Tag: Public Art
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Don Potts Amazing Wood Models
City Hall South Light Court Civic Center Pylon of the Golden Gate Bridge There are four amazing, exquisite and highly detailed wood models in the South Light Court of City Hall. They are all by Don Potts. These architectural models were designed and built in 1982 by Don Potts in commemoration of the Centennial of…
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George Moscone
City Hall Mayor’s Balcony Civic Center This bronze bust is of the late Mayor George Moscone. Moscone was assassinated by Dan White along with Harvey Milk in November 1978, a tragedy for the City of San Francisco. Moscone was our 37th mayor. The bust was done by my dear friend Spero Anargyros. Spero has a…
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Log
Corner of Webster and Golden Gate Avenue Park behind the Rosa Parks Senior Center Western Addition I have driven past this park one thousand times and have always wondered about this tree stump. Then one day my dear friend Netra Roston told me about an artist named Sargent Johnson. Sargent Johnson was not a stranger…
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Cyril Magnin
City Hall South Light Court Cyril Magnin served as San Francisco’s Chief of Protocol from 1964 until his death in 1988. He was responsible for keeping many key international consulates from moving out of San Francisco and to Los Angeles. He is seen here walking his dog Tippecanoe. In Magnin’s 1981 autobiography, “Call Me Cyril,”…
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Harvey Milk
City Hall Supervisors Legislative Chamber Civic Center This is the only bust of a supervisor in San Francisco’s City Hall. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office. Milk won a seat as a San Francisco supervisor in 1977. He served almost 11 months in office and was responsible for passing…
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Goddess of Progress
City Hall South Light Court Goddess of Progress by F. Marion Wells The plaque that accompanies her reads: On April 17, 1906, the dome atop San Francisco’s City Hall that was completed in 1896 supported a twenty foot statue by F. Marion Wells. The Goddess of Progress, with lightbulbs in her hair, held a torch…
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Whispering Dishes
Market Street and Yerba Buena Lane Financial District This exhibit is the first of a series titled Living Innovation Zones. Living Innovation Zones (LIZ) are new public spaces opening up along Market Street between Octavia and The Embarcadero. The LIZ’s are collaborationa between the community, innovators, and the City to enhance the public good, foster learning…
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Os Gemeos, Bode and The Warfield
Taylor and Turk The Tenderloin This fun mural was finished in September of 2013. It is a collaboration between Os Gemeos and Mark Bode, both whom have been in this site before. This whimsical piece sits on the back of the Warfield Theater on Market street. The two cousins from Brazil and San Francisco artist…
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Caruso’s Dream Causes Pianos to Fly
55 Ninth Street Mid Market/SOMA I spoke with Brian Goggin about his installation of Caruso’s Dream well over a year ago. While it is taking a long time to get installed, and is was not quite finished when I wrote this post, I thought I would bring it to you anyway. Brian has been in…
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Painted Grain Silos in San Francisco
696 Amador Street off 3rd Street / Pier 90/92 Bayview/Hunters Point A while back I wrote about these grain silos, I also mentioned at the time they eventually would become an art project. You can read all about the silos here. This project is part of the Blue Greenway Project, a $2.2 million project funded…
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Windmills of Portola
Palega Park 500 Felton Portola District In November of 2013 eighty year old Palega Park underwent a $21.2 million Restoration. The Park’s new clubhouse features a mosaic mural by Kelly Ording commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission through the city’s two-percent-for-art ordinance. Located behind the clubhouse’s portico windows and visible from the street, Windmills pays homage…
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Tile Benches at Alta Plaza
Alta Plaza Steiner/Clay/Scott/Jackson Pacific Heights There are two benches in the children’s area of Alta Plaza Playground covered in beautiful tile mosaics. Commissioned by Friends of Alta Plaza Park, the artist, Aileen Barr, combined handmade tile and mosaic to create the two seating walls for the newly renovated playground. A series of donor tiles…
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Restoring Historic Murals
Franklin Square Park 2500 17th Street Potrero Hill Brotherhood of Man by Anthony Stellon This once abandoned mosaic was found by David Schweisguth in 2006. While walking his beagle Huxley in Franklin Square Park one afternoon, Huxley sniffed around a large concrete slab serving as a makeshift potting table, Schweisguth looked under the plastic sheet…
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Tiled Stairways to Heaven
Golden Gate Heights 16th Avenue between Kirkham and Lawton This is the second project by Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher covering stairways in the Golden Gate Heights area. You can read about both of them and their first project here. This project was made possible by a group called Hidden Garden Steps. According to…
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Shining Paths
SFO International Terminal Gate G level 3 Post TSA Shining Paths: San Francisco’s Sister Cities 2006 by Lewis Desoto 16 Derkson projectors, lamps and gobo light gels 68 in. in diameter. This work in its entirety consists of 16 light projections (divided between boarding areas A and G) that celebrate San Francisco’s Sister Cities around…
