Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Go Bears

Posted by Cindy on April 11, 2013

Apr 112013

817 Terry Francois Way Mission Rock Resort Dogpatch Old Cal Memorial Stadium Wood * Paul Olson is a versatile and very adaptable artist working in a variety of mediums. Paul has worked as a freelance illustrator for twelve years creating unique artwork as well as adapting styles to work with illustration teams. He has created designs for print and the web for major marketing and PR firms as well as start-ups and private businesses. As a muralist, Paul has been commissioned large-scale indoor and outdoor pieces for business parks, restaurants, and offices. He has also worked with interior designers to paint Continue Reading

Tile and Bronze Column

Posted by Cindy on April 10, 2013

Apr 102013

580 Bush Street Financial District/Union Square/Chinatown This little hidden gem, done in 1992, is a collaboation of Ruth Asawa, her son Paul Lanier and artist Nancy Thompson. Ruth Asawa has been on this website many times before. I recently found this article by Milton Chen and Ruth Cox at Edutopia that gives a few new details about Asawa that I did not know. “The daughter of truck farmers, Asawa was born in 1926 in Norwalk, in southern California, one of seven children. In 1942, her family was ordered to report to the temporary incarceration center for Japanese Americans at the Santa Continue Reading

Yerba Buena Gardens

Posted by Cindy on April 9, 2013

Apr 092013

Yerba Buena Gardens SOMA South of 5th Street Yerba Buena Gardens is a two-block public park that anchors the three sides of the Yerba Buena Center (YBC). The area got its name in 1835 for the “good herb”-mint-growing in the area. YBC is officially in the South of Market Area (SOMA). Jack London first called this area “south of the slot,” in reference to the cable-car tracks that ran down the center of Market Street. In 1847 when the city fathers laid out the SOMA, it was partitioned into lots twice the size of those in the north of market area. Continue Reading

Mid Market Sees Black and White

Posted by Cindy on April 8, 2013

Apr 082013

1125 Market Street Mid Market Area This piece is a collaboration of Cannon Dill and Feral Child. Cannon Dill is from Mill Valley and presently lives in Oakland. Feral Child is a California based artist who has been working in the streets for the past five years. Influenced by folk art, activism, and the geometry within nature. These two have been collaborating around the bay area lately with a artist well known to this website, Zio Ziegler.

Sumer #24 by Larry Bell

Posted by Cindy on April 6, 2013

Apr 062013

101 Second Street SOMA Financial District Sumer #24 by Larry Bell – Bronze Sumer #24 is a result of the POPOS program and the 1% for Art program of San Francisco. While it is viewable through the windows of the building it is available for viewing up close from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm M-F. Larry Bell (born in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is a contemporary American artist and sculptor. He lives and works in Taos, New Mexico, and maintains a studio in Venice, California. From 1957 to 1959 he studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles as Continue Reading

Tile Art at Jackson Playground

Posted by Cindy on April 5, 2013

Apr 052013

Jackson Playground 17th and Arkansas Potrero One of three park reservations made by the Van Ness Ordinances of 1855 in working class Potrero Nuevo, the site was originally known as Jackson Square. Undeveloped and virtually ignored for more than 75 years, Jackson Square was made into a playground in the twentieth century. A 1930 map shows a simply landscaped park with a small building, possibly a clubhouse, on the Mariposa Street side. The same map shows what was probably an oval cinder running track occupying much of the park. Very little on it appears in the city records. It was Continue Reading

The Bell Telephone Building

Posted by Cindy on April 4, 2013

Apr 042013

140 New Montgomery SOMA South of 5th The building that stands at 140 New Montgomery was built in 1925 for the Pacific Telephone Company, part of the Bell System. It was, at the time, the first significant skyscraper in San Francisco, as well as the city’s first skyscraper in the Moderne style. According to the San Francisco Newsletter, published in 1925, “The interiors are entirely fireproof and are exceptionally well lighted. Its features include a cafeteria for women employees and an assembly hall seating 400 people.” It was also the first building to be wired so that each desk could Continue Reading

The Fire Next Time II

Posted by Cindy on April 2, 2013

Apr 022013

Joseph P. Lee Rec Center 1395 Mendell Backside Bayview Fire Next Time II Excerpt from San Francisco Bay Area Murals by Timothy W. Drescher regarding the original mural: Crumpler depicted three aspects of black people’s lives in the United States: education, religion, and culture. The contemporary figures, a teacher and student, athletes and dancers, are watched over by exemplary portraits of Harriet Tubman and Paul Robeson. Above them are two Senufo birds which are mythical beings in Africa but here oversee the cultural and creative lives of the community… By 1984, Crumpler continued the mural on the adjacent gymnasium at Continue Reading

