Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Category: All of SAN FRANCISCO

  • Fire creates Firehouse Art

    1091 Portola Drive St Francis Wood/Mt. Davidson Station #39 *  This 30″ Blown Glass Rondella, done in 1997,  is by Mark McDonnell. Mark McDonnell (1945-   ) is a visual artist whose work can be found in the permanent collections of the Louvre, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Corning Museum of Glass. He has extensively…

  • A Gluers Mosaic at Douglass Playground

    Douglass Playground 26th and Douglass Noe Valley This mosaic, done in 1987 by Lois Anderson, is on the side of the Douglass Playground Clubhouse. Tile, glass, metal, buttons, jewelry on fiberglass, and wood corresponds to the architectural details or emblems found on many neighborhood buildings. Her obituary, which ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on…

  • The Tragedy of the Gartland Apartments

    Harrison and Alameda Mission/SOMA Mission Wall Dances is subtitled with a Robert Frost quote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”  During the 1970’s San Francisco’s Mission and SOMA areas were wracked by arson fires, many thought to be intentional.  A fire that has left a large scar on the mission was the Gartland Apartments…

  • Noe Valley Natives – Plants that is.

    295 Day Street Noe Valley SAN FRANCISCO WALL FLOWER “ERYSIMUM FRANCISCANUM” This installation is titled Noe Valley Natives, and these pieces sit on fence posts at the Upper Noe Valley Rec Center.  The artist is Troy Corliss.  In 1993 Troy graduated from the studio art program at the University of California at Davis. While at UC Davis,…

  • Evan Bissell captures Artists on the Streets of SF

    Folsom and 17th Mission District “I write to organize my thoughts. I spit poems because it feels empowering to know there is a room full of people there to listen.” This is Luara Venturi, a local spoken word poet, as depicted by Evan Bissell. The Intersection for the Arts’ show “Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere* youth,…

  • Muertos in the Mission

    Valencia Street Between 15th and 19th Streets Mission District *  These tree grates are part of Phase One of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project.  They were designed by DPW architects John Dennis and Martha Ketterer and manufactured by Iron Age Grates company. Phase one of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project included removal of the striped…

  • Hermes and Dionysus Shake it Up

    411 Sansome Street Financial District * * This bronze, done in 1986, titled Hermes and Dionysus-Monument to Analysis is by Arman. (1928-2005)  The French-born American artist Arman told an interviewer in 1968. “I have never been — how do you say it? A dilettante.” Arman’s vast artistic output ranges from drawings and prints to monumental…

  • Parisian Street Artist Tags the Asian Art Museum

    McAllister and Hyde Wall of the Asian Art Museum Civic Center   UPDATE: The artist on this is actually an artist from Iowa that goes by TheUpside.   Apparently the UpTown Almanac and I spotted this one at the same time.  Here is what they wrote: Tim Hallman, the Asian Art Museum’s Communications Director, dropped…

  • Arnold Genthe’s Photography at CCSF Chinatown Campus

    Washington and Kearny Chinatown Diligence is the path Up the mountain of knowledge Hard work is the boat Across the endless sea of learning This is the Washington street side of the new Chinatown campus of San Francisco City College.  This particular window is the library.  The archival photograph is by San Franciscan Arnold Genthe.…

  • Dancing Dahlias on Claude Lane

    8 Claude Lane Union Square/Financial District * This mural, (on  the outside of Claudine Restaurant) is by Vogue TDK.  According to an interview he did with 1:AM he got into graffiti in late 1984, after school, I turned on the TV to the local PBS station and caught the start of the documentary “Style Wars”.  There…

  • Muni brings art to an industrial building

    700 Pennsylvania Potrero Hill * The Muni Ways and Structures Facility is located at 700 Pennsylvania Street at the base of Potrero Hill. The facility centralizes several Muni functions, including, among others, a machine shop, welding, carpentry, painting, and locksmith. Although the size and shape of the complex is unchanged from its former role as…

  • Joseph B. Strauss, Golden Gate Bridge Engineer

    Golden Gate Bridge   Joseph Strauss (1870-1938) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an artistic family of German origin, having a mother who was a pianist and a father, Raphael Strauss, who was a writer and painter. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1892.  Strauss graduated with a degree in economics and business.…

  • San Francisco’s Fire Chiefs House

    870 Bush Street In Memorium Dennis T Sullivan 1838-1906 By fire shall hearts be proven, lest virtue’s gold grow dim, and his by fire was tested, in life’s ordeal of him. Now California renders the laurels that we won “dead on the field of Honor” her hero and her son. Dennis T. Sullivan was the…

  • Professor Wangari Maathi

    Haight and Pierce Street * * * The main character of this mural is Professor Wangari Maathi. Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in…

  • Get your insane Cheesburger here

    7th and Mission SOMA *  This hamburger, and many others around town, are by Steel.  He is a man in the pursuit of a good time.  He enjoys good jokes, good friends and good  cheeseburgers.  In his spare time he does artwork in San Francisco and anywhere he travels.  Another of his talents is designing…

