Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy

Posted by Cindy on October 16, 2011

Oct 162011

Castro District Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy The “Books & Reading” Mural is located at the school’s facade. This mural is a part 1 of a triptych. Created by students with Artist in Residence Ellen Blakeley in 2000, each child drew a 4″ picture of their favorite book or a picture of themselves reading. Materials included paper, glass, metal, and paint. This section is approximately 18′ x 6′. The “Math & Numbers” Mural is part 2 of the triptych. Each child worked out a math problem on paper. The “Civil Rights, Human Rights” Mural is part 3 of the Continue Reading

Castro – A Celebration of Love

Posted by Cindy on October 15, 2011

Oct 152011

Castro District Noe and 19th Street This is a Precita Eyes Mural. It was done in 2008 and is titled “A Celebration of Love”

Eureka Valley Rec Center

Posted by Cindy on October 14, 2011

Oct 142011

Castro District/Eureka Valley Eureka Valley Rec Center 157 Collingwood Street Time After Time by Betsie Miller-Kusz 2005 Betsie was Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico and resides in Jemez, New Mexico. This is from her website “I paint and only paint. My installations are extensions of this act, which gives meaning to my existence. These paintings speak about the field of consciousness as it transforms itself, with a great guardian figure as the mediator. Through rivers, into seas, through trees and mesas, the sentience of life flows into the light. This is the territory which I have then painted Continue Reading

Mona Caron Brings You a Garden

Posted by Cindy on October 13, 2011

Oct 132011

Noe Valley/Castro Corner of Church and 22nd Streets Botanical Mural by Mona Caron This mural is immense. It is impossible to capture it in one photo and have any idea of what is being portrayed, so I have chosen to shoot it and show it to you in sections. Mona Caron has shown up several times in this website. This mural features greatly magnified botanical illustrations of locally occurring, small wild plants, both native species and non-native, invasive weeds. This is a real eye catcher, the massive scale of the plants and insects is just spectacular. The mural was painted in Continue Reading

Noe Valley — Market Street Railway Mural

Posted by Cindy on October 12, 2011

Oct 122011

Noe Valley -- Market Street Railway Mural

Noe Valley Eureka Valley Market Street Railway by Mona Caron 300 Church Street near 15th 38′ X 12′ This is Mona Caron’s own description of this wonderful mural. The Market Street Railway mural shows a 180-degree bird’s-eye view of San Francisco’s Market Street through time. The connecting theme of the mural is the historic Market Street Railway: streetcars from the 1920’s are shown traveling the whole length of the mural, passing through different eras and historic events, from their heyday in the 1920’s, through many changes in the traffic composition of Market Street over the years, into the present, and Continue Reading

Lango in the Mission and SOMA

Posted by Cindy on October 11, 2011

Oct 112011

SOMA – San Francisco Mary at Howard Streets This piece was done by Lango, a tattoo artist here in San Francisco. I have tried to contact him to ask him about this mural, but according to a friend of his I met the other day he is extremely shy. I respect that, and figure his work speaks for him, it is really spectacular. T This is on the Howard side of the building. This is also by Lango. It was commissioned by an auto repair shop. I had fun chatting with the guys who own the shop. They were rather Continue Reading

Portland, Oregon Mills End’s Park

Posted by Cindy on October 10, 2011

Oct 102011

Mill End’s Park Portland, Oregon Mill Ends Park is a small park located in the median strip of SW Naito Parkway near SW Taylor Street in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was created on St. Patrick’s Day, 1948, to be “the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland,” according to its creator, Dick Fagan. It is the smallest park in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, which first granted it this recognition in 1971. In 1948, the site that would become Mill Ends Park was intended to be the site for a light pole. When the pole failed to Continue Reading

Portland, Oregon – Cathedral Park

Posted by Cindy on October 9, 2011

Oct 092011

Cathedral Park Portland, Oregon This is Cathedral Park in Portland, Oregon. It is believed to be one of the 14 Lewis and Clark landing sites in the Vancouver-Portland area. It’s cathedral-like appearance comes from the fact that it sits under this gorgeous bridge. The St. Johns Bridge is a steel suspension bridge that spans the Willamette River. It is the only suspension bridge in the Valley. The bridge has two 408 foot tall Gothic towers, a 1,207 foot center span and a total length of 2,067 feet. It is also the tallest bridge in Portland. It was dedicated on Continue Reading

