Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Land’s End – Lincoln Highway

Posted by Cindy on April 25, 2012

Apr 252012

Land’s End Legion of Honor The Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental auto trails in the United States of America. Conceived and promoted by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, the Lincoln Highway spanned coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. In 1915, the “Colorado Loop” was removed, and in 1928, a realignment relocated the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia. Thus, there are a total of 14 states, Continue Reading

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 24, 2012

Apr 242012

Fort Mason SEATS Exhibition * * Benches by The Bay by Leslie Bruning “Designed to look like varied sizes of the Shovelnose Guitarfish, a species of the shark family living in the San Francisco Bay, these benches are meant for a human family to sit upon.” According to Bruning’s website: Leslie Bruning was born in Syracuse, KS and raised in Nebraska. After studying at Graz Center in Austria, he graduated with BA-Art from Nebraska Wesleyan University. In 1970 he was awarded a MFA -Sculpture from Syracuse University. He is currently Chair of the Art Area of Bellevue University, Bellevue Nebraska.

Haight Ashbury – Murals

Posted by Cindy on April 23, 2012

Apr 232012

Haight Ashbury There are murals everywhere in the Haight, these are just a few of the better ones. Haight and Masonic by Lango Jimi Hendrix by an unknown artist. This mural is at 1524 Haight Street, the home of Jimi Hendrix when he lived in San Francisco. It is now Ashbury Tobacco Center. This doll is on the Bettie Page Clothing Store at 1529 Haight. (Bettie Page was one of America’s great pin-up girls). This mural was painted by Amanda Lynn. Amanda studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art with Continue Reading

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 22, 2012

Apr 222012

Fort Mason SEATS Exhibition * Kissing Bench by Kent Roberts Kent Roberts has several pieces around San Francisco, including a boat in the Marina. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico and a BFA and MFA from San Francisco Art Institute and he works at SFMOMA.

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 21, 2012

Apr 212012

Fort Mason * SEATS Exhibition Bow Seat by Oliver Dicicco “An homage to all the small boats that have plied the San Francisco Bay.” According to Oliver DiCicco’s website: Oliver displays the versatility of a renaissance artist. He is a multi-talented designer who is at the same time sculptor, fabricator, scientist, engineer, and musician. The mix of playful curiosity, technical capability and aesthetic sensibility required to accomplish his broad range of work is astonishing. After perusing Oliver’s website, I couldn’t agree more, his range of work truly is astonishing.

Land’s End – El Cid

Posted by Cindy on April 20, 2012

Apr 202012

Land’s End Palace of the Legion of Honor * El Cid by Anna Huntington This piece is part of the Collection of the Fine Arts Museum. It sits on the lawn in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043 – July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador (“The lord-master of military arts”), was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat. Exiled from the court of the Spanish Emperor Alfonso VI of León and Castile, El Cid went on to command a Moorish force consisting of Muladis, Berbers, Arabs and Malians, under Yusuf Continue Reading

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 19, 2012

Apr 192012

Fort Mason SEATS Exhibition * Safe Harbor by Jefferson Mack “Public seating for humans and bicycles, an essential for re-creation, personal development, and civilization. Reflect on values overlooked in your modern life.” According to Jefferson Mack’s website he has been involved with the metal arts since 1990. Aside from architectural products, Jefferson Mack Metal features increasingly complete lines of furniture, lighting, fire and hearth accessories, as well as works for public commission.

Lower Haight – Love in the Lower Haight

Posted by Cindy on April 18, 2012

Apr 182012

Lower Haight Ursula Young This is on the corner of Laguna and Haight Streets. It is part of the Love in the Lower Haight Project. I have showcased a few artists in this area before. Started in October 0f 2010 the project is on the walls of a UC campus slated for demolition, as long as the walls are standing the artists project will continue. This piece by Ursula Young is so very, very girls of San Francisco for me, it just made me smile. According to her blog: Over the past fourteen years illustrator, painter and designer Ursula Xanthe Continue Reading

