

Hermes was the messenger and herald of the gods. Among his legends, Hermes slayed Argos after putting the 100-eyed giant to sleep with voluminous tales of Hermes’ own adventures. As a messenger, his travels and exploits were many.

Stencil Art

Posted by Cindy on September 27, 2011

Sep 272011

San Francisco

All Around Town

Stencils

Stencils are a fun, down and dirty way to place art on the street. Most of their creators you will never know, but the creator of these is out in the open. Jeremy Novy began stenciling koi fish on the sidewalks, often on top of graffiti tags, to “beautify the area.” There are now more than 2,000 of his koi throughout the city, including commissioned ones at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Quan Yin Meditation Center, Cafe Flore and the hair salon Every Six Weeks.

This was on a mailbox on Folsom Street (since painted over). I often thought it was a representation of Matt Taibi’s book Griftopia, where he uses the term Vampire Squids to refer to Wall Street – (notice the Lincoln of the five dollar bill.)

Richmond District – Rochambeau Playground

Posted by Cindy on September 26, 2011

Sep 262011

The Richmond District

Rochambeau Playground

25th Avenue between California and Clement

The artwork celebrates sports at Rochambeau Playground. Two concrete pillars clad in ceramic tile are topped by an 8-inch mosaic tennis ball and a 22-inch mosaic basketball. They mark the end of the handicapped ramp and the wall between the children’s playground and the blacktop courts.

The work is by Johanna Poethig who has shown up numerous times in this website.

The Richmond – Speaking Stones

Posted by Cindy on September 25, 2011

Sep 252011

The Richmond District

Richmond Recreation Center

251 18th Avenue

Throughout the park is poetry cast into concrete benches and carved into stones.

The artist, Seyed Alavi titled this piece Speaking Stones. It was to be a poetry garden with metaphors for health, contentment and community.

Seyed Alavi received a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University and a Masters of Fine Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Alavi’s work is often engaged with the poetics of language and space and their power to shape reality.

The various concrete benches read from left to right :

They stained my fingers at a touch. They were crimson yesterday on the branch. So fresh that this morning I searched for them in vain. For they had already vanished and fell to the bottom of the pool.

The stones were not as easy to read, but the snippets were thoughtful.

The problem with this installation is the lack of maintenance. The stones and the hard concrete require lush plantings to convey their message. Sadly, the plantings were sparse and the maintenance very poor. Alavi’s work deserves better.

Playland Revisited

Posted by Cindy on September 24, 2011

Sep 242011

The Richmond District

Corner of LaPlaya and Cabrillo

Many people come to San Francisco and head to the Musee Mecanique. There the first person you encounter, either with your ears or with your eyes is “Laughing Sal.” Well she wasn’t always in a museum.

Laughing Sal was originally at “Playland”. Playland (also known as Playland at the Beach and Whitney’s Playland beginning in 1928) was a 10-acre seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now. It began as a collection of amusement rides and concessions in the late 19th century, and was known as Chutes At The Beach as early as 1913. It closed Labor Day weekend in 1972.

This art installation is entitled Playland Revisited, by Ray Beldner. Born in San Francisco, Beldner received a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from Mills College. The sculptures are 10-foot-high perforated stainless steel.

The history that is associated with Playland and this area would fill a book. The symbols that Beldner has chosen are iconic for Playland.

The cable cars were vital to the development of this area, and their history is tied in with Mr. Sutro and the Sutro Baths. In 1883 they began delivering patrons to the ocean area of San Francisco.

This face graced the entry to the Fun House.

The dance hall was called the Topsy Roost. You could get a chicken dinner for 50 cents, and then fly your “coop” by sliding down a giant slide to the dance floor.

Richmond District – Fire Station #4

Posted by Cindy on September 23, 2011

Sep 232011

The Richmond District

41st Avenue at Geary

Fire Station Number 4

This is one of my favorite fire stations in the city. There is something about its size, the fact that it is brick, and the position between two streets that just charms me.

