All of SAN FRANCISCO – Page 4 – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

St. Francis of Assisi in the Fragrance Garden

Posted by Cindy on July 23, 2018

Jul 232018

St. Francis of Assisi in the Fragrance Garden

Fragrance Garden Botanical Garden Golden Gate Park This statue was part of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition on Treasure Island. It is by Clara Huntington who has been on this site before. Huntington was the adopted daughter of Collis Potter Huntington, one of the Big Five railroad magnates. “Oh, Clara Huntington, yes, Clara Huntington Young. She is an older woman, much older than I, and she did the St. Francis figure, you remember, that was among the daisies. I think she’d worked some in the East. But I think it was when I first moved up here that she called Continue Reading

Seven Dancing Stones and Seven Dancing Stars

Posted by Cindy on July 19, 2018

Jul 192018

Mission Police Station 630 Valencia Street Seven Dancing Stones and Seven Dancing Stars is the creation of artist Gary Dwyer. Installed in 1984, Seven Dancing Stones and Seven Dancing Stars sits in the lobby of the police department. Dwyer created this sculptural installation based on a legend of the Ohlone Indian tribes which originally inhabited the area. The legend refers to the cluster of stars called the Pleiades. Stone furniture in the lobby is arranged in the pattern of the Pleiades. Framed panels feature imaginary legends about the Pleiades as told by the area’s diverse residents. Gary Dwyer taught Landscape Continue Reading

The SFPL Card Catalogue

Posted by Cindy on July 17, 2018

Jul 172018

San Francisco Public Library 3rd, 4th, and 5th Floors With the move to the new Main Library, items in the card catalog (used to access the collection for more than 100 years) have been replaced by an online computer system. Artists Ann Hamilton and Ann Chamberlain embedded these obsolete cards in plaster covering the principal diagonal wall on three levels of the building. Each card is annotated with a quote from its corresponding book or from another book associated with the title by subject matter. Nearly 200 individuals annotated the cards in a dozen different languages. The cards not only represent a Continue Reading

Constellation at the SFPL

Posted by Cindy on July 10, 2018

Jul 102018

San Francisco Public Library Atrium area 160 names of writers are illuminated on a wall that rises five stories behind the grand staircase in the atrium of the San Francisco Public Library. The artist’s work is inspired by a Beaux Arts tradition with origins in the Bibliotheque Saint-Genevieve in Paris (a model for the old Main Library). On that building, authors’ names were inscribed on the facade according to the location of their works inside. Nayland Blake revisits this idea of an index of authors with glass shades placed before fiber optic light beams. Each shade is inscribed with Continue Reading

Hands by Vicki Saulls

Posted by Cindy on July 7, 2018

Jul 072018

Eureka Valley Rec Center 100 Collingwood Castro The project consists of casts of hands of citizens throughout the neighboring community. The call for volunteers read: “My sense of the center is that it’s a really welcoming place for diverse interests and community groups. I wanted to use the welcoming theme and came up with the idea of using hands and gestures. My plan is to use various groupings–parents and children, friends, couples, partners–doing gestures. They could be holding hands, holding a basketball, playing cards. I expect some people will have ideas better than mine as far as the final gestures Continue Reading

Dolphin from the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939

Posted by Cindy on July 4, 2018

Jul 042018

Dolphin from the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939

Presently in storage at Golden Gate Park This statue is from the Golden Gate International Exposition. It is by Cecilia Bancroft Graham. Graham was born in San Francisco, on March 2, 1905. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts, graduated from Mills College in Oakland, and studied sculpture with Oscar Thiede in Vienna, Louis de Jean in Paris, and with Carl Milles at Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. She passed away in Carmel, California in 1984. The statue was placed around the Fountain in the San Francisco Building. The center whales were by Robert Howards. The whales sculpture was Continue Reading

Take Root

Posted by Cindy on June 30, 2018

Jun 302018

Chinatown Public Library 1135 Powell Street Take Root is a set of bi-lingual panels referencing traditional Chinese salutary plaques in contemporary materials of rear-illuminated, die-cut anodized aluminum. The Chinese text is based on calligraphy written for Take Root by well-known artist and calligrapher C. C. Wang. It features a Chinese-American saying about setting roots in America, that is adapted from a traditional saying about returning to the old country at life’s end. The English text is a poetic translation. Light sconces bear the names of key departing and arrival cites in Asia and America. Copper-leafed columns bear copper panels that Continue Reading