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 17, 2012

Apr 172012

Fort Mason * SEAT Exhibition “The Bracket Collection” by Pallet Studio provides dignified seating for anybody in mundane and over looked spaces. The Pallet Studio artists are Michael Wlosek, Lukas Nickerson and Andrew Perkins. According to Michael Wlosek’s Facebook Page he studied architecture at California College of the Arts and is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. According to Lukas Nickerson’s website: “I am interested in existing within the confluence of old century craft and modern technology, starting in the present and exploring the past; investigating what isolation from the modern world can bring back to the 21st century city.” He is a Continue Reading

The Haight – Evolutionary Rainbow

Posted by Cindy on April 16, 2012

Apr 162012

The Haight Haight and Cole * * * * * Called Evolutionary Rainbow, this mural was originally done by Joanna (Yana) Zegri in 1967 when she was a manager for the business in the building. She has returned to restore the mural in ’81, ’83, and ’06. This landmark Mural depicts a stage of evolution in each color, visible when you study the mural up close. Excerpt from San Francisco Bay Area Murals by Timothy W. Drescher: The earliest community mural in San Francisco was begun by Joana Zegri in 1967. It was never formally titled, but was called Evolution Continue Reading

Lincoln Park – Pax Jerusalem

Posted by Cindy on April 15, 2012

Apr 152012

Lincoln Park Legion of Honor * * Pax Jerusalem by Mark di Suvero This piece sits on the sculpture pad in front of the Legion of Honor, one of our finer museums in San Francisco. It is by Mark di Suvero, who has been in this blog before. It was controversial the day it was installed. Many felt is was not representative of the quality people had come to expect from di Suvero, it also was a runner up, when the city lost out on a sculpture by di Suvero’s boyhood friend Richard Serra. Di Suvero and Richard Serra grew Continue Reading

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 14, 2012

Apr 142012

Fort Mason SEATS Exhibition * * This piece is high up on a retaining wall. The chair is by Brian Goggins and is very similar to his Defenestration Piece running South of Market. The description that accompanies the piece is “Fortitude” A submarine chair transforms our perception of space and objects. This “submarine chair” is a chair found on WWII submarines known to be “fashionably indestructible”. People in submarines eventually need to sit down, and in 1944 aluminum company ALCOA collaborated with the U.S. Navy on the purpose-built 1006 Chair, also known as the Navy Chair or Submarine Chair. Continue Reading

Western Addition – World Walls for Peace

Posted by Cindy on April 13, 2012

Apr 132012

Western Addition - World Walls for Peace

Western Addition Page and Buchanan Street * In 1999, with consultation and training from the organization, World Walls for Peace, residents of the Western Addition became participants in a Peace Empowerment Process. Volunteers taught a program in two elementary schools and over fifty community based organizations, focusing on tolerance, understanding, and non-violence. Participants learned ways to develop positive solutions to resolving conflicts and defusing anger. The project was developed and implemented by residents for residents—a true community endeavor. As part of their participation, people of all ages painted over 1,800 tiles on the theme of peace, to be installed on Continue Reading

Fort Mason – SEATS

Posted by Cindy on April 12, 2012

Apr 122012

Fort Mason SEATS Exhibition Solstice by Brian Martin * This is part of the SEAT installation at Fort Mason. The seat exhibit showcases work that reflects on the history of fort mason center and responds to the natural elements of the site. Each piece is meant to be gently sat on and then you can use your mobile phone to dial up a phone number that will tell you about the piece. According to the artist: This piece represents the dates and times that so many people have entered and exited into our city. Set in a specific position to Continue Reading

The Haight – Listen to this wall.

Posted by Cindy on April 11, 2012

Apr 112012

Haight and Schrader On the wall of 540 Schrader According to the Listen to This Wall website – “Listen to This Wall is an initiative to bring a creative antidote to the ever increasing visual noise that crowds our urban landscape. Working with artists and designers to produce original works that offer new ways of seeing and being inspired in our city spaces. The first of our walls is located in the historic district of Haight Ashbury in San Francisco and will feature a rotating selection of creative work. Thank you to the building owner for donating this wall to Continue Reading

The Haight – Buggin Out

Posted by Cindy on April 10, 2012

Apr 102012

RAI Care Center Haight and Shrader * * * Buggin’ Out by Fresh Paint, was inspired by the relationship between the evolution of insect species and the evolution of aerosol lettering. Both may have once originated at a single source, yet through time altered their forms when migrating and adapting to different regions and their various conditions. The mural was painted to represent a bug display case, replacing a few tiny critters with aerosol signatures from artists who’s styles are interconnected through influence. Fresh Paint has a mural on the adjacent building as well as in Chinatown.