The Phoenix is by artist Lenda Anders Barth, and was installed in 1997. The inscription reads:

This relief sculpture, inset into a brick wall in front of the station, depicts the legendary Phoenix – the mythical bird reborn from its own ashes whose image is also on the City’s seal. This beautiful teal bird is set against terra cotta bricks that alternately read “ashes” and “life.”

In case you were wondering, here is the long winded definition of the city seal. The current seal was adopted in 1859 by the Board of Supervisors, and superseded a similar seal that had been adopted seven years earlier. The shield shows Golden Gate and the hills on each side as it looked in 1859, and a paddlewheel steamship entering San Francisco Bay.Above the shield is a crest with a phoenix, the legendary Greek bird rising from the ashes. The shield is flanked by two supporters, a miner, holding a shovel, in dexter; and a sailor, holding a sextant, in sinister, both in 1850s period clothing. At the feet of the supporters are a plow and anchor, emblems of commerce and navigation. Below the shield is a motto that reads “Oro en paz, en guerra fierro,” which is Spanish for “Gold in peace, iron in war.”.

I assumed that the Phoenix “rising from the ashes” was part of the 1906 earthquake, as you can see it predates that.

The poppy is the California state flower.

One of the sadder things about researching the lives of artists, is reading about them in their obituary. Here is a small clip about Lenda’s life:

Lenda Anders Barth – There are limits to anyone’s strength and courage and Lenda finally yielded to the debilitating and degenerative effects of ataxia on Thursday, February 7, 2008. She will be deeply missed by her family and friends. Lenda was born in Milwaukee, WI, on April 8, 1946. She received her BS in education and BFA from the University of Wisconsin and moved to San Francisco in 1974 with her husband Bob. From the mid 1970s until her untimely death, she was a critically acclaimed member of the San Francisco art community. A prolific ceramic sculptor and encaustic painter, her public art works add beauty and aesthetic meaning to public buildings in the City and elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Lenda’s work lives on.

Marina District – Passage

Posted by Cindy on September 22, 2011

Sep 222011

Marina District

Bay and Laguna

Kent Roberts

Passage

I fell in love with this the moment I laid eyes on it. There is something so simple and yet amusing about this piece. It is 25 feet long and made of stainless steel.

The piece is part of the city’s Civic Art Collection. The description states that it pays homage to ships that carried early settlers to the San Francisco Bay. During the Gold Rush, hundreds of people who arrived at the harbor abandoned their ships. These eventually had to be sunk and became the landfill on which the Marina District sits.

This is one of the few pieces I was able to find the price of – $60,000 in 2010. I also got a kick out of the fact that welded into the prow is “Rico-welder”, a man that was justifiably proud of his work, and an artist that is willing to share the credit.

Kent Roberts has a BFA and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. He also has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico. Kent has been on this website with both his Bridges Installation and an entry into the Fort Mason SEATS exhibition.

North Beach Swimming Pool

Posted by Cindy on September 21, 2011

Sep 212011

North Beach

Swimming Pool and Clubhouse

Lombard and Mason Streets

Artist Vicki Saulls was selected for this site-specific commission through the Arts Commission’s Public Art Program which, by city ordinance, allocates 2% of the construction cost of civic buildings, new parks, and other capital projects for public art.

This is the entry door to the North Beach Clubhouse. “Locus” is a sliding sculptural door on the eastern side of the clubhouse adjoining the pool building. The surface of the metallic gray door depicts a stylized topographical map of the North Beach neighborhood. Although no locations are identified on the map, viewers can orient themselves by the familiar waterfront pier formations along the upper right edge of the design. North Beach Pool and Clubhouse are located near the center of the work. The sculpture was fabricated in cold-cast aluminum to the artist’s specifications by Kreysler & Associates, a Bay Area fabricator.

