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November 15, 2001
Contact: Michele Liapes 415-252-2559
New Public Art Work Features Bernal Heights Past
San Francisco artist Brian Goggin has revived the past of an old city neighborhood in a new public art work-a collection of nine concrete reliefs along a several-block stretch of Mission Street sidewalk, between Precita and Cortland, at the base of the Bernal Heights hill. The works, collectively titled "Substrada," were commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission for new sidewalk extensions, recently constructed by the Municipal Railway at the bus stops along that stretch of Mission Street. The reliefs, designed to resemble the various circular, oval and rectangular sidewalk portals for gas, water, and other utility lines, each celebrate a different bygone landmark or event of local significance. The gravel-like texture of the long rectangular image labeled BED is a reference to the creek that once flowed at the base of the hill and was a healing site for the Ohlone Indians. A smaller image of weathered planks, called ROAD, recalls the wood that once made up the Mission Street thoroughfare, another cast from tamales and labeled FEED/EAT symbolizes the former Johnson’s Tamales (one of the first restaurants in the district), and a circle enclosing a concrete baseball and the word HUNT refers to the annual baseball hunt that the Seals and the Mission Reds used to put on for the neighborhood kids. Public Art/Bernal Hill Past 2-2 "I garnered a lot of wonderful stories," says the artist, who interviewed lifelong residents of the neighborhood-people who could still remember Johnson’s and the Seals, along with the cobblestone streets constructed from old ship ballasts, the orchards that flourished on Bernal Hill, the Pacific Can Company where so many locals made their living, and the electric streetcar turnaround switch that made the corner of Bonview and Cortland a bustling one. Goggin says that as he started to explore the neighborhood he noticed the sidewalk portals and all their variety. "They're underfoot everywhere you go, and they're ignored," he says. "But they represent different time periods, and each has its own texture, degree of wear, and identity. They made me think of the stamps, coins, and other memorabilia that people collect." Goggin, a former painter turned sculptor, has created numerous public art works within the past 10 years. He is particularly well known in San Francisco for his "Defenestration Project," a current temporary installation of old furniture on the exterior of a vacant building in the South of Market area, at 6th and Howard streets. He is currently working on another installation titled "Labyrinth," a network of door molds from throughout the world, for the Yahoo Corporate Headquarters grounds in Sunnyvale.