Bay View – Hunters Point – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Refrain by Walter Hood

Posted by Cindy on March 19, 2021

Mar 192021

February 2021
Hunter’s Point/ Bayview

Refrain was produced in 2015 and is made of steel.

Walter Hood is the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California. He is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and lectures on professional and theoretical projects nationally and internationally. He is a recipient of the 2017 Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award, 2019 Knight Public Spaces Fellowship, 2019 MacArthur Fellowship, and 2019 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.

Funding for the piece was proved by the US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, the budge was $250,000.

Refrain is a visual response to Frame (a piece further up the hill), created using the same dimensions, the artist views the disk surrounding the rods as pixels that create a picture of the current view at the time of placement. There is considerably more vegetation since the pieces were first installed, so the view is no longer quite as obvious.

Frame by Mildred Howard

Posted by Cindy on March 8, 2021

Mar 082021

February 2021 Bay View / Hunter’s Point Frame is an enlarged version of an antique Rococo style frame. Howard’s frame is at the scale of the natural world around it, between 15-20 feet high. The use of the frame is no longer intended to frame a single small work of art, it frames the multiple views and perspectives of the Shipyard’s landscape. Frame is a piece that sits in collaboration with Walter Hood’s Refrain. Frame–Refrain transfers the framed object’s connoted values of appreciation, privilege, and value to the landscape itself. Frame–Refrain provides a historical point of contact between the worlds Continue Reading

Stream of Consciousness

Posted by Cindy on February 25, 2021

Feb 252021

February 2021 Bayview / Hunters Point Hillpoint Park – Picnic Area Innes Court Stream of Consciousness is a 120 foot long ribbon of historic, contemporary, and scientific images interspersed with literary quotes. The tiles tell the story of water from the depths of the sea to the constellations in the sky. The images were made by Bayview Hunters Point school children This piece was funded by the US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. Created by Think Round Inc., the piece was commissioned by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, and created by Heidi Hardin working with Colette Crutcher. The work of Continue Reading

Bay View Police Station

Posted by Cindy on April 14, 2019

Apr 142019

1676/1678 Newcomb Bayview This old Bay View Police Station, with stables in the back, was built in 1911 in the Roman Renaissance style at a cost of approximately $22,000. Designed by city architect Alfred I. Coffey, it is sadly, not on any historical listing and is now in private hands. This police station was closed in the 1930s and consolidated with another Coffey designed station, the Potrero Hill Police Station at 2300 Third Street. The Potrero Hill station opened in 1915 at a cost of over $12,000. It too had a stable in the back and for a brief time was called Continue Reading

Islais

Posted by Cindy on June 9, 2018

Jun 092018

Islais Creek 3rd Street and Cargo Way Bayview – Hunters Point Islais by Cliff Garten Studio is an artwork that is inspired by the history and landscape of Bayview Gateway and Islais Creek. “I have created sculptures whose gestures and forms are iconic yet formal and free, solid and transparent, because no one history should take precedence over another. The images of the Bay and Islais Creek are a reference point for the sculptures and for the celebration of the Bayview community.” The piece is made of blue polychrome bronze with a stainless steel wrap, referencing the shape of the Continue Reading

The Shipyard

Posted by Cindy on November 10, 2015

Nov 102015

Hunter’s Point has a wonderful naval history in the City of San Francisco. The Shipyard is a housing development by Lennar Corporation that has overtaken the entire site, building housing where the Army once resided. Originally, Hunters Point was a commercial shipyard established in 1870, by the Union Iron Works company, later owned by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company and named Hunters Point Drydocks. The original docks were built on solid rock. In 1916 the drydocks were thought to be the largest in the world. At over 1000 feet in length, they were said to be big enough to accommodate the world’s Continue Reading

Bayview Horn

Posted by Cindy on October 13, 2015

Oct 132015

Bayview/Hunters Point at the Shipyards 11 Innes Court The Shipyards at Hunters Point is a new Lennar Development. Part of the project is $1million in art provided by a Federal Grant to the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission. This piece titled Bayview Horn is by Jerry Barish and was purchased for $125,ooo. Jerry Ross Barrish is a sculptor and fourth generation San Franciscan who works in Dog Patch. Barrish is a figurative artist whose early assemblages are made of found objects, actual plastic refuse and debris collected from his long walks along the southeastern shoreline. Barrish received his Bachelor of Fine Continue Reading