This is what the door looks like overall. The sign, listing summer restroom hours, proves that to some it is art, and to others, it is just a door.

St. Regis Hotel

Posted by Cindy on September 20, 2011

Sep 202011

SOMA

St. Regis Hotel

3rd and Mission Streets

This is by Raymond Saunders, an American artist born1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He lives and works in Oakland, California and is currently a professor of Painting at California College of the Arts, in Oakland.

I found this description from a press release put out by the St. Regis:

“The southeast façade of the historic Williams Building has been enhanced with an art glass transcription of a work on canvas by Oakland artist Raymond Saunders. An internationally acclaimed artist, Saunders is known for mixed-media paintings that are layered with fragmentary impressions and imbued with whimsy or satire.

The re-creation in glass of Saunders’ painting graces the Williams Building façade with a vibrant and striking work of art. Measuring 36’x36’, the artwork is visible along the Third Street corridor. The painting’s bold colors, abstract forms and strong composition celebrate its prestigious location in the Yerba Buena Arts District and its proximity to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The method of transcribing the painting into glass involved numerous techniques, including fusing, etching, painting and casting. A variety of colored and optical glasses, including dichroic glass, were laminated onto the panels and project a vibrant kaleidoscope of colors during the day. At night the artwork appears as a jewel in the night sky, a welcoming beacon in the San Francisco’s world-renowned skyline.”

For those that are curious dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metals or oxides. The main characteristic of dichroic glass is that it has a particular transmitted color and a completely different reflected color, as certain wavelengths of light either pass through or are reflected. This causes an array of color to be displayed. The colors shift depending on the angle of view.

This is a gorgeous piece that does look like a painted pane of glass. You can’t miss it as third street is a major artery into downtown.

Polk Street History in Murals

Posted by Cindy on September 19, 2011

Sep 192011

Tenderloin

1221 Polk Street

This series is by Dray. This set of murals is on the side of Lush Lounge at 1221 Polk Street in San Francisco. When I spoke to Dray about these murals he relayed an article in the San Francisco Examiner that discussed the controversy regarding a series of murals that was to be scheduled in the neighborhood on Hemlock, just down the street.

While Dray’s murals were not quite as controversial the Examiner stated “The Fern Alley mural proposal was far less contentious — the artist, Dray, proposed a visual timeline of Polk Street dating back to 1906.

The artist faced some heat for featuring an image of a gay hustler, and for depicting famous graffiti artist Shepard Fairey at work, which a few residents said glorified vandalism. Still, the mural proposal is moving forward.”

Here is Dray’s explanation: “There are seven 6ft by 10ft panels which were painted and then later installed on the building. Each panel depicts a certain era with relative imagery to reflect that era. Even some of the styles of painting reflect the era also. Depending on which panel you are looking at you will see Max Beckmann, Picasso, Dali, Andy Warhol and Shepard Fairy. If you research the history of Polk Street you will see that this illustration is somewhat mild compared to what was REALLY going on on that street.”

Woh Hei Yuen Park in Chinatown

Posted by Cindy on September 18, 2011

Sep 182011

Chinatown

Powell Street Between John and Jackson Streets

This is the most wonderful little city park. It is only a half block, but it is such an amazing little retreat. There are benches, green grass and a very small area for children to play. It even has two pieces of public art done in 2000. It is called Woh Hei Yuen Park.

The one above is called Tectonic Melange. A 26-foot circular paving medallion composed of black, yellow and red granite depicts calligraphic Chinese characters based on a poem written by Wang Bo during the Tang Dynasty (650 to 676 B.C.E.) in China. The artist, Leong Lampo, worked with the design team of Herby Lam, Wenyu Xu, and Clayton Shiu.