San Francisco’s Sister Cities

Posted by Cindy on June 28, 2018

Jun 282018

Hallidie Plaza Market Street This Sister Cities signpost was dedicated on June 28, 2018, it was created at the request of interim Mayor Mark Farrell. It was a joint effort amongst many departments of the city, Public Works managed the project and installed the foundation, SFMTA made and installed the signs, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission provided the pole. San Francisco’s sister cities include Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Amman, Jordan; Assisi, Italy; Bangalore, India; Barcelona, Spain; Cork, Ireland; Haifa, Israel; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Kiel, Germany; Krakow, Poland; Manila, Philippines; Osaka, Japan; Paris, France; Seoul, Korea; Shanghai, China; Continue Reading

Skydancing

Posted by Cindy on June 28, 2018

Jun 282018

Laguna Honda Hospital Pavillion Atrium 375 Laguna Honda Boulevard Forest Hill This is Skydancing by Takenobu Igarashi they are painted aluminum sculptures, reminiscent of blossoms and suspended from aircraft cables. Japanese artist Igarashi has taught at Chiba University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He collaborated in the foundation of the Faculty of Design at Tama Art University (Kaminoge Campus) to set up the first computerized design education in Japan and was the first Head of the Design Department. In 1994, he ended his 25 years of design activity and moved to Los Angeles to become a sculptor. Continue Reading

Nuotatori

Posted by Cindy on June 21, 2018

Jun 212018

North Beach Pool 661 Lombard Street This piece, by Vicki Saulls, is an actual cast of 23 residents of North Beach shown in their swim gear. Ms. Saulls also created Locus, a second piece of art that can be found at this North Beach pool. Vicki Saulls was born in Idaho and raised in the northwest, Georgia, and California. Saulls graduated with a degree in Art from University of California at Santa Cruz. Vicki embarked on a career as a museum modelmaker and sculptor for natural history museums, aquariums, and parks, at such venues as Monterey Bay Aquarium, Yosemite National Continue Reading

Building the Iron Horse

Posted by Cindy on June 19, 2018

Jun 192018

Laguna Honda Hospital Lobby of the Pavillion 375 Laguna Honda Boulevard Forest Hill Owen Smith’s WPA-style mosaic murals depicting the building of the Golden Gate Bridge pay homage to Glen Wessel’s Professions mural series in the historic Laguna Honda lobby and provide a visual continuity between the old and the new buildings. The artist chose to illustrate the building of the Golden Gate Bridge because of the subject matter’s connection to the Wessel murals, which include themes related to labor and the four classic elements. To Smith, the building of the Golden Gate Bridge represents human audacity, bravery, skill and Continue Reading

Peter Vandenberge and his Whimsical Ceramic Art

Posted by Cindy on June 15, 2018

Jun 152018

Peter Vandenberge and his Whimsical Ceramic Art

Christopher Park 5210 Diamond Height Boulevard Diamond Heights These whimsical tile plagues are by Peter Vandenberge and reside inside, what is now, the nursery school in the Christopher Park Rec Center Building. Born in 1935 in The Hague, Vandenberg grew up in Jakarta. “I was obsessed with making things out of clay,” “I was like Pigpen,” the Peanuts character. “My mother and father were always telling me to get out of the mud.” In 1942 the Japanese invaded Indonesia and placed the expatriate population into POW camps, “The whole goddamn thing was a nightmare,” he recalls. “There was not enough food, there Continue Reading

Laguna Line

Posted by Cindy on June 14, 2018

Jun 142018

Laguna Honda Hospital 375 Laguna Honda Boulevard Forest Hill By observing Laguna Honda residents using wheelchairs and the handrails located throughout the building, Cliff Garten saw the potential for a public artwork in the form of a handrail. While meeting all codes and functional requirements, he transformed a ubiquitous handrail into a sensuous sculpture that addresses the space at a visual, tactile and psychological level. The Esplanade features approximately 600 feet of sculptural handrail elements that interpolate the interactive qualities of the handrail into other situations and activities in the hospital. The handrail is cast in bronze and embellished Continue Reading

Reflections

Posted by Cindy on June 12, 2018

Jun 122018

Laguna Honda Hospital 135 Laguna Honda Forest Hills This bi-fold, water-cut, stainless steel access door is by Diana Pumpelly Bates. The design incorporates selected elements of the new architecture of the hospital and imagery derived from the surrounding environment. The relationship of the lines and shapes in the imagery are intended to suggest a “landscape of reflection.” Diana Pumpelly Bates is a sculptor and public artist working in bronze, iron, and steel. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Oakland Museum, Oakland, The Triton Museum in Santa Clara, the Oliver Art Center at California College of Arts and Continue Reading

