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More Mosaic Sites in San Francisco
By Dave Schweisguth (email:
dave at schweisguth dot
org)
Lillian Sizemore's Guide
to
Mosaic Sites: San Francisco lists and explains dozens of publicly
accessible murals, buildings and other mosaic sites throughout the
City. It's a terrific publication; you should go buy a copy right now.
But even by the Guide's high standards, there are many more mosaics
around San Francisco that are worth a visit. Not only have San
Francisco's mosaic artists kept up their output since 2004, when the
first edition of the Guide was printed, there are even a few
significant works that were missed at the time. We hope this little
bare-bones catalog will inspire Lillian to revise and expand her Guide
sometime soon.
"We" are Huxley Beagle and I,
who found many of the mosaics listed here while walking from our home
in the southwest Mission District to two different workplaces South of
Market several times a week in 2006. Huxley also hunts
closer to home, in the Mission, Bernal Heights and Noe Valley. We've
joined Jeanne Halpern on her mosaic hikes for the Sierra Club. A few
mosaic works have even been installed practically within view of our
home in the last couple of years. Here's what we found.
This article is updated whenever we find something new.
- November 2008: the Scott Street Labyrinth, a picture for
Clarendon Elementary and the Boys and Girls Club mural
- October 2008: the mosaic at 1-3 Leroy
- September 2008: Rooftop School, the Moultrie Street wall, 21
Fountain Street, the Greenwich Steps sewer
- August 10, 2008: the 2007 work at James Lick Middle School and
212
Sutter
- July 5, 2008: Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe and the Owl Tree
- June 29, 2008: "A World View", 350 Union, 298 Chestnut, 2813
Buchanan, the sculptures at Creative Arts Charter School, St. Gregory's
Armenian Church, Argonne Elementary, Alamo School and "Play Ball!"
- June 26, 2008: "Where Space Meets Earth" at Synergy School
- June 3rd, 2008: Crocker-Amazon Playground
- May 31st, 2008: the Ghirardelli eagle
- May 3rd, 2008: 136 Mateo and Bird and Beckett
- April 13th,
2008: the work on the rear fence of James Lick Middle School
The Mission
Just down the block in our own local park, Juri Commons (between San
Jose, Guerrero, 25th and 26th Streets), is artist
Jennifer Alexander's temporary mosaic "Sol Flor". Dave
and many other Juri Commoners helped execute and install the work.
We're hoping to get its stay extended, but no guarantees, so see it
while you can!
The renovated entrance hall of the Monteagle Medical Center at St.
Luke's Hospital, on Valencia Street near Duncan, features Julia DiBiasi's mosaic mural "Diversity and
Chaos".
At the corner of 25th & Valencia are "Map
of the World" and "Where
Space Meets Earth", done by Synergy School students under the
supervision of Sarah
Dorrance. (Photos of constructing and installing the works are here and
here.)
Through the fence behind them can be seen
the mosaic
columns supervised by Colette Crutcher, which border the courtyard,
and, at the back of the courtyard, another mosaic mural.
"Beautiful View", one
of the many Kid Serve murals
supervised by Josef Norris, is on Buena Vista Elementary School at 25th
& Utah.
A year after "Tribute to Dolores Huerta" (Guide p. 35), a second Kid
Serve mural, "Native
American Creation
Stories" joined the fun on Leonard R. Flynn Elementary, on
Cesar Chavez Blvd. between Folsom & Harrison.
The mosaic decoration still remains around the entrance of the former Gallery
Luscombe at 3040 24th St. (near Treat).
The centerpiece of the 24th and York Mini Park, reopened in late 2006,
is a mosaic
sculpture of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, by Mark
Roller, Colette Crutcher and Aileen Barr.
Rigo's "Mission 23", at Mission and 23rd, is a sidewalk mosaic of green
and white tiles enhanced by painted tiles.
Tucked away in the S.F. General Hospital campus, next to the Volunteer
Center just off 22nd St., is Beniamino Bufano's "Madonna".
The anatomical theme fits its setting perfectly.
On the third floor of the S.F. General Hospital's main building,
opposite the eastern bank of elevators, is a roof
garden where are, apparently, no less than four
mosaic works by Mission District muralists Michael Rios, Carlos
Loarca, Manuel Villamor and Jerry Concha. Unfortunately the area is
kept locked and only the Rios and part of the Loarca works are visible
from inside. Slivers of the
Villamor
work and the
Loarca work are visible from Vermont Street.
Hilda Shum's "Fish
Tale"
breaches a mosaic sea next to the parking lot of the Dept. of Public
Health Mental Rehabilitation Facility, at 887 Potrero Street next to
S.F. General.
