Tag: Public Art
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Trader Vic the Sculptor
California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park These two seals once resided outside the California Academy of Sciences. They are now inside near the restaurant. This view is through the fence. Entry to the Academy is $30 for adults. These two seals were sculpted by Victor Jules Bergeron. Known locally as Trader Vic, Bergeron is…
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What is Missing?
California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park **** This piece, titled What’s Missing is by Maya Lin. The photo above was taken from outside the fence that rings the Academy of Sciences. Entry to the Academy is $30 for adults. The permanent site-specific sculpture is the first component of an international multi-sited, multimedia art work…
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Where the Land Meets the Sea
California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park This Marine Grade Stainless Steel wire sculpture (difficult to photograph) is titled Where the Land Meets the Sea, and is by Maya Lin. This is the first permanent artwork by Maya Lin in San Francisco. The artist was selected through the Arts Commission’s competitive application process in 2005.…
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GGP’s Sea Serpent
Koret Childrens Quarters Golden Gate Park This divine sea creature is by Phoebe Palmer. On an architectural scale, Phoebe is building densely textured, sculptural ferro-cement walls and working in mosaics and metal sculpture as well as her “normal” mediums of paint and pastels. Phoebe has taken the characters formerly inhabiting her paintings and pastels and cast…
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Mona Caron in Noe Valley
3871 24th Street Noe Valley These two murals sit on the two sides of a parking lot on 24th Street They are by Mona Caron who has been in this website many, many times. According to Caron’s website: The mural comprises two paintings that face each other over a small park and parking lot in…
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Spreckles Temple of Music
Music Concourse Golden Gate Park Spreckels Temple of Music This is the third bandstand to grace Golden Gate Park. Claus Spreckels (The Sugar King) gave $75,000 towards the $78,810 cost of the building. The shell is an Italian Renaissance style with an acoustically reflective coffered shell standing 70 feet high and covered in Colusa Sandstone.…
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Lions and Bears in the Park
The Brown Gate 8th and Fulton Street This bear and lion that grace the pillars when you enter the park at 8th and Fulton are by M. Earl Cummings. Cummings has been in this website many, many times, he also has quite a few sculptures within Golden Gate Park. These sculptures were a gift of…
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The Bard and The Park
Shakespeare Garden Golden Gate Park This is the Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park, a favorite spot for weddings. Behind that iron door is a bronze bust of Shakespeare. On either sides are plaques engraved with excerpts from some of the Bard’s works that mention plants. The purpose of the garden was to showcase plants…
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Horseshoe Courts of Golden Gate Park
Horseshoe Pits Golden Gate Park There are sixteen courts in a very out of the way spot of the park, not far from McClaren Lodge. The site was developed out of a rock quarry during 1934 as a WPA project. There are two concrete bas-reliefs created on the face of the rocks. The artist was…
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Sarah B. Cooper Brings the West its First Kindergarten
Golden Gate Park Near the Sharon Art Center This memorial to Sarah B. Cooper was placed in the park by the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association in 1923. This area sits on the other side of the carousel from the Koret Childrens Playground. Sarah Cooper was instrumental in the Kindergarten Movement of San Francisco. Here, from…
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Animals in the Park
Koret Playground Golden Gate Park There are five of these cast stone creatures in the new Koret Childrens Area of Golden Gate Park. They are the second public art project that Vicki Saulls did in San Francisco. The first you can view here. The playground underwent a major renovation with generous funding from the Koret…
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Henri Crenier’s Telamones
Civic Center San Francisco City Hall These telamones by Henri Crenier have always taken my breath away. They sit on the Van Ness side of City Hall. Telamones (plural) or Telamon are sculptured male human figures used in place of columns to support an entablature. They are also called Atlantes (plural) or Atlas. They are…
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Henri Crenier adds Beauty to San Francisco City Hall
City Hall San Francisco Civic Center San Francisco’s City Hall has an art collection of its own within its walls. This is about the art work that graces the building. City Hall was the cornerstone to the City Beautiful Movement in San Francisco. On City Hall there are two tympanums each holding a sculpture by…
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The King of Beasts in Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park Music Concourse This lion sits outside of the new DeYoung Museum near the Pool of Enchantment. It is by Roland Hinton Perry. Created in 1898 it was given to the City of San Francisco in 1906 by San Francisco jeweler Shreve and Company. The sculpture survived a fire in Shreve’s showroom caused…
