Public Art Proposal Display

Art Proposals for the Transbay Block 3 Park & Alley Public Art Project

Public Comment Period:

July 13, 2022 to July 28, 2022

Proposal Viewing Location

200 Folsom Street
San Francisco, California 94105
Public Comment
View the Proposals

Transbay Park.jpgThe San Francisco Arts Commission is conducting a review process to choose an artist to create a sculpture or series of sculptures for the new Transbay Block 3 Park & Alley. The artwork should be inspired by and responsive to the proposed park design, its natural habitat, physical landscape, site history, and sustainability. Additionally, the work should have a visual impact from a distance yet be integrated into the landscape. Four artists were chosen as finalists by a Public Art Selection Panel to design site-specific proposals for this artwork opportunity: Mark Baugh-Sasaki, Terry Berlier, Cheryl Derricotte, and Kota Ezawa.

Granite City

Mark Baugh-Sasaki

Mark Baugh-Sasaki_TB3PAP_Proposal_Display-CMYKopt.jpgI am drawn to granite as a primary material for this artwork because it has existed through all histories embedded in the space. Using granite and steel, I am able to explore and juxtapose a human and geologic time scale.  

Across the site and the larger downtown area, granite was a key building material used in the formation of the city. It is still visible in curbs, cobblestones, and the building architecture in older sections of the neighborhood. The material was quarried in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in the mid-1800’s. It acts as a conduit, tying San Francisco to the mountains and foothills, and is a symbol of events that changed San Francisco and Rincon Hill forever. Now, those elements are removed and replaced with concrete and asphalt. Their removal signifies the ever-changing nature of the site. 

Currently, the site is situated amongst a forest of high-rise buildings and new construction. The artwork incorporates stainless-steel bands finished to a reflective surface, wrapping around and encompassing the granite boulders. These bands speak to the current materiality of the site, the human hand on the landscape, and the transformations that have taken place and continue to take place both in Rincon Hill and the larger built world. 

In addition to addressing the human narratives in the space, the artwork also asks the viewer to reflect on their notion of what they consider to be natural. Many of the terms we use to describe environments were popularized during the mid-1800’s. This period of westward expansion and rapid industrialization had significant influence over how we relate to our surroundings. The piece consists of three elements embedded within the meadow of the site. They will appear as if they have always been a part of the landscape. The hybrid forms will challenge the viewer to examine their own place and role within the environment. 

Together with their arrangement in the space, the artwork will create a quiet space for visitors to reflect on the site’s past, present, future and juxtaposes the hustle and bustle of downtown. It engages with the materiality of the site and its connection to natural spaces while also acting as a vessel for the accumulated histories that make the community what it is today. 

View a larger image of the proposal
 

The Not So Solid Earth

Terry Berlier

Berlier_NotSoSolidEarth_Final_7_22opt.jpgThe Not So Solid Earth is conceived of marrying the deep geological time of San Francisco with the sleek entrepreneurial present. The stainless steel Möbius loop cuts a large eight foot granite boulder in the same way this neighborhood cut through the San Francisco hills in its early ship building days. The vibrantly painted Möbius loop embodies this site as a constant place of change and reinvention. From being submerged under the sea 55 million years ago to being a thriving neighborhood today the Möbius loop represents cycles of continued reinvention and growth through the lens of deep time. This sculpture celebrates the shifting tectonic plates, geological history, and cultural resilience that makes up San Francisco’s East Cut.

55 million years ago the bay was under water and the pacific shore line was at the Sierra mountains east of SF. The sea was filled with plesiosaurs and other Jurassic creatures. Their fossils sometimes turn up with rocks inside the rib cage. It is believed they swallowed the rocks to obtain neutral buoyancy. 20,000 years ago the pacific shore line was 30 miles west of San Francisco where the Farallon Islands are.

The granite boulder will stand 8’H x 6’L x 4’W. The stainless steel Möbius will be 8’ outer diameter, 6’ inner diameter, ¾” to 2” thick, and 12” width. The form will be laser cut, rolled, welded, and powder coated painted to RGB E323E7 (pink/purple). The metal Möbius will be securely connected through hardware bolting into the rock and welding to the mobius at two or four points and will rest on a small shelf carved out of the stone.

The rock will be secured to a concrete foundation. The grass will come up to the piece. The sculpture will be sited in the larger of the three habitat meadows in the center of the park in the fenced area that is not to be walked on. This area is to the upper left of the map and near the flexible plaza.

View a larger image of the proposal

The San Francisco Seven

Cheryl Derricotte

Derricotte_SFACTransbay_72DPI-2.jpgThe San Francisco Seven is a sculptural artwork that visually illustrates the famous, original seven hills of our city: Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Mt. Davidson, Mt. Sutro, Rincon Hill and Twin Peaks. The sculpture will sit in the Meadow of the new Transbay Block 3 Park and Alley.

The sculpture will be fabricated in aluminum and glass. Each hill will be fabricated in a column shape using aluminum. The aluminum will be normal silver-toned metal, not colored.

