Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Fire creates Firehouse Art

Posted by Cindy on September 5, 2012

Sep 052012

1091 Portola Drive St Francis Wood/Mt. Davidson Station #39 * This 30″ Blown Glass Rondella, done in 1997, is by Mark McDonnell. Mark McDonnell (1945- ) is a visual artist whose work can be found in the permanent collections of the Louvre, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Corning Museum of Glass. He has extensively researched and photographed glasshouses and glass architecture. He is the former chairman of the Glass Department at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and presently lives in San Francisco. Having taken up writing Mark McDonnell, explores the intriguing locations that Chihuly is Continue Reading

A Gluers Mosaic at Douglass Playground

Posted by Cindy on September 4, 2012

Sep 042012

Douglass Playground 26th and Douglass Noe Valley This mosaic, done in 1987 by Lois Anderson, is on the side of the Douglass Playground Clubhouse. Tile, glass, metal, buttons, jewelry on fiberglass, and wood corresponds to the architectural details or emblems found on many neighborhood buildings. Her obituary, which ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 10, 2004 reads: “…a Marin artist known for her bejeweled assemblages, died of cancer at her Mill Valley home Sunday surrounded by friends. She was 77. Ms. Anderson was born in Milwaukee, Wis., and received her bachelor’s degree in 1949 from Wisconsin State University. In Continue Reading

The Tragedy of the Gartland Apartments

Posted by Cindy on September 3, 2012

Sep 032012

Harrison and Alameda Mission/SOMA Mission Wall Dances is subtitled with a Robert Frost quote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” During the 1970’s San Francisco’s Mission and SOMA areas were wracked by arson fires, many thought to be intentional. A fire that has left a large scar on the mission was the Gartland Apartments Fire. From a San Francisco Chronicle article of September 14, 2002: On the night of Dec. 12, (1975) somebody poured gasoline down the Gartland’s main stairwell and ignited it. The fire spread so quickly, so intensely that even veteran firefighters were stunned. “I’ve never heard Continue Reading

Noe Valley Natives – Plants that is.

Posted by Cindy on September 2, 2012

Sep 022012

295 Day Street Noe Valley SAN FRANCISCO WALL FLOWER “ERYSIMUM FRANCISCANUM” This installation is titled Noe Valley Natives, and these pieces sit on fence posts at the Upper Noe Valley Rec Center. The artist is Troy Corliss. In 1993 Troy graduated from the studio art program at the University of California at Davis. While at UC Davis, he studied figure drawing and sculpture. Today, he lives with his wife Anne Liston in Truckee, CA. Corliss has been artist in residence at the Center for Land-Based Learning in Winters, California, the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, and the John Muir Institute of the Environment at Continue Reading

Evan Bissell captures Artists on the Streets of SF

Posted by Cindy on September 1, 2012

Sep 012012

Evan Bissell captures Artists on the Streets of SF

Folsom and 17th Mission District “I write to organize my thoughts. I spit poems because it feels empowering to know there is a room full of people there to listen.” This is Luara Venturi, a local spoken word poet, as depicted by Evan Bissell. The Intersection for the Arts’ show “Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere* youth, imagination and transformation” took place in 2008. Bissell’s paintings of young artists from Youth Speaks were put around the city as a teaser for the show. The site for each was chosen by the subject, the location being one with some personal meaning to the Continue Reading

Muertos in the Mission

Posted by Cindy on August 31, 2012

Aug 312012

Valencia Street Between 15th and 19th Streets Mission District * These tree grates are part of Phase One of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project. They were designed by DPW architects John Dennis and Martha Ketterer and manufactured by Iron Age Grates company. Phase one of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project included removal of the striped center median, sidewalk widening, bulb-outs, more accommodating curbside loading zones for trucks, improved traffic, parking and bicycle lane alignments, the removal of the striped center median, pedestrian scale lighting, art elements, bike racks, and new street trees. The project included the replacement and addition of 76,000 square Continue Reading

Hermes and Dionysus Shake it Up

Posted by Cindy on August 30, 2012

Aug 302012

411 Sansome Street Financial District * * This bronze, done in 1986, titled Hermes and Dionysus-Monument to Analysis is by Arman. (1928-2005) The French-born American artist Arman told an interviewer in 1968. “I have never been — how do you say it? A dilettante.” Arman’s vast artistic output ranges from drawings and prints to monumental public sculpture. His work—strongly influenced by Dada, and in turn a strong influence on Pop Art—is in the collections of such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Born in Nice Continue Reading