Ndebele

Posted by Cindy on August 5, 2014

Aug 052014

1601 Griffith Street BayView / Hunters Point This abstract sculpture composed of three vertical elements, is titled Ndebele and is by Fran Martin. It was installed in 1987. I have tried three times over many many months to find this piece. It is listed at the pump station but it is actually on the side in a small gated area off of Shafter Avenue. Fran Martin received her M.A. in Art in 1973. She fabricated and exhibited sculpture until 1995. Since 1994, she has been co-founder of and ardent worker at the Visitacion Valley Greenway Project (VVGP). The Griffith Continue Reading

Heron’s Head Park

Posted by Cindy on July 28, 2014

Jul 282014

Heron’s Head Park Evans and Jennings Bay View / Hunter’s Point Heron’s Head Park was “born” in the early 1970s, when the Port began filling the bay to construct what was to be the Pier 98 shipping terminal. The terminal construction never materialized, and the peninsula remained undeveloped. Over years of settlement and exposure to the tides, a salt marsh emerged, attracting shorebirds, waterfowl and aquatic wildlife. In the late 1990s, with funding from the City and County of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Port, the California Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Bay Trail Project, the Port undertook Continue Reading

Arelious Walker Stairway

Posted by Cindy on May 5, 2014

May 052014

Innes Avenue Bay View / Hunters Point This was the proposal that was written for the Call for Artists by the SFAC: The Arelious Walker Drive Stair replacement is a dynamic community project in partnership with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and the Department of Public Works to create ceramic tile mosaic steps on the Arelious Walker Drive extending uphill from Innes Avenue to Northridge Road in the Bay View Hunters Point neighborhood. The stairway provides a vital connection from an isolated low-income community to the India Basin Shoreline, the Bay Trail, Herons Head Park, and future development at Hunters Continue Reading

Painted Grain Silos in San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on January 15, 2014

Jan 152014

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 through the Port of San Francisco. The Project was awarded to the Seattle based firm of Haddad/Drugan. It is titled “Bayview Rise” and is expected to be in place for a minimum of 5 years. According to their website: Bayview Rise works 2-dimensionally as Continue Reading

Grain Silos in San Francisco?

Posted by Cindy on November 6, 2013

Nov 062013

696 Amador Street off 3rd Street / Pier 90/92 Bayview/Hunters Point These abandoned silos on Pier 90/92 formerly stored grain that was brought in by rail and then loaded from the silos onto ships for export. These operations were discontinued following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Pier 90/92 was created in 1918 by the State Harbor Commission. In the 1920’s the grain terminal also had a mill to serve local needs. The terminal could hold 500,000 bushels, the principal grain that flowed through them was barley. In the 1970’s the terminal was used to export grains to Russia during their severe drought. Continue Reading

Sundial on the Hilltop

Posted by Cindy on August 20, 2013

Aug 202013

Hilltop Park Newcomb Avenue and Progress Street Hunters Point This painted steel, 70 foot tall, sundial is by Jaques Overhoff, he is known for his large sculptures, which you can see here and here. The sundial apparently keeps somewhat accurate time. The markers and numbers on the base are made with various colors of concrete. Hilltop Park was built by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in 1987. The Landscape Architect was Michael Painter and Associates, it was the first park in San Francisco to incorporate a Skate Board Arena. The contractor was A. and J. Shooter and Associates. This concrete sun Continue Reading

Queseda Gardens

Posted by Cindy on August 19, 2013

Aug 192013

Queseda and Newcomb Bayview/Hunters Point The Quesada Gardens Community Mural & Gathering Space emerged with leadership from QGI Co-Founders Sharon Bliss and Mike Aisenfeld. Neighbors wanted to express the magic of the garden and spirit of community. In the end, a gritty urban space was transformed when community-based artist Deirdre DeFranceaux, with fellow artist Santie Huckaby, breathed life into a potent symbol of hope and unity. The mural was dedicated in 2004. * * * Santie Huckaby’s work has been in this site before. According to his website: Born in Ohio, I have spent the past 40 years in San Francisco working as a professional Continue Reading

The Fire Next Time II

Posted by Cindy on April 2, 2013

Apr 022013

Joseph P. Lee Rec Center 1395 Mendell Backside Bayview Fire Next Time II Excerpt from San Francisco Bay Area Murals by Timothy W. Drescher regarding the original mural: Crumpler depicted three aspects of black people’s lives in the United States: education, religion, and culture. The contemporary figures, a teacher and student, athletes and dancers, are watched over by exemplary portraits of Harriet Tubman and Paul Robeson. Above them are two Senufo birds which are mythical beings in Africa but here oversee the cultural and creative lives of the community… By 1984, Crumpler continued the mural on the adjacent gymnasium at Continue Reading