The footprint of the sculpture is 7’ x 6’ and the columns range from 3’ to 15’. The heights of the aluminum columns are artistic renditions of the true heights of the seven hills.

“The San Francisco Seven” True Heights

Hill Name                    Elevation
Mt. Davidson               928 ft
Mt. Sutro                     911 ft
Nob Hill                       520-560 ft (concave)
Rincon Hill                  120 Ft
Russian Hill                 294 ft
Telegraph Hill             285 ft
Twin Peaks                  922 ft

Rincon Hill, home of the East Cut neighborhood where the new Transbay Block 3 Park and Alley project will be located, is actually the shortest hill!

Each hill will be fabricated in a column shape using aluminum. Additionally, the name of the hill and an iconic image of a butterfly that lives/migrates on that particular hill will be created in colored glass. The panes of glass featuring the text and butterflies will be made using kiln-formed (warm glass) techniques. Text and imagery will be fired onto the base glass colors using black glass powder.

There will be thirty-five panes of glass in total. Each hill will have its own color of glass. The colors  for the glass panes on the hills will use hues from nature: earth tones, sunny yellows, sky and water blues.

                                    Representative

Hill Name                    Glass Color                 Butterfly
Telegraph Hill              Oregon Grey               West Coast Painted Lady
Nob Hill                       Emerald Green            Western Tiger Swallowtail
Russian Hill                  Sunset Coral                Monarch
Rincon Hill                   Lt Blue Turquoise        Blue Pygmy
Twin Peaks                  Lt Blue Sky                   Mission Blue
Mt Davidson                Lt Bronze                     Red Admiral
Mt Sutro                     Medium Amber           Anise Swallowtail

I chose butterflies as the central image to unite the columns representing the hills. The butterflies are placed at varying heights on the columns to signal motion/migration. Coupled with the nature-inspired glass color scheme, the butterflies will be a recognizable visual image to future park-users -- young and old.

The sculpture’s design turns the heights of the seven hills into a mini-skyline, a nod to the neighborhood’s continued development, while the butterflies return our thoughts to nature in the park Meadow.

View a larger image of the proposal

Transbay History Popups

Kota Ezawa

BLK3_poster2b_sm.jpgTransbay History Popups depicts moments from the history of the Transbay, East Cut and Rincon Hill neighborhood in a series of hand painted aluminum dioramas placed in the Habitat Meadows of the Transbay Block 3 Park. The dioramas give park visitors and local residents a chance to interact with the social and architectural past of the neighborhood where the park is situated. At the same time, this project adds a visual narrative to the park, connecting separate meadows with images that tell a story of this urban area.

One diorama shows an old Rincon Hill mansion, representing the visual style of the Transbay/East Cut neighborhood around 1860. A second diorama depicts the Waterfront Strike of 1934, a general strike organized by local longshoremen. The third diorama shows an electric train from the Key System as it arrived in the Transbay terminal. The Key System operated transit lines that connected San Francisco and the East Bay from 1903 until 1960. Together this group of dioramas highlights key moments from of the neighborhood history and invites viewers into a dialog on architecture, transportation and labor, issues that define this part of San Francisco to this day.

Visually the dioramas adapt the silhouette style that I have developed over the past two decades. The drawn images will be hand-painted onto shaped planes of aluminum. The reverse side of each panel will be painted in a monochromatic hue that corresponds to the distinct color scheme of each diorama. Rincon Hill will be painted in shades of yellow, Waterfront Strike in blue and Key System in red. Each diorama will measure approximately 6 feet in height and between 7 and 9.5 feet in width with a depth of up to 2 feet.

The painted metal planes will be anchored with metal braces on concrete pedestals that are submerged in the ground. Each diorama will be composed of two separate layers that add dimension to the experience of each image. All outer edges and sharp corners will be beveled to avoid possible harm to people or animals that might come in contact with the sculptures. The distance between the metal planes will measure approximately one foot, allowing the impression of dimensionality while discouraging park visitors to enter the space between the layers.

An alternate location for Transbay History Popups is the large planting area along Tehama Street. If placed in this location the dioramas would be placed in a row (see diagram in digital file) separated by trees and orientated towards the interior of the park.

View larger image of the proposal

Opportunity For Public Comment

Please take a few minutes to review these artwork proposals and provide feedback on the public comment forms below. Public comments will be considered by the Review Panel as part of the Final Review Panel meeting where the Panel will recommend one proposal for implementation. Please note that public comments do not constitute a vote.

The Final Review Panel meeting will take place remotely on Monday, August 8, 2022, 1:00–5:00 p.m. All Artist Review Panel meetings are open to the public. An agenda for the meeting will be posted 72 hours in advance of the meeting on SFAC’s website under the Public Meeting section: www.sfartscommission.org

The proposals are available online at www.sfartscommission.org/calendar, in the Public Art Proposal Display section. Comments may be emailed to sfacpublicartcomment@sfgov.org by Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.

For more information, please contact: art-info@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2100. 

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Executive Committee Meeting

December 18
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1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
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Visual Arts Committee Meeting

December 16
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December 09
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May 06
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2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
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