Born in Guangzhou, China, Leong grew up during the Culture Revolution when educational systems in China had collapsed. Through self-study Leong excelled in the academic world, attended art colleges in China and the United States, such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (Ph.D.-ABD) and the California College of the Arts (MFA). He is currently Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

These works are by Marcia Donahue. Large granite stones that have been carved to resemble two moon faces, two peaches, and a persimmon, ranging in colors from red to golden, are nestled into the landscape of the park and are available for sitting and touching.

Marcia is a sculptor and devotee of Flora who makes plant-inspired works for public and private gardens. She considers her work to be garden jewelry. She has been making, enjoying and sharing her own garden in Berkeley for 32 years and opens it to visitors on Sundays. You can read more about her here.

Both these pieces are part of San Francisco Arts Commission Public Arts Project.

SOMA – Man With Flame

Posted by Cindy on September 17, 2011

Sep 172011

SOMA

Convention Plaza

3rd Street Between Howard and Folsom

Man With Flame by Stephen de Staebler

This little walk way offers a wonderful respite from the hectic goings on inside Moscone Center. There are lots of tables and chairs, wonderful public art, and a Starbuck’s if you are so inclined.

I have copied the following directly from his New York Times Obituary.

Stephen De Staebler, a sculptor whose fractured, dislocated human figures gave a modern voice and a sense of mystery to traditional realist forms, died on May 13 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 78.

The cause was complications of cancer, Jill Ringler, his studio archivist, said.

Mr. De Staebler found his medium when he met the pioneering ceramist Peter Voulkos at the University of California in the late 1950s. Impressed by the expressive possibilities of clay, he began making landscape-like floor works.

In the late 1970s he began coaxing distressed, disjointed humanoid forms from large, vertical clay columns. Colored with powdered oxides and fired in a kiln, they presented potent images of broken, struggling humanity.

“We are all wounded survivors, alive but devastated selves, fragmented, isolated – the condition of modern man,” he recently told Timothy A. Burgard, a curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, who is organizing a De Staebler retrospective. “Art tries to restructure reality so that we can live with the suffering.”

Stephen Lucas De Staebler was born on March 24, 1933, in St. Louis. While working toward a bachelor’s degree in religion at Princeton, he made art on the side and spent a summer at Black Mountain College studying painting with Ben Shahn and Robert Motherwell.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1954, he served with the Army in West Germany. He enrolled at Berkeley intending to teach art in the public schools but, after receiving his teaching credentials, earned a master’s degree in art in 1961.

He exhibited widely, particularly in the Bay Area, where he taught for many years at the San Francisco Art Institute and San Francisco State University.

In 1988 Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif., organized the traveling exhibition “Stephen De Staebler: The Figure.” Reviewing the show at the Neuberger Museum of Art at the State University of New York, Purchase, Michael Brenson, in The New York Times, noted the enigmatic, disjointed nature of Mr. De Staebler’s art.

“In his human comedy, wholeness has no meaning,” he wrote. “His men and women — when it is clear that they are men or women — seem like pieces of a puzzle without a key.” By this time, Mr. De Staebler had begun working in bronze as well as clay.

“Matter and Spirit: Stephen De Staebler,” his retrospective, is scheduled to open at the de Young Museum in San Francisco in January 2012.

Mr. De Staebler;s first wife, the former Dona Curley, died in 1996. He is survived by his wife Danae Mattes; a daughter, Arianne, of Berkeley; and two sons, Jordan, of Oakland, Calif., and David, of Bishop, Calif.

“The human figure is the most loaded of all forms because we live in one,” Mr. De Staebler told Mr. Burgard, the curator. “The figure obsesses not just artists, but human beings. It’s our prison. It’s what gives us life and gives us death.”

This piece was removed during the Moscone Center’s remodeling and as of March 2019 has not been returned, the SFAC has not stated where it will go.

