Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Tag: SFAC

  • Peace by Bufano

    800 Brotherhood Way Peace by Benny Bufano Located at the entrance to the San Francisco Airport for almost forty years”Peace” was relocated to make way for a parking garage.  After restoration it was moved to Brotherhood Way, where it stands now. Benny Bufano was born in Italy in 1898, Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano came to the…

  • Hidden Gems in Bernal Heights

    82 Coleridge Street Bernal Heights This tile mosaic is titled Colloidal Pool and is by Peter Almeida. Done in 1988 it is suggestive of a puddle with ripples moving concentrically over leaf sheaves.  The view from Coleridge Mini Park Coleridge Mini Park

  • Watching the Wind at the Randall Museum

    Randall Museum 199 Museum Way Castro * The plaque that accompanies the piece reads: Charles Sowers is an artist whose practice links art and science.  Here wind currents activate over 500 aluminum arrows to reveal the ever-changing ways the wind interacts with the building and its environment.  “My work presents actual physical phenomena, often of…

  • Fire creates Firehouse Art

    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…

  • Noe Valley Natives – Plants that is.

    295 Day Street Noe Valley SAN FRANCISCO WALL FLOWER “ERYSIMUM FRANCISCANUM” This installation is titled Noe Valley Natives, and these pieces sit on fence posts at the Upper Noe Valley Rec Center.  The artist is Troy Corliss.  In 1993 Troy graduated from the studio art program at the University of California at Davis. While at UC Davis,…

  • Muertos in the Mission

    Valencia Street Between 15th and 19th Streets Mission District *  These tree grates are part of Phase One of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project.  They were designed by DPW architects John Dennis and Martha Ketterer and manufactured by Iron Age Grates company. Phase one of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project included removal of the striped…

  • Muni brings art to an industrial building

    700 Pennsylvania Potrero Hill * The Muni Ways and Structures Facility is located at 700 Pennsylvania Street at the base of Potrero Hill. The facility centralizes several Muni functions, including, among others, a machine shop, welding, carpentry, painting, and locksmith. Although the size and shape of the complex is unchanged from its former role as…

  • Dancers and Musicians on the Performing Arts Garage

    Civic Center Performing Arts Garage Grove and Gough Streets   * * The Dancing Musicians and The Dancer by Joan Brown 1986-1986  Bronze Joan Brown has several pieces around San Francisco.  These pieces were commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commision.  The flautist and guitar player are twelve feet high and five feet wide and…

  • Madonna by Benjamin Bufano at SF General

    Potrero Hill San Francisco General Hospital 1001 Potrero Avenue Madonna by Benjamin (Beniamino) Bufano 1974 Benjamin (Benny) Bufano was a prolific artist in his time and has many pieces around San Francisco. This Madonna of Red Granite and mosaic sits on the edge of the comfort garden in San Francisco General Hospital, near building 80.…

  • Gene Friend Rec Center in SOMA – Tile Art

    SOMA Gene Friend Rec Center 270 6th Street * A World View by Martha Heavenston Nojima Martha Heavenston Nojima is known for her tile work, and especially her work with children in the arts.  This particular group of tile creatures was done in 1989 and was commissioned and is owned by the San Francisco Art…

  • Western Addition – Northern Police Station

    Western Addition Turk and Fillmore Streets Northern Police Station * * * This cast concrete panel by Horace Washington depicts the cultural diversity of the Western Addition and its architectural history. The panel also features the likeness of police officers of the past. The piece is part of the San Francisco Arts Commission collection and…

  • Performing Arts Parking Garage – Dancing in the Curve of the World

    Civic Center Performing Arts Garage Gough and Grove Streets   * Dancing in the Curve of the World by Josef Norris Josef Norris is responsible for the murals at Kid Power Park. This piece, done in 2003 was paid for by the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Cultural Equity Fund and the Neighborhood Beautification Fund.