Rabbinoid on Cell Phone

Posted by Cindy on June 11, 2018

Jun 112018

Laguna Honda Hospital Garden Area 375 Laguna Honda Forest Hills This life size bronze is called Rabbinoid on Cell Phone and is by California artist Gerald Heffernon Gerald Heffernon lives in Winters, California. He has shown at galleries and museums nationally as well as in France, including the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He has been awarded over a dozen public art commissions since 1978, including those for fire stations in San Jose and Sacramento, parks in Sacramento and Denver (both in progress), and the Light Rail Station in Sacramento. Mainly depicting animals, most of his sculptures are made Continue Reading

Islais

Posted by Cindy on June 9, 2018

Jun 092018

Islais Creek 3rd Street and Cargo Way Bayview – Hunters Point Islais by Cliff Garten Studio is an artwork that is inspired by the history and landscape of Bayview Gateway and Islais Creek. “I have created sculptures whose gestures and forms are iconic yet formal and free, solid and transparent, because no one history should take precedence over another. The images of the Bay and Islais Creek are a reference point for the sculptures and for the celebration of the Bayview community.” The piece is made of blue polychrome bronze with a stainless steel wrap, referencing the shape of the Continue Reading

Glass Flowers

Posted by Cindy on May 10, 2018

May 102018

Portola Branch Library 380 Bacon Street Portola/Excelsior Dana Zed has been exhibiting her art nationally and internationally for over 30 years. She holds a BA from Brown University in Rhode Island. She has works in the permanent collections of The Corning Museum in New York and The Oakland Museum. Zed owns and operates a glass studio in Oakland as well as teaching ceramics to kids in the East Bay. She also teaches adults at Esaeln Institute in Big Sur. California Wildflowers is a set of four handmade glass and metal shutters installed in the front window of the Portola Branch Library. Continue Reading

Yarn Bombing Civic Center

Posted by Cindy on April 28, 2018

Apr 282018

San Francisco Civic Center Plaza These whimsical animals and are designed and installed by Jill and Lorna Watts of Knits For Life as part of the “Knitting the Commons” project. For those not familiar Yarn bombing is a type of street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk. It is also called yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting, or graffiti knitting. According to their website: Knitting the Commons is a temporary art project that aims to ‘knit’ together San Francisco’s central public spaces – Civic Center Plaza, UN Plaza, and Continue Reading

Gates of Kezar Stadium

Posted by Cindy on April 3, 2018

Apr 032018

Kezar Stadium Frederick Street Entrance These gates stand at the entry to Kezar stadium and were installed in 1991. There are 22 of them around the stadium Kezar Stadium has a long history in the City of San Francisco, but much of its original elements no longer remain. The gates were purchased by the San Francisco Arts Commission for $99,825 and were the product of designer Alan Fleming. According to the artist the final design is evocative of the merging of the natural and the man made, the hard edge and the soft edge, the straight line and the curved, Continue Reading

Balboa Has its Name up in Mosaic

Posted by Cindy on March 29, 2018

Mar 292018

Balboa at 39th and 34th Avenues These two sided sign posts on Balboa street were commissioned by the SF Arts Commission as part of the Balboa Streetscape Improvement Project. They were created by artist Colette Crutcher, who has been in this site many times. The site of the Balboa Streetscape Improvement Project extends from 34th to 39th Avenue. The $3,200,000 renovation provided a safer and more pleasant environment for pedestrians, motorists, cyclists, and transit riders to enjoy the neighborhood.

Red Gothic

Posted by Cindy on March 28, 2018

Mar 282018

Muriel Leff Mini Park 7th Avenue between Geary and Anza Richmond District This piece by Aristeded Demetrius is titled Red Gothic. It was donated to the park by the Cyril Lerner Foundation and was installed in the park in 1986 at the request of Ms. Leff and other community members. Demetrius has several pieces throughout 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 Mike Mulligan and His Steam Continue Reading

Global Garden

Posted by Cindy on March 26, 2018

Mar 262018

474 Natoma South of Market On this affordable housing unit are digitally embossed metal panels entitled Global Gardens, by artist Catherine Wagner. The images are of culturally specific plants representing the diverse community. Catherine Wagner is a Professor of Studio Art, as well as the Dean of the Fine Arts Division at Mills College. She received her BA and MFA from San Francisco State University. Wagner is an American conceptual artist whose process involves the investigation of what art critic David Bonetti calls “the systems people create, our love of order, our ambition to shape the world, the value we Continue Reading

SurfHenge

Posted by Cindy on March 23, 2018

Mar 232018

Taraval and 48th Street Sunset District These sculptures designed by DPW landscape architect Martha Ketterer are part of the Taraval Streetscape Improvement Project. The design combines the lightness and fragility of surfboards or sails with monumental weight and verticality. The work was then adorned with tile work by Colette Crutcher suggestng the ceaseless dance of the ocean and its creatures. Surfhenge is a nickname for Taraval Street. The $1,600,000. Taraval Streetscape project is part of the revitalization of a neglected neighborhood at San Francisco’s western edge. Martha Ketterer is a Landscape Architect for the Department of Public Works. She is a Continue Reading