Mosaics cover the interior columns at Boogaloo's, on Valencia at 22nd
Street.
A broken-tile
bench by Sarah Dorrance is in front of 2956 22nd Street near Treat.
"Healthy Happy Heart"
is a Kid Serve mural by second graders at George Moscone Elementary, on
the school on Harrison St. between 21st and 22nd.
The entrance to Bethany Senior Center, on Capp Street at 21st Street,
boasts "Growth",
an unsigned mosaic mural by none other than the well-known San
Francisco artist Ruth Asawa.
Judy Hiramoto's "Animal
Hopscotch" is a mosaic in the courtyard playground of the Mission
Recreation Center, on Harrison Street
between 20th
and 21st.
The entrance to Dog-Eared Books, on Valencia Street at 20th, is
decorated with mosaic. Be sure to look both up and down. And the doorway
of their old location, on the east side of Valencia between 22nd
and 23rd, now Scarlet Sage, still bears their name.
On the east side of Valencia near 19th Street is Vertical Clearance, a
hair salon. On its window sill is a charming little
bit of mosaic by Emily Kiesel which makes remarkably effective use of a
very few
chips of broken tile.
Laurel True and Lillian Sizemore's "Bounte
Bouday War" (Mysterious
Door), a curvilinear stage backdrop, is inside the Bollywood Cafe, on
19th Street just east of Mission.
The owner of the new branch of Frjtz, on Valencia between 16th and
17th, has hung some of his mosaic skateboards and other artworks in his
new establishment.
El Pollo Supremo, 3036 16th Street, on the north side near Mission, has
been replaced by Taqueria Los Coyotes, but the mosaic facade (Guide p.
11) remains.
"Our Children", another
Kid Serve mural, overlooks Kid Power Park, on Hoff St. near 16th.
A mosaic work about which Huxley and I are very excited is Anthony
Stellon's "Brotherhood
of Man" (here's
a full-on view at the Civic Art Collection), which we found under
potted plants in a Rec & Parks work area in the northeast corner of
Franklin Square Park while walking to work in early April 2006.
"Brotherhood of Man" was originally installed at the Martin Luther King
Jr. pool at Third and Carroll Streets in the Bayview. It was taken down
when renovation of the pool began in 1996 and moved to Franklin Square
for safe keeping. The Friends of Franklin Square are currently trying
to resite the work as part of a playground renovation.
Bernal Heights, Holly Park, St. Mary's
Peter Almeida's 1988 "Colloidal
Pool" is in the Coleridge Street Mini-Park at the bottom of the
Esmeralda steps.
This
mysterious mosaic is below the edge of the topmost large landing of
the Esmeralda steps (above Elsie), across from the live oak and plaque
which honor
Margaret Randolph for her contributions to the community.
Colette Crutcher's Peringer/Rodriguez
entry graces 183 Ellsworth Street, near Eugenia.
The Junipero Serra Child Learning Annex on Appleton Street west of
Holly Hill boasts an impressive constellation of mosaic pieces on
several buildings and along the wall facing the sidewalk. At least one of them was
supervised by Kid Serve.
East of "Wise and Furry" (page 35 of the Guide), on the opposite side
of
Highland Street, a mosaic
mural is in progress on a low concrete wall.
The south end of Moultrie Street, south of Crescent, is unexpectedly
brightened by a low
mosaic-covered wall.
Potrero Hill
Starr King Elementary, high on Potrero Hill at the south end of
Carolina Street, is a mosaic hunter's jackpot. Not only are there two
Kid Serve works, a
panel depicting California civil rights heroes near the entrance on
Carolina St. and a
monumental mural of neighborhood oral histories around the block
along Wisconsin St., but a
woodland scene by Helen Bruton, dated 1955,
also lies in wait by the Carolina St. entrance. Well worth the trek!
Hidden behind the tennis courts at Potrero Hill Recreation Center, near
22nd & Arkansas, enjoying a superb view of downtown and the East
Bay, is a new bench
by Laurel True and Sharon Virtue.
Sharon Virtue's mosaic
bench in memory of Enola Maxwell, community
activist and director of the nearby Potrero Hill Neighborhood House,
stands in a garden on the north side of Southern Heights Boulevard.
A pebble
mosaic decorates "The Benches", a micro-park at San Bruno and 18th
Street.
In early 2007 the small
mosaic on the Mariposa Street side of St. Gregory's Episcopal
Church, which depicted the church, had been removed.
"California Oral Histories"
is the labor-themed Kid Serve mural on Enola Maxwell Middle School.
