The Tenderloin – Trolleys

 Posted by on February 1, 2012
Feb 012012
 
The Tenderloin - Trolleys

The Tenderloin Bush and Polk 1399 Bush Street  Trolleys by Bruce Hasson This artwork includes 56 cast aluminum balustrades and a balcony. Four designs based on the human form and images from transportation, interspersed on the top three floors of the garage.  These pieces are part of the San Francisco Arts Commission Collection. Bruce Hasson lives and works in San Francisco.  He draws inspiration from his studies around the world, and is especially influenced by the Etruscan art in Tuscany and Southern Italy, the Egyptian and Assyrian art collections of the British Museum, the Inca art of Peru and the Mayan Continue Reading

SOMA – Labyrinth-Habitat

 Posted by on January 30, 2012
Jan 302012
 
SOMA - Labyrinth-Habitat

SOMA 8th and Natoma Streets  Labyrinth – Habitat 1999 Johanna Poethig with Episcopal Community Services Ceramic and paint Commissioned by the San Francisco Art Commission – Arts in Community Program. Johanna Poethig has been in this site many, many times.   This mural is on the side of one of the Training Centers for Episcopal Community Services – The Cannon Kip Community House. According to Johanna’s website this is what the mural is about: In every culture and on every continent the labyrinth is one of the oldest and most universal symbols. Some of these existing labyrinths, such as the ones Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Louder, Harder,

 Posted by on January 29, 2012
Jan 292012
 
The Tenderloin - Louder, Harder,

The Tenderloin 259 Myrtle Street  Louder Harder by Ben Eine Ben Flynn, a.k.a. EINE, shot to international fame when David Cameron presented one of his works to President Obama as a gift on his first official state visit, but is arguably more famous for ‘Alphabet Street’ – the shutters and murals he painted in his trademark colours and typography in Middlesex Street, London– described by The Times as “a street now internationally recognized as a living piece of art with direct links to The White House.” Ben Eine has been in this site before, a recent interesting interview with him that you Continue Reading

TheTenderloin – Fern Alley

 Posted by on January 28, 2012
Jan 282012
 
TheTenderloin - Fern Alley

100 Block of Fern Street The Tenderloin * * * * Dray has been in this site before, and is a really terrific guy.  In researching this piece I found a lovely article about him from his days in Las Vegas. Dray did this mural pro bono in hopes that the alley would attract more muralists.  Fern Alley is a part of a recently launched quarterly art walk called LoPo (Lower Polk) Art Walk. The alley is blocked off and artists display their art right there in the alley. All of the local galleries participate as well as some merchants. If Continue Reading

Civic Center – Pioneer Monument

 Posted by on January 27, 2012
Jan 272012
 
Civic Center - Pioneer Monument

Civic Center San Francisco’s Pioneer Monument, created by F.H. Happersberger was dedicated to The City by James Lick in 1894. Previously located at Marshall Square, near the intersection of Hyde and Grove, it marked the site of the Old City Hall, destroyed by fire in the earthquake of 1906. During the renovation of the new San Francisco Library there were plans to relocate it, preservationists opposed this relocation, wishing to retain the marker as the last tie to the vanished city hall. It now sits between the new Asian Art Museum and the new San Francisco Library. Native Americans opposed Continue Reading

Civic Center – Simon Bolivar

 Posted by on January 26, 2012
Jan 262012
 
Civic Center - Simon Bolivar

Civic Center  Simon Bolivar a 1984 “Gift from Venezuela to the People of San Francisco.” Simón Bolívar, was a Venezuelan military and political leader. Together with José de San Martín, he played a key role in Hispanic-Spanish America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire, and is today considered one of the most influential politicians in Latin American history.  “With the passing of time your glory shall by exalted like the boundless shade of the setting sun” Choquehuanca Simon Bolivar, the liberator, was born in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24, 1783 and died in Santa Marta Columbia, on December Continue Reading

Civic Center – Double L Excentric Gyratory

 Posted by on January 25, 2012
Jan 252012
 
Civic Center - Double L Excentric Gyratory

Civic Center San Francisco Public Library  Double L Excentric Gyratory by George Rickey – 1982 The plaque reads – A gift from an immigrant Carl Djerassi to his adopted City.  Dedicated by San Francisco Arts Commission May 1997. George Rickey was an American kinetic sculptor born on June 6, 1907 in South Bend, Indiana.  When Rickey was a child, his father, an executive with Singer Sewing Machine Company, moved the family to Helensburgh, Scotland. Rickey was educated at Glenalmond College and received a degree in History from Balliol College, Oxford. He spent a short time traveling Europe and studied art in Paris. Continue Reading