Parisian Street Artist Tags the Asian Art Museum

Posted by Cindy on August 29, 2012

Aug 292012

Parisian Street Artist Tags the Asian Art Museum

McAllister and Hyde Wall of the Asian Art Museum Civic Center UPDATE: The artist on this is actually an artist from Iowa that goes by TheUpside. Apparently the UpTown Almanac and I spotted this one at the same time. Here is what they wrote: Tim Hallman, the Asian Art Museum’s Communications Director, dropped us a line about the beautiful piece: I think the Asian Art Museum got “tagged” by this famous Parisian street artist. No confirmation from the artist yet, though. It appeared overnight on the McAllister Street side of the building, near Hyde. We didn’t hire her, Continue Reading

Arnold Genthe’s Photography at CCSF Chinatown Campus

Posted by Cindy on August 28, 2012

Aug 282012

Arnold Genthe's Photography at CCSF Chinatown Campus

Washington and Kearny Chinatown Diligence is the path Up the mountain of knowledge Hard work is the boat Across the endless sea of learning This is the Washington street side of the new Chinatown campus of San Francisco City College. This particular window is the library. The archival photograph is by San Franciscan Arnold Genthe. This young immigrant girl in traditional Chinese dress gazing out at the city is the cover photograph for the book Genthe’s Photographs of San Francisco’s Old Chinatown. She is framed by a couplet, in English and in Chinese calligraphy, metaphorically extolling the cultural virtues diligence Continue Reading

Dancing Dahlias on Claude Lane

Posted by Cindy on August 27, 2012

Aug 272012

8 Claude Lane Union Square/Financial District * This mural, (on the outside of Claudine Restaurant) is by Vogue TDK. According to an interview he did with 1:AM he got into graffiti in late 1984, after school, I turned on the TV to the local PBS station and caught the start of the documentary “Style Wars”. There was a scene where there was a MTA train moving down the tracks, then the train curves to show some graff and that was it. I was hooked and knew that is what I was going to do. As far as why he is the Continue Reading

Muni brings art to an industrial building

Posted by Cindy on August 25, 2012

Aug 252012

Muni brings art to an industrial building

700 Pennsylvania Potrero Hill * The Muni Ways and Structures Facility is located at 700 Pennsylvania Street at the base of Potrero Hill. The facility centralizes several Muni functions, including, among others, a machine shop, welding, carpentry, painting, and locksmith. Although the size and shape of the complex is unchanged from its former role as an overhead-door factory, it has been given a colorful new life through the work of San Francisco artist Robert Catalusci. The exterior walls are now painted ox-blood red and graphite with silver and copper-green accents. In addition to custom paint design, the artist designed massive Continue Reading

Joseph B. Strauss, Golden Gate Bridge Engineer

Posted by Cindy on August 24, 2012

Aug 242012

Joseph B. Strauss, Golden Gate Bridge Engineer

Golden Gate Bridge Joseph Strauss (1870-1938) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an artistic family of German origin, having a mother who was a pianist and a father, Raphael Strauss, who was a writer and painter. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1892. Strauss graduated with a degree in economics and business. He was hospitalized while in college and his hospital room overlooked the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge. This sparked his interest in bridges. Upon graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Strauss worked at the Office of Ralph Modjeski, a firm which specialized in building bridges. Continue Reading

San Francisco’s Fire Chiefs House

Posted by Cindy on August 23, 2012

Aug 232012

870 Bush Street In Memorium Dennis T Sullivan 1838-1906 By fire shall hearts be proven, lest virtue’s gold grow dim, and his by fire was tested, in life’s ordeal of him. Now California renders the laurels that we won “dead on the field of Honor” her hero and her son. Dennis T. Sullivan was the revered chief engineer of the San Francisco Fire Department at the time of the Great Earthquake and Fire. He was at the Chief’s Quarters, 410 Bush Street, during the disaster, and was mortally injured when he fell through the floor and into the cellar. According Continue Reading

Professor Wangari Maathi

Posted by Cindy on August 22, 2012

Aug 222012

Haight and Pierce Street * * * The main character of this mural is Professor Wangari Maathi. Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964). She subsequently earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966). While serving on the National Council of Women she began a broad-based, grassroots organization focused on women planting trees in order to conserve the environment and improve their Continue Reading