The Haight in Murals

Posted by Cindy on April 9, 2012

Apr 092012

RAI Care Center Haight and Schrader * * * This mural in the Haight Asbury district was dedicated to the rich history of the Haight Ashbury. It focuses on the elements born from the Summer of Love, and the movement sparked in 1967 towards a more peaceful society. It is located on the corner of Haight and Shrader, just half a block from the epicenter of the Summer of Love and where shows were played in the park. The wall was rendered as 4 large psychedelic posters, the 3 to the right pay homage to the 3 big elements of Continue Reading

Lower Haight – Murals

Posted by Cindy on April 8, 2012

Apr 082012

The Lower Haight 650 Haight Street * * * * Painted by Sam Flores, these were commissioned by the eight owners of the building. They replaced murals done by small children in the same places, and while we all know it is important to encourage children in their art, I saw the originals and these are such a massive improvement to the area. A New Mexico native, Sam Flores’ mythology is populated with costumed urchins and lithe beauties swathed in flowers; he is a painter of masked child-heroes with oversized hands. Flores’ subjects convey a melancholy power, resisting the gaze Continue Reading

Hayes Valley – Picasso’s Family

Posted by Cindy on April 7, 2012

Apr 072012

Hayes Valley/Western Addition Haight and Buchanan * * This is titled Picasso’s Family and City Life. It is by Laura Campos, who is known for her work depicting aliens around San Francisco. I thought this to be especially poignant.

Hayes Valley – Ghinlon/Transcope

Posted by Cindy on April 6, 2012

Apr 062012

Hayes Valley/Western Addition Octavia Boulevard between Market and Hayes * * * Ghinlon/Transcope by Po Shu Wang 2005 Commissioned by the SF Arts Commission for the Octavia Boulevard Streetscape Project, these transcopes invite you to observe the comings and goings along Octavia Boulevard and Patricia’s Green. There are twelve of these installed along the medians and the Green. The view through them can be twisted, converted or even upside down. While this was probably a wonderful concept, it fails in execution. To look into them is awkward. While one design is set at a height that works for the handicapped Continue Reading

Union Square – Manifest Destiny

Posted by Cindy on April 5, 2012

Apr 052012

Downtown/Union Square 453 Bush Street * * Manifest Destiny by Jenny Chapman and Mark Reigelman Southern Exposure (SoEx) is a nonprofit visual arts organization that supports emerging artists. This project, the first of its kind for SoEx is a result of the support of The Graue Family Foundation. In 2009, the foundation offered Southern Exposure a major gift to support the public art initiative, SoEx Off-Site, and the creation of The Graue Award. Jenny Chapman, a San Francisco-based architect, and Mark Reigelman, a New York-based artist, created this piece. It is “a simultaneous tribute to and critique of the romantic Continue Reading

Embarcadero Center – La Chiffonniere

Posted by Cindy on April 4, 2012

Apr 042012

Embarcadero Center * Jean Dubuffet – La Chiffonniere With “La Chiffonniere,” French artist Jean Dubuffet conveyed a woman dressed in rags by utilizing petal-like layers of curved stainless steel edged in epoxy Dubuffet (1901-1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called “low art” and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making. He pioneered Art Brut, featuring amateur art made primarily by children and people in mental institutions, which he considered the purest form of expression. While not the Continue Reading

Lands End – Labyrinth

Posted by Cindy on April 3, 2012

Apr 032012

Land’s End * * This labyrinth is at Land’s End in San Francisco, on the Coastal Trail. Created by Eduardo Aguilera in 2004, it is a hike to get to but well worth the trek. The easiest hike is to park at the Palace of the Legion of Honor and walk towards the ocean. You can also park at the 48th and Point Lobos parking lot above the Cliff House and walk towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Once you start walking you are heading towards Mile Rock Beach. There is a small sign at the top of the hill that Continue Reading

