Public Art in San Francisco – Page 3 – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Mission Pool and Playground Mural

Posted by Cindy on January 28, 2013

Jan 282013

Mission District
Linda Street off of 19th

This mural was done by Emmanuel C. Montoya, Sue Cervantes and Juana Alicia. It sits on the side of the Mission Pool and Playground which houses the New World Tree Mural. These three artists were joined by Raul Martinez and others to create the mural in the playground in 1985. It is titled Balance of Power.

On the day of the inauguration of the World Tree Mural, a neighborhood organizer got Diane Feinstein, then San Francisco mayor, on tape, promising to fund murals for the neighborhood if it respected the walls and desisted from covering them with graffiti. .The artists, community organizers and two rival neighborhood gangs, Happy Homes and 19th Street, came together to create the mural.

Emmanuel is a descendent of Lipan Apache and Mexican heritage and was born in the small, south coastal town of Corpus Christi, Texas. Emmanuel is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas. For some forty-eight years Emmanuel has been a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area where he attended high school and went on to college and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking at San Francisco State University.

Sue Cervantes has many murals around San Francisco that you can see here.

Taking Life Lying Down

Posted by Cindy on January 23, 2013

Jan 232013

100 Block of Hemlock
The Tenderloin

This Native American is by Spencer Keeton Cuningham. Cunningham is responsible for another Native American mural in the tenderloin.

Cunningham is a member of the Indigenous Arts Coalition, a Bay Area organization started in 2008 that advocates for Native American artists.

Spencer Keeton Cunningham (Nez Perce) is originally from Portland, Oregon and along with drawing and painting, he shoots experimental and documentary films. He graduated from SFAI with a BFA in Printmaking in May 2010. Spencer currently works at White Walls Gallery in Central San Francisco. Since 2010, Spencer has shown his prints and drawings internationally in Canada, and most recently Japan, all the while collaborating with Internationally recognized artists such as ROA and Ben Eine.

Nico Berry on York Street

Posted by Cindy on January 22, 2013

Jan 222013

1354 York Street
Mission/Potrero

This mural is part of the San Francisco StreetSmARTS program and was done by Nico Berry.

Nico Berry’s cultural perspective is shaped by his encounters with hip-hop, skateboarding, and urban youth culture while growing up on the South Side of Chicago. Over the years he has also become interested in exploring the role of culture, community, class, and religion, especially in the context of urban life. Aesthetically, Nico’s prolific experience in graphic design is extremely evident. Lettering, patterns, and the appropriation of pop and religious symbolism dominate his work. The media he works with include spray-paint, collage, sculptural elements, and acrylic paints as well as digital designing.

Nico worked as art director for Thrasher skateboard magazine from 1996-2001, then traveled the world creating murals on five different continents. From 2002-2007 Nico created fine art and worked as a freelance graphic designer in Brooklyn, New York. He contributed to a wide range of companies, from Timberland boots and apparel to The Source hip-hop magazine to Fermilab’s high-energy physics facility. In 2007 he relocated to San Francisco where he continues to do murals, design work, and fine art. Most recently he has focused his attention on writing and illustrating children’s books.

Martin Luther King Memorial

Posted by Cindy on January 21, 2013

Jan 212013

Yerba Buena Center Gardens

The United States’ second largest Martin Luther King Memorial, titled Revelation, was built in San Francisco in 1993. It sits behind a 50’ x 20’ foot wall of cascading water. Located in the Yerba Buena Gardens, the memorial is a lovely walkway constructed under a 120,000-gallon reflecting pool. The reflective pool spills over large pieces of Sierra granite, giving the visitor a roaring background noise that blocks out the city sounds and allows a moment for peace and contemplation.

A photo of Dr. King anchors the west entrance to the fountain. This is mirrored to the east with an inscription of a 1956 speech he made in San Francisco.

As the visitor makes their way along the path, one reads quotations from Dr. King’s speeches etched in 12 glass panels. Each quote is translated into the languages of San Francisco’s 13 sister cities, as well as Arabic and some African dialects.

The project was a collaboration of sculptor Houston Conwill, poet Estella Conwill Majoza and architect Joseph DePace.

Reflecting Pool on the upper level of Yerba Buena Gardens

Shapes and Letters

Posted by Cindy on January 21, 2013

Jan 212013

751 and 780 Valencia at 19th
The Mission

This mural, consisting of shapes, numbers and letters, is by 24 year old SF resident, Jonathan Matas. In 2012 Jonathan did an interview with a group in Atlanta while participating in a show called Living Walls.

Here is a few interesting excerpts from the article:

I have been painting all my life. Like all kids, I made art, but I kept on going, nonstop. It has always been my passion. The only time in my life that I stopped was last year for about six months, that was an excellent break and I came back with renewed energy and focus.

I got into graffiti around 1999. I don’t remember the term “street art” being used much. It was just straight up graffiti… tags, throw-ups, pieces, streets, freights… I started to notice the graffiti around my neighborhood in Seattle. I switched high schools in 10th grade to the NOVA Project (an alternative high school in Seattle’s Central District), where I started meeting writers from all parts of the city.