Get your insane Cheesburger here

Posted by Cindy on August 20, 2012

Aug 202012

7th and Mission SOMA * This hamburger, and many others around town, are by Steel. He is a man in the pursuit of a good time. He enjoys good jokes, good friends and good cheeseburgers. In his spare time he does artwork in San Francisco and anywhere he travels. Another of his talents is designing hats. Check out his “Murder at Midnight” at Goorin Brothers. Murder at Midnight is part of the 1331 Minna Line of hats by Goorin Brothers. The 1333 Minna Line is a limited edition artist line founded in San Francisco. The collection began with a few Continue Reading

Slow Down, Children at Play on Tehama Streeet

Posted by Cindy on August 19, 2012

Aug 192012

Slow Down, Children at Play on Tehama Streeet

449 Tehama SOMA * * * * This mural is on the Tehama Street side of the Cingular Wireless building at 951 Howard Street. It was painted as a neighborhood beautification and community enhancement project. Cingular Wireless sponsored the mural entitled “Slow Down: Children at Play,” and features the faces of neighborhood children and pets intertwined with forms that reference the shadows from the trees and architecture of the street. Supervised by Sharon Anderson, it was painted with the help of lots of people from the neighborhood. According to the Fog City Journal July 30 2006 Article: “Our network team is Continue Reading

Benny Bufano at Fort Mason

Posted by Cindy on August 17, 2012

Aug 172012

Fort Mason Green * * Peace by Benny Bufano Benjamin Bufano has many pieces throughout San Francisco. This statue, featuring a child within a larger statue represents the peaceful blending of cultures. The green sits on the hill above the actual fort. Called Fort Mason since 1882, the location at Point San Jose, as this area was known, was originally little more than a field of sand dunes. Following the Spanish American War, however, the military realized the need for its own shipping facility on the San Francisco waterfront. As the United States began establishing a presence in the Pacific, Continue Reading

Herakut and Rusk Paint the Tenderloin

Posted by Cindy on August 16, 2012

Aug 162012

The Tenderloin / Polk Gulch Hemlock and Polk * * * The area under this fire escape in Hemlock Alley has been the home to many worldwide known graffiti artists. Roa was featured here not too long ago. This piece is by Arkut, Hera (who often paint as Herakut) and Rusk, all from Germany. HERA, 27 years of age, born in Frankfurt, is looking back on a straight and classic art education with taking lessons from old weirdo artists, starting from when she was eight. That plus her never-ending years of studying Graphic Design account for her preferences today: she Continue Reading

Dancers and Musicians on the Performing Arts Garage

Posted by Cindy on August 15, 2012

Aug 152012

Dancers and Musicians on the Performing Arts Garage

Civic Center Performing Arts Garage Grove and Gough Streets * * The Dancing Musicians and The Dancer by Joan Brown 1986-1986 Bronze Joan Brown has several pieces around San Francisco. These pieces were commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commision. The flautist and guitar player are twelve feet high and five feet wide and sit on the outside of the fifth floor of the garage. The smaller dancer sits on the first floor. The simplified silhouettes are based on the classic Greek black-figures found on Etruscan pottery.

Future’s Past by Kate Raudenbush

Posted by Cindy on August 14, 2012

Aug 142012

Hayes Valley Patricia’s Green This photo is courtesy of the Black Rock Arts Website and was taken at Burning Man. Future’s Past by Kate Raudenbush The Hayes Valley Art Coalition explains the piece like this: Futures Past is a sculptural environment of two contrasting worlds. The 12-foot pyramid reflects the architectural temples of the renowned collapsed civilization of the Maya. The tree honors the jungle ruins of Ta Prohm in Angkor, Cambodia. Together they illustrate a cautionary tale for our modern world and our digital gods, with an interior alter that holds a black sand hourglass that marks the passing of Continue Reading

Kenzo’s Octopus on Fell Street

Posted by Cindy on August 13, 2012

Aug 132012

Civic Center/Hayes Valley * 155 Fell Street This is titled Big Octopus and is by Kenzo. Kenzo, (Aleix Gordo Hostau) is from Barcelona, you can see his other work around San Francisco here or his own flicker photo stream here.