The Sentinel a Flat Iron Building that Makes its Mark

Posted by Cindy on March 30, 2013

Mar 302013

The Sentinel a Flat Iron Building that Makes its Mark

916 Geary North Beach The Sentinel Building, also known as Columbus Tower, sits at the corners of Columbus Avenue, Kearny Street and Jackson Street. The building is a classic Beaux-Arts flatiron. Flatiron buildings were structures built primarily between 1880 and 1926. Most flatirons were built in either the Beaux-Arts or Renaissance Revival architectural style that was popular at the time. These types of buildings are called flatirons because they are shaped like a flat clothes iron. This design is necessary for the trapezoid or triangular-shaped lots that are commonly found in 19th-and-20th century city grids. These odd-shaped lots appeared when Continue Reading

Solar Plumes on a Painted Steel Fence

Posted by Cindy on March 29, 2013

Mar 292013

Sunnyside Playground 200 Melrose Twin Peaks These painted steel panels were commissioned in 2008 for $23,600 by the San Francisco Art Commission to Deborah Kennedy. According to Kennedy’s website the curvilinear patterns cut into water-jet cut stainless steel were abstracted from patterns found in NASA’s TRACE close-up satellite photos of the solar surface. These photos show enormous plumes of plasma, electrified gases that surge up from the surface of the sun. These plumes move at tremendous speeds and form coronal loops that stand hundreds of thousands of miles off the surface of the sun. This public artwork seeks to heighten Continue Reading

SFGH Healing Garden

Posted by Cindy on March 28, 2013

Mar 282013

1001 Potrero San Francisco General Hospital The artist designed this small garden, in 1993, as an extension to an existing hospital memorial garden and as a place to provide seating sheltered from the wind. A red gravel walkway, edged in white granite city-surplus curbstones, forms a double helix, which is symbolic of life. The seating is made from salvaged granite. Look closely, you can see the double helix in the planter on the left. Benny Bufano’s Madonna graces the back of the garden. Peter Richards is a long-term Artist in Residence at the Exploratorium (an innovative science museum in San Francisco, Continue Reading

Open Book at the Library

Posted by Cindy on March 27, 2013

Mar 272013

960 4th Street Mission Bay This piece, by Vince Koloski, is in the Mission Bay Branch Library. The artwork is an illuminated book sculpture with quotes about reading and text from a variety of ancient and contemporary cultures. Vince Koloski was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1953. In 1977 he attended New College in Sarasota, Florida and graduated with a dual B.A. in Sculpture and Poetry. Koloski returned to Minneapolis to refine his craft as a neon sculptor and skilled neon glassblower. He spent two years as a neon instructor in the Extension Division of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Continue Reading

Precita Eyes covers McDonald’s in Paint

Posted by Cindy on March 25, 2013

Mar 252013

2801 Mission Street Mission District This mural, titled Culture of the Crossroads, was done in 1998 by Precita Eyes. It covers the 24th Street side of the McDonalds Restaurant. * * * * * Precita Eyes is a multipurpose community based arts organization that has played an integral role in the city’s cultural heritage and arts education. One of only three community mural centers in the United States, the organization sponsors and implements ongoing mural projects throughout the Bay Area and internationally. In addition, it has a direct impact on arts education in the San Francisco Mission District by offering four weekly Continue Reading

Globe by Topher Delaney

Posted by Cindy on March 22, 2013

Mar 222013

299 2nd Street Courtyard Marriott Hotel – 1st Floor SOMA – Financial District Globe by Topher Delaney – Bronze This piece is a result of the 1% for Art and POPOS programs in San Francisco. It is available for viewing from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. – However, if you step into the Lobby you can view it through the window if the courtyard area is not open. Topher (Christopher) Delaney‘s forty year career as an environmental artist has encompassed a wide breadth of projects which focus on the exploration of our cultural interpretations of landscape architecture, public art and the Continue Reading

The Tanforan Cottages

Posted by Cindy on March 21, 2013

Mar 212013

214-220 Dolores Mission District Not far from Mission Dolores are a pair of homes considered to be the oldest in the Mission District and among some of the oldest in San Francisco: 214 and 220 Dolores Street. The Mission District, originally Mission San Francisco de Asis, was the sixteenth in a chain of twenty missions stretching from San Diego to San Francisco. Mission San Francisco de Asis is affectionately called Mission Dolores after the lagoon the mission was first built on in 1776. At that time California was a part of Spain. In 1821 Mexico achieved independence from Spain and annexed California. One Continue Reading