I’m definitley not able to see the completed image in my head before beginning. I have a naturally-occurring tendency toward detail. I enjoy art that can sink in over time, with many layers of meaning and depth to explore. For example, from a distance or up close, or the whole piece as a macrocosm containing microcosmic worlds.

As any artist will tell you, knowing when to stop is difficult. All projects are different. Usually, when I arrive at a point when I’m looking for stuff to add rather than doing what jumps out as needing doing, it is time to stop. If you go further, it is acting out of impulsivity or even greed. Intuitively knowing it’s time to stop but continuing is madness. There are no clear dogmatic rules to this though.

750 Mission

780 Mission

Utility Boxes get Dressed Up

Posted by Cindy on January 18, 2013

Jan 182013

Duboce and Church
Castro

Mona Caron, who created the adjacent Bicycle Coalition mural on the back of the Safeway has added new touches to the Muni utility boxes on the sidewalk. On one side of the boxes, bicyclists entering the Wiggle are greeted by an illustrated flowing banner that lists the names of the streets that make up the route. On the other side, pedestrians are treated with a window to a re-imagined intersection featuring an uncovered Sans Souci Creek (which once roughly followed the path of the Wiggle).

The title of this box is Manifestation Station.

This photo, from Mona Caron’s website, shows exactly how the box was meant to be viewed.

Update: There was fire in this particular utility box, and the utility company has replaced it with a plain unpainted box, Mona’s beautiful creation is not to return. But you can enjoy her video about it here:

Cross the street, and you get lovely depictions of “weeds” sprouting from the ground. “They may be tiny yet they push through concrete. They are everywhere and yet unseen. But the more they get stepped on, the stronger they grow back.”…Mona Caron

Mona Caron has several murals throughout San Francisco.

These boxes are part of the Church and Duboce Track Improvement Project by the SFMTA

For a great day spent learning about the area and the mural check out ThinkWalks, if you don’t have time to actually take a walk, they have a wonderful full color description of the mural with facts, trivia, and lots of bits of San Francisco History in their store.

Cloud Portal

Posted by Cindy on January 16, 2013

Jan 162013

Corner of Washington and Davis
Golden Gateway Center

This sculpture is titled Cloud Portal and is by Ned Kahn. Kahn has several sculptures around San Francisco

Mist periodically emerges from the central void of a sculpture constructed out of stacked horizontal sheets of stainless steel. The mist alternately reveals and obscurs the view of the urban landscape that is framed by the sculpture. A collaboration with RHAA landscape architects the sculpture was completed in 2011.

Domestic Seating in Bronze

Posted by Cindy on January 15, 2013

Jan 152013

Duboce and Church
Castro

Titled Domestic Seating these bronze chairs are by Primitivo Suarez. They are on the corners of the intersection of Duboce and Church where there are several muni stops as well as Mona Caron’s Bicycle Coalition Mural.

Fortunately the SFAC has placed plaques explaining the murals on the corners as well, something I feel should be done with all of our public art. The plaques read:

Inspired by the discarded furniture commonly seen on city sidewalks, Domestic Seating evokes intimate interior spaces and unexpectedly transforms this intersection into a shared experience. The collection of seating replicated in metal was selected by the artist through a “casting call”. Announced to local residents, the original furniture was donated by the following members of the community:

Rocking Chair donated by Maitri Compassionate Care
Armchair donated by Peter Mansfield (originally owned by William I. Bernell)
Ikea Chair donated by Missy Buchanan

Primitivo Suarez has a background in both architecture and visual art. Suarez attended SCI-Arc before receiving his MFA in Sculpture at UCLA in 2000. Suarez has taught in the art and architecture departments at the University of Southern California, Woodbury University, and currently at the University of California at Berkeley.

Where the Wild Things Gnar

Posted by Cindy on January 14, 2013

Jan 142013

20th and Mission
The Mission

This mural by Nosego is titled “Where the Wild Things Gnar”.

Yis “Nosego” Goodwin is a Philadelphia-based artist with a passion for illustration and media arts. He mixes fine art with a contemporary style to deliver highly energetic work. His designs feature an assemblage of patterns, vibrant colors and characters derived from his imagination and his surrounding environment.

The South Philly native started honing his talent as child, taking classes at Fleisher Art Memorial and attending the High School of Creative and Performing Arts. His fine-art training is detectable in almost all of his paintings—whether it be captured in a stunning waterfall or a dead-on replica of the Venus de Milo sculpture.

It was while studying film at the University of the Arts that Goodwin really began experimenting with contemporary styles and discovered his passion for street art. “I was just trying to find my style,” he says. “At the same time, street art kinda made me feel like a real person because I didn’t really have many friends back then.”