Time to Dream

Posted by Cindy on March 20, 2013

Mar 202013

Joseph P. Lee Rec Center 1395 Mendell Bayview Time to Dream by Amana Johnson The Joseph P. Lee Rec Center, like many in San Francisco is behind a locked gate and only open during very limited hours. I have relied on the artists website for a description of the piece and the photo of the book. “Time To Dream” is a life-sized figure carved from a 3,000-pound block of Basalt Spring Stone found only in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. The figure, which took Johnson over nine months to carve, is deliberately not identified as either male or female in order Continue Reading

A Start to the Blue Greenway Art Trail

Posted by Cindy on February 27, 2013

Feb 272013

Arelious Walker and Innis Street originally at Cargo at Third Street Bayview/Hunters Point This piece is titled Red Fish by William Wareham. Wareham has several pieces around San Francisco. The piece was installed as part of San Francisco’s Blue Greenway project. The Blue Greenway is the City of San Francisco’s Port project to improve the City’s southerly portion of the 500 mile, 9-county, region-wide Bay Trail, as well as the newly established Bay Area Water Trail and associated waterfront open space system. The alignment of the Blue Greenway generally follows the alignment of Continue Reading

Old Blueprints take on a New Look

Posted by Cindy on February 13, 2013

Feb 132013

Muni Metro East Yard Pier 80 Bayview This view, taken through a fence, is as close as one will get to the art work at the new Muni Metro East maintenance facility. * These photos I took from the Pulp Studios website. I am going to simply copy directly what they have to say about these pieces as the information is excellent. “The beauty of rail car engineering details is revealed in these historic blueprints from the 19th and 20th centuries.” Artist Anita Margrill’s statement rings true upon the very first site of the two towering glass curtain walls on Continue Reading

Islais: From Creek to Sewer to Creek

Posted by Cindy on February 7, 2013

Feb 072013

Islais Creek Bayview/Hunter’s Point It is known as Third and Army by skateboarders. Longshoreman call it Pier 84. Locals just think of it as Islais Creek. No matter its name, it is an area experiencing ongoing urban and environmental renewal. Islais Creek originally flowed for 3.5 miles from the hills of San Francisco into the Bay. The area now called Islais Creek Channel is an inlet of San Francisco Bay located in the Central Waterfront area between Potrero Hill and Bayview / Hunters Point. The area was once a vast salt marsh. Over the course of the 19th and 20th Continue Reading

Beautification of a Utility Box by Malik Seneferu

Posted by Cindy on December 28, 2012

Dec 282012

Beautification of a Utility Box by Malik Seneferu

3rd and Oakdale Bayview This utility box was painted by Malik Seneferu. Malik is a self-taught and extremely prolific African-American artist that has created more than 1,000 different pieces of artwork, including paintings, murals, and mixed media projects in the past 25 years. Despite the fact that he has no formal college training, Malik’s art has hung in many different professional arenas throughout the world, such as galleries, museums, magazines, and newspapers. While growing up in the 1970s and 80s, Malik saw his peers going to jail and getting killed. Living a life of crime did not appeal to him, Continue Reading

RESPECT

Posted by Cindy on December 21, 2012

Dec 212012

1601 Lane Bayview/Hunters Point Respect This mural is on the side of the YMCA in the Bayview. It was funded by SF StreetSmARTS program and was done by Senay Dennis, also known as Refa One. Refa’s website had this to say about his calligraphy murals. Style 1: a distinctive manner of expression (as in writing or speech). Characteristics or elements combined and expressed in a particular (often unique) and consistent manner. Derived from ‘stylus,’ the Latin word for a sharp instrument for making relatively permanent marks. Style Writing is the art form and culture I am MOST passionate about. Writing exemplifies the highest expression of my creative abilities. If there Continue Reading

Liberty Ship at Islais Creek

Posted by Cindy on December 19, 2012

Dec 192012

SFMTA Islais Motor Coach Facility Sitting on Islais Creek in the new Shoreline Park Indiana Street and Ceasar Chavez Bayview This 340′ Long Steel Sculpture is an abstract representation of the old Liberty Ships that were built in the Shipyards of this neighborhood. The sculpture is by Nobuho Nagasawa a New York based artist. Nobuho had this to say on ArtNet My work ranges from site-specific projects to installations and public art. I create an interactive space that is informed by the actual place — its history, people and spatial narrative. This approach requires detective-like investigation and quasi-archeological research, Continue Reading

Soul Journey

Posted by Cindy on December 17, 2012

Dec 172012

1625 Carroll at Third Street Bayview Titled Soul Journey this mural was done by Precita Eyes in 2000. It was designed by their director, Susan Kelk Cervantes and executed by Ronnie Goodman, Tomashi Red Jackson, “Diallo” John H. Jones, Dan Macchiarini and Mel Simmons. Under the fawn it reads: Home sickness on a quiet night…on the ground before my bed is spread the bright moonlight, but I take it for frost, when I wake up at the first light. Then I look up at the bright full moon in the sky suddenly homesickness strikes me as I bow my head Continue Reading

