Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Category: All of SAN FRANCISCO

  • Light Cannons at the Ferry Building

     Ferry Building Plaza Foot of Market at the Embarcadero   These two light towers, called Light Cannons, are approximately 65 ft in height. They are located in front of the Ferry Building and serve as the focal point of the Mid-Embarcadero Improvement Project. The towers are a combination of stainless steel, structural steel and cast-in-place…

  • Mark Twain and his Jumping Frogs

    Foot of the Transamerica Pyramid 600 Montgomery Financial District * Frog Pond by Richard Clopton Bronze 1996 Redwood Park Transplanted from the Santa Cruz Mountains 60 miles to the south, magnificent redwoods dominate this park designed by Tom Galli. The fountain designed by Anthony Guzzardo is decorated with the jumping frog sculptures, in a fond remembrance of…

  • Skyward and Confluence on Post Street

    Academy of Art College Post and Mason Streets Union Square Skyward by Peter Schifrin 2004- Bronze Confluence by Peter Schifrin 2004-Bronze Peter Schifrin holds a BA from San Jose State University in Sculpture and an MFA in sculpture from Boston university. He is the Sculpture director for the Academyof Art University in San Francisco. These…

  • Cast Glass at the Mission Street Garage

    4th and Mission 5th and Mission *   These sandblasted, fused and cast glass pieces are by Narcissus Quagliata.  Narcissus Quagliata is an Italian and U.S. Citizen.  He was born in Rome in 1942 where he studied painting with Giorgio De Chirico. At the age of 19 he moved to the U.S. and studied at…

  • Urban Pollination

    Rincon SOMA The Lansing Street Pollinator Garden is a temporary garden and art installation at the 45 Lansing street site in the Rincon Hill Neighborhood of San Francisco. Rebar is collaborating with the Pollinator Partnership and the property owners of the 45 Lansing Street Site to bring you a pollinator garden and educational exhibit. The garden was installed in the spring of 2010…

  • Street SmARTS Mural at 485 Scott Street

    485 Scott Street Western Addition/NOPA Marina Perez-Wong (aka Micho P. Wong) is an artist participating in Community Arts and Education’s StreetSmARTS program. As a native San Franciscan, Marina bridges the gap between the fine art world and the public with site-specific works of San Francisco’s Mission District. Marina is the recipient of many awards including…

  • Richard Mayer at Hastings Law School

    Civic Center Hastings Law School 200 McAllister at Hyde *  I would like to extend a big thank you to Suzanne Parks, the Volunteer Art Curator at Hastings Law School for this information. This sculpture  is titled “Gary Diptych #1” and is by San Francisco Bay area artist Richard Mayer. He loaned Hastings the sculpture…

  • Penguin’s Prayer

    1100 Lake Merced Blvd. Sunset District Penguin’s Prayer by Beniamino Bufano Placed by Lake Merced Neighborhood Organization Bufano Society of the Arts Dedicated December 4, 1976   This sculpture by prolific, and San Francisco darling, Benny Bufano was originally made for the Treasure Island Golden Gate Exposition of 1939.

  • Garden of Remembrance

    San Francisco State University Lakeside Head by Shu-hie Yang – Student work This piece resides in the Garden of Remembrance. The Garden of Remembrance is located in the quiet courtyard between Burk Hall and the Fine Arts Building, it was dedicated in 2002. It honors the 19 former SF State students who were pulled from…

  • Aristides Demetrios At SFSU

    San Francisco State University Lakeside Caring by Aristides Demetrios Aristides Demetrios has several pieces around San Francisco. Aristides Burton Demetrios (1932-  ) was born and raised in Massachusetts. His father, George Demetrios, was a classical sculptor, trained by Bourdelle, a student of Rodin. His mother, Virginia Lee Burton was the renowned author and illustrator of children’s books, including…

  • William Wareham at SFSU

    San Francisco State University Lakeside Buckeye and the Benches by William Wareham In front of the Gymnasium Buckeye is an abstract modern sculpture.To enhance its functionality,Wareham was commissioned to build three benches consistent to the central piece. Throughout his distinguished career as a sculptor, William Wareham has remained true to his inner spirit, capturing viewer’s…

  • The Mathematical Concept of Tau in Sculpture

    160 Spear Street SOMA’s Financial District Tau by Roger Berry – Stainless Steel – 1984 96″ Diameter 14″ Deep Each of the four intersecting cones of Tau describes the form of the solar year. The forward side is in full light in the winter the back surfaces are filled with the summer sun. The building to the…

  • Asian Pacific Celebration

    San Francisco State University Lakeside ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER MURAL David Cho & Albert Yip Created in 2004, The Asian & Pacific Islander Mural tells the story of hard-working and determined people who fought for the rights of their community, as well as honoring those who continue the fight today. Among the people included on the…

  • 200 California Street

    200 California Street Financial District Hawaiian by Gwynn Murrill – Bronze- 2002 This is part of San Francisco’s 1% for Art Program. San Francisco’s “Downtown Plan” adopted in 1985, was developed under the fundamental assumption that significant employment and office development growth would occur. New commercial development would provide new revenue sources to cover a…

  • Hidden Sea near Moscone Center

    321 Clementina SOMA Hidden Sea by Ned Kahn 2000 Recipient Organization: Tenants and Owners Development Corporation In late 1999, artist Ned Kahn collaborated with the staff of the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO) and the residents of their housing projects to create a public artwork for the exterior wall of Ceatrice Polite apartment building…

  • Ode to Hank

    San Francisco State University Lakeside ODE TO HANK by Terry Marashlian Created in 2008 This installation piece replaced “Midnight Hour,” an installation piece by Hank De RIcco. “Midnight Hour” was five wooden totems that stood on the campus for twenty years, but outdoor exposure had deteriorated them beyond repair. Campus Officials and artist Terry Marashlian,…

  • Bufano, hidden amongst the SFSU campus trees

    San Francisco State University Lakeside St. Francis by Beniamino Bufano – Red Granite This gift to the campus from the City of San Francisco sits on the main quad of the campus.

