Tag: Public Art in San Francisco
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Words Fly Away
Ocean View Branch Library 345 Randolph Street This is a fabulous piece for a library. John Wehrle imagined the library interior as a metaphor for a book. He covered the library in jumbled letters, words and pictures. According to the artist’s website: Created in 2004, Worlds Fly Away is a complete installation – floor to…
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Art at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal Branch Library 500 Cortland Avenue Reuben Rude of Precita Eyes Murals was chosen for this project. It was a difficult decision, as it replaced a mural that had been on the walls of the library for years. A recent renovation required the removal of the old mural which the current mural attempting to pay…
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Ocean Avenue History Staircase
Unity Plaza Opened in 2016 Unity Plaza features a new pedestrian path that stretches from the north side of Ocean Avenue to the City College campus. The path, created in partnership with City College, features an integrated landscape and this stairway that features a collage of historic photographs of the neighborhood laid out on the…
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Shadow Kingdom
16th at Missouri Potrero Hill The plaque at the site reads: This artwork is inspired by the history of Mission Bay, a 5,000 year-old tidal marsh that was once the habitat of a rich array of flora and fauna. Growth of the city in the 19th century brought shipyards, warehouses and railroads and this part…
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Jaques Overhoff and Margaret Mead
150 Otis Street Mission/South of Market This sculpture, by Jaques Overhoff, has sat on the side of 170 Otis Street, The Social Services Building, since 1977. The abstract sculpture is accompanied by a poem by Margaret Mead. At this time I am unable to determine whether or not this is part of Overhoff’s intent…
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Promised Land
10th and Market Streets Mid-Market As part of San Francisco’s 1% for Art program this 3500 square foot Public Open Space, at the corner of 10th and Market Street, was designed by Topher Delaney and Calvin Chin. The “official” description reads:” …cartographic layers of maps reflecting the exact location of the site in graded finishes of…
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NYCHOS
500 Geary Lower Nob Hill Austrian street artist NYCHOS is in town for the opening his show “Street Anatomy” at Fifty24SF Gallery on April 18th. In conjunction with the show, he has been putting up a few pieces around town. According to his facebook page the Austrian urban art and graffiti illustrator Nychos was…
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Sprinter at the Koret
Koret Health and Recreation Center 2130 Fulton Street Inner Richmond This bronze sculpture sits directly to the right of the entry door to the University of San Francisco’s, Koret Health and Recreation Center. It is an 8′ tall bronze by Edith Peres-Lethmate. According to the Smithsonian the sculpture is a large-scale version of a sculpture executed…
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@Large Ai Weiwei Part 4
Alcatraz Island September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015 There are two audio exhibits in this exhibition. The first can be found in the first floor, cell block A of the Cellhouse. Inside each cell, you can stand, although, as you can see, stools are provided, while you listen to spoken words, poetry, and music…
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Refraction @Large Ai Weiwei Part 3
Alcatraz Island September 27, 2014 to April 26 2015 You are not able to view this piece from any place other than the guards catwalk above the room, while peering through panes of glass, this is why I have had to take the photo from the website. It was a very foggy day when I…
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Lover’s Lane
Lover’s Lane The Presidio There is a small trail in the Presidio titled Lover’s Lane. It has a well known history that you can read on the plaque found at one end of what is still existing of this trail. The sign reads: “This trail has witnessed the passing of Spanish soldiers, Franciscan missionaries and…
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Abstract Sculpture in BART
16th and Mission 24th and Mission Bart Stations Mission District These abstract, cast stone, pieces can be found in both the 16th and Mission and 24th and Mission BART stations. The works are by William George Mitchell. Mitchell (born 1925) is an English sculptor, artist and designer. He is best known for his large scale…
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Mission Branch Library and Leo Lentelli
Mission Branch Library 24th Between Bartlett and Orange Alley Mission District Leo Lentelli was one of San Francisco’s more prolific and well known sculptors during his time. Sadly very little of his work survives inside of the city. There is a beautiful piece at the Hunter Dunlin building downtown, and this sculpture over the original entry…
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California Grizzly
San Francisco Zoo In Front of the California Grizzly Exhibit This Grizzly sculpture is by Scientific Art Studio. From their website: We are designers, sculptors, painters, welders, builders, crafters, fabricators, and – above all – dreamers. We live to see the world through new eyes, to laugh and play like children, and to explore boldly…
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The Carved Tree of San Francisco Zoo