SOMA – Venus with Rope

Posted by Cindy on September 15, 2011

Sep 152011

SOMA

Convention Plaza

3rd Street Between Howard and Folsom

“Venus with Rope”

Jim Dine

1986

Jim Dine has shown up in this site before. In 1962 Dine’s work was included, along with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Dowd, Phillip Hefferton, Joe Goode, Edward Ruscha, and Wayne Thiebaud, in the historically important and ground-breaking New Painting of Common Objects, curated by Walter Hopps at the Norton Simon Museum. This exhibition is historically considered one of the first “Pop Art” exhibitions in America. These painters started a movement, in a time of social unrest, which shocked America and the Art world and changed modern Art forever, “Pop Art”.

Dine’s attention turned to sculptural work in the early 1980s when he created sculptures based on the sculpture Venus de Milo.

Donated to the City by the Developer of Convention Plaza Office Complex.

Soma – Pneumatic Dreamer

Posted by Cindy on September 14, 2011

Sep 142011

SOMA

W Hotel

3rd and Howard Streets

Pneumatic Dreamer

Michael Stutz

Stutz studied painting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and York Street College of Art in Belfast, Ireland. He began his career in San Francisco, supporting himself designing merchandise displays for Macy’s. His commitment to public art grew out of work he did in New Orleans, designing and building large scale papier mache figures for the city’s Mardi Gras parades. Later he began using recycled materials to create sculptures that have been shown throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Pneumatic Dreamer is Stutz’s first work in bronze, and initially, he considered having the piece cast. He consulted a foundry but learned the cost would be “astronomical.” Instead he had it fabricated of annealed bronze strips intricately woven and then welded together at Matt Gil’s Studio, which specializes in doing fabrication work for San Francisco area artists.

The sculpture was specifically designed for installation on the fourth floor terrace of the hotel, overlooking the street below. Stutz points out that the figure, the gender of which is intentionally ambiguous, “could be going into a dream state, or arising from it” and that it illustrates “a very private moment in a very public space.” In keeping with that idea, the piece is literally a woven shell, in which, Stutz says, “the inside is outside, and the outside is inside.”

Pneumatic Dreamer is lit from both the inside and the front, emphasizing the woven lattice aspect of the design. Its bronze patina will weather to a greenish-blue shade in about a decade.

The sculpture was funded by Starwood Hotels in keeping with the SF Redevelopment Agency One Percent for Art Program.

Keith Haring

Posted by Cindy on September 13, 2011

Sep 132011

SOMA

Moscone Center

Corner of Howard and 3rd Streets

This piece has become iconic in the city. It is viewed by anyone that is heading into the Moscone Convention Center.

Keith Haring is controversial on his best days. Which is sad because he was a truly gifted artist who was passionate about facing up to discrimination of all types, and gave of himself freely to charitable work, children’s issues and causes he felt powerful about.

The first time he had a showing at SFMOMA, this was the sign that stood outside:

IMPORTANT PARENTAL ADVISORY:Some of these exhibitions contain artwork of a sexually explicit nature that is not appropriate for children and that some people may find offensive. We recommend that children have restricted access.

He became a household name through his New York subway art, depicting the essence of the figures above. Born in 1958 he died of AIDS in 1990. He established a foundation before his death that holds tight reins on his work and makes sure profits go to AIDS awareness and education. His full biography can be read here (text only).

The pieces are painted steel. It is untitled, but is often referred to as Three Dancing Figures. The piece, originally done in 1989 was purchased and installed by the city in 2001 with art enrichment funds generated by the expansion of the Moscone Convention Center. The purchase came on the heels of a successful 1998 retrospective of Haring’s work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Thanks to a $65,00 grant from the Haring Foundation the piece had a full restoration in 2012.

During another retrospective of Haring at the DeYoung (November 2014 – Februay 2015) The guest curator Dieter Buchart, summed up Haring very nicely in his statement ” “Haring understood that art was for everybody—he fought for the individual and against dictatorship, racism and capitalism. He was no utopian, but he had a dream that ‘nothing is an end, because it always can be the basis for something new and different.”.