Bernal Heights, San Francisco October 8, 2011

Posted by Cindy on October 8, 2011

Oct 082011

Bernal Heights, San Francisco October 8, 2011

Bernal Height Mission District Noe Valley Transit Systems Due to a strong art commission in San Francisco we are fortunate to see art most everywhere. The fun thing is finding it when you least expect it. Our transit system has lots of art, but sometimes you just pass it by. This is at the corner of Mission and 22nd, and as you can see, it is a bus stop. This is titled Layla and Swingdaddy by Joe Mangrun. Joe was born in Florissant Missouri. At the age of 16 he was awarded a trip to India sponsored by the Asia Continue Reading

Bernal Heights – Odonatoa

Posted by Cindy on October 7, 2011

Oct 072011

Holy Park Playground Holy Park Circle Bernal Heights Odonatoa by Joyce Hsu Bernal Heights is a wonderful area that has some of the cities best weather. This sculpture sits on top of a delightful park that has views of all around the city. Bernal had its origin with the 1839 Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo Mexican land grant It remained undeveloped, though, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Built atop bedrock, the hill’s structures survived the temblor, and the sparseness of the development saved much of Bernal from the ravages of the firestorm that followed. The commercial Continue Reading

Visitacion Valley Community Center

Posted by Cindy on October 6, 2011

Oct 062011

243 Leland Avenue Visitacion Valley Community Center Artist: Victor Mario Zaballa A prolific and fascinating artist Victor Zaballa is an Aztec originally trained in aeronautical engineering in Mexico City. He has lived and worked in San Francisco for a number of years where he is a popular and respected member of the artist community. He works in every medium including cut paper, painting, tile, steel, wood, and wire sculpture, puppet theater, and music composition, performance and musical instrument invention and construction. His performing group “Obsidian Songs,” has been heard in numerous venues throughout California. He has had a kidney transplant and Continue Reading

Fire Station #44

Posted by Cindy on October 5, 2011

Oct 052011

Fire Station #44 Formerly #47 1298 Girard Street This piece is titled “Diagonal Relief” by Elizabeth Saltos. According to Elizabeth she creates sculpture from a continually evolving series of geometric configurations using a visual alphabet of shape, color and surface in dialogue with its architectural environs. This piece is on Firehouse #44. It was originally Firehouse #47 and is the oldest firehouse in the City of San Francisco still in use. The portion with the sculpture is a new section built in 1973. The older side was completed and ready to be occupied in 1913. The two-story brick building, designed by John Reid Continue Reading

Islais Creek Park

Posted by Cindy on October 4, 2011

Oct 042011

Islais Creek Park Quint, Third and Berry The Ohlone Indians were harvesting mussels, clams, and shrimp on the shores of Islais Creek long before Europeans arrived in 1769. The creek appeared on Mexican maps in 1834, named for Los Islais (is-lay-is), a hollyleaf cherry and favorite Indian food. On today’s map it is the gateway to (the former) Butchertown, Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods.In the 1850s Islais Creek provided fresh water to Franciscan friars from Mission Dolores and irrigated the produce that Portuguese, Italian, and Irish vegetable farmers grew in the Bayview district. The Gold Rush marked the start of the creek’s Continue Reading

Bayview/Hunters Point Muni Stop

Posted by Cindy on October 3, 2011

Oct 032011

Bayview/Hunters Point 3rd Street Light Rail Kirkwood/Oakdale Station The Marquis Pole Horace Washington was the artist for the third station. His work represents the tradition of shipbuilding and the history of WWII in the neighborhood. At the start of World War II the Navy recognized the need for greatly increased naval shipbuilding and repair facilities in the San Francisco bay area, and in 1940 acquired property on the waterfront and named it Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The property became one of the major shipyards of the west coast. The first USS Pike (SS-6) was a Plunger-class submarine in the service Continue Reading

Bayview – Hunters Point Muni Stop

Posted by Cindy on October 2, 2011

Oct 022011

Bayview/Hunters Point 3rd Street Light Rail Project LaSalle/Palou Station The Marquis signpost The Canopy This station designed by Frederick Hayes deals with Afro-Centric issues. Hayes uses a kente cloth roof design and African language and cowrie shell symbols on the platform. Kente cloth, known locally as nwentoma, is a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Cowrie shells, throughout Africa and South and North America, symbolize the power of destiny and prosperity. Spiritually, according to African legend, if you are attracted to cowrie Continue Reading