Goodwin is currently (May 2012) designing the graphics for “Rusty The Rainbow Whale,” a smartphone game in which users have to eat color-coded hamburgers floating by on sailboats, which explains the abundance of whales featured in his latest collection. The app is the follow up to the game “Catball Eats It All,” which he launched in December

The Beaded Quilt

Posted by Cindy on January 11, 2013

Jan 112013

214 Van Ness Avenue
Civic Center

This “Beaded Quilt” sits on the outside of the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired building on Van Ness Avenue. According to the Please Touch Garden Site this mural is part of a LightHouse community arts initiative created by dozens of blind San Franciscans.

The mural is created out of 150,000 colored beads. As part of the Please Touch Community Garden, artist Gk Callahan envisioned the “Beaded Quilt” mural as a social arts project and enlisted clients from his art classes plus blind staff and volunteers at the LightHouse to assemble the 576 beaded squares that make up the six-foot-tall mural.

It all began in 2010 when Callahan partnered with the LightHouse to obtain a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to create a major community arts project – the “Please Touch Community Garden” – on the once unkempt vacant lot at 165 Grove Street, in the shadow of the dome of the city hall.

The Please Touch Community Garden is currently under development by Callahan and his students in the Blind Leaders Program at the LightHouse. “A big part of our project has been cleaning up Lech Walesa alley which is where the entrance to the garden is located”, says Callahan. “With the installment of the Beaded Quilt mural we’ll highlight the garden’s entrance and the alley itself. Making the alley more visible to the surrounding community will help with the squatting and drug use that has been rampant for years in this part of the neighborhood.”

Callahan explains that another facet of the mural is working with blind seniors in a program that historically produced craft art. As a local artist, he wanted to illustrate how art made by people with disabilities does not necessarily have to be craft or outsider art. The Beaded Quilt is made by blind and visually impaired people as a public art piece and as a statement about what one with disabilities can accomplish.

The mural has been touched by many people. For example, over many months, Starrly Winchester, one of the LightHouse’s long time volunteers, spent hours at home separating the more than 100,000 beads into sixty color groups. Every week she brought in more color-separated beads for the artists to work with.

Linda Fonseca, a long-time client of the LightHouse, is one of about ten clients who worked on the beaded quilt for over a year. She says that it was motivating and gave her a sense of accomplishment. Her designs were influenced by the ever-present music the artists listened to as they affixed the 150,000 beads. “Classical music brought out the clear, white and pastel colors and more subdued designs. When we were rocking out, I made more geometric designs with purples and reds.” And what about jazz and the blues? “Oh,” she says without missing a beat, “many shades of blue came into play.”

“Each square is a small reflection of the person who made it, highlighting the colorfulness and diversity of our community,” says Callahan. “The mural is not only about accomplishing my own vision as an artist, but about bringing new challenges, learning, activity and artistic growth to our programs at the LightHouse. It’s about helping Linda find an outlet for her artistic expression. It’s about helping James, who found that the project improved his skillfulness and eased his arthritis.”

Gk Callahan is a multi media and socially engaged artist in San Francisco, CA. Trained in painting at San Francisco Art Institute, earning his BFA in 2006. During his BA studies he facilitated public work under Catasta Gallery©, an alternative arts group he co-founded in 2003. 2008-2012 he set as the artist in residence at both the LightHouse for the Blind and Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy severing on both the LightHouse’s Insight Art Show board and Harvey Milk’s Comity Art board. Gk most recently joined the MFA program at the California College of the Arts in Social practice.

Kinetic Sculpture in Dolores Park

Posted by Cindy on January 10, 2013

Jan 102013

Mission Dolores Park
The Mission District

Mission Dolores underwent a $17+ million, much-needed and beautiful transformation in 2011 and 2012. Part of the renovation was this kinetic sculpture.

The sculpture, by Lymon Whitaker is 23 feet tall.

Lyman has been a practicing sculptor for over 40 years, with a unique knowledge of materials and their application. The past 19 years have primarily been focused on creating Wind Sculptures, which are all produced by hand. The Wind Sculptures are innovative and artistic with a high degree of mechanical integrity.

Lyman feels that by placing the sculptures in settings dependent on natural elements for movement, opportunities are provided for participants to think about their surroundings. He has said that his sculptures are organic and natural like vegetation and are enjoyed best in interactive settings where they are viewed over time.

Lyman received a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis on sculpture from the University of Utah in 1978. He still resides in Utah, often retreating to his off-grid yurt for inspiration.

The Art of the Jessie Street Substation

Posted by Cindy on January 9, 2013

Jan 092013

The Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Substation
222-226 Jessie Street
Market Street/Yerba Buena Gardens

Tucked away in a dead-end alley between Market and Mission, is one of San Francisco’s few great examples of the architectural possibilities of the brick facade. Originally built in 1881, and subsequently enlarged twice, the substation was damaged in a fire in February, 1906, and almost destroyed in the earthquake and fire of April, 1906. Rebuilt in 1907, the building owes its present character to Willis Polk, at that time head of the San Francisco office of D. H. Burnham and Company, the Chicago firm that had prepared the 1905 plan for the conversion of San Francisco to a model of the “city beautiful” along the lines of Paris and Washington. As a result, it is not altogether surprising that the architectural ideas of Polk and Burnham should have been applied to an electric substation in a South-of-Market alley.

