Excelsior – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Glass Flowers

Posted by Cindy on May 10, 2018

May 102018

Portola Branch Library
380 Bacon Street
Portola/Excelsior

Dana Zed has been exhibiting her art nationally and internationally for over 30 years. She holds a BA from Brown University in Rhode Island. She has works in the permanent collections of The Corning Museum in New York and The Oakland Museum. Zed owns and operates a glass studio in Oakland as well as teaching ceramics to kids in the East Bay. She also teaches adults at Esaeln Institute in Big Sur.

Dana Zed Portola Library

California Wildflowers is a set of four handmade glass and metal shutters installed in the front window of the Portola Branch Library. This set of 20 glass panels depict California indigenous wildflowers, such as chamomile, daisy, echinacea, lavender, morning glory, poppy, star flower and western dogwood. The artist was inspired by the many nurseries that once were located in the Portola neighborhood.

The glass pieces were commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission for an amount not to exceed $36,000.

Portola Library San Francisco Public ARt

Maternite

Posted by Cindy on September 8, 2014

Sep 082014

Jewish Senior Living Group Orignally known as Jewish Home of the Aged 120 Silver Avenue Excelsior District Ursula Malbin was born on April 12, 1917, in Berlin to Jewish parents, both doctors of medicine. While in Germany she worked as a cabinet-maker. In 1939, a few weeks before World War II, but after her family had already left the country, she fled Nazi Germany, alone, penniless and without a passport. She found herself in Geneva when the war broke out, and there she met the sculptor Henri Paquet, whom she married in 1941. Since 1967, Ursula Malbin has divided her creative Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Mosaic Planter at Beautiful McLaren Park

Posted by Cindy on December 5, 2012

Dec 052012

Mosaic Planter at Beautiful McLaren Park

McNab Lake Wayland and University Street John McLaren Park Monica Treanor was educated in Trinity college, Dublin, Ireland where she graduated with a PhD in Environmental Sciences. She has worked as an ecologist on all seven continents. Her experiences stretch from the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, living on a uninhabited island to the frozen Antarctica where she was the ecologist on board a tall ship expedition. Monica’s passion for the environment and her extensive knowledge of the fine, intricate details of nature are delightfully exposed in her work as a mosaic artist. She first began her training as an apprentice Continue Reading

Philosophers Walk on the Top of the World

Posted by Cindy on November 22, 2012

Nov 222012

Philosophers Walk on the Top of the World

John McLaren Park Mansell Drive and John F. Shelley Drive Excelsior and Visitacion Valley This is the view towards downtown San Francisco from John McLaren Park. Named for John McLaren, the superintendent of Golden Gate Park from 1887 to 1943, it is the second largest park in the city, after Golden Gate Park. Within McLaren Park’s 312 acres are lawns and planted gardens, a lake and a reservoir, a golf course, picnic areas, playgrounds, baseball diamonds, basketball and tennis courts, an indoor swimming pool, a soccer field, dog play areas, and an amphitheater. Rich in native plants and animals, the park Continue Reading

Fire Station #44

Posted by Cindy on October 5, 2011

Oct 052011

Fire Station #44 Formerly #47 1298 Girard Street This piece is titled “Diagonal Relief” by Elizabeth Saltos. According to Elizabeth she creates sculpture from a continually evolving series of geometric configurations using a visual alphabet of shape, color and surface in dialogue with its architectural environs. This piece is on Firehouse #44. It was originally Firehouse #47 and is the oldest firehouse in the City of San Francisco still in use. The portion with the sculpture is a new section built in 1973. The older side was completed and ready to be occupied in 1913. The two-story brick building, designed by John Reid Continue Reading

Excelsior District – Blue Bird of Happiness

Posted by Cindy on June 4, 2011

Jun 042011

Excelsior District - Blue Bird of Happiness

A little blue bird in Cayuga Park, San Francisco Cayuga Park sits at the end of Cayuga lane under the 280 freeway and the Bart tracks in an area called The Excelsior district in San Francisco. I had been hearing for years about this little park and its grounds attendant Demetrio Braceros, but we all know how life goes on and we never quite get all the things on our list accomplished. This was one of them, and well, it is still one of them. I knew I was in trouble when I really had an incredibly difficult time Continue Reading