Hunters Point – Muni Stop

Posted by Cindy on October 1, 2011

Oct 012011

Hunter’s Point 3rd Street Light Rail Project Revere/Shafter Station A Second team led by Horace Washington created stops in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood. These artists attended many community meetings for input and direction about what kinds of concepts were desired for inclusion by neighborhood members. Many ideas were proposed including futuristic, ethnic, ecological and Victorian. Joe Sam was the developer of this one about birds. The Canopy Mosaics on the platform. Joe Sam makes a home on both coasts of the U.S. One in San Francisco and one in Connecticut. Here is what he says about himself on his website: Continue Reading

San Francisco’s Muni Stops

Posted by Cindy on September 29, 2011

Sep 292011

Cable cars have been synonymous with San Francisco since the 1800’s. We correct people all the time in the vernacular of cable car versus trolly, but, we have trolly lines too. Our muni system is just that. Muni covers much of the city, and many people that visit our town ride the vintage trolly cars along the embarcadero. For twenty years the muni system sought to expand its line from 4th and King streets (one block from our baseball park) along 3rd street to Candlestick park. It finally accomplished this feat. Originally envisioned as a simple rail line with minimal Continue Reading

Nob Hill – Resting Hermes

Posted by Cindy on September 28, 2011

Sep 282011

Nob Hill Corner of Powell and California This bronze statue “Resting Hermes,” is a remnant of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition that sits outside the University Club on California Street in San Francisco. If you ride the cable car and hop on or off at the top of Powell street, walk over and take a look. He sits along the wall on the California side of the club, between Powell and Miles Street. The 300-lb bronze depicting the Greek god of merchants and shepherds – as well as travelers, translators, and some other things – was originally sent to San Continue Reading

Stencil Art

Posted by Cindy on September 27, 2011

Sep 272011

San Francisco All Around Town Stencils Stencils are a fun, down and dirty way to place art on the street. Most of their creators you will never know, but the creator of these is out in the open. Jeremy Novy began stenciling koi fish on the sidewalks, often on top of graffiti tags, to “beautify the area.” There are now more than 2,000 of his koi throughout the city, including commissioned ones at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Quan Yin Meditation Center, Cafe Flore and the hair salon Every Six Weeks. This was on a mailbox on Folsom Continue Reading

Richmond District – Rochambeau Playground

Posted by Cindy on September 26, 2011

Sep 262011

The Richmond District Rochambeau Playground 25th Avenue between California and Clement The artwork celebrates sports at Rochambeau Playground. Two concrete pillars clad in ceramic tile are topped by an 8-inch mosaic tennis ball and a 22-inch mosaic basketball. They mark the end of the handicapped ramp and the wall between the children’s playground and the blacktop courts. The work is by Johanna Poethig who has shown up numerous times in this website.

The Richmond – Speaking Stones

Posted by Cindy on September 25, 2011

Sep 252011

The Richmond District Richmond Recreation Center 251 18th Avenue Throughout the park is poetry cast into concrete benches and carved into stones. The artist, Seyed Alavi titled this piece Speaking Stones. It was to be a poetry garden with metaphors for health, contentment and community. Seyed Alavi received a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University and a Masters of Fine Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Alavi’s work is often engaged with the poetics of language and space and their power to shape reality. The various concrete benches read from left to right : They stained Continue Reading

Playland Revisited

Posted by Cindy on September 24, 2011

Sep 242011

The Richmond District Corner of LaPlaya and Cabrillo Many people come to San Francisco and head to the Musee Mecanique. There the first person you encounter, either with your ears or with your eyes is “Laughing Sal.” Well she wasn’t always in a museum. Laughing Sal was originally at “Playland”. Playland (also known as Playland at the Beach and Whitney’s Playland beginning in 1928) was a 10-acre seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now. It began as a collection of amusement Continue Reading

Richmond District – Fire Station #4

Posted by Cindy on September 23, 2011

Sep 232011

The Richmond District 41st Avenue at Geary Fire Station Number 4 This is one of my favorite fire stations in the city. There is something about its size, the fact that it is brick, and the position between two streets that just charms me. The Phoenix is by artist Lenda Anders Barth, and was installed in 1997. The inscription reads: This relief sculpture, inset into a brick wall in front of the station, depicts the legendary Phoenix – the mythical bird reborn from its own ashes whose image is also on the City’s seal. This beautiful teal bird is set Continue Reading

