Category: All of SAN FRANCISCO
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Lango in the Mission and SOMA
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…
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Bernal Heights, San Francisco October 8, 2011
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…
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Bernal Heights – Odonatoa
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…
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Visitacion Valley Community Center
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…
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Fire Station #44
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…
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Islais Creek Park
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…
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Bayview/Hunters Point Muni Stop
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…
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Bayview – Hunters Point Muni Stop
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…
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Hunters Point – Muni Stop
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.…
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San Francisco’s Muni Stops
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…
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Nob Hill – Resting Hermes
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…
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Stencil Art
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…
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Richmond District – Rochambeau Playground
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…
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The Richmond – Speaking Stones
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…
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Playland Revisited
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…
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Marina District – Passage
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…
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North Beach Swimming Pool
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…
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St. Regis Hotel
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:…
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Polk Street History in Murals
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…
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Woh Hei Yuen Park in Chinatown
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…
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SOMA – Man With Flame
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…
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SOMA – Venus with Rope
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…
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Soma – Pneumatic Dreamer
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…
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Keith Haring
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…
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SOMA – Spider Pelt
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,…
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Victoria Manalo Draves Park
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 in a park with a fascinating history. Victoria “Vicki” Manalo Draves (December 31, 1924 – April 11, 2010) was an Olympic diver who…
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Mohamed Bouazizi in Clarion Alley
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…
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Sun Yat Sen
Chinatown St Mary’s Square Quincy, Pine, California and Kearny Streets Sculpted by Beniaminio Bufano This 12 foot statue is inscribed (in Chinese): Dr. Sun Yat Sen 1866-1925 Father of the Chinese Republic and First President Founder of the Kuo Min Tang Champion of Democracy Lover of mankind: Proponent of friendship and peace among the nations,…
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Chinatown’s Fire Station #2
Chinatown, San Francisco 1340 Powell Street Fire Station #2 When you are in the building trades you realize that building parts can be art too. For most people, however, they are just that, parts. In the case of this fire station, Al Wong has added art that is whimsical, appropriate, and yet truly probably missed…