Fencing – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Hans Shiller Plaza

Posted by Cindy on August 27, 2014

Aug 272014

Corner of Peabody and Leland
Visitation Valley

Opening in March 2001, Hans Schiller Plaza was the first Visitacion Valley Greenway site to be completed. Construction was supervised by the Trust for Public Land with funding from the Columbia Foundation founded by the late Madeleine Haas Russell. The gift was made in memory of her friend Hans J. Schiller.

Hans J. Schiller was a Bay Area architect and environmental activist. Mr. Schiller’ s career spanned more than 50 years. Schiller settled in the Bay Area in the 1940s and established the firm, Hans J. Schiller Associates, in Mill Valley. Schiller’s passion for his work was matched by his commitment to ensuring that people from all walks of life had access to parks and open space. It was these commitments that lead to his appointment by Governor Jerry Brown as Commissioner of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission in 1978.

The Landscape architect on the project were Sarah Sutton and Chris Kukula of Wolfe Mason and Associates.

The Visitacion Valley Greenway is composed of a linear series of six publicly owned parcels (each a block long), cutting a swath through the heart of Visitacion Valley. Over a period of 16 years it has been developed by the members of the Visitacion Valley Greenway Project in partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) and the Trust for Public Land. Originally a PUC easement, it took 5 years of negotiations to gain permission to build the Greenway. The Visitacion Valley Greenway is a Parks Partner of the San Francisco Parks Trust.

Visitation Valley Greenway would never have been possible without the tireless effort of artists Fran Martin, Anne Seeman and Jim Growden.

Fran Martin, Design Coordinator for Visitacion Valley Greenway was responsible for the tile work.

Fran holds an MA in art and worked as a sculptor until 1995. In 1994 she began working full time as a co-ordinator of the Visitation Valley Greenway Project.

Jim Growden was the designer for the entry gates and fencing.

Jim received an M.A. in sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1972. Jim worked as a sculptor of wood and steel, for 25 in San Francisco. In 1993 he moved to Visitacion Valley where he became involved with the Visitacion Valley Greenway.

Jim Growden has created 8 of the Greenway’s 12 signature gates and finials, as well as the cut steel images of native animals and plants seen at the Native Plant Garden, as well as on Leland Avenue.

Fran Martin created 2 of the Greenway’s gates, weir walls, tile work and patios with columns sites.

Solar Plumes on a Painted Steel Fence

Posted by Cindy on March 29, 2013

Mar 292013

Sunnyside Playground
200 Melrose
Twin Peaks

These painted steel panels were commissioned in 2008 for $23,600 by the San Francisco Art Commission to Deborah Kennedy.

According to Kennedy’s website the curvilinear patterns cut into water-jet cut stainless steel were abstracted from patterns found in NASA’s TRACE close-up satellite photos of the solar surface. These photos show enormous plumes of plasma, electrified gases that surge up from the surface of the sun. These plumes move at tremendous speeds and form coronal loops that stand hundreds of thousands of miles off the surface of the sun.

This public artwork seeks to heighten awareness of the new understanding of the sun, and to encourage greater consideration of solar energy as a key to solving our global climate crisis.

Deborah Kennedy’s artwork consists of conceptually-based installations and objects in galleries, museums and public spaces. Her work begin with questions, such as: What new ways of thinking can help us solve our environmental problems? Can we reform our technological systems so they operate in a bio-compatible manner? How is exposure to toxic chemicals affecting the health of human and animal populations? Questions, such as these, focusing on social and environmental dilemmas are the starting point of her work.

These questions propel her investigations. Today, the majority of her research is web-based, where she tracks rapidly advancing scientific research on endocrine disruptors, the amphibian decline and other areas of concern. This research informs her choice of images, materials, and methods. Therefore, her creative process and artwork are characterized by an on-going state of inquiry, extensive research, and a balance between concept and form.

Kennedy says, “I want to work at the growing edge, where we as a global community are struggling to create new visions that will help solve our environmental problems. My hope is that these new perceptions will help us change how we think about ourselves and our role in the world. Then, perhaps, we can begin to change our behaviors as individuals and larger communities.”

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 baseball field, children’s play areas, and a small community garden. Open since 1940 the park was in need of a complete renovation. This renovation, a three year project, was funded to the tune of $14 million through the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond.

Mission Parade

Posted by Cindy on November 21, 2012

Nov 212012

According to the artist, “The artwork is a playful interpretation of the Mission District’s diverse community and creativity. The procession’s cast of historical and imaginary characters evoke the neighborhood’s past while casting a cheerful look toward the future.”

Mission Parade consists of 20 steel cut panels with 10 unique vignettes that repeat at both park entrances. Each panel features three fantastical characters. Some of the figures include a peg-legged pirate with a hook for a hand; a friendly one-eyed, one-toothed monster; an alligator with a top hat holding a flower; a fire-breathing dragon; a plant watering can following a smiling tree holding an umbrella and a gold miner complete with a pick ax and a pan. All of the figures in the panels are oriented towards the same direction so that they appear as if they are walking in a procession. The design is repeated at both park entrances. The fence was manufactured at Rocket Science in the Mission.

Michael Bartalos is an accomplished printmaker, sculptor and graphic designer who has exhibited his work internationally and has authored many limited edition artist books. In September 2008, his design for a 42-cent Latin Jazz stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service. Michael was born in Heidelberg, Germany, attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received his BFA from Pratt Institute.