  • Hayes Valley – Ghinlon/Transcope

    Hayes Valley/Western Addition Octavia Boulevard between Market and Hayes * * * Ghinlon/Transcope by Po Shu Wang 2005 Commissioned by the SF Arts Commission for the Octavia Boulevard Streetscape Project, these transcopes invite you to observe the comings and goings along Octavia Boulevard and Patricia’s Green. There are twelve of these installed along the medians…

  • Golden Gate Park – Our National Pastime

    Golden Gate Park Our National Pastime by Douglas Tilden – 1889 Presented to the Golden Gate Park by a friend of the sculptor as a tribute to his energy, industry and ability Cruet Fondeur, Paris (John Cruet was a moldmaker in Paris, he also worked with Rodin. Fondeur means owner of the foundry) Tilden originally…

  • SOMA – Labyrinth-Habitat

    SOMA 8th and Natoma Streets  Labyrinth – Habitat 1999 Johanna Poethig with Episcopal Community Services Ceramic and paint Commissioned by the San Francisco Art Commission – Arts in Community Program. Johanna Poethig has been in this site many, many times.   This mural is on the side of one of the Training Centers for Episcopal Community…

  • SOMA – Large Pieces of Marble

    631 Folsom Street SOMA These giant pieces of carrara marble are by Richard Deutsch are titled Frammenti.  Deutsch has been in this site before and I recommend you visit his website.  He is a very accomplished artist with work all over the world. This piece is titled Fragmented.  The day I was there the fountain was…

  • The Mission Kid Power Park

    The Mission District Kid Power Park Hoff between 16th and 17th Ethel Siegel Newlin,program liaison at St. John’s Educational Thresholds Center (now Mission Graduates) on 16th Street, is responsible for this wonderful little oasis in the city. Ten years ago, elementary and middle school children in one of Newlin’s programs surveyed the neighborhood and found…

  • Candlestick Park – Endangered Garden

    Candlestick Park The Endangered Garden by Patricia Johanson “Endangered Garden”, a linear park along San Francisco Bay was commissioned in 1987 by the San Francisco Arts Commission. As co-designer of the thirty million dollar “Sunnydale Facilities”, a pump station and holding tank for water and sewage, Patricia Johanson’s intent was to present this functional structure…

  • Sunset District – Propeller on the Walk Way

    The Sunset District The Great Highway at Riviera Standing here, looking out towards the Pacific you will find art at your feet.  You will also guess, at this point that it is covered in a lot of sand. Propeller by Richard Deutsch This granite and marble terrazzo paving piece has bronze nautical elements inlaid into…

  • Birds at the J.P. Murphy Playground

    Inner Sunset J. P. Murphy Playground 1960 9th Avenue Woman with Birds by Michael J. Carey This divine park, that includes several tennis courts and a wonderful rec room is surrounded by these giant hedges.  The hedges make a perfect backdrop for this sculpture. Michael Carey said: ““My intent with the sculpture for the J.…

  • San Francisco’s Muni Stops

    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…

  • North Beach Swimming Pool

    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…

  • SOMA – Spider Pelt

    SOMA Convention Center 3rd and Clementina Artist Dustin Shuler, who calls himself an “urban hunter of cars” created this work in 1985. Titled “Spider Pelt,” it is a mounted sculpture of a “skinned” red fiat spider. The Los Angeles artist has built his artistic career, on hunting cars, skinning them of their sheet metal exteriors,…

  • Chinatown’s Fire Station #2

    Chinatown, San Francisco 1340 Powell Street Fire Station #2 When you are in the building trades you realize that building parts can be art too.  For most people, however, they are just that, parts.  In the case of this fire station, Al Wong has added art that is whimsical, appropriate, and yet truly probably missed…

  • Chinatown’s Dragon Mural and More

    Chinatown – San Francisco * Chinatown is chock a block with murals, and this is one of my favorites.  It is titled Dragons Gate and is by Wes Wong and Lost One.  According to their website Fresh Paint they are “a San Francisco based mural painting company offering a fresh take on aerosol wall painting.”  They are…

  • Pepe Ozan’s Invocation

    Potrero Hill – San Francisco This sculpture is located at the corner of Bayshore Blvd, Cesar Chavez and 26th Street, just to the side of Highway 101. Though it was installed in 2004, to mark the beginning of a new bike path, they just started construction on said path this month. The sculptor, Pepe Ozan,…

  • SOMA – Tutubi Plaza

    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…

  • Market Street – Blossoms of Interest

    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 1852 Shoreline

    The 1852 Shoreline

    162 King Street South Beach Here is a map of San Francisco prior to 1852. In this map Townsend is the western-most street on the waterfront, one block northwest of King Street. Thanks to Found SF and the Oakland Museum, you can see what the area looks like today: If you are interested in more information…

  • Mahatma Gandhi and the Controversies

    Mahatma Gandhi and the Controversies

    Ferry Building Foot of Market Embarcadero This statue of Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi is by Zlatko Paunov.  Presented to the City of San Francisco by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, it sits on the water side of the Ferry Building.  Its location is intentional, as to honor Gandhi’s “Salt March to the Sea”  Its objective is…