Civic Center – Ashurbanipal

 Posted by on January 24, 2012
Jan 242012
 
Civic Center - Ashurbanipal

San Francisco City Hall Ashurbanipal by sculptor Fred Parhad sits on the sidewalk of the Asian Art Museum, facing the San Francisco Library. The sculpture shows Asurbanipal wearing a short tunic and holds a lion cub in his right arm. The figure stands on a concrete base, with bronze plaque and rosettes. The statue shows the king grasping a lion cub and holding a clay tablet which bears this dedication in cuneiform: Peace unto heaven and earth Peace unto countries and cities Peace unto the dwellers in all lands Ashurbanipal was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Flores del Tehuan-derloin

 Posted by on January 23, 2012
Jan 232012
 
The Tenderloin - Flores del Tehuan-derloin

The Tenderloin Larkin and Cedar This is “Flores del Tehuan-derloin” by Jet Martínez. The mural was commissioned by the SF Arts Commission project StreetSmARTS.   It is done in the style of embroidery created by the Tehuanan women of Oaxaca, Mexico. This is what Jet said on his Facebook page about the work: A mural based on Oaxacan embroidery designs. These patterns were assimilated by the Oaxacans from Chinese silk embroidery popular with the Spanish rulers of the time. Currently, some of the most beautiful textiles of the type are being made by the “muxeres” ( Transvestite men) in Juchitan. Continue Reading

SOMA – Landmark

 Posted by on January 22, 2012
Jan 222012
 
SOMA - Landmark

SOMA One Hawthorne “Landmark” consists of a large grid of colorful panels 145 ft. high and 12 ft. wide. The panels are coated with porcelain enamel using a photographic imaging process, which accurately reproduced and enlarged a detailed series of 30” x 23” color drawings created by  Robert Hudson. One Hawthorne tapped Valerie Wade, gallery director at Crown Point Press, its across-the-street neighbor, to assist in concept development for the public art. The entire process took about one year, with KVO Industries, based in Santa Rosa, California, fabricating each porcelain enamel panel and overseeing the installation. As lovely as it Continue Reading

Financial District – The General Harrison

 Posted by on January 21, 2012
Jan 212012
 
Financial District - The General Harrison

Financial District 425 Battery Street The General Harrison by Curtis Hollenback and Topher Delany The financial district of San Francisco was built on mudflats. At one time, the muddy shoreline came up to Montgomery Street. The mudflats were riddled with hulls of abandoned ships left by their crews when they headed for the gold in the California hills. These ships were often used as hotels, jails, stores, and warehouses. In 2001, one of these ships, the General Harrison, was uncovered at the corner of Clay and Battery Streets; today the Elephant & Castle Pub sits atop the remains of the hull. Continue Reading

Foundry Square – Not Out of The Woods Yet

 Posted by on January 20, 2012
Jan 202012
 
Foundry Square - Not Out of The Woods Yet

Howard at First Street Foundry Square SOMA  Not Out of the Woods Yet by Richard Deacon 2003 In 2003 Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Deacon’s “Not Out Of The Woods Yet” (2003) nests muscularly in a tight spot behind columns at the entrance to 500 Howard St., on the intersection’s northwest corner. The Bay Area has so far seen Deacon’s work in depth only once, in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s 1987 show “A Quiet Revolution: British Sculpture Since 1965.” Much of his sculpture turns on matters such as when an enclosure must count as Continue Reading

SOMA – Foundry Square

 Posted by on January 19, 2012
Jan 192012
 
SOMA - Foundry Square

Howard at First Street Foundry Square SOMA Untitled by Joel Shapiro 1996-1999 In 2003 Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Shapiro’s renown rests on his having turned the vocabulary of minimal sculpture back toward figuration about 30 years ago. He took square wood beams, favorite forms of his older contemporary Carl Andre, and made structures of them that could be read as stick figures. Shapiro then abbreviated and exaggerated his work’s figural qualities so that they come and go depending on the viewer’s position and on his determination to see them. Built-in aspects of “bad fit”–apparent right angles Continue Reading

SOMA – Time Signature

 Posted by on January 18, 2012
Jan 182012
 
SOMA - Time Signature

Howard at First Street Foundry Square SOMA  Time Signature Richard Deutsch *Richard Deutsch has several sculptures around San Francisco.  This piece has it’s own video on Richard’s website, and I highly recommend that you go and view it.  The film is a work of art unto itself, and I could not do justice to the process that you are shown, but I will try to summarize the intent of the piece. He mentions that they wanted to use a light colored metal for the reflective properties and to interact with the glass.  The area that the sculpture is in is Continue Reading

Restaurant Row – Maori Column

 Posted by on January 15, 2012
Jan 152012
 
Restaurant Row - Maori Column

50 Third Street Ducca Restaurant Courtyard Westin Hotel Museum Row This piece is titled Maori Column and is by Alan Shepp.  It was done in 1985. Shepp, along with his artist wife, lives in Napa California.  He has a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and an MFA from the University of Washington. He is a multimedia artist who creates large scale sculpture and public art. There is not a lot of information out there, either about this artist or this piece, but his website has some really gorgeous work on it.