This noble structure is a simple (but quite sophisticated) exercise in the development of balance, line, and texture. Though the eye focuses on the ornamental, vertical, and symmetrical piercings and moldings, it is the horizontal line of the rough, red wall that catches the breath. Yet, of course, it is the elaborate applied inventions that make the plain surface more than just another brick wall. This is a building that many San Franciscans have never seen, and it is worth going out of one’s way to look at it. The above Here Today, San Francisco’s Architectural Heritage by Roger Olmsted and T.H. Watkins, 1969.

The Substation, which served as a power station until 1924 is now part of the Contemporary Jewish Museum (designed by Daniel Liebeskind). This lovely pediment sculpture is part of the original substation building.

facade_lg

The pediment sculpture is located above the left door and features matte-glazed terra cotta cherubs holding garlands above a plaque that reads 1907, the date the original building was completed. Restoration of the brick facade took six months during which time damaged pieces of terra cotta were built out using fiberglass and putty. The fixtures were then re-glazed to protect them from future environmental damage.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum addition

There are a lot of beautiful ornamentation on buildings throughout San Francisco, and like much of it, it was done by artists and craftspeople that left us with a legacy but not their name.

The Winged Lion that Holds Court in a Traffic Circle

Posted by Cindy on January 8, 2013

Jan 082013

8th and Townsend
SOMA

This winged lion sits in the traffic circle at 8th and Townsend.

The lion was a gift from a former Galleria showroom owner, Jack Shears. (Shears and Windows)

The Design Center placed the lion in the traffic circle in 1988, then installed a sprinkler system and planted the lawn. The Design Center has maintained the traffic circle since then.

The lion, purchased from Haddonstone, was designed as the center piece for a fountain, with plumbing lines running internally within the piece. Wouldn’t it be nice if someday the fountain is completed.

Update: As you can see by Evan Ward’s comments. The statue was actually purchased by Mr. Poland that owned the Showplace Square and Galleria. He purchased the Saint Marks Lion (symbol of Venice, Italy) from Haddonstone, through the Shears and Windows Showroom on the urging of Jack Shears and Adam Window after a trip they made to Venice.

2 Bears in the Haight

Posted by Cindy on January 7, 2013

Jan 072013

226 Filmore between Haight and Waller
The Haight

These two bears are by Bologna based, Italian artist Ericailcane, whose website is so delightful it is worth a visit. Ericailcane makes etchings, graphic art, street art (most notably in collaboration with street artist Blu), animations, sculptures, installations, tattoos and loads of drawings. Inspired by Victorian children’s illustrations, the works are often macabre but never sad. They depict animals dressed like humans in surreal situations

Presidio’s Arguello Gate

Posted by Cindy on January 4, 2013

Jan 042013

Arguello and Pacific
Entry to the Presidio

The Arguello Gate was built by the Army in 1896. The designer was architect J.B. Whittemore. The gate was commissioned in 1895 and installed between 1896 and 1897.

Over the decades, it experienced much wear and tear, including being hit by a truck in 1996. This collision knocked off one of the beautifully carved sandstone capstones. Additionally, one of the large piers upon which the capstones sit had a crack so sizable that a passerby could see through to the other side.

In 2008, the Presidio Trust worked with master carver Oleg Lobykin, founder of Stonesculpt, to repair the historic gate and its adjacent walls, and to recreate the intricate carvings on the capstone. “We very much respect the labor which went into creating something like that. It’s a monument. It’s an artifact. It’s a piece of history. So we try to preserve it as much as we can,” said Lobykin.

In 2009, the Presidio Trust was honored with a Preservation Design Award in the Craftsmanship Category from the California Preservation Foundation its efforts.

Essayons is the motto of the US ARMY CORP of Engineers. The literal meaning of essayons is “let us try” in French. It is the only non-latin motto in the U.S. Army heraldry.

The US Army Corps of Engineers was created during America’s War for Independence, with the support of professional French Military Engineers. Today, that French heritage is still seen not only in its motto but within the language of the Engineer – “abatis,” “gabions,” “fascines” and “pontons” — all have their roots in 18th century France.

A reader sent me the following, that I found very interesting:

You know that American Eagle with the olive branch and arrows? During peacetime the eagle is supposed to be facing the olive branch while during wartime it faces the arrows. This means that U.S. military officers need to buy a new hat when a war starts. Admiral Spruance was too cheap for that so in pictures from WW2 he is usually the only one with the eagle facing the olive branch.

Yes I had to look up Admiral Spruance, this is what Wikipedia had to say:

Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 – December 13, 1969) was a United States Navy admiral in World War II.

Spruance commanded US naval forces during two of the most significant naval battles that took place in the Pacific theater, the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Battle of Midway was the first major victory for the United States over Japan and is seen by many as the turning point of the Pacific war. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was also a significant victory for the US. The Navy’s official historian said of the Battle of Midway “…Spruance’s performance was superb…(he) emerged from this battle one of the greatest admirals in American naval history”. After the war, Spruance was appointed President of the Naval War College, and later served as American ambassador to the Philippines.

