Category: Uncategorized
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WPA Map of San Francisco Part 7 – West Portal and Merced Branch Libraries
West Portal Branch Library Merced Branch Library This is installment seven about the pieces of the WPA map that are being displayed as part of the joint program, Take Part, between SFMOMA and the San Francisco Library. You can read the first six installments here. I apologize for the poor quality of the photographs. Most every…
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Words in White Light
Transbay Terminal Second and Folsom The largest piece of art in the Transbay Terminal is Jenny Holzer’s digital work “White Light,” which encircles the main atrium with 16-foot-high excerpts from historical and literary texts. All related to the Bay Area, they are spelled out in animated, pulsing LED configurations. Some of these texts are on…
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Magical Stained Glass
Laguna Honda Hospital 375 Laguna Honda Blvd Forest Hill These stained glass windows reside in the chapel of the 1920’s Spanish Revival portion of Laguna Honda Hospital. The groundbreaking ceremony of the hospital was overseen by Mayor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, the hospital opened in 1926, having replaced an earlier almshouse”. The artist is unknown…
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Light as Art
Ellis Street Between Stockton and Powell The Ellis entry to the O’farrell Garage This light installation, titled Spine, is by Christopher Townsend Sproat, it was created in 1993. Sproat was born in Boston and studied art at Boston University, the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, and Skohegan School of Fine Arts. He has created…
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The Apple of My Eye
Michael H. Casey often did sculptures just for fun. They also would show his personality, as you can see by the half eaten apple. In this photograph is “Breezehead” one of his favorite cats. Michael was a cat person, and Breezehead, while not the brightest bulb, as you can tell by her name, gave him…
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Carved Plaster
Michael H. Casey worked to build this “Giacometti” lamp by building up wet plaster. After the shape was to his liking he spent hours and hours sanding the lamp to its final state. Michael had always been a big fan of the Gicometti brothers, and in fact, had the opportunity to repair an original, so…
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Hell Mouths
Various Locations I am not sure exactly when the hell mouth craze took off, but Michael H. Casey had four large projects that incorporated these commissioned sculptures. Bijan incorporated many of them in his Rodeo Drive store in 1999. They were used as shelving, and then there was one that served as a fireplace in…
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Vivande
670 Golden Gate San Francisco In 1993 Vivande Restaurant opened a second, larger and moral formal restaurant at 670 Golden Gate Avenue. They wanted to recreate the front door of the famous house designed by Federico Zuccaro in 1591 just of the Spanish Steps in Rome. Michael H. Casey, of course, put his own spin on…
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Necklace of Lights
Lake Merritt 468 Perkins Street Oakland, CA Originally shut down during World War II, the Necklace of Lights circling Lake Merritt fell into complete disrepair and remained non-functional for many years, The Lake Merritt Breakfast club started a campaign in the 1980’s to raise money to restore the iconic Necklace of Lights. Once the project…