Category: All of SAN FRANCISCO
-
North Beach – Art at the corner of Broadway, Grant and Columbus
North Beach Bill Weber is the muralist on this project, and according to his website he is an established Bay Area muralist and painter and has been creating murals nationwide since 1974. His style ranges from surreal to Trompe l’Oeil, whimsical to realistic and can be adapted to any project requirements. Language of the Birds…
-
Pacific Coast Stock Exchange
Financial District Pacific Coast Stock Exchange The Pacific Stock Exchange began life as a classical U.S. Treasury building, then in the 1930’s, Timothy Pflueger was hired to turn it into the Stock Exchange. He was growing weary of classicism but was instructed that the granite stairs and the ten Tuscan columns had to remain. The…
-
North Beach- Marini Plaza
North Beach Marini Plaza These are the bears of Marini Plaza at Powell Street. It once was a lone corner of Washington Park. Frank Marini (1862-1952) is mentioned often in Alessandro Baccari’s book, “Saints Peter and Paul: ‘The Italian Cathedral’ of the West, 1884-1984.” Marini was a major civic benefactor, participating in the work…
-
Mission Bay – Koret Quad
Mission Bay Mission Bay Koret Quad The Koret Quad is a large green space in the heart of Mission Bay. I have discussed my abhorrence with this part of town before. The quad is only accessible by pedestrians and is so well hidden as to be missed by most people. This is somewhat intentional I…
-
Mission Bay – HEAL
Mission Bay UCSF Campus Heal by Miroslaw Balka Miroslaw Balka was born in Ottwock, Poland, near Warsaw, and continues to live and work there. He turned his family home into a studio. Austere, with a sense of absence and empty space, his work is defined by the people that interact with it. HEAL is a…
-
Candlestick Park – Endangered Garden
Candlestick Park The Endangered Garden by Patricia Johanson “Endangered Garden”, a linear park along San Francisco Bay was commissioned in 1987 by the San Francisco Arts Commission. As co-designer of the thirty million dollar “Sunnydale Facilities”, a pump station and holding tank for water and sewage, Patricia Johanson’s intent was to present this functional structure…
-
Sunset District – Propeller on the Walk Way
The Sunset District The Great Highway at Riviera Standing here, looking out towards the Pacific you will find art at your feet. You will also guess, at this point that it is covered in a lot of sand. Propeller by Richard Deutsch This granite and marble terrazzo paving piece has bronze nautical elements inlaid into…
-
Birds at the J.P. Murphy Playground
Inner Sunset J. P. Murphy Playground 1960 9th Avenue Woman with Birds by Michael J. Carey This divine park, that includes several tennis courts and a wonderful rec room is surrounded by these giant hedges. The hedges make a perfect backdrop for this sculpture. Michael Carey said: ““My intent with the sculpture for the J.…
-
Western Addition – Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside Conservatory 236 Monterey Boulevard The Sunnyside Menagerie is a collaboration between Scott Constable and Ene Oseteraas-Constable. They have a company called Wowhaus. They described the creatures: “The concept behind our menagerie is to complement the Victorian sense of wonder and discovery by suggesting plausible creatures that might inhabit the gardens surrounding the building. The…
-
Marina Green – Phillip Burton
Marina Green Phillip Burton Bronze Wendy Ross Phillip Burton (June 1, 1926 – April 10, 1983) was a United States Representative from California. He was instrumental in creating the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Burton was one of the first members of Congress to acknowledge the need for AIDS research and introduce an AIDS bill.…
-
Mission Bay – Ballast
Mission Bay Ballast by Richard Serra Corten Steel One of my absolute favorite mediums for massive outdoor sculpture is Corten Steel. Weathering steel, best-known under the trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as “Corten steel”, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form…
-
Mission Bay – Brought To Light
Mission Bay Brought to Light by Lawrence Weiner Lawrence Weiner grew up in the Bronx and attended Stuyvesant High School, working as a longshoreman in the early mornings before classes. As a young man he hitchhiked to San Francisco and lived among the Beat poets. His earliest work was done in Mill Valley, in 1960.…
-
Mission Bay -I’m Alive
Mission Bay 409-499 Illinois I’m Alive by Tony Cragg – 2004 Stainless Steel Tony Cragg was born in liverpool in 1949. He attended Gloucestershire College of Art and Design, Cheltenham College, and the Royal College of Art, London (1973-77). Cragg has lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany, since 1977. I’m Alive exudes movement and vitality…
-
Mission Bay – Doppel Fountain