Spruance was nicknamed “electric brain” for his calmness even in moments of supreme crisis: a reputation enhanced by his successful tactics at Midway.

Rattlecan Blasters go back in Time

Posted by Cindy on January 3, 2013

Jan 032013

1340 York Street
Mission District

This mural is part of the SF StreetSmARTS program. Painted by Rattlecan Blasters in 2011. Rattlecan Blasters consists of graffiti artists, Cameron Moberg (aka Camer1 from San Francisco) and Aaron Vickery (aka Fasm from Modesto). The duo teams up frequently to paint church youth rooms and exhibit in art shows. They have traveled to several states to use their rattlecan skills on commissioned murals. They have several other murals around San Francisco.

In this are JW for Justin Werely, a friend of Camer1 whose name is on the right. The blue letters above say AMP which is the graffiti name of the third painter Buddy Raymonds.

I asked Cameron why the dinosaurs, he said that he had been reading a lot about them to his son and just likes them.

Zoe Ani and the SF StreetSmARTS program

Posted by Cindy on January 2, 2013

Jan 022013

2840 San Bruno
Excelsior District

M.K. Zoe Ani’s work ranges from representational to abstract landscapes. Her perspective is enriched by her Hawaiian and American Indian heritage. Her experience is one of a dichotomy of two cultures separated not only by a vast ocean, but also a mindset that is reflective of the dissemination of each indigenous group. She developed her skills in drawing during her travels and forged a unique art education by pursuing opportunities to learn and work in alternative settings.

Zoe began drawing as a teenager in southern Oregon. She began painting at The Art Students League in New York City from 1998 – 2002. She worked primarily in oil. She continued to pursue her craft in her tiny studio in Brooklyn, NY. In 2005 she transitioned from working in oil to encaustic painting after attending a workshop at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.

The transition from oil to beeswax required more space to breathe. The natural inclination for expansion and a shift in perspective brought her full circle back to the west coast after twelve years in New York City. She has immersed herself in her new surroundings working out of a bigger studio located in the Dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco, CA.

This is part of the SF StreetSmARTS program.

Wes Wong and the Phoenix Hotel

Posted by Cindy on December 31, 2012

Dec 312012

601 Eddy
The Tenderloin

This long series is part of the San Francisco StreetSmARTS program. The artist is Wes Wong, he is part of the Fresh Paint Crew.

Fresh Paint, a San Francisco Mural painting crew aims to defy assumptions of what is possible with a spray can. The group is comprised of and collaborates with some of the best aerosol painters from the Bay Area and beyond, creating innovative murals in San Francisco. Concepts vary in aesthetic tone from photorealistic to illustrative, utilizing the large pool of artistic backgrounds within the crew. They produce murals that fit with their environment and are easily digestible for everyone from blue-collar workers to aerosol art fanatics.

Wes Wong is a visual problem solver living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works in various aspects of the web by day: branding, user experience, user interface design, web marketing and front end; while painting big murals by night. His background in graphic design has brought a unique approach to mural work, striving to build a strong visual concept that relates to the space or client’s vision, often times finding a mixture of the two.

He quit the typical aerosol life years ago to start a family and focus on professional work. The spray paint itch was hard to kick, so Wes shifted his focus to persuing walls where he can produce large scale murals.

The wall is part of the Hotel Phoenix, the neighborhood is rough and the graffiti prolific. The purpose of StreetSmARTS is to help prevent graffiti by having property owners hire select artists to paint a surface that has been vandalized in the past, in hopes to prevent further vandalism.

Beautification of a Utility Box by Malik Seneferu

Posted by Cindy on December 28, 2012

Dec 282012

3rd and Oakdale
Bayview

This utility box was painted by Malik Seneferu.

Malik is a self-taught and extremely prolific African-American artist that has created more than 1,000 different pieces of artwork, including paintings, murals, and mixed media projects in the past 25 years. Despite the fact that he has no formal college training, Malik’s art has hung in many different professional arenas throughout the world, such as galleries, museums, magazines, and newspapers.

While growing up in the 1970s and 80s, Malik saw his peers going to jail and getting killed. Living a life of crime did not appeal to him, so he chose to follow his dreams and began creating art. His interest in art became a pursuit for spiritual, mental, and physical elevation. In addition to creating original art pieces, Malik works with communities that have seen hardship.

This piece was sponsored by the SF Housing Development Corporation with support by the Bayview Opera House, 4800 Home Owners Association and the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center.

April Berger paints the Mission

Posted by Cindy on December 27, 2012

Dec 272012

3300 Block of 18th
Mission District

April Berger is an artist who has been living and creating art in San Francisco for thirty years. Her work is primarily non-figurative, which allows the viewer to have an immediate response to the color, texture, pattern, and forms that they are seeing. Her love of color has been the main focus of her works of art. “Color is an extremely powerful tool. Its impact is strong and far reaching. It promotes health, well being, vitality and peace.”

