Tiles – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Labyrinth in Duboce Park

Posted by Cindy on June 2, 2015

Jun 022015

Scott Street
Lower Haight
Duboce Triangle

This labyrinth was part of Duboce Parks revitalization plan. The plan, funded by Friends of Duboce Park, began with fundraising in 1997 and took years to accomplish. The labyrinth was laid in 2007.

It was proposed by Friends’ Janet Scheuer, who had walked labyrinths all over the world. “We need to create a quiet spot for people,” she said. She volunteered to “own” the project, find funding and work with designers. Hal Fischer headed up the fund raising. They raised $90,000, with $5000 from San Francisco Beautiful, $25,000 from the CPMC Davies Campus that adjoins the park, and $10,000 from Charlotte Wallace and Alan Murray. Rec and Park contributed around $80,000, says landscape architect Marvin Yee, Capital Improvement Division.

The Scott Street site had been occupied by a play structure in the shape of a pirate ship. Toxic, closed down and rotting away, it was ripe for extreme makeover. Janet recruited designers Richard Feather Anderson, a founder of the Labyrinth Society and Willett Moss, CMG landscape architect to create a labyrinth. The 23 ft. wide multi-circular path was sand-blasted into concrete. A border of mosaic tiles made by members of the community surrounds it, and a commemorative tile collage of the pirate ship graces the concrete bench facing the path. …

The joyous opening celebration April 28, 2007 was short-lived when the labyrinth was closed two days later due to the misapplication of anti-graffiti coating, damaging the labyrinth surface and making it slippery. A reopening eventually took place3 seven months later, on Nov. 2. One of the city’s most unique open space features is now a multi-use area. “People are doing tai-chi, picnicking, reading, walking and meditating,” says Janet happily, adding, “and it all works.”…From the Neighborhoods Park Council.

On this mosaic pedestal sits a labyrinth that allows sight-impaired and other visitors to trace a path with their fingers.

It says in both cursive and braille: With eyes closed, trace the grooved path from the outermost edge to the center with one or more fingers. The center is the halfway point. To complete the journey, retrace the path from the center outward.

This spot where Duboce Park now occupies was originally to be a hospital. However, Colonel Victor Duboce, after serving with the First California Volunteers in the Spanish-American War, returned to the city and was elected to the Board of Supervisors. He died on August 15, 1900 and was buried in the National Cemetery, at the Presidio. Upon his death the city changed Ridley Street to Duboce Street and decided to turn the land into Duboce Park (1900) rather than a hospital The park became a tent city after the 1906 earthquake, sheltering displaced residents from all over the City.

Eduardo Pineda and Ray Patlan Grace the Jose Coronado Playground

Posted by Cindy on September 14, 2012

Sep 142012

Jose Coronado Playground and Clubhouse
21st and Folsom
Mission District

Raizes/Roots, Ray Patlan and Eduardo Pineda, Jose Coronado Playground Clubhouse

The entire exterior of the Jose Coronado Clubhouse is sheathed in eleven hundred terra cotta-colored tiles, designed and hand-painted by artists Eduardo Pineda and Ray Patlan. The tiles depict Aztec-inspired images of birds and frogs in a repeated, checkerboard pattern. The pattern is interrupted periodically by large tile figures of animals and plant forms. Over the Center doorway are two highly stylized king buzzards (Cozcacuautli), in shades of terra cotta, near a blue coyote (Itzcuintli). A polka-dotted deer cavorts on the east wall, along with images of a hummingbird and flower, in yellow, orange and blue. The richly-textured and colored surface, with its warm, deep colors and stylized indigenous images, was created in recognition of the Mission District’s still predominantly Latino community. Artists Ray Patlan and Eduardo Pineda met with the local community and worked with the project architects before identifying a theme and materials for their art. They chose images of flora and fauna in order to highlight nature in this very urban park, as a reminder of the impact of civilization on the natural and indigenous worlds. They chose tile as a way of integrating their art into the architecture and in reference to the great Pre-Columbian ceramic tradition. In addition to designing the artwork, the artists hand colored the tiles, working over more than a dozen weekends. They were helped by Sausalito’s Heath Ceramics, which manufactured and fired the tiles, and ceramic artist Horace Washington, who advised them on the technique of spray painting and stenciling on tile. Eduardo Pineda and Ray Patlan have a long history of involvement with the mural movement, the Mission District and Jose Coronado Playground in particular, in fact, their work at Jose Coronado goes back more than 21 years. Ray Patlan began working with young people to paint murals in the park in 1979, as a way to combat the gang activity in the area. He and Eduardo Pineda worked with a second generation in 1986, and led a third group, including the granddaughter of one of the original artists, to complete the murals in the early ‘90’s. Both artists have committed their working lives to the community, as artists, educators, and administrators. As leaders in San Francisco’s Mural Renaissance they were instrumental in the creation of Balmy Alley, at 24th Street, where you can see their work today. Raizes/Roots was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission for the Recreation and Park Department. It is now part of the collection of the City and County of San Francisco.

Western Addition – World Walls for Peace

Posted by Cindy on April 13, 2012

Apr 132012

Western Addition

Page and Buchanan Street

In 1999, with consultation and training from the organization, World Walls for Peace, residents of the Western Addition became participants in a Peace Empowerment Process. Volunteers taught a program in two elementary schools and over fifty community based organizations, focusing on tolerance, understanding, and non-violence. Participants learned ways to develop positive solutions to resolving conflicts and defusing anger. The project was developed and implemented by residents for residents—a true community endeavor.

As part of their participation, people of all ages painted over 1,800 tiles on the theme of peace, to be installed on a retaining wall that encircles Daniel Koshland Park on Page and Buchanan Streets in San Francisco.

By May 2007, all the tiles were painted, fired, organized, labeled, and photographed; the SF Arts Commission had approved the project; the retaining wall had been resurfaced and repaired in preparation for tiling. This is a photograph of the long side of the park as well as the interior stairwell.

Justine Tatarsky was the lead artist on the project, her work is really quite beautiful, you will recognize hers not only for the refinement but also the initials TOT on her work.

There is a brass plaque on the wall that reads:

This Peace Wall celebrates our community’s commitment to PEACE, and is dedicated to families that have lost children to violence in the Western Addition.

This Peace Wall stands to remind us that we have the power to be creative and heal ourselves and our community. We are all artists. May we find inspiration and strength in these messages of love.

Boats on the Bay – Pier 14

Posted by Cindy on January 19, 2000

Jan 192000

Pier 14
The Embarcadero

Titled “Boats on the Bay,” the project was designed and created by students of the Build San Francisco Institute . These simplistically drawn, colored tiles depict tugboats, cruise liners, and military ships.

The Architectural Foundation of San Francisco has created the Build San Francisco Institute, a half day high school program for students interested in design, construction, engineering and architecture. The Build San Francisco Institute is a unique community educational partnership, involving AFSF, San Francisco Unified School District and more than two dozen major San Francisco firms. The program combines a rigorous academic program with mentorships in the partner firms, so that students not only gain new knowledge, but also have the immediate experience of applying that knowledge in a real world setting.

An Ohlone Indian Tule Canoe – 1597

Pier 14 was inaugurated on June 15, 2006, the 637-foot public pier was built upon the recently constructed breakwater for the SF downtown ferry terminal at Embarcadero and Mission Street.