At the DeYoung exhibit a film titled The Universe of Keith Haring by filmmaker Christina Clausen runs in the Koret Auditorium, and is worth the time to view. It was filmed in 2008 using archival film from Haring’s lifetime.

SOMA – Spider Pelt

Posted by Cindy on September 12, 2011

Sep 122011

SOMA

Convention Center

3rd and Clementina

Artist Dustin Shuler, who calls himself an “urban hunter of cars” created this work in 1985. Titled “Spider Pelt,” it is a mounted sculpture of a “skinned” red fiat spider.

The Los Angeles artist has built his artistic career, on hunting cars, skinning them of their sheet metal exteriors, and arranging them into thin, flat compositions he calls “pelts. “Spider Pelt” created from a 1971 red fiat spider -was commissioned by the Arts Commission for the Moscone Parking Garage.

The piece weighs 150-pounds. “Spider Pelt is on the garage’s south wall, where it is readily visible to Third Street drivers entering the downtown area. The metal sections are connected by lengths of stainless steel cable, which gives the work its pelt-like flexibility while preventing it from flapping. The Plexiglas windows have been replaced with Lexan, a stronger material with UV protective coating. The cabling hangs on 77 fasteners attached to the garage wall.

Victoria Manalo Draves Park

Posted by Cindy on September 11, 2011

Sep 112011

SOMA

Folsom Street Between 6th and 7th

Victoria Manalo Draves Park

How many times do we walk by something every day, and forget that, yes it is art. These fence panels are on a park with a fascinating history.

Victoria “Vicki” Manalo Draves (December 31, 1924 – April 11, 2010) was an Olympic diver who won gold medals for the United States in both platform and springboard diving in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She was born in San Francisco. Born to a Filipino father and an English mother that met and married in San Francisco. She couldn’t afford to take swimming lessons until she was 10 years old and took summer swimming lessons from the Red Cross, paying five cents admission to a pool in the Mission district.

This 2-acre park is located between Folsom and Harrison Streets, and Columbia Square, and Sherman Avenue, and adjacent to the Bessie Carmichael Elementary School. In 1996, Mayor Brown and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow for a series of property transfers between each agency to construct a new neighborhood park in the South of Market Area. In February 1997, the Board of Supervisors approved an exchange and lease agreement between the City and SFUSD to purchase the Bessie Carmichael School site for a new city park.

Bessie Carmichael school had been a very sad sight. It opened as a temporary school in 1954. Temporary trailers served as classrooms and they surrounded a blacktop area. It was very, very bleak, and lasted in that state for 52 years. The new school is modern, light and airy, and far more conducive to learning. 1 out of 5 students at Bessie Carmichael live in transitional housing: a shelter, residential hotel, or an over-crowded living condition. It was time the kids got a nice place to attend school.

The park is also a wonderful spot for children to come and play.

The panels are aluminum. The were commissioned by the SF Arts Commission for the Park and Recreation Department in the 2006-2007 budget for $60,000.

The artist is Irene Pijoan (1953-2004) Born in Switzerland, she received her MFA from the University of California, Davis. She was a professor at the San Francisco Arts Institute.

The creatures are of air and the sea and were dedicated to the artists daughter Emiko Pijoan Nagasawa.

Mohamed Bouazizi in Clarion Alley

Posted by Cindy on September 9, 2011

Sep 092011

The Mission District

Clarion Alley

These two murals are by Daniel Doherty. Clarion alley is a famous mural alley that has been around for quite a long time in the Mission District. Once an artist is given space, and as long as it is maintained it, pretty much belongs to the artist.. There is a committee that notifies the artist if the mural has been tagged or defaced.

I chose this particular artist because of the timeliness of the message. Mohamed Bouazizi was the young man that gave spark to the riots in Tunisia. The man behind what much of the world, watching on TV, is seeing as the slow and somewhat violent democratization of the middle east and what is being called the Arab Spring.

This is just such a wonderful city scene.

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