Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Olmec Heads in San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on June 12, 2011

Jun 122011

San Francisco City College Ocean Avenue Campus Frida Kahlo Garden The giant Olmec head, “El Rey,” San Lorenzo #1 was carved by Ignacio Perez Solano, also know as “il Maestro.” The head is an accurate reproduction of the original piece from San Lorenzo in Veracruz, Mexico. The 3,000 year old original basalt head is believed to be a portrait of a ruler from this ancient civilization. The stone originated some 50 miles from where the statue was discovered. The piece was given to City College of San Francisco in 2004 by then Vera Cruz Governor Miguel Alemán Velazco in Continue Reading

Peace in San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on June 11, 2011

Jun 112011

This statue of “Pacifica” is in the courtyard of the Diego Rivera Theater on the City College of San Francisco Ocean Avenue Campus. Originally, an 80 foot tall sculpture of Pacifica graced the Golden Gate International Exhibition on Treasure Island, she was destroyed by the Navy in 1941 when they took possession of the island. Sal Daguarda undertook the project of reproducing a smaller version of Pacifica because of his ties to the long ago event. DeGuarda was a swimmer and performer for the Billy Rose Aquacade, entertaining the crowds during the 1939-1940 Exhibition. One day a photographer took his picture Continue Reading

The Art of Concrete at CCSF

Posted by Cindy on June 10, 2011

Jun 102011

San Francisco City College Ocean Avenue Campus This is called “Sculptural deck and Bicentennial Wings” by Jacques Overhoff. It was done in 1979. It is typical of Overhoff work, cast concrete with ceramic tile. Jacques Overhoff was born in 1933 in the Netherlands and studied at the Graphics School of Design and the University of Oregon. He moved to San Francisco in the 1950’s. His civic sculptures range in style from symbolic figures to structural abstractions, as well as, in this case, entire sculptural plazas. This particular piece has suffered from abuse by skate boarders and taggers and was restored Continue Reading

Guns and Roses

Posted by Cindy on June 9, 2011

Jun 092011

San Francisco City College Ocean Avenue At the entrance to San Francisco City College is “St. Francis of the Guns” by Bufano. Born in Italy, in 1898, Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano taught at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute, (but was dismissed in 1923 because he was considered too modern), the University of California, Berkeley, and Oakland’s California College of Arts and Crafts so his work is (or should be) well known to natives. Following the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, then Mayor, Joseph Alioto, initiated a voluntary Continue Reading

Geneva Terrace

Posted by Cindy on June 7, 2011

Jun 072011

Viscitation Valley – Geneva Terrace – San Francisco Corner of Schwerein and Velasco Streets In the early 1960s, Joseph Eichler enlisted the help of architect Claude Oakland to design affordable housing in the Visitacion Valley. They came up with the Geneva Terrace Townhouse complex that you can see behind the park and the Geneva Towers high rise apartment building. The Townhouse complex covers 8 neighboring streets and isn’t what I think of Eichler architecture at all. They are all identical in design, they are all 2 story and 4 bedroom homes. What I absolutely loved was the repetition of the Continue Reading

Viscitation Valley – Rebar Art Consortium

Posted by Cindy on June 6, 2011

Jun 062011

Viscitation Valley - Rebar Art Consortium

Corner of Leland Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard – Viscitation Valley – San Francisco “Sprouting” from the sidewalk like stalks of organically grown street furniture, Street Life is a large-scale sculpture composed of surplus parking meter heads, painted dark orange, attached to tall, arcing steel poles. The sculpture marks the gateway to the entrance of what locals refer to as “downtown” Visitacion Valley. The installation is by a team of artists called Rebar. According to Rebar founder Matthew Passmore, “Street Life encourages viewers to imagine new possibilities for automobile infrastructure that is outmoded. The street furnishings of today may well be the Continue Reading

Mission District – Public Post

Posted by Cindy on June 5, 2011

Jun 052011

Valencia Street Between 16th and 19th, Mission District, San Francisco Valencia Street Post by Michael Arcega * Crafted out of steel and aluminum and painted with a durable urethane alkyd enamel, the ornamental crowns are sort of Victorian architecture that is intended to recall the neighborhood’s past history. The Department of Public Works added a decorative paving design based on Victorian wallpaper to the sidewalk surrounding the poles. These are meant to be community bulletin boards, and believe me, they are covered with postings. It is nice to have the city admit that phone polls like this are coated everyday Continue Reading