  • Carlos II, King of Spain Gazes out over Harding Park

    7-99 Harding Road Lake Merced – Sunset District The sculpture of Carlos III was a gift to the city from King Juan Carlos I of Spain in honor of the Bicentennial of the City of San Francisco. CARLOS III, KING OF SPAIN Settler of California, champion of the cause of the American Independence, who directed…

  • Juan Bautista de Anza at Lake Merced

    Lake Merced * This equestrian statue of Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, founder of the City San Francisco, is located in a parking lot off Lake Merced Boulevard on the north shore of the Lake. A plaque, in both Spanish and English, on the statue base reads: As a high tribute to an illustrious historical…

  • Firefly on the new SFPUC Building

    525 Golden Gate Avenue Civic Center This is the new Public Utilities building in San Francisco.  It is touted as one of the more “green buildings” built in the US. Four egg-beater-like wind turbines are on view behind a 200-foot-high, 22-foot-wide curtain of polycarbonate squares called Firefly. Ned Kahn’s Firefly is a lattice of tens of…

  • Aileen Barr’s work at West Portal Playground

    West Portal Playground 131 Lenox Way A $1.5 million renovation project in 2005 saw the West Portal Park’s original clubhouse expanded and upgraded. The park includes a picnic area, playground and large play field. The building also features artwork commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission Public Art Program. “The Secret Garden,” a series of…

  • Avenida del Rio Bike Path and Greenbelt

    16th and Harrison Mission District / SOMA   Mission Creek Mosaic Mural Ceramic tile and mirror mosaic, 15 ft. x 8.5 ft. Funding provided by Potrero Nuevo Fund administered by New Langton Arts. Avenida del Rio tile mural marks one end of  what is hoped to be the Mission Creek Bikeway and Greenbelt. The bikeway will…

  • Eduardo Pineda and Ray Patlan Grace the Jose Coronado Playground

     Jose Coronado Playground and Clubhouse 21st and Folsom Mission District Raizes/Roots, Ray Patlan and Eduardo Pineda, Jose Coronado Playground Clubhouse The entire exterior of the Jose Coronado Clubhouse is sheathed in eleven hundred terra cotta-colored tiles, designed and hand-painted by artists Eduardo Pineda and Ray Patlan. The tiles depict Aztec-inspired images of birds and frogs in…

  • Ornamental Gates at Rolph Playground

    Rolph Playground Potrero at 25th & Utah and 25th Mission/Potrero Hill Isis Rodriguez has created two rolled iron ornamental artworks, one for each side of Rolph Playground.   Isis Rodriguez is a second generation Mid-Western Latina who grew up in Topeka, Kansas and received her first lessons in art from copying Hannah-Barbera cartoons by hand. She…

  • Peace by Bufano

    800 Brotherhood Way Peace by Benny Bufano Located at the entrance to the San Francisco Airport for almost forty years”Peace” was relocated to make way for a parking garage.  After restoration it was moved to Brotherhood Way, where it stands now. Benny Bufano was born in Italy in 1898, Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano came to the…

  • Heart Song for Japan

    485 Scott Street Western Addition/NOPA * This mural, titled Heart Song for Japan was done by Marina Perez-Wong in 2011. Marina, who also goes by Micha P-Wong has several murals around San Francisco, and is a participant in the Street SmARTS program in San Francisco.

  • The Presidio Pet Cemetery

    Presidio McDowell and Crissy Field Avenues This military pet cemetery is a hidden treasure of San Francisco.  If you are in the area when construction of Doyle Drive is completed, have a stroll, it is a really sweet place to wander. Surrounded by a white picket fence and shaded by Monterey pines, the pet cemetery…

  • Hidden Gems in Bernal Heights

    82 Coleridge Street Bernal Heights This tile mosaic is titled Colloidal Pool and is by Peter Almeida. Done in 1988 it is suggestive of a puddle with ripples moving concentrically over leaf sheaves.  The view from Coleridge Mini Park Coleridge Mini Park

  • Electric Substation and the Art World

    8th and Mission SOMA *  These two bas-reliefs in cast stone, titled Power and Light, sit on the 8th Street side of the Pacific Gas and Electric Mission Substation.  The building was designed in 1948 by William Merchant.  The sculptor was Robert B. Howard. William Gladstone Merchant was a San Francisco architect who trained in…

  • Watching the Wind at the Randall Museum

    Randall Museum 199 Museum Way Castro * The plaque that accompanies the piece reads: Charles Sowers is an artist whose practice links art and science.  Here wind currents activate over 500 aluminum arrows to reveal the ever-changing ways the wind interacts with the building and its environment.  “My work presents actual physical phenomena, often of…