A low wall in Jackson Playground's children's playground is covered
with an unusual combination of mosaics, handmade tiles and decorative
tile in Joshua Sarantitis' "Big Snail
Fish".
Judy West and Vanessa Workman's mural of marine life
adorns the public boat launch at Pier 52.
South of Market
In the entryway of the
Apostleship of the Sea building at Harrison and Fremont is a
hard-used
mosaic
of Mary and Jesus by an unknown artist. Appropriate to the setting,
Mary
holds a sailing ship and stands on an island amidst waves. According to
a
recent article in the S.F. Chronicle, the building
is slated for demolition.
A
mosaic ILWU logo hangs over the south door of Local 34 at 4 Berry
Street (on the east side of AT&T Park).
Atlas holds up the globe in the lobby of the Atlas building (604
Mission Street, at 2nd) in a work by an
owner of the building.
San
Francisco's largest mosaic may be the tile decoration on the
Channel Pump Station at the head of Mission Creek.
Johanna Poethig's "Life
Mosaics", which despite its title relies as
much on decorated tiles as on mosaic, is a four-paneled work on TODCO's
Woolf House, at the south corner of 4th and Howard.
Johanna Poethig and Ursula McGuire's "Sun Mosaic" can be seen through
the front door of the Creatice Polite
Apartments, 321 Clementina between 4th and 5th Streets.
"Arrow", an
Artspan work led by Johanna Poethig, wraps around the
entrance to SoMa Artists' Studios at 689 Bryant, between 4th and 5th
Streets.
"I
Dream as I Walk Through the Moon", another Artspan/Poethig work on
Mission Street between 5th and 6th, is entirely decorated tile, not
mosaic, but fits in nicely here with the artist's other works anyway.
Martha Heavenston's "A World
View" is on the back of the Eugene Friend Rec Center, on 6th Street
at Folsom.
"Respect
and Responsibility", another Kid Serve mural, is inside the gate of
the new Bessie
Carmichael School at 7th & Harrison.
The Kid Serve
mural on the Children's Village Child Development Center, on 10th
between Folsom and Harrison, has no title but an especially charming
caption.
North of Market
A Great
Seal of the State of California, designed by Major Robert Seldon
Garnett, executed by Giovanni B. Alforno in 1898 and restored
by Page and Turnbull in 2003, is the centerpiece of the restored
marble mosaic floor on the second level of the Ferry Building. Small
mosaics of California food products by Mauricio Arias (also 2003)
decorate the walls on the first
level.
212 Sutter (just west of Kearny) has an
interesting mosaic-tiled entryway.
In the apse of Notre Dame des Victoires, on Bush between Stockton and
Grant, is a
mosaic of the Virgin Mary.
The floor of the Bush Street entrance to the WorldMark by Wyndham,
formerly the Hotel Juliana, at 590 Bush (at Stockton) is covered
with
mosaic.
Not only are the upper floors of the Clayton
Hotel (657 Clay, between Kearny and Montgomery) decorated with an
interesting mosaic border, the new tenant on the ground floor has
installed several kinds of decorative tile.
A mosaic
of one of the magnificent espresso makers that are Thomas E. Cara's
stock in trade adorns that business's entryway at 517 Pacific (near
Montgomery).
The facade of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe), at
906 Broadway between Mason and Tayor, is decorated with a
mosaic of the church's patron saint.
The column
in front of the entrance to the Pasta Pomodoro at 655 Union Street,
between Columbus and Powell across from Washington Square, is mosaiced
with a striking sun-and-moon design by Bryan Mosé.
A mosaic
of three doves graces the entry to 350 Union Street (between Kearny
and Montgomery).
The facade
of 733 Chestnut Street (between Jones and Taylor) is tiled with the
stylized Chinese character shòu (longevity) and, over the
doorway, a fú (good fortune).
On the second floor facade of 298 Chestnut Street (at Grant) is a mosaic of
a human figure.
In the entryway of the Bay Stockton West apartments at 2133 Stockton
(at Bay) is a column
holding mailboxes and covered on all four sides with bright abstract
mosaic decoration. The legend "Built by Angelo Sangiacomo" refers to
the developer of the property; the artist is unknown.
A sewer
hatch on the Greenwich Steps is covered with a floral design in
broken tile.
Just inside the front door of the Union Square Hotel, on the east side
of Powell Street just above Ellis, are a pair of floor-to-ceiling
mosaics by none other than Helen Bruton. One depicts a
man with a
basket of grapes, the other a
woman with a basket of flowers. The
latter is signed and dated 1937.
The Owl Tree, at Post and Taylor, has lost the owl bric-a-brac with
which it was once stuffed but gained a striking mosaic facade.