One of Ms. Berger’s goals is to have her rich color palettes beautify walls throughout her beloved city. “San Francisco’s tendency has been to have political and urban style murals. I think it’s very important to have a wide variety of styles on our city streets.”

Berger has exhibited and sold her works both nationally and internationally. She received her arts degree at SUNY Purchase in New York

This particular mural was part of April’s Paint it Forward Program.

She raised over $5000 through Kick Starter and this was the proposal:

The idea of The Paint it Forward Project came to me last year after completing a mural that I was commissioned to paint in order to cover graffiti. It’s been demonstrated over and over again that once a mural is on a wall, it no longer gets “tagged” with graffiti. The goal of the project is to collaborate on the design and creation of two new murals in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. Paint it Forward will be a true collaboration between artists who bring very different styles and content to their work.

The Paint It Forward project is about empowering our youth and beautifying our neighborhood. I will be engaging young “taggers” who have the desire to be true artists and make their mark on the world around them. If given the proper mentoring and support, these dynamic young people will develop into successful public artists, creating dynamic murals, feeling a sense of pride, belonging and responsibility to their city.

I’d like to raise $5,000 in order to pay these kids for their time, for the materials, and for a huge party to celebrate the completion of the murals.

Ruth Asawa at the Parc 55

Posted by Cindy on December 26, 2012

Dec 262012

55 Cyril Magnin
Union Square Area
Parc 55 Hotel porte-cochere

San Francisco Yesterday and Today by Ruth Asawa 1984 – Cast Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Ruth Asawa used baker’s clay to sculpt these panels. Ms. Asawa has many works around San Francisco. An American artist, who is nationally recognized for her wire sculpture. Ruth, at the age of 16, along with her family, was interned in Rohwer camp in Rohwer, Arkansas at a time when it was feared the people of Japanese descent on the West Coast would commit acts of sabotage. It was the first step on a journey into the art world for Ruth. In 1994, when she was 68 years old, she said of the experience: “I hold no hostilities for what happened; I blame no one. Sometimes good comes through adversity. I would not be who I am today had it not been for the Internment, and I like who I am.”

RESPECT

Posted by Cindy on December 21, 2012

Dec 212012

1601 Lane
Bayview/Hunters Point

Respect

This mural is on the side of the YMCA in the Bayview. It was funded by SF StreetSmARTS program and was done by Senay Dennis, also known as Refa One.

Refa’s website had this to say about his calligraphy murals.

Style

1: a distinctive manner of expression (as in writing or speech).

Characteristics or elements combined and expressed in a particular (often unique) and consistent manner. Derived from ‘stylus,’ the Latin word for a sharp instrument for making relatively permanent marks.

Style Writing is the art form and culture I am MOST passionate about. Writing exemplifies the highest expression of my creative abilities. If there was a single body of work I had to use to represent my being,it would be the “Wild Style”. When I’m doing a Burner, my spirit is in it’s most active and peaceful state.

Bufano in Valencia Gardens

Posted by Cindy on December 20, 2012

Dec 202012

Valencia Gardens Housing Project
Corner of Maxwell Court and Rosa Parks Way

These animal sculptures at Valencia Gardens were sculpted by Beniamino (Benny) Bufano. They were done in the 1930s for the Work Progress Administration Project at Aquatic Park. In the 1940s, when the federal government pulled out of San Francisco the sculptures were given to the City of San Francisco and became the charge of the San Francisco Art Commission.

There are two other sculptures that were part of this grouping. The Frog and The Seal are still at Aquatic Park.

This collection of statuary is by San Francisco darling Beniamino Bufano. They sit in a courtyard of the completely newly rebuilt Valencia Garden Housing Project.

During the work that was done at Valencia Gardens, the statues were placed at the Randall Museum for restoration and the enjoyment of the citizens of San Francisco.

The $66 million development of the new Valencia Gardens replaced 246 dilapidated and blighted housing units with 260 affordable homes for extremely-low and low-income families and seniors. Valencia Gardens is located on a 4.9-acre site between Valencia, Guerrero, 15th, and 14th Streets in the Mission District, the same location as the previous public housing which stood for over sixty years.

After almost a decade of planning, the revitalization of Valencia Gardens was made possible through a network of partnerships and collaborations at the local, state and federal levels. As a HOPE VI development, $66 million in development financing was provided by both the public and private sectors.

The design and architecture of Valencia Gardens are based on new urbanism principles that have shown to increase the quality of life and sense of community in other HOPE VI affordable housing developments. Most importantly, Valencia Gardens is integrated into its neighborhood with new public roads and walkways, as opposed to being isolated by fencing, as was the case with the previous project.