Time to Dream

Posted by Cindy on March 20, 2013

Mar 202013

Joseph P. Lee Rec Center 1395 Mendell Bayview Time to Dream by Amana Johnson The Joseph P. Lee Rec Center, like many in San Francisco is behind a locked gate and only open during very limited hours. I have relied on the artists website for a description of the piece and the photo of the book. “Time To Dream” is a life-sized figure carved from a 3,000-pound block of Basalt Spring Stone found only in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. The figure, which took Johnson over nine months to carve, is deliberately not identified as either male or female in order Continue Reading

Sutro Heights Park

Posted by Cindy on March 19, 2013

Mar 192013

Point Lobos Avenue Land’s End Copy of the original lion that stood at the Sutro Heights entry gate. (Photo credit: UC Bancroft Library) Adolph Sutro (1830-1898) was one of San Francisco’s most beloved mayors and esteemed citizens. Originally from Prussia, he amassed millions in the Comstock Lode (Nevada Silver Rush of 1859) by designing and constructing ventilated mining shafts. By cashing out just before the silver ran out, he was able to purchase fully one-twelfth of San Francisco, including all the western dunes and a section of the sea shore called the Outside Lands. Sutro’s name is commonly associated with Continue Reading

Journey through Books and Music

Posted by Cindy on March 18, 2013

Mar 182013

1946 Market Street Castro/Mission The Mural is on the side of 43 Buchannan Titled Joyous Discoveries: A Journey Through Books and Music, this mural, by Keith Hollander won the Public Mural Award of 2001 for the Finest Mural in the SF Bay Area. The mural is now being lost due to construction on this corner. The books in the picture are: Chaim Potok, “The Chosen”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “100 Years of Solitude”, Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, “The Art Book”, Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”, J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye”, and Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Continue Reading

Dos Leones at SFGH

Posted by Cindy on March 16, 2013

Mar 162013

1001 Potrero San Francisco General Hospital So much of the collection paid for by the San Francisco Art Commission is not readily available to the general public. This piece is no exception. On the patio of the 3rd floor of SFGH, the doors were locked, however, you can see the sculpture through the window. Titled Dos Liones, this sculpture, done in 1974, is by Mary Fuller. Mary Fuller has many pieces of public art work around the San Francisco Bay Area. Mary Fuller was born in Wichita, Kansas on October 20, 1922. Creating totemic figures, playful animals and dancing goddesses Continue Reading

The Sunnyside Conservatory

Posted by Cindy on March 14, 2013

Mar 142013

236 Monterey Blvd Sunnyside This octagonal building is called Sunnyside Conservatory. It is named after the San Francisco district in which it is located-an area that began to develop in 1898 when Behrand Joost subdivided his property. Joost’s Sunnyside Land Company even installed a streetcar line so that owners would have access to downtown. During this time William Merralls, a British engineer and inventor, came to San Francisco to put his engineering to use in the mining industry. In 1858, Merralls purchased a home at 258 Sunnyside Boulevard (now Monterey Boulevard) that still stands today. He soon began work next Continue Reading

American Bison at SFGH

Posted by Cindy on March 13, 2013

Mar 132013

1001 Potrero San Francisco General Hospital 2nd Floor – Cafeteria Patio Buffalo by Raimondo Puccinelli Raimondo Puccinelli, (1904-1986) born and raised in San Francisco, is known above all for his sculpture which has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His standing as a sculptor was confirmed early on, firstly by the interest shown by the great museums on the West Coast of America and then by the commitment demonstrated by influential New York galleries in which his works were exhibited alongside the great artists of the time: as did both the Ferargil Gallery with its exhibition “Degas, Maillol, Continue Reading

The Pacific Coast Stock Exchange

Posted by Cindy on March 12, 2013

Mar 122013

301 Pine Street Financial District 301 Pine Street-one of the historic buildings that comprised our financial system on the West Coast-began its life in 1915 as a sub-treasury building for the United States Treasury. In 1930, when the San Francisco Financial District was fast becoming the Wall Street of the West, the “gentlemen of the tape and ticker” sought a building to express the important financial work they were doing. They chose the San Francisco firm of Miller and Pflueger to remodel the old government building into a new Exchange. Front of the building features a colonnade and granite staircase, Continue Reading

Empire Park

Posted by Cindy on March 11, 2013

Mar 112013

600 Block of Commercial Street at Kearny Empire Park Chinatown Empire Park (once called Grabhorn Park) is a POPOS (privately-owned public open space). It is provided and maintained by, The Empire Group, owners of 505 Montgomery Street. The spire perched atop 505 Montgomery is said to be a replica of the Empire State Building, but that is most likely because a giant inflatable gorilla was hung from the spire to announce the opening of the building. This tiny little park is an oasis on a beautiful, carless portion of Commercial Street. The delightful water feature is by Pepo Pichler and Continue Reading