  • Slow Down, Children at Play on Tehama Streeet

    449 Tehama SOMA * * * * This mural is on the Tehama Street side of the Cingular Wireless building at 951 Howard Street.  It was painted as a neighborhood beautification and community enhancement project. Cingular Wireless sponsored the mural entitled “Slow Down: Children at Play,” and features the faces of neighborhood children and pets…

  • Benny Bufano at Fort Mason

    Fort Mason Green * * Peace by Benny Bufano Benjamin Bufano has many pieces throughout San Francisco. This statue, featuring a child within a larger statue represents the peaceful blending of cultures. The green sits on the hill above the actual fort.  Called Fort Mason since 1882, the location at Point San Jose, as this…

  • Herakut and Rusk Paint the Tenderloin

    The Tenderloin / Polk Gulch Hemlock and Polk * * * The area under this fire escape in Hemlock Alley has been the home to many worldwide known graffiti artists. Roa was featured here not too long ago. This piece is by Arkut, Hera (who often paint as Herakut) and Rusk, all from Germany. HERA,…

  • Dancers and Musicians on the Performing Arts Garage

    Civic Center Performing Arts Garage Grove and Gough Streets   * * The Dancing Musicians and The Dancer by Joan Brown 1986-1986  Bronze Joan Brown has several pieces around San Francisco.  These pieces were commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commision.  The flautist and guitar player are twelve feet high and five feet wide and…

  • Future’s Past by Kate Raudenbush

    Hayes Valley Patricia’s Green  This photo is courtesy of the Black Rock Arts Website and was taken at Burning Man.  Future’s Past by Kate Raudenbush The Hayes Valley Art Coalition explains the piece like this: Futures Past is a sculptural environment of two contrasting worlds. The 12-foot pyramid reflects the architectural temples of the renowned collapsed…

  • Kenzo’s Octopus on Fell Street

    Civic Center/Hayes Valley  * 155 Fell Street  This is titled Big Octopus and is by Kenzo. Kenzo, (Aleix Gordo Hostau)  is from Barcelona, you can see his other work around San Francisco here or his own flicker photo stream here.

  • Around San Francisco with Victor Reyes

    Around Town With Victor Reyes * 23rd and Mission * * This was done by Victor Reyes in 2010.  Reyes has several murals around San Francisco. Reyes has been painting since the early 90s, and has shown extensively around the world in cities and countries such as Bosnia, Germany, Switzerland, Taipei, Japan, and Miami. Reyes…

  • Around Town with muralist Amanda Lynn

    Amanda Lynn around Town * Sunday Flamenco by Amanda Lynn – 2012 18th and Mission Amanda Lynn works by day restoring and painting motorcycles and metal sculptures. When she is not working, she paints figures on doorways and walls around San Francisco and throughout the country, usually accompanying graffiti mural productions. As well as concentrating…

  • Mission Cultures Mosaics

    The Mission District Start on Hoff and 16th cross the Street and continue on Julian  Woodward Gardens *  * Gold Rush Low Riders  Immigration  Asian Influence  Carnival These panels were done in 2001 by students participating in the St. John’s Educational Thresholds, Panel Project as part of the Urban Artworks program. They represent various parts…

  • I Can Cheezburger’s Invisible Bike

    Chinatown End of Quincy Street  Josh Zubkoff’s Invisible Bike This was taken right after the piece was finished in 2008 This is the image the mural originated from.  It is from Ben Hu’s blog I can Cheezburger Josh graduated in 2003 from UC Santa Barbara, with a B.A. in Studio Art.  He is presently a system…

  • Wood Line by Andy Goldsworthy

    Wood Line by Andy Goldsworthy Presidio   * * This is the second piece by Andy Goldsworthy in the Presidio. The first is Spire. In 2010, Goldsworthy looked to a new part of the park for inspiration – a historic eucalyptus grove near the Presidio’s oldest footpath, Lovers’ Lane. Eucalyptus were planted here by the…

  • Make Moves

    Make Moves SOMA 170 South VanNess *   * This is a 1:AM gallery mural The mastermind behind the Make Moves mural is 1:AM Art Director/Co-Owner, Roman Cesario.  The 1AM mural is a collaboration between their in-house artists.  They are Leon Loucheur , Robert Gonzales , Gavin Fuller , Roman Cesario , and Jessico Serrano.…

  • Philo T. Farnsworth

    1 Letterman Drive The Presidio Philo T. Farnswroth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube),…

  • Eadweard Muybridge

    1 Letterman Drive The Presidio * Eadweard James Muybridge was an English photographer who pioneered photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection. Muybridge was the inspiration for the umbrellas sculpture by Benjy Young.  The horses galloping across the top of the pedestal are of extreme significance. His study of horses in motion, sponsored by…

  • Gigantes in the Mission

    The Mission District San Carlos and 19th  * All of us are equal Some of us grow up to be Giants… * This mural is by Precita Eyes.  This is the description of the mural from their website: The “Gigantes” mural project can be read in three concepts; History, Community, and the Future. It features…