Refa One

Posted by Cindy on December 14, 2012

Dec 142012

4546 3rd Street Bayview * These two paintings on roll up doors in the Bayview are part of the StreetSmARTS program. They were painted by Senay Dennis, also known as Refa One. “Writing is the song of my soul and the call of my spirit. This art work has a power – emanating from a higher power than myself. I have submitted unapologetically to the call of putting this work out there. However, I am also doing this with unconditional love for Life, Humanity, the Most High and that ONENESS in the universe.” – Refa One For well over two Continue Reading

StreetSmARTS covers the History of Bayview

Posted by Cindy on December 6, 2012

Dec 062012

StreetSmARTS covers the History of Bayview

Palou and 3rd Street Bayview Titled the History of Bayview this is a 2011 Street SmArts mural by Bryana Fleming. Panel 1 and 3: Originally dominated by grassland and tidal marshland, Bayview-Hunters Point has a unique history for its transformation into an urban industrial neighborhood while segregated from the metropolitan area. Slaughterhouses and their associated industries in the 1800s and shipbuilding in the 1900s drove its urbanization. Panel 2: Constructed in 1888, the Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theatre (known affectionately as “the Opera House” or the “BVOH”) is located at 4705 Third Street in the heart of the Bayview Continue Reading

Street SmArts Mural in Bayview

Posted by Cindy on December 3, 2012

Dec 032012

Palou and 3rd Streets Bayview * * This mural (done in 2010) by Briana Fleming is part of the Street SmArts program of San Francisco. A collaboration between the San Francisco Arts Commission and SF Department of Public Works started in 2010, the program connects established urban artists with private property owners who own buildings with walls that are graffiti hot spots. Artists create vibrant murals on the walls and buildings become a canvas for art enjoyed by all. The outcome is a phenomenon of reduced incidences of graffiti tagging on the properties. Like many artists, Bryana Fleming is a product of her surroundings. Continue Reading

Tuzuri Watu

Posted by Cindy on December 2, 2012

Dec 022012

3rd and Palou Bayview This mural was painted by Brooke Fancher in 1987. It is titled Tuzuri Watu (Swahili for “we are beautiful people”). It is a tribute to Afro American culture inspired by black women writers. The design shows scenes of black peoples’ lives, rural and urban, with a strong emphasis on community and family life. Quotations from the works of five black women authors appear throughout the mural. Fancher explains her choice of location and topic by saying that “A lot of people don’t even know about black women writers. Their work is part of the self-affirmation of Continue Reading

Lenora LeVon Riley Struts her Stuff

Posted by Cindy on December 1, 2012

Dec 012012

Palou and 3rd Streets Bayview * Lenora LeVon Riley was a fashion designer from San Francisco whose work was prominently displayed in Ebony and Jet Magazine. Bryana Fleming is a native to the Bay Area who resides in Mill Valley, California. Both of her parents were working artists, and she instantly became interested in art from a young age. (Her father was a storyboard artist and her mother, a fine art painter.) Bryana attended the California College of the Arts from 2000-2004, receiving a BFA in illustration

Artwork at Candlestick Park

Posted by Cindy on November 20, 2012

Nov 202012

Candlestick Park Gate A Jamestown Avenue St Francis by Ruth Wakefield Cravath – 1971-1973 The sculpture is a standing abstract figure representing St. Francis, the patron saint of San Francisco. The figure is made of concrete, but the face, torso, halo, cross, and lower section of his robe are made of colored pieces of Plexiglas. The halo is gold; the face and torso are turquoise; the cross is red, and the lower section of the robe is gold. The sculpture is installed on a low base in the middle of the bus area at the stadium. Ruth Wakefield Cravath is known Continue Reading

Islais Creek Park

Posted by Cindy on October 4, 2011

Oct 042011

Islais Creek Park Quint, Third and Berry The Ohlone Indians were harvesting mussels, clams, and shrimp on the shores of Islais Creek long before Europeans arrived in 1769. The creek appeared on Mexican maps in 1834, named for Los Islais (is-lay-is), a hollyleaf cherry and favorite Indian food. On today’s map it is the gateway to (the former) Butchertown, Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods.In the 1850s Islais Creek provided fresh water to Franciscan friars from Mission Dolores and irrigated the produce that Portuguese, Italian, and Irish vegetable farmers grew in the Bayview district. The Gold Rush marked the start of the creek’s Continue Reading

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