Ed Carpenter Arches the 6th Floor Terrace at 150 California

Posted by Cindy on March 7, 2013

Mar 072013

Ed Carpenter Arches the 6th Floor Terrace at 150 California

150 California Street POPOS on the 6th Floor Terrace Open 9 am to 6 pm Ed Carpenter is an artist specializing in large-scale public installations ranging from architectural sculpture to infrastructure design. Since 1973 he has completed scores of projects for public, corporate, and ecclesiastical clients. Working internationally from his studio in Portland, Oregon, Carpenter collaborates with a variety of expert consultants, sub-contractors, and studio assistants. He personally oversees every step of each commission, and installs them himself with a crew of long-time helpers. While an interest in light has been fundamental to virtually all of Carpenter’s work, he also Continue Reading

Star Maiden a relic of the Pan Pacific Exposition

Posted by Cindy on March 6, 2013

Mar 062013

Star Maiden a relic of the Pan Pacific Exposition

1 Sansome Street POPOS Open During Business Hours Star Maiden by Stirling Calder (Alexander) Stirling Calder attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, in 1885, at the age of 16. Here he studied under Thomas Eakins. He apprenticed as a sculptor the following year, working on his father’s extensive sculpture program for Philadelphia City Hall, and is reported to have modeled the arm of one of the figures. In 1890, he moved to Paris where he studied at the Académie Julian under Henri Michel Chapu, and then was accepted in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts where he entered the Continue Reading

The Beach Chalet

Posted by Cindy on March 5, 2013

Mar 052013

Designed by architect Willis Polk, the Beach Chalet has served as a gathering spot on Ocean Beach for most of its life. With its hipped roof and hand-made roof tiles, this Spanish Revival building survived a takeover by the US Army, the raucous residence of a biker bar and 15 years of abandonment. Today it houses two restaurants, offering visitors a variety of dining fare to accompany the breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean (more on that later). The City of San Francisco built the Beach Chalet in 1925, at a cost of $60,000, to provide facilities for beach goers. The ground Continue Reading

Carnaval on 24th

Posted by Cindy on March 4, 2013

Mar 042013

3195 24th Street The Mission This badly faded mural is titled Carnaval and was done in 1983. The artist was Daniel Galves with help from Dan Fontes, James Morgan, Jay Shield and Keith Sklar. Daniel Galvez is an Oakland-based muralist. He studied at the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland (BFA in painting in 1975) and San Francisco State University (MFA in 1979). Galvez has done murals through out the United States. On December 14, 2011 Christy Khoshaba, writer for a wonderful local ezine called Mission Local ran an article about this mural – here it is in its Continue Reading

A Start to the Blue Greenway Art Trail

Posted by Cindy on February 27, 2013

Feb 272013

Arelious Walker and Innis Street originally at Cargo at Third Street Bayview/Hunters Point This piece is titled Red Fish by William Wareham. Wareham has several pieces around San Francisco. The piece was installed as part of San Francisco’s Blue Greenway project. The Blue Greenway is the City of San Francisco’s Port project to improve the City’s southerly portion of the 500 mile, 9-county, region-wide Bay Trail, as well as the newly established Bay Area Water Trail and associated waterfront open space system. The alignment of the Blue Greenway generally follows the alignment of Continue Reading

Zio Ziegler Paints the Mission

Posted by Cindy on February 25, 2013

Feb 252013

Bartlett and 24th Mission and Sycamore * * Zio Ziegler has several murals around San Francisco. According to his website: For me painting is balance. Within this balance there is consciousness, instinct and distraction. My work is a constant fusion of all three. Torn between the classical and the contemporary in my inspirations, but constantly reminded of the paradigm shift towards the digital age around us, my paintings walk a fine line of voyeurism and awareness both is process and perception. The paintings have organic growth cycles of their own, but the inexplicable instinct of a paintings necessity for completion Continue Reading

The Movie Palaces of Mission Street

Posted by Cindy on February 23, 2013

Feb 232013

The Mission District Before Netflix, streaming videos and television, most people got their entertainment at a vaudeville/movie theater. These “palaces” were places to see and be seen. The Mission district was the home to at least five theaters whose marquees still can be seen amongst the graffiti and signage that marks the street. Of these theaters, the El Capitan Theater was the crown jewel. Opened on June 29, 1928, it seated 2578 patrons. The El Capitan was designed by famed theater designer Gustave Albert Lansburgh. Lansburgh was the principal architect of theaters all along the west coast from 1900 to 1930. Continue Reading

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