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Blue Deer
SFO International Terminal Gate G Level 3 Post TSA Blue Deer 2006-2007 Oil and Pigmented Ink with Gesso Ground on Wood Panels Clare Rojas The plaque on this piece reads: Inspired by American folk art, quilting and storytelling, Clare Rojas creates dreamlike images executed in tightly drawn crystalline shapes. Rojas intends to bring a sense…
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Baile
SFO International Terminal Gate G Level 3 Post TSA “Baile” – Copper and Powder Coated Steel – 1999 – Carmen Lomas Garza The plaque on this piece reads: This image of Mexican Flokloric dancers is inspired by the tradition of Mexican and Chinese tissue paper cutouts and French silhouettes. As an artist, Carmen Lomas Carza…
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Sanctuary
SFO International Terminal Gate G Level 3 Post TSA The plaque on this piece reads: Arrival at SFO is the beginning of a new life for many immigrants. Just as the surrounding wetlands prove sanctuary for shore birds during their annual migration. the mural is painted in fresco buono an ancient technique that mixes pigment…
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Bird Technology
SFO Boarding Area G Level 3 International Terminal Post TSA Bird Technology – Hand Painted Ceramic Tile – 1999 by Rupert Garcia The plaque on this piece reads: This work combines two images: a bird that symbolizes natural flight, and a geometric grid that symbolizes the technological advances that made human flight possible. Implicit in…
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Thinking of Balmy Alley
SFO International Terminal Boarding Area G Level 3 Post TSA Ceramic Tile Mosaic – 1999 by Rigo 99 The plaque on this piece reads: This work, of a solitary boy totally absorbed in the act of paining, is inspired y a mural (since destroyed) painted in 1993 by the artist and local youth in Balmy…
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Fly, Flight Fugit
SFO International Terminal Boarding Area G – Level 3 Post TSA Fly, Flight Fugit by Squeak Carnwath Porcelain Enamel on Steel – 1999 210 in. x 210 in.; each panel is 30 in. square The plaque that accompanies the piece states: “When I’m I’m a Plane, I often think about things that fly naturally. This…
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Glass that challenges your understanding
San Francisco International Terminal Terminal Two Air Over Under by Norie Sato – 2011 These two Huge panels are easier to see than to photograph. (The above photo is courtesy of FlySFO) They are hand painted and silkscreened glass enamels on float glass and measure 16 ft. x 150 ft. each. Norie Sato’s imagery was inspired…
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Flight Patterns
San Francisco International Airport Terminal One Boarding Area C Flight Patterns by Larry Kirkland – 1987 Stainless steel cables, painted aluminum tubing, sheeting and screening 264 in. x 276 in. x 756 in. Born in 1950 in Port Hueneme, California, Larry Kirkland moved with his military family throughout the U.S. and abroad during his childhood.…
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A Mosaic of Bay Area History
San Francisco International Airport Terminal 1 Connector Level 2 Bay Area Victorian, Bay Area, Deco, Bay Area Funk by Joyce Kozloff – 1982 This artwork is inspired by historical decorative styles found in the Bay Area. The left panel, Bay Area Victorian, draws its sources from the ornament on old homes in the Mission District,…
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Thousands and Thousands of Tiles
San Francisco International Airport International Terminal Main Hall Gateway 2000- by Ik-Joong Kang This artwork contains 5,400 unique 3 in. x 3 in. paintings, wood carvings, tiles and cast acrylic cubes. The artist began working in this 3 in. x 3 in. format when he was a student and commuted long distances to various part-time…
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Stacking Stones
San Francisco International Airport Terminal Two Level Two Stacking Stones by Seiji Kunishma – 1983 These stones were commissioned by SFAC for the airport in 1983. They remained in the airport during the new construction. Born in Nagoya, Japan, Seiji Kunishima is an internationally renowned artist whose sculptures are characterized by a serene balance between…
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Tapestries to take your breath away
San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2 Waiting Area This is a series by Mark Adams. They include Garden Outside Gate, Garden in Golden Gate Park, and Garden in San Andreas Valley. They have been in storage for over 20 years at the SFAC. They were brought out and installed as part of the complete remodel…
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Topo in Cloth and aluminum
San Francisco International Airport Departure Lobby Terminal 2 Kendall Buster -Powder coated steel tubing; greenhouse shade cloth- 288 in. x 288 in. x 192 in Topograph I & II Kendall Buster earned a BFA degree from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC and an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University as well…
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Welcome
San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2 Baggage Claim Level 1 Dan Snyder – Polyurethane Paint on Aluminum -1983 Titled Welcome North, Welcome South, Welcome East, Welcome West, is designed to greet visitors from around the world. According to Mr Snyder’s website: Dan was born in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1941. His father…
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Takaroa
1086 Green Street Russian Hill Takaroa Fountain by David Ruth 2004 Pyrex Glass This fountain sits outside a condominium complex on Green Street, and was a private commission. According to David Ruth’s website: The Look of ice comes from the fusing of borosilicate glasses like Pyrex. After I was introduced to the material I tried…