Dahlias at Cabrillo

Posted by Cindy on March 22, 2018

Mar 222018

Cabrillo Playground 853 38th Avenue Outer Richmond Cabrillo Playground, and its attached club house were completely renovated with $45 million dollars from the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond. The budget for the art was $35,970. These lacy flowers are by Colette Crutcher and were inspired by the Dahlia Garden that is attached to the park. The artwork is comprised of flower imagery fabricated in galvanized iron lacework, incorporated along fence panels on 38th and 39th avenues at Cabrillo Avenue, with an overall dimension of 121 in. by 299 in. at 38th Avenue; and 121 in. by 222 in. at 39th Continue Reading

Oche Wat Te Ou

Posted by Cindy on March 21, 2018

Mar 212018

Yerba Buena Gardens Oche Wat Te Ou – Reflections is by Jaune Quick-to-see Smith and James Luna. It sits in Yerba Buena Gardens and was installed in 1993. This tribute to the native Ohlone Indians, created by artists Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and James Luna, takes form in a semicircular wood wall patterned with Ohlone basket designs. Standing behind a crescent-shaped pool and a circle of moss covered rocks, it’s a contemplative environment, set beside a redwood grove with a single live oak tree nearby. The artists intended the piece to serve as a performance area for poetry, storytelling, and other events Continue Reading

Local Color by Leah Rosenberg

Posted by Cindy on March 21, 2018

Mar 212018

Natoma at 180 New Montgomery This wall of colors that include small tables and chairs is a by Leah Rosenberg and was sponsored by SitesUnseen. Leah Rosenberg is a San Francisco-based artist whose practice spans a range of media including painting, sculpture, installation, printmaking, and performance. Color plays a primary role in her work. Rosenberg received a BFA from Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, BC, in 2003 and went on to get an MFA from California College in San Francisco in 2008. Sites Unseen is a fiscally-sponsored public art project of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District (YBCBD)

Alleyways of San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on March 20, 2018

Mar 202018

Jessie and Annie Streets Sites Unseen is a fiscally-sponsored public art project of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District (YBCBD). They presently have three projects on the outskirts of San Francisco’s Museum District. The first is Love Over Rules These 6 X 6 Neon letters are on the exterior wall of the Salma Family Building at 165 Jessie Street. However, the best viewing is on Annie Street. The light sculpture is the first permanent public artwork in the U.S. by New York-based artist Hank Willis Thomas. A tribute to the artist’s cousin, murdered in 2000, the blinking white neon installation shares Continue Reading

Alice Aycock at the SFPL

Posted by Cindy on March 18, 2018

Mar 182018

San Francisco Main Library 100 Larkin Street 5th Floor Alice Aycock has designed a spiral stairway between the fifth and sixth floors of the suspended, glass-enclosed reading room that projects into the library’s great atrium space. The staircase wraps around a cone tipped at an angle, and as the two-story cone appears to unravel, it sheds fragments of false or imaginary stairs. A second element, the Cyclone fragment, is suspended in the adjacent atrium and functions as a ghost projection of the spiral stair. If the stairs suggest knowledge unfolding, the Cyclone symbolizes knowledge in its most dynamic and transitional Continue Reading

Controversial Comfort Women Statue

Posted by Cindy on March 4, 2018

Mar 042018

St. Mary’s Square Chinatown From the moment of installation of this statue by Carmel artist Steven Whyte it has been controversial. The plaque that accompanies the statue reads: This monument bears witness to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of women and girls, euphemistically called “Comfort Women”, who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces in thirteen Asia-Pacific countries from 1931 to 1945. Most of these women died during their wartime captivity. This dark history was hidden for decades until the 1990s when the survivors courageously broke their silence. They helped move the world to declare that sexual Continue Reading

Gloria Victis

Posted by Cindy on January 24, 2018

Jan 242018

Civic Center 505 Van Ness Edmund G. Brown State Office Building Closed Weekends The statue was a project between the Hungarian Freedom Fighters Federation of San Francisco and the Honorable Ernie Konnyu, a former Representative of the California State Assembly. The statue portrays Hungaria, the Spirit of Hungary, and symbolizes the idea of everlasting hope in spite of defeat. The statue expresses the aspirations of all people in their hunger for freedom. It is a memorial to all nations defeated by brutal force, whose love of liberty and spirit must stay alive to strive to free themselves again. The statue Continue Reading

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