Hayes Valley – Great Adventure

Posted by Cindy on April 2, 2012

Apr 022012

Hayes Valley/Western Addition Octavia and Page * This is Growing Home’s Community Garden, their mission is to provide a community garden where both homeless and housed San Franciscans work side-by-side to grow nutritious food, access green space, and build community. The mural on the back wall is by Ben Eine, he has several murals around San Francisco. In an interview with Proxy SF, Eine said this about the piece, “My problem with this wall was the width between the windows. The first letter I sketched up on this was the ‘E’ and then that gave me the size of each Continue Reading

Nob Hill – Pacific Union Club

Posted by Cindy on April 1, 2012

Apr 012012

Nob Hill Pacific Union Club Flood Mansion * This house, built in 1886 forJames Clair Flood, was the first Brownstone west of the Mississippi. It was the only great Nob Hill house to survive the 1906 Fire, saved just barely, thanks to its Connecticut brownstone walls. The Pacific Union Club purchased it’s shell and William Bourn, who was on the building committee, secured the reconstruction commission for Willis Polk. * * * * This bronze fence surrounding the property is the city’s finest; Flood allegedly employed one man just to polish it. With those days gone, it has been allowed to Continue Reading

Nob Hill – Dancing Sprites

Posted by Cindy on March 31, 2012

Mar 312012

Nob Hill Huntington Park * * * * Dancing Sprites by Henri Leon Greber – Bronze – Circa 1900 This statue sits on the California Street side of Huntington Park on the top of Nob Hill. It was donated to the city by Mrs. James Flood in 1942. It is owned by the San Francisco Arts Commission. Henri Léon Greber (1855-1941) was a French sculptor, and this work of his is a group of three nude children holding hands in a circle. A ribbon of cloth drapes around the children. They are dancing with legs uplifted. The bronze sculpture stands Continue Reading

Nob Hill – Fountain of the Turtles

Posted by Cindy on March 30, 2012

Mar 302012

Nob Hill Huntington Park * * * * * * Huntington Park has a rich history steeped in the building of the Trans-continental railroad. The railroad men of California constituted some of the richest men in San Francisco. They were known as the Big four and their names were, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. Their names will sound familiar even if all you know is the names of the hotels atop Nob Hill. This fountain is a copy of Rome’s Fontana della Tartarughe (fountain of the turtles) designed by Giacomo Della Porta and Taddeo Landini in Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Safe Passage

Posted by Cindy on March 29, 2012

Mar 292012

The Tenderloin * * On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Chinatown Community Development Center teamed with community partners to paint a sidewalk mural, part of the “Safe Passage” project, in the Tenderloin neighborhood. “Safe Passage,” a two-part project that began in 2008, encourages community participation and effort to help improve street safety for children, and maintain a harmonious environment for all Tenderloin residents. The 11-block street mural of a bright yellow brick road provides children with visual guides around the neighborhood so they can walk safely to their schools, afterschool programs and homes without getting lost. The mural covers the Continue Reading

Broadway Tunnel Art

Posted by Cindy on March 28, 2012

Mar 282012

Chinatown Broadway Tunnel This is the Chinatown side of the Broadway Tunnel. It is dedicated to Robert C. Levy and has a plaque that reads: Robert C. Levy 1921-1985 City and Engineer and superintendent of Building Inspection City and County of San Francisco He devoted his life to high standards of professionalism in engineering and to this city which he loved January 1986 Dragon Relief by Patti Bowler – Bronze – 1969 The windows you see are the offices of San Francisco District Health Center #4 of Chinatown. Patti Bowler lived most of her life with her husband Carson in Continue Reading

SOMA – Federal Building

Posted by Cindy on March 27, 2012

Mar 272012

SOMA Federal Building 90 7th Street * This post is about the art that is part of the new Federal Building in San Francisco, however, it is difficult to discuss art without introducing you to the building itself. I abhor the building, and it is not because I have anything agains modern architecture, I just think this is classic cliche architecture, out of fashion the day it was built. However, here is Wikipedia’s discussion so we keep my opinion to a minimum. The San Francisco Federal Building is a building designed by the architectural firm Morphosis. Thom Mayne of Morphosis Continue Reading

Older Entries Newer Entries