Mission Bay Doppel Fountain by Shawn Smith In his own words: In 2006, I was commissioned to create a monumental sculpture by SKS Investments/ X-4 Dolphin LLC in San Francisco’s Mission Bay district. I designed a pixilated stainless steel fountain that appears to be frozen in mid-air. The pixilated fountain is made of varying lengths of…
-
Mission Bay – Hulls
Mission Bay 500 A. Terry Francois Blvd at Pierpoint Lane * Hulls by Richard Deutsch Hulls commemorates Mission Bay’s waterfront, which is steeped in maritime history. During the 16th century Ohlone Indians, sustained by hunting and fishing, built boats from reeds of the bay’s shallow waters. The 1800’s saw a vibrant industry of wooden schooners…
-
SOMA, San Francisco – October 24, 2011
Fourth and Bryant SOMA These doors have been tagged for years, and finally someone decided murals might keep that from happening. Kemit Aminophis is responsible for these two doors. There are four doors to the auto body shop, so I have to assume that there is more to come. I promise to bring them to…
-
In Dollar We Trust on Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill / Mission District Alabama between 17th and Mariposa This long mural is titled “In Dollar We Trust” and is by two artists from Apotik Komik (Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia artist collective), Samuel Indratama and Arie Dyanto. I read a fascinating article by Jim Sullivan of Mira Costa College, about how art expresses the…
-
Caledonia – Ape Do Good
Mission District Caledonia Street On the Wall of Ape Do Good Print Shop I apologize for bringing this to you in pieces, but the alley is very, very narrow and the mural is very long. It was pretty impossible to do it in any other manner. This mural has shown up in the blogsphere many…
-
Homes as Canvas
Mission District Castro District 3014 22nd Street So many times I walk by homes that look like canvases. I fantasize that some wonderful artist lives in this abode. I have no way of knowing but here are a few that I have enjoyed. This is the garage door of a home at the corner of…
-
Caledonia Street
Mission District Caledonia Street Between 15th and 16th and Mission and Valencia Streets Caledonia is another one of those alley’s in the Mission District that only serves as an entry into garages and backs of buildings. So needless to say it is a haven from graffiti artists. These are some of the better ones I…
-
Ghost Busters in SOMA
SOMA 8th and Bryant This fun mural is essentially the Simpson’s gang in Ghostbusters clothing. While it is not signed, according Live Soma the artist did have permission, even if he wouldn’t give his name. This says Diet, I am sure a message to the Stay Puft monster. The artist did tell Jeremy that he was…
-
Dan Plasma in the Mission
Mission District 15th and Valencia This is the side wall of restaurant Pica Pica. Dan Plasma had originally painted a tiger mural on this wall, then over the course of a few days other aerosol muralists covered it over with their work. This made Mr. Plasma rather angry, so when he took the wall back…
-
Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Telegraph Hill While this website is about art and architecture in San Francisco, every once in a while I spot a celebrity, and I thought I would bring them to you. This flock of feral parrots, primarily Red-masked Parakeets (Aratinga erythrogenys,) descended from escaped or released pets. The flock was popularized by a book and…
-
Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy
Castro District Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy The “Books & Reading” Mural is located at the school’s facade. This mural is a part 1 of a triptych. Created by students with Artist in Residence Ellen Blakeley in 2000, each child drew a 4″ picture of their favorite book or a picture of themselves reading.…
-
Castro – A Celebration of Love
Castro District Noe and 19th Street This is a Precita Eyes Mural. It was done in 2008 and is titled “A Celebration of Love”
-
Eureka Valley Rec Center
Castro District/Eureka Valley Eureka Valley Rec Center 157 Collingwood Street Time After Time by Betsie Miller-Kusz 2005 Betsie was Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico and resides in Jemez, New Mexico. This is from her website “I paint and only paint. My installations are extensions of this act, which gives meaning to my existence.…
-
Mona Caron Brings You a Garden
Noe Valley/Castro Corner of Church and 22nd Streets Botanical Mural by Mona Caron This mural is immense. It is impossible to capture it in one photo and have any idea of what is being portrayed, so I have chosen to shoot it and show it to you in sections. Mona Caron has shown up several times…
-
Noe Valley — Market Street Railway Mural
Noe Valley Eureka Valley Market Street Railway by Mona Caron 300 Church Street near 15th 38′ X 12′ This is Mona Caron’s own description of this wonderful mural. The Market Street Railway mural shows a 180-degree bird’s-eye view of San Francisco’s Market Street through time. The connecting theme of the mural is the historic Market…