Sunset District – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

SurfHenge

Posted by Cindy on March 23, 2018

Mar 232018

Taraval and 48th Street
Sunset District

These sculptures designed by DPW landscape architect Martha Ketterer are part of the Taraval Streetscape Improvement Project. The design combines the lightness and fragility of surfboards or sails with monumental weight and verticality. The work was then adorned with tile work by Colette Crutcher suggestng the ceaseless dance of the ocean and its creatures.

Surfhenge is a nickname for Taraval Street.

The $1,600,000. Taraval Streetscape project is part of the revitalization of a neglected neighborhood at San Francisco’s western edge.

Martha Ketterer is a Landscape Architect for the Department of Public Works. She is a San Francisco native and has a degree in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design from UC Berkeley. She also designed these wonderful tree grates in The Mission District.

Colette Crutcher has been in this site many times before. She is a multi discipline artist. She began her career with painting and printmaking but now covers a variety of media.

SFAC Shame on You

Posted by Cindy on July 21, 2014

Jul 212014

1351 24th Avenue Outer Sunset This travesty sits in front of the San Francisco Department of Public Health Building. The only photograph I could find was through the Smithsonian Institute. The sculpture, titled Sailor and Mermaid, originally was made of copper sheets, cut, pounded, and welded, with bronze. It sits on a concrete pad. It was done in 1970 by Henry Marie-Rose. Marie-Rose, who died in 2010, has been in this blog before with work both on a fire station in the financial district and about his work as a teacher. His death makes this even more tragic as it is Continue Reading

When Infrastructure Buildings Kept Beauty in Mind

Posted by Cindy on May 6, 2013

May 062013

When Infrastructure Buildings Kept Beauty in Mind

2920 23rd Avenue Merced Manor / Sunset District This classical building is the Central Pump Station. Designed by Willis Polk and built in 1936, it sits atop the asphalt capped Merced Manor Reservoir which holds 9.5 million gallons of water to supply the city of San Francisco. The building has been attributed to N. A. Eckart by some, but he was the General Manager and Chief Engineer of the Water department. The City and County of San Francisco through the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, owns and operates a regional water system that serves 2.4 million people, primarily in San Continue Reading

Carl G. Larsen. Chickens to Jet Fighters

Posted by Cindy on May 2, 2013

May 022013

Carl G. Larsen. Chickens to Jet Fighters

Larsen Park 19th Avenue at Ulloa Sunset District This plaque can be found on the corner of 19th Avenue and Ulloa. The plaque was done by M. Earl Cummings in 1913 of Carl G. Larsen. Cummings has appeared prominently in this website for the many sculptures he has done around town. “In the late 1800s, many speculators began buying land in the Sunset District. By the early twentieth century, landowners in the area included Michael deYoung, Fernando Nelson, and Adolph Sutro. But one of the largest land owners, Carl Larsen, also had other ties to the district. Larsen did not live in the Sunset District, but Continue Reading

Tigers and Cougars at the Zoo

Posted by Cindy on April 30, 2013

Apr 302013

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 almost abstract in their contemplation of pure form. Her creatures roam amongst us, inviting interaction, yet remain intent on their own purposes, directed by their own passions, their inner life inaccessible to us. Gwynn was born June 15, 1942 in Ann Arbor, Michigan she holds Continue Reading

Sunset Playground’s New Fencing

Posted by Cindy on November 29, 2012

Nov 292012

2201 Lawton Sunset District Sunset Playground This piece was commissioned by the SFAC for $70,000. The artist selected was Bryan Tedrick. Brian is a local boy, born in Oakland, he holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. He is a prolific and very versatile metal sculptor. These five sculptural elements were inspired by the Sunset District’s setting sun and plentiful wind. Sunset Playground is a four acre park that occupies a full city block between 28th and 29th Avenues, at Lawton and Moraga. In addition to a recreation center, the site has two tennis courts, a basketball court, a Continue Reading

Fish are swimming near Ocean Beach

Posted by Cindy on November 28, 2012

Nov 282012

39th and Ortega Ortega Library Ocean Beach Wowhaus consists of artists Scott Constable and Ene Oseraas-Constable. These two artists were also responsible for the Sunnyside Menagerie at the Sunnyside Conservatory here in San Francisco. Located near the entrance of the library, the artwork features a duo of large-scale, glass mosaic fish sculptures. The sculptures represent a silver Forage Fish and a vermillion Rockfish, two species that swim in the waters just off Ocean Beach that have played a vital role in the natural and cultural history of the region. The artwork’s title, Abundance, speaks to the concepts that inspired the Continue Reading

Penguin’s Prayer

Posted by Cindy on September 29, 2012

Sep 292012

1100 Lake Merced Blvd. Sunset District Penguin’s Prayer by Beniamino Bufano Placed by Lake Merced Neighborhood Organization Bufano Society of the Arts Dedicated December 4, 1976 This sculpture by prolific, and San Francisco darling, Benny Bufano was originally made for the Treasure Island Golden Gate Exposition of 1939.

Carlos II, King of Spain Gazes out over Harding Park

Posted by Cindy on September 19, 2012

Sep 192012

Carlos II, King of Spain Gazes out over Harding Park

7-99 Harding Road Lake Merced – Sunset District The sculpture of Carlos III was a gift to the city from King Juan Carlos I of Spain in honor of the Bicentennial of the City of San Francisco. CARLOS III, KING OF SPAIN Settler of California, champion of the cause of the American Independence, who directed Colonel Don Juan Bautista de Anza to establish a presidio, a mission and a city in San Francisco, in the year 1776. Donated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain on the Bicentennial of the City of San Francisco, 1976. Federico Coullaut – sculptor Federico Continue Reading

Juan Bautista de Anza at Lake Merced

Posted by Cindy on September 18, 2012

Sep 182012

Lake Merced * This equestrian statue of Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, founder of the City San Francisco, is located in a parking lot off Lake Merced Boulevard on the north shore of the Lake. A plaque, in both Spanish and English, on the statue base reads: As a high tribute to an illustrious historical figure born in Sonora, founder of the City of San Francisco and with the purpose of strengthening the friendly ties between the peoples of Mexico and of the United States, the state of Sonora of the Republic of Mexico presents this statue to the City Continue Reading

Peace by Bufano

Posted by Cindy on September 12, 2012

Sep 122012

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 United States at young age with his family. After studying art in New York City, he eventually moved to San Francisco where he taught both at UC-Berkeley and at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He died in 1970. On the back Continue Reading

Sunset District – Propeller on the Walk Way

Posted by Cindy on November 3, 2011

Nov 032011

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 the surface. Richard Deutsch has been featured on this site before. He is an accomplished artist, with work all over the world, and pieces in great museums across the country. This piece was commissioned by the SFAC for $9000 in 1988

Birds at the J.P. Murphy Playground

Posted by Cindy on November 2, 2011

Nov 022011

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. P. Murphy playground is to celebrate the Center’s community purpose and natural setting by evoking a beneficent and free spirit in the work,” Woman with Birds was funded by the J.P. Murphy Clubhouse Renovation construction budget, in fulfillment of San Francisco’s Art Enrichment Ordinance, and Continue Reading