Excelsior District – Blue Bird of Happiness

Posted by Cindy on June 4, 2011

Jun 042011

Excelsior District - Blue Bird of Happiness

A little blue bird in Cayuga Park, San Francisco Cayuga Park sits at the end of Cayuga lane under the 280 freeway and the Bart tracks in an area called The Excelsior district in San Francisco. I had been hearing for years about this little park and its grounds attendant Demetrio Braceros, but we all know how life goes on and we never quite get all the things on our list accomplished. This was one of them, and well, it is still one of them. I knew I was in trouble when I really had an incredibly difficult time Continue Reading

Tutubi Plaza – Make it Healthy

Posted by Cindy on June 3, 2011

Jun 032011

More Tutubi Plaza This is Super Hygiene Man. He and his mates are on the Russ side of what used to be the SOMA health center. These fellows sit on the wall of Tutubi Plaza that faces the butterflies.

Tutubi Plaza – Dragonflies

Posted by Cindy on June 2, 2011

Jun 022011

Tutubi Plaza – SOMA – San Francisco This little area has become a hub for the Filipino Community in the San Francisco area. Tutubi means dragonfly in Tagalog. This mural is by Johanna Poethig.. Johanna was born in the Philippines, so I am sure this was especially important to her. She received her BFA from UC Santa Cruz and her MFA from Mills, she presently is an arts educator at Cal State U in Monterey. She has an amazing array of public work that you can see at her website. Many of them are in San Francisco. Behind this wall is a children’s Continue Reading

SOMA – Tutubi Plaza

Posted by Cindy on June 1, 2011

Jun 012011

Tutubi Plaza Russ street, between Natoma and Minna in SOMA, San Francisco. This is a San Francisco Redevelopment project, first proposed in 2008 it was finally finished in February of 2011. This pavement installation is by Jovi Schnell. Jovi was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas and lives in San Francisco, she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute as well as some serious time at several art schools in Holland. This piece is called “Evolves Luminous Flora”. In reading about this piece here there are so many meanings and symbolism according to the author, that I got lost Continue Reading

Golden Gate Bridge

Posted by Cindy on May 31, 2011

May 312011

Golden Gate Bridge Plaza San Francisco Side This is a piece of the cable that holds up the Golden Gate Bridge. I have loved this piece since I first laid eyes on it. The sign tells you that the length of one cable is 7640 feet, the diameter is 36 3/8 inches, there are 27, 572 wires in each cable (which is what you are looking at in the end there) they used 80,000 MILES of wire, and the weight of the cable is 24, 700 tons. I think the fact that you are looking at the ends of 27,572 Continue Reading

Memorial Day

Posted by Cindy on May 30, 2011

May 302011

Presidio Cemetery – San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge – Fort Point

Posted by Cindy on May 29, 2011

May 292011

Fort Point Golden Gate Bridge The building at the bottom of this picture is Fort Point. Many people look down upon this structure when they walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, but they never go to visit, which is a shame. Fort Point was completed just before the American civil war. Its purpose was to protect San Francisco harbor from Confederate and foreign attack during and after the U.S. Civil War. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on Fort Point in 1853. Plans specified that the lowest tier of artillery be as close as possible to water Continue Reading

Golden Gate Bridge – Hopper’s Hands

Posted by Cindy on May 28, 2011

May 282011

Fort Point Golden Gate Bridge These are Hopper’s Hands. This plaque is at Fort Point, under the Golden Gate Bridge on the San Francisco side. The area is a turn around spot for people running the Presidio area, and slapping the hands is a tradition. Hopper’s hands has a great story, that I am sure most runners aren’t even aware of. Ken Hopper is an Iron Worker on the Golden Gate Bridge. Iron workers often agree to train in suicide prevention and rescue on the bridge. Ken is one of those guys. He is one of the many unsung heroes Continue Reading

Oddities in San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on May 27, 2011