Piraat pizzeria, at 696 Sutter (at Taylor), has a mosaic medallion
on the floor inside its front door.
Mosaic
waves roll along the lower part of the facade of the former
Commodore Hotel on Sutter Street.
Not yet investigated: Laurel True's
mosaics in the Tenderloin, for St. Boniface Church on Golden Gate
Avenue and in the dining room of Marlton Manor, 240 Jones at Eddy.
A mosaic
of a double-headed eagle and the motto "Spes mea in Deo est"
guard the door to the former Scottish Rite Masonic temple at 1290
Sutter Street, at Van Ness.
1-3 Leroy Street is decorated with a mosaic of a
shell and fish.
High on the outside wall of the fish receiving station of Scoma's
Restaurant on Pier 47 is a mosaic of San
Francisco landmarks by John O'Shanna.
The Ghirardelli
eagle logo is set into the floor inside the entrance of the
Ghirardelli Chocolaterie and Cafe, at North Point and Larkin.
Noe Valley and Twin Peaks
Not investigated yet: A photograph
in the San Francisco public library's historical photograph collection
shows a mosaic mural that is or was at the Edison Elementary School.
A growing collection of mosaic works are beginning to brighten up the
severe exterior of James Lick Middle School, on Noe St. between
25th & Clipper:
In addition to the 2000 work by Paul Lanier listed in the Guide (p.
44), there is a second mosaic mural at Alvarado Elementary School (at
Alvarado and Douglass Streets). It was supervised by Nancy Thompson in
1972, and, according
to the Noe Valley Voice, Paul Lanier worked on it as a student. The
mural is in the southwest corner of the schoolyard on the south wall
and is hard to see from outside. Try looking down the driveway along
the south side of the school from Douglass Street.
A pebble
mosaic of a whale's tail is the first of three mysterious symbols
in the driveway to 70 Grandview. (The driveway is around the corner on
Romain.)
In front of 1913 Castro, hidden in the Duncan-Castro Natural Area, is a
mosaic
planter box.
The wall in front of 21 Fountain St. is covered with an impressive
combination of tiles and broken-tile mosaic. In September 2008 21
Fountain St. was under construction, but it appeared that the wall
would be preserved.
Rooftop School has no less than four Kidserve murals: "Peaceable Kingdom"
(off Corbett on Dixie Alley), "The Caterpillar"
(at the bottom of the stairway at Corbett and Romain), a
mosaic in the school's yard which can be seen through the fence at
the top of the same stairway (thanks to tipster Judy and mosaic
designer and photographer Andi Wong for the photo), and "In the Time of Silver
Rain", at the Mayeda campus at Corbett and Iron Alley.
Glen Park
136 Mateo Street has a mosaic
mermaid street number.
Bird and Beckett's new location at 653 Chenery has a new mosaic
sign by Colette Crutcher and Mark Roller.
Next to the entrance to St. John's Elementary School at 925 Chenery is
a semi-abstract
mosaic inscribed with a quotation from St. John the Evangelist.
Above the entrance around the corner at Burnside and Paradise is another
inscribed with a quotation from John F. Kennedy Jr.
Western Addition
The stairway
to 2813 Buchanan Street, between Green and Vallejo, is by Colette
Crutcher.
Not yet investigated: Two mosaic
police badges are in the lobby of the Northern Police Station at
1125 Fillmore, near Golden Gate.
The
Scott Street Labyrinth, at the west end of Duboce Park, includes
mosaic and tile elements.
Three mosaic sculptures
by Kid Serve stand outside the Creative Arts Charter School, at 1601
Turk (at Pierce).
A striking mosaic and tile mural covers the wall to the left
and right
of the door to the Boys and Girls Club at 1950-1970 Page (between
Stanyan & Shrader).
A mosaic
of the Madonna and Child crowns an entrance to St. Gregory's
Armenian Church, at 51 Commonwealth (between Euclid and California).
Richmond
Sarah Dorrance and Luis Hernandez' 2007 mosaic bench, "In Memory
of Julia", is in the just-renovated Rossi Playground at Arguello
and Anza.
The fence around Argonne Elementary, on Cabrillo between 17th and 18th
Avenues, is decorated with many small mosaics of sea life. Here are
views of the west
and east
ends of the fence.
To the left
and right
of the entrance to the Alamo School (on 23rd Avenue between California
and Clement) are mosaic scenes of butterflies.
At the center of the Rochambeau Playground, on 24th Avenue between
California and Lake, is Johanna Poethig's "Play Ball!".
Monumental
mosaic images of saints adorn the facade of the Russian
Orthodox Holy Virgin Cathedral, on Geary Boulevard between 26th and
27th Avenues.