Marina District – Passage

Posted by Cindy on September 22, 2011

Sep 222011

Marina District Bay and Laguna Kent Roberts Passage I fell in love with this the moment I laid eyes on it. There is something so simple and yet amusing about this piece. It is 25 feet long and made of stainless steel. The piece is part of the city’s Civic Art Collection. The description states that it pays homage to ships that carried early settlers to the San Francisco Bay. During the Gold Rush, hundreds of people who arrived at the harbor abandoned their ships. These eventually had to be sunk and became the landfill on which the Marina District Continue Reading

North Beach Swimming Pool

Posted by Cindy on September 21, 2011

Sep 212011

North Beach Swimming Pool and Clubhouse Lombard and Mason Streets Artist Vicki Saulls was selected for this site-specific commission through the Arts Commission’s Public Art Program which, by city ordinance, allocates 2% of the construction cost of civic buildings, new parks, and other capital projects for public art. This is the entry door to the North Beach Clubhouse. “Locus” is a sliding sculptural door on the eastern side of the clubhouse adjoining the pool building. The surface of the metallic gray door depicts a stylized topographical map of the North Beach neighborhood. Although no locations are identified on the map, Continue Reading

St. Regis Hotel

Posted by Cindy on September 20, 2011

Sep 202011

SOMA St. Regis Hotel 3rd and Mission Streets This is by Raymond Saunders, an American artist born1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He lives and works in Oakland, California and is currently a professor of Painting at California College of the Arts, in Oakland. I found this description from a press release put out by the St. Regis: “The southeast façade of the historic Williams Building has been enhanced with an art glass transcription of a work on canvas by Oakland artist Raymond Saunders. An internationally acclaimed artist, Saunders is known for mixed-media paintings that are layered with fragmentary impressions and imbued with Continue Reading

Polk Street History in Murals

Posted by Cindy on September 19, 2011

Sep 192011

Tenderloin 1221 Polk Street This series is by Dray. This set of murals is on the side of Lush Lounge at 1221 Polk Street in San Francisco. When I spoke to Dray about these murals he relayed an article in the San Francisco Examiner that discussed the controversy regarding a series of murals that was to be scheduled in the neighborhood on Hemlock, just down the street. While Dray’s murals were not quite as controversial the Examiner stated “The Fern Alley mural proposal was far less contentious — the artist, Dray, proposed a visual timeline of Polk Street dating back to 1906. The Continue Reading

Woh Hei Yuen Park in Chinatown

Posted by Cindy on September 18, 2011

Sep 182011

Chinatown Powell Street Between John and Jackson Streets This is the most wonderful little city park. It is only a half block, but it is such an amazing little retreat. There are benches, green grass and a very small area for children to play. It even has two pieces of public art done in 2000. It is called Woh Hei Yuen Park. The one above is called Tectonic Melange. A 26-foot circular paving medallion composed of black, yellow and red granite depicts calligraphic Chinese characters based on a poem written by Wang Bo during the Tang Dynasty (650 to 676 B.C.E.) Continue Reading

SOMA – Man With Flame

Posted by Cindy on September 17, 2011

Sep 172011

SOMA Convention Plaza 3rd Street Between Howard and Folsom Man With Flame by Stephen de Staebler This little walk way offers a wonderful respite from the hectic goings on inside Moscone Center. There are lots of tables and chairs, wonderful public art, and a Starbuck’s if you are so inclined. I have copied the following directly from his New York Times Obituary. Stephen De Staebler, a sculptor whose fractured, dislocated human figures gave a modern voice and a sense of mystery to traditional realist forms, died on May 13 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 78. The cause Continue Reading

SOMA – Venus with Rope

Posted by Cindy on September 15, 2011

Sep 152011

SOMA Convention Plaza 3rd Street Between Howard and Folsom “Venus with Rope” Jim Dine 1986 Jim Dine has shown up in this site before. In 1962 Dine’s work was included, along with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Dowd, Phillip Hefferton, Joe Goode, Edward Ruscha, and Wayne Thiebaud, in the historically important and ground-breaking New Painting of Common Objects, curated by Walter Hopps at the Norton Simon Museum. This exhibition is historically considered one of the first “Pop Art” exhibitions in America. These painters started a movement, in a time of social unrest, which shocked America and the Art world and changed Continue Reading

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