May 272011

915 Fulton Street This is Ron Henggeler’s Tower at 915 Fulton Street in San Francisco. Ron is a collector, he started building this 45 foot tower after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. He wandered down to where they were tearing up the Fell Street Freeway exit and scavenged the rebar, the tower grew from there. Ron may seem like a nut, and in fact he is a major scavenger, but he is also an amazing artist, and quite the historian. He is a very good photographer, and I have seen his scavenged items turned into some pretty neat things. He is Continue Reading

Market Street – Blossoms of Interest

Posted by Cindy on May 26, 2011

May 262011

Mid Market U.N. Plaza Black Rock Arts Foundation and the San Francisco Arts Commission has an Art In Storefronts Program that was intended to help the revitalization of the mid-market area of San Francisco. I don’t know if that can be done, but I do love the fact that art is being brought out to the public, no matter what the cause. This piece is by Karen Cusolito. The definition reads: “Previously exhibited at the Burning Man event as part of her sculptural series Infinitarium in 2010, Cusolito’s ‘Blooms’ create a ‘scale-reversal’ environment in which visitors are obliged to take Continue Reading

Rincon Center – Obelisk

Posted by Cindy on May 25, 2011

May 252011

Rincon Center Embarcadero This sculpture, simply titled “Obelisk” is in the Rincon Center. It is by Joan Brown. Joan Brown was an American figurative painter who was born in San Francisco and lived and worked in Northern California. She was a notable member of the “second generation” of the Bay Area Figurative Movement. She studied at the California School of Fine Art (now San Francisco Art Institute), where her teachers included Elmer Bischoff. Her sculpture is not as well known, and yet she did several of these obelisks, there are at least 3 in San Francisco. These include the Pine Continue Reading

Embarcadero – Commuting

Posted by Cindy on May 23, 2011

May 232011

This is our temporary Transbay Terminal. The old one has finally been demolished. The Transbay terminal was originally built in 1936 to handle the trains that came across the Bay Bridge into downtown San Francisco. However, after WWII, the train lines were removed and the terminal became a bus depot. Over the years it has become nothing more than a run down homeless refuge. I am all for their tearing down the old one, and I am all for building a new one, but I am not sold on the new ultra modern design to come. The new Transbay terminal Continue Reading

Embarcadero – Fly me to the Moon

Posted by Cindy on May 22, 2011

May 222011

Embarcadero at Pier 14 “Raygun Gothic Rocketship” is a temporary art installation on the Embarcadero. The project is sponsored by the Black Rock Arts Foundation, (the Burning Man group), with support from the Port of San Francisco. The rocket ship is a retro-futurist sort of thing, and according to the artists group “A critical kitsch somewhere between The Moons of Mongo and Manga Nouveau”. The piece is the work of dozens of Bay Area artists with three lead artists headed by Sean Orlando. They have a website that is really, really cool. It tells you all about the rocket ship and Continue Reading

Paper in the wind

Posted by Cindy on May 21, 2011

May 212011

I popped into the SF Fine Art Fair that is going on this weekend. This is titled Paperlight Fortress by RISD grad Paul Hayes. He is known for his site specific installations, and this isn’t the first of his I have seen, it was just the first I saw with camera in hand. In Paul’s own words “My installations consist of swarms of crumpled or folded paper suspended on strands of wire. I am most drawn to the patterns of growth in the natural world. I often attempt to compose swarms that suggest motion, force, direction and time.”

Icons of San Francisco – Transamerica Pyramid

Posted by Cindy on May 20, 2011

May 202011

Icons of San Francisco - Transamerica Pyramid

, An iconic image for San Francisco, the Transamerica Pyramid. It was designed by architect William Pereira, and when it was first built it engendered considerable argument. You either hated it or loved it, there seemed to be no in between. Forty Eight stories or 850 feet tall, it was among the five tallest buildings in the world when it was completed in 1972. The Transamerica company was bought out by a Dutch firm, and no longer exists. The Dutch company however, still owns the building. There are so many fascinating facts about this building. The base of the building contains Continue Reading

Palm Springs Art Museum – Glass as Art

Posted by Cindy on May 19, 2011

May 192011

Like many people, my first exposure to glass as art was the stuff that you see in street fairs. It wasn’t my favorite medium. As I have gotten older, and visited more museums I fell in love with cast glass. Glass casting is the process in which glass objects are cast by pouring molten glass into a mould where it solidifies. The technique has been used since the Egyptian period. Modern cast glass is formed by a variety of processes such as kiln casting, or casting into sand, graphite or metal moulds. I think I am still mostly drawn to Continue Reading