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55 Stockton Street – Looking up
55 Stockton Street Union Square / Market Street This building, designed by Heller Manus Architects in 1989 stands at a very busy corner one block off of Union Square. If you look closely you can see 14 figures drumming or holding spheres. * According to the Smithsonian Institute, these figures were done by Tom Otterness.…
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Tigers and Cougars at the Zoo
San Francisco Zoo Outer Sunset Tiger II by Gwynn Murrill Gwynn Murrill has always worked with animals as her subject matter. She captures the beauty of her subjects and their particular postures with astonishing authority. Stripped of surface detail and complexity, the subject is reduced to the essence of its being and the sculptures are…
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A Fossil on the Great Highway
The Great Highway at Pacheco Outer Sunset Fossil by Mary Chomenko Hinckley – 1989 A cast bronze medallion inset into the sidewalk depicts the history of the Ocean Beach and incorporates elements discovered or retrieved from the neighborhood into the design. According to Mary’s website: Her work seeks to illuminate the hidden relationships between found objects.…
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Edison and DaVinci by Olmsted
CCSF Ocean View Campus 50 Phelan Sunnyside * According to CCSF’s website “Archibald Cloud, the Chief Deputy Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, began in 1930 to vigorously articulate a long held educational dream: that the “premier” county in the State—San Francisco—must have the same educational “jewel” as did 38 of the State’s…
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Swimming through Jessie Square
Site of the future Mexican Museum 706 Mission District Museum Row SOMA This is titled Exploring New Territory and is by Henry Lipkis. This wall is the edge of the construction site for the forthcoming Mexican Museum, so the piece will be temporary. This is from Henry’s blog: “Back in October I painted my first…
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Fish Tale
San Francisco General Hospital Potrero Hill Fish Tale by Hilda Shum was done in 1995. A stainless steel sculpture of an abstract fish tail rises from a mosaic “pool” of green and blue tiles. The fish is a symbol of transformation in many cultures and, as such, has special significance for this facility, which is…
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Dance of the Cubes
San Francisco General Hospital Potrero Hill Dance of the Cubes is by Jacques Schnier. It is made of plastic and fiberglass and was done in 1975. Jacques Schnier taught at Berkeley for 30 years. First appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, he retired as Professor of Art, Emeritus, in 1966. Jacques was…
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L’Octagon by Pol Bury
353 Sansome Street The Financial District L’Octagon by Pol Bury – Marble and Steel L’Octagon is a result of the 1% for Art program in San Francisco. It is available for viewing between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. M-F This lovely sculpture actually moves. The balls slightly fill with water on the bottom and roll…
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Harvey Milk Rec Center
50 Scott Castro This saying is over the back entry way to the Harvey Milk Recreation Center. It is in Architectural foam and is by Michael Davis and Susan Schwartzenberg. This phrase comes from “A City of Neighborhoods,” speech Harvey Milk delivered during his inaugural dinner after his election to the Board of Supervisors in…
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Called to Rise
235 Pine Street Financial District Called to Rise features individuals who have contributed significantly to the history of San Francisco. The figures include, Juan Bautista De Anza, Eadweard Muybridge, Makato Hagiwara, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, Chingwah Lee, Ishi, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Philip Burton, Amadeo Peter Giannini, Benjamin Franklin Norris, Timothy Pflueger, Douglas Tilden, Kurt Herbert Adler,…
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Folded Circle Split
201 Spear Street SOMA Financial Area Folded Circle Split by Fletcher Benton – 1984 In walking through the lobby of 201 Spear Street I tripped upon this sculpture. The office building is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm M-F. Fletcher Benton (born February 25, 1931 Jackson, Ohio) is from San Francisco, California He graduated from Miami University, Oxford,…
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Go Bears
817 Terry Francois Way Mission Rock Resort Dogpatch Old Cal Memorial Stadium Wood * Paul Olson is a versatile and very adaptable artist working in a variety of mediums. Paul has worked as a freelance illustrator for twelve years creating unique artwork as well as adapting styles to work with illustration teams. He has created designs…
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Mid Market Sees Black and White
1125 Market Street Mid Market Area This piece is a collaboration of Cannon Dill and Feral Child. Cannon Dill is from Mill Valley and presently lives in Oakland. Feral Child is a California based artist who has been working in the streets for the past five years. Influenced by folk art, activism, and the geometry within…
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Sumer #24 by Larry Bell
101 Second Street SOMA Financial District Sumer #24 by Larry Bell – Bronze Sumer #24 is a result of the POPOS program and the 1% for Art program of San Francisco. While it is viewable through the windows of the building it is available for viewing up close from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm M-F.…