San Francisco All Wrapped Up in a Fountain

Posted by Cindy on December 18, 2012

Dec 182012

Union Square
Hyatt Hotel
345 Stockton Street

This fountain by Ruth Asawa was commissioned by Hyatt in 1970 and completed in 1972, the fountain consists of 41 individual bronzed plaques each about 26X32 inches depicting San Francisco landmarks covering the entire circular wall of the fountain bowl and measuring over 14 feet in diameter. At the center of the high wall of the drum, you will notice HH which represents the Grand Hyatt on Union Square. Everything to the south of Union Square is to the left, everything north is to the right. The Ocean is the top boundary, the bay is at the bottom. You may recognize the Powell St Cable Car turnabout, the opera house, Nob Hill, the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge, the Ferry Building, Ghiradelli Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Palace of Fine Arts, and the Golden Gate Bridge, among many other familiar sights. In addition, you may notice fantasies such as Superman flying past the Montgomery St Skyscraper over Snoopy on his dog house or the Wizard of Oz character. Total effect is a real and unreal world where anyone can enter.

Because of Ruth’s desire to show what many many hands working together could do, help from visitors and over 100 children in the area was solicited. Rather than the traditional sculpture’s material, Asawa used a bread dough bakers clay to model the fountain. When finished the piece of sculptured dough was arranged on the panels surface and stuck down with white glue. The panel were then set aside the thoroughly dry before being taken to the fountain for casting.

Lombard Street

The French Laundry, one of the Bay Areas renowned restaurants, and at the time of this sculpture was owned by Don and Sally Schmitt, whose legacy lives on at The Apple Farm. The Schmitts sold the restaurant to it’s current chef, Thomas Keller.

Mission Dolores

The Conservatory in Golden Gate Park

Fleishacker Pool was a public saltwater swimming pool located in the southwest corner of San Francisco, next to the zoo for 47 years. Upon its completion in 1925, it was one of the largest heated outdoor swimming pools in the world.

Palace of Fine Arts

A Heroine is Honored

Posted by Cindy on November 25, 2012

Nov 252012

1199 Mason at Washington
Chinatown

This is the entry to the Betty Ong Recreation Center in Chinatown. Betty Ann Ong was a flight attendant on American Airlines, Flight 11, the first airplane to become hijacked on September 11, 2001. Shortly after the hijacking began, Betty chose to be involved and make a difference by taking action to notify the American Airlines ground crew of the hijacking situation on board the airplane. Amid horrific danger, she stayed on the telephone for 25 minutes, relaying vital information that eventually led to the closing of airspace by the FAA for the first time in United States history.

In memory of Betty, the Betty Ann Ong Foundation, a not for profit public charity, was established to continue her legacy. The advocacy of the Betty Ann Ong Foundation serves to educate children to the positive benefits of lifelong physical activity and healthy eating habits and to provide opportunities for children to experience the great outdoors so that they can grow to become healthy, strong and productive individuals.

For the center’s entrance lobby, Chinese-born Shan Shan Sheng created a suspension sculpture that uses language to speak to the unique Chinese American experience in San Francisco and the California landscape. Active Memory is cascade of red Chinese calligraphy that showers visitors upon entry. The artist handmade the glass characters so that they look handwritten. The sculpture’s form, vertical flows of narrative, was inspired by traditional Chinese landscape paintings, which are often inscribed with poems. The sculpture itself is comprised of five poems, two of which are by renowned poets Bai Juyi (772-846) and Li Bai (701-762) of the Tang Dynasty and a poem by Su Shi (1036-1101) of the Song Dynasty. The other poems include an early twentieth-century poem by an anonymous immigrant about his experience on Angel Island and the last by the Artist, with key words describing the lives of Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area, Words such as “gold rush”, “railroad track”, and “computer” invoke the memory of travel, labor and the transformation of America.

Strands 1/2, Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772‐846)

唐白居易《賦得古原草送別》離離原上草,一歲一枯榮。野火燒不盡,春風吹又生。

“Grasses on the Ancient Plain: A Farewell Song”

The grass is spreading out across the plain,
In spring it comes and by fall it goes.
Wild fire cannot destroy it all;
When spring winds blow it surges back again.

Strand 3, Tang Dynasty poet, Li Bai (701‐762) 唐李白《送孟浩然之廣陵》

孤帆遠影碧空盡,惟見長江天際流。

“A Farewell To Meng Haoran On His Way To Yangzhou”

Under the blue sky, your lonely sail turns into a silhouette, Only the long river rolls on its way to heaven.

Strands 4/ 5, Song Dynasty poet, Su Shi (1036‐1101)

宋蘇軾《水調歌頭》明月幾時有,把酒問青天。但願人長久,千里共嬋娟。

“Thinking of You”

With a cup of wine in hand, I look at the sky

and wonder when the moon first appeared.
May we all be blessed with long life.
We can still share the beauty of the moon together even if we are thousand miles apart.

Strands 6/7, Anonymous poem from the book Island: Poetry and History of Immigrants on Angel Island, 1920‐1940, by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim and Judy Yung

天使島牆詩
木屋拘留幾十天,所囚墨例致牽連,可惜英雄無用武,只聽音來策祖鞭

Detained in this wooden house for several tens of days.
It is all because of the Mexican exclusion law which implicates me.
It’s a pity that even if a hero has no way to exercising his prowess here.
The only thing we can do to get us out of this place fast is to wait for the call.