SOMA – Defenestration

Posted by Cindy on May 17, 2011

May 172011

6th and Howard SOMA AS OF JUNE OF 2014 DEFENESTRATION HAS BEEN REMOVED Defenestration is at 6th and Howard Street in San Francisco. Not only is it about two blocks from my house but I also had the privilege of working with its artist Brian Goggin (before this installation) through a charitable organization LEAP, which brings art and architecture into schools. So, I was very happy to see that it has had a face lift. Defenestration literally means “Throw out of a window”. This installation was done by Brian and well over 100 volunteers. It is on the site of Continue Reading

Van Nuys – Strolling in a sewer plant.

Posted by Cindy on May 14, 2011

May 142011

This story is going to take a while to unfold, so grab a cup of coffee and come along with me on a journey. I took the above photograph in Kenrokuen Gardens, Kanazawa, Japan. This is considered one of the three best gardens in all of Japan. (The Japanese do all their “bests” in threes). The photograph is not the best of the hundreds of shots I took that day, but it is going to illustrate my point most perfectly. I would like to confess, straight up, I am a nut about Japanese culture. It is in my soul, Continue Reading

Palm Springs – Oddities

Posted by Cindy on May 13, 2011

May 132011

This is one of my favorite types of architecture. Scavenger, innovative, a tad crazy and an absolute representation of the person that built it. This is the home of Cabot Yerxa. He was the son of a fabulously wealthy family that lost it all. He was a creative, innovative and wealthy man by his own right, but when it all went south, he went to the desert. He was 17 when he headed off to the 1898 Gold Rush to make his fortune, he met Teddy Rosevelt there who later made him the Postmaster General in the Pasadena, California area, Continue Reading

Palm Springs – Art Moderne

Posted by Cindy on May 13, 2011

May 132011

This little Depression Era “Art Moderne” gem is at 342 North Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. There is very little known about it. It is assumed to be built around 1935-1936, the first actual knowledge of its existence is a listing in the 1937 phone book. At that time is was Simpson’s Radio and Fridgidaire. Clarence Simpson was a local civic leader that passed away in 1944. It has been the Cork and Bottle since 1950. Art Moderne, also called Streamline Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s. Its architectural Continue Reading

Palm Springs – Gothic Revival

Posted by Cindy on May 11, 2011

May 112011

Over the years I have walked by this little church on my way to downtown Palm Springs. It has always caught my eye. A Gothic Revival made of CMU is a big hmmmm? in my book. It is in fact that only surviving Gothic Revival Building in Palm Springs. Completed in 1935 is was designed by Charles Tanner. A Canadian that emigrated to the U.S. he began his working life as an illustrator of children’s books. He moved to Riverside, California and began supplementing his work as an artist and art teacher by working as a draftsman for architect G. Continue Reading

Palm Springs – Ship of The Desert

Posted by Cindy on May 10, 2011

May 102011

“Ship of the Desert” is classic Art Moderne due to its “nautical” elements. This home, located at 1995 S. Camino Monte in Palm Springs, was built in 1936. However, the original (designed by Earl Webster and Adrian Wilson) was seriously damaged by fire. The owner, clothing designer, Trina Turk hired Marmol Radziner, an architecture firm in Santa Monica, to restore and modernize the 4,400-square-foot, five-bedroom residence. The new design stays true to the original nautical look, with curved walls and redwood balconies that resemble a ship’s decks. The home was given the name “Ship of the Desert” by Sunset Magazine Continue Reading

Elvis in Palm Springs

Posted by Cindy on May 9, 2011

May 092011

Okay, I don’t know if this one would be rated up there as one of the best examples of Modern Architecture, but I had to use it because it has ties to Elvis Presley. This is called the House of Tomorrow and was designed in 1962 by William Krisel. It was commissioned by Robert Alexander, a developer, for his wife Helene. The house is designed in four circles on three levels. It incorporates glass and “peanut brittle” stone work to allow the indoor/outdoor living the desert is so famous for. It has simple post and beam construction, sloping roofs with Continue Reading

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