Sunset and southwest
The Hospice Garden between the south wings of Laguna Honda Hospital is
home to many artworks done by the residents, including a mosaic
featuring a butterfly, set into the ground.
The
sign for Clarendon
Elementary, on Clarendon Avenue at Panorama, is done in mosaic.
A
mosaic of undersea life is in progress at 2253 9th Avenue (between
12th & Mesa Avenues) in Forest Hill.
The home of Betty Mosias (not generally open to the public) at 2375
12th Avenue (at Magellan) features two bathrooms with mosaic and art
tile work as well as a mosaic birdbath and other pieces by Ms. Mosais,
and rooms full of fascinating objects collected over a lifetime.
The two-part Kid Serve mural
on 19th Avenue at Irving is impossible to miss. Not investigated yet: another Kid Serve work
nearby at Jefferson Elementary.
Not investigated yet: the mural over
the altar of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church at Ulloa & 33rd.
Weathered
mosaic doorways, "Ocean Door" by Laurel True and a second,
temporarily unidentified work from 2003, flank stairway 16 at Ocean
Beach.
Two mosaic murals by the Bruton sisters, of children
and of St.
Francis with animals, flank the entrance to the
San Francisco Zoo's Mother's Building.
The eyes of the animals in Mary Fuller's "Earth,
Air, Sea", which guards the entrance to Sloat Boulevard from the
Great Highway, are mosaic sunbursts.
Several more Kid Serve
murals
murals are located throughout western San Francisco.
South Side
On the facade of Hillcrest Elementary School at 810 Silver Avenue is a
c. 2005 mosaic of a tree
full of butterflies (not, apparently, a Kid Serve work), and another
mosaic decorates the door from the schoolyard. Drescher's San Francisco Bay Area Murals
lists a seven-paneled work (#430) in the school's library; if still
present, it isn't visible from the outside.
Monroe Elementary now boasts not just the single mosaic listed in the
Guide (p. 33), but an astonishing collection of works in several
different styles (for example these,
these,
these,
this
and this)
all around its exterior, as well as a map
of the world visible in a second-floor window.
The mosaic
decoration at Crocker-Amazon Playground is almost complete.
Over the front doors of Church of the Epiphany, on Vienna at Amazon,
are mosaic
scenes of the annunciation, death and resurrection of Christ.
A
Byzantine Mosaic Company facade survives on the Bank of America
branch at 5150 Mission Street, just south of Ocean Avenue.
As well as "Suncatchers"
(Guide p. 33), Denman Middle School is home to another Kid Serve mural,
"A
Living Library", as well as a painted-tile walkway.
Bufano's "St.
Francis of the Guns", cast from melted firearms, stands in front of
City College's Science Building.
"Organic
and Inorganic Science", (also called "Education"), two monumental
marble mosaics by Herman Volz, fill the north and south porticos of
City College's Science Building.
Red and blue mosaic patches decorate Jacques Overhoff's "Sculpture
Deck" and "Bicentennial
Wings", next to City College's Batmale Hall.
Laurel True's "Sun Sculpture Series" planned for Ocean Avenue (at
Granada, Guide p.
33) was scheduled to be installed in late March 2008.
Bufano's "Peace"
stands on Brotherhood Way between Lake Merced and Junipero Serra
Boulevards.
Colette Crutcher's "Mother
and Child Arch" is one of the showpieces of the San Francisco
dump's amazing sculpture garden. The monthly tour of the dump, which
includes a presentation on recycling in SF, a visit with the artists in
residence and tours of the waste transfer facility and the sculpture
garden, is about the coolest thing you've probably never done. No dogs
allowed, though.
There are several more Kid
Serve murals in the Bayview, Visitacion Valley and other places
in southern San Francisco.
San Francisco International Airport
Huxley always greets guests at the airport, although he's never been
past security.
Rigo '99's monumental Thinking
of Balmy Alley towers over gate G98 in the International Terminal's
Boarding Area G. This work repeats the subject of Rigo's 1993 Balmy
Alley spraycan mural, "Colors".
Joyce Kozloff's very decorative three-part work, "Bay
Area Deco/Bay Area Victorian/Bay Area Funk" is in the hallway
between the International Terminal and domestic Terminal 1.
Not yet investigated: "Waiting",
an unusual photorealistic mosaic by Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan, is at
gate A7 in International Terminal Boarding Area A.
Colma
Though outside the City and County of San Francisco, Colma occupies a
special place in the lives of San Franciscans -- that is, the ends of
their lives -- and deserves a mention here. Among the sculpture
and stained glass that dominate cemetery art are several
notable mosaics.
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