Translator’s note No. 1: 策[ce]:take; snap. 祖鞭[zu bian]:be in front; in lead; stay on top. 策祖鞭(take Zu’s whip) in general means doing something in the lead.]

Translator’s note No. 2: The translator modified the wording in the last two lines of the English translation to provide clearer meaning.

Strand 8, Keywords related to Chinese immigrants history in the San Francisco Bay Area by the Artist

淘金火車鐵路半導體數碼電腦網路舊金山

Gold rush, train, railroad track, Semi conductor, digital age, computer, network, San Francisco

Shan Shan Sheng grew up during the Cultural Revolution. In 1982 she came to the US to pursue her academic and artistic interests by attending Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she earned her first MFA. She then went on to Harvard as an artist-in-residence for two years. She now lives in San Francisco.

Sun Spheres on Ocean Avenue

Posted by Cindy on October 19, 2012

Oct 192012

1344 Ocean at Grenada
Ingleside/Sunnyside

There are three of these mosaic Sun Spheres on Ocean Avenue between Miramar and Grenada. Done by Laura True, they were installed in 2008. The Spheres range in size from 3′ to 5′ in diameter and were commissioned by the SFAC at a cost of $47,500.

Fire, Air, Earth and Water

Posted by Cindy on October 18, 2012

Oct 182012

Helen Willis Park
Broadway and Larkin

These columns, titled Fire, Air, Earth and Water were done in 2004 by San Francisco resident, Amy Blackstone. Amy has several pieces around the Bay Area.

Excerpt from a March 6, 2004 SF Chronicle piece about Amy Blackstone: “I love gardens. To me, especially in an urban setting, a garden is kind of magical and the gateway is kind of a trumpet announcement.” Gates are one of Blackstone’s specialties.

These pieces are made with steel, fiberglass and patina. The pipes were donated by Naylor Pipe Company. They were commissioned by the SFAC for the Rec and Park Department in the 2006-07 budget for $36,000.

Hidden Sea near Moscone Center

Posted by Cindy on September 22, 2012

Sep 222012

321 Clementina
SOMA

Hidden Sea by Ned Kahn 2000

Recipient Organization: Tenants and Owners Development Corporation

In late 1999, artist Ned Kahn collaborated with the staff of the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO) and the residents of their housing projects to create a public artwork for the exterior wall of Ceatrice Polite apartment building at Fourth and Clementina Streets. The apartment is in the Yerba Buena redevelopment area.

Ned Kahn’s public artworks encourage people to observe and interact with natural processes. Upon talking with the advisory group, his concept for this project became to create a piece that captures the feeling of watching a field of tall grass blowing in the wind. Both Kahn and John Elberling, Executive Vice President of TODCO, felt that the residents would benefit from being offered a glimpse into a natural phenomenon, a bit of calm and beauty in the context of their increasingly dense and bustling urban landscape.

The artwork, “Hidden Sea” consists of 6,000 small aluminum “leaves” mounted in an aluminum framework and hinged to move freely in the wind. The individual leaves measure three inches by three inches and are held by low friction bearings. The entire 40-foot tall by 25-foot wide artwork reveals the shape of the wind and creates the intended impression of waves in a field of metallic grass. The mirror-like surfaces of the aluminum leaves reflect light from different parts of the sky and the surrounding buildings.

“Hidden Sea” was fabricated by Ace Precision Machine in Santa Rosa and assembled in Ned Kahn’s studio. Benji Young and Michael Ehrlich of Young Rigging in San Francisco installed the artwork at the beginning of the year 2000.

Ned Kahn writes of the context for this project:

For the last 15 years, I have created public artworks that use wind, water, fog and other natural processes as their primary medium. Many of these artworks were intended to reveal a hidden or unnoticed force in the site such as the air currents or the ambient light from the sky. The design of a number of these projects was based on an aspect of the natural history or geology of the region that was not commonly known. My artworks often function as small-scale “observatories” in that they frame and enhance our perception of natural phenomena and create places that encourage contemplation.

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 drawn to and his ongoing interest in glass buildings in the 2002 book Chihuly Gardens & Glass .

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 quality of life. Through this Green Belt Movement she has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms, schools and church compounds.

Wangari Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation.

In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to parliament with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. She was subsequently appointed by the president, as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya’s ninth parliament. In 2004 she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

She died in 2011 from ovarian cancer.

The remaining characters depicted are typical San Francisco residents. The Street Sheet, held up by the man on the left is a homeless newspaper published as a way to disseminate information and for the homeless to make money.

There were two artists on this piece.Kate Decicco and Delvin Kenobe. Kenobe is an artist who is very versatile in style from surealism, photorealism, abstraction, and illustration and animation. His goal is to create change in the world by creating socially conscious works that directly tap into the soul of the viewer.

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