San Francisco Zoo In Front of the Mother’s House Lakeside This carved seat, surrounded by animals was done by Sean Eagleton, well known for his huge wood carvings on long dead trees. He prefers to call them “healing poles”. Shane feels that the huge healing poles, once planted at various points all over this earth…
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Gwynn Murrill at the San Francisco Zoo
San Francisco Zoo Sloat and The Great Highway Lakeside Cougar III by Gwynn Murrill Gwynn Murrill is a Los Angeles based artist who received her MFA from UCLA in 1972. Murrill has three sculptures at the San Francisco Zoo. Cougar III and Tiger 2 are at the front entryway and Hawk V is located at…
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Hans Shiller Plaza
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…
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Heron’s Head Park
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…
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SFAC Shame on You
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…
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Island Fever
50 8th Street SOMA/Civic Center I am a huge fan of Lady Mags and Amanda Lynn, and they have been on this website many times. I have also been walking by this piece for quite a while, admiring it and yet not quite having a chance to take pictures when it wasn’t blocked by…
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Love and Marriage San Francisco Style
City Hall South Light Court In 2004, San Francisco General Hospital launched Hearts in San Francisco to generate revenue to support its numerous programs. This heart, in City Hall’s South light court, was part of that program. Designed by Deborah Oropallo the interlocking Heart, titled LOVE + MARRIAGE, was sponsored by Ambassador James Hormel and Timothy…
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Whispering Dishes
Market Street and Yerba Buena Lane Financial District This exhibit is the first of a series titled Living Innovation Zones. Living Innovation Zones (LIZ) are new public spaces opening up along Market Street between Octavia and The Embarcadero. The LIZ’s are collaborationa between the community, innovators, and the City to enhance the public good, foster learning…
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Windmills of Portola
Palega Park 500 Felton Portola District In November of 2013 eighty year old Palega Park underwent a $21.2 million Restoration. The Park’s new clubhouse features a mosaic mural by Kelly Ording commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission through the city’s two-percent-for-art ordinance. Located behind the clubhouse’s portico windows and visible from the street, Windmills pays homage…
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Tile Benches at Alta Plaza
Alta Plaza Steiner/Clay/Scott/Jackson Pacific Heights There are two benches in the children’s area of Alta Plaza Playground covered in beautiful tile mosaics. Commissioned by Friends of Alta Plaza Park, the artist, Aileen Barr, combined handmade tile and mosaic to create the two seating walls for the newly renovated playground. A series of donor tiles…
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Stefan Novak and Redwood
Clipper and Diamond Heights Blvd Noe Valley/Twin Peaks This piece titled Redwood Sculpture, was done in 1968 by Stefan Novak. Mr. Novak and his family are very private people, so there is little information regarding the artist. He was an instructor in the architecture department at UC Berkeley. He was born on August 22, 1918 and…
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Goldsworthy III
San Francisco Presidio Main Parade Ground Anza and Sheridan This is the third installation of Andy Goldsworthy’s at the Presidio in San Francisco. It is titled Tree Fall. There are two other Goldsworthy’s on the Presidio Grounds that have appeared in this site before and can be seen here. The exhibit is in the Old…
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The Artist of Cayuga Playground
Cayuga and Naglee Avenue Outer Mission In 2011 I read this wonderful article in Conversations.org and was intrigued to visit Cayuga Park and Demetrio Braceros’ work. I drove to Cayuga Playground to discover that it was closed. The sign said it would reopen in a few months. Alas, the work took until August of 2013 to actually…
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L’Octagon by Pol Bury
353 Sansome Street The Financial District L’Octagon by Pol Bury – Marble and Steel L’Octagon is a result of the 1% for Art program in San Francisco. It is available for viewing between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. M-F This lovely sculpture actually moves. The balls slightly fill with water on the bottom and roll…
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Harvey Milk Rec Center
50 Scott Castro This saying is over the back entry way to the Harvey Milk Recreation Center. It is in Architectural foam and is by Michael Davis and Susan Schwartzenberg. This phrase comes from “A City of Neighborhoods,” speech Harvey Milk delivered during his inaugural dinner after his election to the Board of Supervisors in…
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Called to Rise
235 Pine Street Financial District Called to Rise features individuals who have contributed significantly to the history of San Francisco. The figures include, Juan Bautista De Anza, Eadweard Muybridge, Makato Hagiwara, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, Chingwah Lee, Ishi, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Philip Burton, Amadeo Peter Giannini, Benjamin Franklin Norris, Timothy Pflueger, Douglas Tilden, Kurt Herbert Adler,…