Isamu Noguchi on Museum Row

 Posted by on January 14, 2012
Jan 142012
 
Isamu Noguchi on Museum Row

50 Third Street Ducca Restaurant Walkway Museum Row  Fat Dancer  Rain Mountain Figure Emerging These three figures are by Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi ranks up there as one of my all time favorite sculptors, but I must admit, this is not my favorite medium for him. (November 17, 1904 – December 30, 1988) Isamu Noguchi was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces, some of which Continue Reading

Museum Row – Stream of Vessels

 Posted by on January 13, 2012
Jan 132012
 
Museum Row - Stream of Vessels

50 Third Street Ducca Restaurant Walkway Museum Row   These are in the walkway between Ducca Restaurant and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.  They are titled Stream of Vessels, done in 1997 by David Nash of charred oak. David Nash  is a British sculptor based in Blaenau Ffestiniog.  He is known for works in wood and shaping living trees. His large wood sculptures are sometimes carved or partially burned to produce blackening. His main tools for these sculptures are a chainsaw and axe to carve the wood and a blowtorch to char the wood. He attended Brighton College from 1959 to 1963, then Continue Reading

Museum Row – Les Funambules

 Posted by on January 12, 2012
Jan 122012
 
Museum Row - Les Funambules

50 Third Street Ducca Restaurant walkway Museum Row Attached to the Westin Hotel is Ducca Restaurant.  They have an open walkway between 3rd street and the Jewish Museum.  In that walkway is seating and dining.  Throughout that area is art. This piece is “Les Funambules” by Charles Ginnever, done in Bronze in 1991. Ginnever is an American sculptor. He was born in San Mateo, California, in 1931. In 1957, he received his BA from the San Francisco Art Institute and received his MFA from Cornell University in 1959. He started working with canvas and steel scraps painted with bright patterns. The Continue Reading

S.F. Bicycle Coalition Mural

 Posted by on January 11, 2012
Jan 112012
 
S.F. Bicycle Coalition Mural

Castro/Duboce Avenue/Nob Hill Back of 2020 Market Street   In 1972 BART built the Market Street subway, including Muni Metro. Along the Duboce Avenue tunnel entrance was a single eastbound lane for cars. During the 1994 closure of the street, for construction, The Bicycle Coalition worked to show that this street, which when used by both cyclists and cars was highly dangerous, was better served as a bikeway.  They were successful. In 1995 Peter Tannen of the SF Bicycle Coalition obtained grant funds and Joel Pomerantz, then, co-founder of the bicycle coalition but now, leader of ThinkWalks, was recruited to Continue Reading

Yerba Buena Gardens – Urge

 Posted by on January 10, 2012
Jan 102012
 
Yerba Buena Gardens - Urge

Yerba Buena Gardens Childrens Museum side of Howard Street  Urge by Chico Macmurtrie This has always been one of my favorite sculptures in San Francisco.  There is something so lifelike and yet so robotic about the figure.  The sculptor works in a team that he formed in 1992, called Amorphic Robot Works.  They are a group of artists, engineers and technicians.  Some of their work is based on the concept of moving robotic figures, and yet other pieces are haunting and so diverse to belay any attempt to categorize it. This piece also gives credit to others – Engineer: Dave Continue Reading

Yerba Buena Gardens – Deep Gradient/Suspect Terrain

 Posted by on January 9, 2012
Jan 092012
 
Yerba Buena Gardens - Deep Gradient/Suspect Terrain

Yerba Buena Center San Francisco  Deep Gradient/Suspect Terrain (Seasons of the Sea ‘Adrift) John Roloff with NGA Industries and Wes-Co Industries 1993 * The accompanying plaque says: This glass ship is an art work that refers to the natural and geological history of California.  Sediment gathered from the ocean floor four miles off the coast of San Francisco was placed inside in 1993.  This sediment contains diverse mineral and organic matter extracted from the landscape by the rivers that flow to the sea through the Golden Gate.  The greenhouse environment of the ship interacts subtly with these materials producing ongoing Continue Reading

