In Chan Kaajal Park
17th and Folsom
Mission District
The plaque that accompanies this piece reads: The California condor is North America’s largest bird. Depicted life-size it has a wingspan of 9 1/2 feet. Now an endangered species, the condor is a scavenger that eats large amounts of carrion, thus playing an important part in the cycle of life. It is a significant bird to many California Native American groups and is featured in many of their traditional stories.
There are two California birds represented in this Mission district park. They are painted water-jet cut steel panels created by Carmen Lomas Garza.
San Francisco-based artist was born in 1948 in Kingsville, Texas. She attended Texas Arts and Industry University (now Texas A&M) and received a BS in art education. She also holds a Master of Education and a Master of Arts degree.
She is well known for her paintings, ofrendas and for her papel picado work inspired by her Mexican-American heritage. Her work is a part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of Mexican Art, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Mexican Museum the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Oakland Museum of California, among other institutions.
The plaque that accompanies this panel reads: The great blue heron depicted here life-size, has a wingspan of approximately 6 1/2 feet. Mission Creek that runs beneath this site historically provided a habitat and hunting ground for the great blue heron in its search for frogs, fish, gophers and other animals. Here the bird carries a leafless branch, the building materials for its nest.
In Chan Kaajal is Mayan for our little neighborhood. Lopez has a second public art piece at the San Francisco airport. You can read about that piece here.