Around San Francisco with Victor Reyes

Posted by Cindy on August 12, 2012

Aug 122012

Around Town With Victor Reyes * 23rd and Mission * * This was done by Victor Reyes in 2010. Reyes has several murals around San Francisco. Reyes has been painting since the early 90s, and has shown extensively around the world in cities and countries such as Bosnia, Germany, Switzerland, Taipei, Japan, and Miami. Reyes is inspired by his peers, including a community of new California artists “The Seventh Letter,” who play an integral role in the development and motivation for his body of work. Reyes, who has no formal art training, moved to San Francisco in 1998 and took Continue Reading

Around Town with muralist Amanda Lynn

Posted by Cindy on August 11, 2012

Aug 112012

Amanda Lynn around Town * Sunday Flamenco by Amanda Lynn – 2012 18th and Mission Amanda Lynn works by day restoring and painting motorcycles and metal sculptures. When she is not working, she paints figures on doorways and walls around San Francisco and throughout the country, usually accompanying graffiti mural productions. As well as concentrating on her fine art career of painting seductive female imagery on large scale canvases. She studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art with an Illustration major. You can see more of her work here on her website Continue Reading

Mission Cultures Mosaics

Posted by Cindy on August 10, 2012

Aug 102012

The Mission District Start on Hoff and 16th cross the Street and continue on Julian Woodward Gardens * * Gold Rush Low Riders Immigration Asian Influence Carnival These panels were done in 2001 by students participating in the St. John’s Educational Thresholds, Panel Project as part of the Urban Artworks program. They represent various parts of Mission District heritage and culture. In 2008, after 35 years, St John’s Education Threshold Center changed its name to Mission Graduates. Mission Graduates is a nonprofit organization that increases the number of K-12 students in San Francisco’s Mission District who are prepared for and Continue Reading

I Can Cheezburger’s Invisible Bike

Posted by Cindy on August 9, 2012

Aug 092012

Chinatown End of Quincy Street Josh Zubkoff’s Invisible Bike This was taken right after the piece was finished in 2008 This is the image the mural originated from. It is from Ben Hu’s blog I can Cheezburger Josh graduated in 2003 from UC Santa Barbara, with a B.A. in Studio Art. He is presently a system administrator with AdInfuse in San Francisco. His website shows the vast array of mediums he enjoys working in. Josh documented a goodly portion of what was going on from beginning to end on his blog. You have to scroll through quite a bit, but it Continue Reading

Wood Line by Andy Goldsworthy

Posted by Cindy on August 8, 2012

Aug 082012

Wood Line by Andy Goldsworthy Presidio * * This is the second piece by Andy Goldsworthy in the Presidio. The first is Spire. In 2010, Goldsworthy looked to a new part of the park for inspiration – a historic eucalyptus grove near the Presidio’s oldest footpath, Lovers’ Lane. Eucalyptus were planted here by the U.S. Army more than a century ago, with lines of cypress trees occasionally weaved in among the regimented rows. Outcompeted, the cypress declined, leaving a large gap in the grove. Goldsworthy fills this empty space with a quiet and graceful sculpture. Where Spire reaches for Continue Reading

Make Moves

Posted by Cindy on August 7, 2012

Aug 072012

Make Moves SOMA 170 South VanNess * * This is a 1:AM gallery mural The mastermind behind the Make Moves mural is 1:AM Art Director/Co-Owner, Roman Cesario. The 1AM mural is a collaboration between their in-house artists. They are Leon Loucheur , Robert Gonzales , Gavin Fuller , Roman Cesario , and Jessico Serrano. This mural represents the ability to overcome, hustle , grind, work together , and rebuild. Anyone can be or do anything , there are no limits. Roman and the team at 1AM have a vision to spread positive messages through vibrant murals that will motivate Continue Reading

Philo T. Farnsworth

Posted by Cindy on August 6, 2012

Aug 062012

1 Letterman Drive The Presidio Philo T. Farnswroth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the “image dissector”, the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system, and for being the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public. Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera, which he produced commercially in the firm of the Continue Reading

Eadweard Muybridge

Posted by Cindy on August 4, 2012

Aug 042012

1 Letterman Drive The Presidio * Eadweard James Muybridge was an English photographer who pioneered photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection. Muybridge was the inspiration for the umbrellas sculpture by Benjy Young. The horses galloping across the top of the pedestal are of extreme significance. His study of horses in motion, sponsored by Leland Stanford, was instrumental in ensuring him a spot in California history. This sculpture sits on the Letterman Digital Arts campus and is by Lawrence Noble.

Gigantes in the Mission

Posted by Cindy on August 3, 2012

Aug 032012

The Mission District San Carlos and 19th * All of us are equal Some of us grow up to be Giants… * This mural is by Precita Eyes. This is the description of the mural from their website: The “Gigantes” mural project can be read in three concepts; History, Community, and the Future. It features Hispanic players, two of whom are Hall of Famers. Historically, the Giants have been a significant landmark for San Francisco, the Bay Area, and the community of fans who surround them. For this reason the mural includes all four stadiums to represent the four stages Continue Reading

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