Mission District – Community Thrift Store Mural

 Posted by on January 8, 2012
Jan 082012
 
Mission District - Community Thrift Store Mural

Mission District Sycamore Street at 623 Valencia           This mural goes along the top of the Community Thrift Store.  The mural is actually on Sycamore Street. Done by a  school group they developed a mural design that emphasized the social as opposed to the currency value of objects, settling on a clothesline motif to represent the borderland between public and private.  Someone from the group blogged about the entire concept and this is what they said “The group voted to limit the parameters of design and color scheme to ensure a consistency in the final product. Continue Reading

Michael Kershnar Around Town

 Posted by on January 7, 2012
Jan 072012
 
Michael Kershnar Around Town

San Francisco Around Town * Market and 6th Street Hemlock Alley Caledonia Street, The Mission These are all by Mike Kershnar The Citrus Report did a great interview with Mike, a fun excerpt: The greatest way graffiti has changed my life is the ever-present knowledge that whatever the visual landscape is, it has the potential to be artfully altered. Like if the intersection of Haight and Ashbury is important to me because of what it represented culturally, then I can make sure there is always a visual reminder of me around. According to StudioVisit: Michael Kershnar is a 32-year old artist from Continue Reading

SOMA – 1AM

 Posted by on January 6, 2012
Jan 062012
 
SOMA - 1AM

1 AM Gallery SOMA Howard and Sixth Street 1 AM Gallery always has murals done on their wall to celebrate their newest art installation inside.  The installation this month is “When We Were Kids”.  The background to this is lettering, but I thought the cartoon characters were worth a shout out. * Here is the overall mural taken from across the street. 1 AM Gallery has been in this website many times before. Check out their work around town.  Please also note – that 1:AM uses this wall as a teaching experience so the murals change all the time.

The Tenderloin – Zombie Michael

 Posted by on January 5, 2012
Jan 052012
 
The Tenderloin - Zombie Michael

The Tenderloin Hemlock Street at Polk Zombie Michael The artist on this is Ezra Li Eismont. It was in support of his solo exhibition at Space Gallery, “Now I Lay me down to Sleep” This is the gallery description of the exhibition.  Now! I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep Guide me through the starry night And wake me with the morning light Thank you for another Day, A chance to learn, a chance to play. Paintings exploring the darker side of media manipulation of the minds Continue Reading

Fish Mural on Langton

 Posted by on January 2, 2012
Jan 022012
 
Fish Mural on Langton

SOMA Langton Street Between Folsom and Howard This lovely mural was done to hopefully stop the graffiti that had been occurring on the door.  The artist is Deborah Yoon and according website she is a self taught multimedia artist who considers both San Francisco and New York home. She works primarily with pen, sumi-e, paint, and has experimented with steel. Deborah received a bachelors of Fine Art and Art History at New York University. As you can see by the comments the owner of the house saw this post.  I asked him for some further information and here is what he Continue Reading

Japantown – Fan

 Posted by on December 30, 2011
Dec 302011
 
Japantown - Fan

Japantown Webster Street, San Francisco There is a plaque near this fan – or Sensu – and this is what it reads: The Japantown Sensu (fan) is a modern interpretation of traditional Japanese forms blended with the unique Japanese American culture that has existed, persisted and grown in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi since 1906. Invented in Japan 1300 years ago, the sensu is a palette for artists, an instrument of dance and drama, a graceful and practical part of everyday life. It is an important link to our Japanese culture and continues to be used in the Japanese American community. Elements Continue Reading

Japantown – Landmarks Project

 Posted by on December 29, 2011
Dec 292011
 
Japantown - Landmarks Project

Japantown Post Street San Francisco This sculpture is part of the California Japantown Landmarks Project. It is made of bronze and stone, stands 9 feet high, and weighs 1000 pounds.  The sculpture is by Louis Quaintance and Eugene Daub.  It was installed in San Francisco’s Japantown in 2005. A 20th-century sculptor, Eugene Daub has been an instructor at the Scottsdale Artists’ School and designer of the first Philadelphia Liberty Medal, which the city of Philadelphia awards every year to a champion of world peace. He is also a former vice president of the American Medallic Sculpture Association and a Fellow of Continue Reading

Western Addition – Blue Wall

 Posted by on December 28, 2011
Dec 282011
 
Western Addition - Blue Wall

Western Addition San Francisco Geary and Fillmore Streets This is Geary Street in San Francisco.  On the left is Japantown and on the right is the Western Addition. The Fillmore street overpass has stretches of blue glass on either side.  This installation is titled 3 Shades of Blue by Mildred Howard. The piece is a “Tribute to the music the continues to define the Fillmore”  It is 20 blue glass panes inscribed with a poem by poet laureate Quincy Troupe – Shades of Blue for a Blue Bridge for Mildred Howard, Joe Rudolph and Yori Wada. three shades of blue Continue Reading

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