Project Synopsis

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Check out this episode of Culture Wire for a behind-the-scenes look at the Branch Library Improvement Program’s Art Enrichment Projects.

BACKGROUND

The San Francisco Arts Commission is continuing to commission new public artworks for ten new or renovated San Francisco Public Library branches as part of the San Francisco Public Library’s Branch Library Improvement Program (BLIP). Each artwork is being created by a Bay Area artist or artist team to enhance the architecture of each of the ten branches and reflect the interests of the residents who will be using each facility. Funding for the artworks is provided by 2% of the BLIP construction budgets for each of the ten branches that qualify for art enrichment, which includes replacement facilities in Bayview, Glen Park, Ingleside, North Beach, Ortega, Portola, and Visitacion Valley, a new library in Mission Bay, and substantially renovated Potrero and Richmond branches. This ambitious citywide upgrading of the City’s library system is funded primarily by a bond measure passed by San Francisco voters in 2000, with additional funding authorized by voter approval of 2007 Proposition D in 2007.

Arts Commission staff worked with Library staff to develop an Arts Master Plan, amended as additional branches are designated for art enrichment, for expenditure of the Art Enrichment funds generated by the eight new facilities and the renovated Potrero and Richmond branches. The BLIP Arts Master Plan included a two-tiered artist selection process to allow community panels from each branch to have a direct role in the artist selection process. The two-tiered artist selection process began with the establishment of a prequalified artist candidate pool of eligible professional artists working in a wide variety of appropriate media selected through an open competition. An ad hoc artist selection panel, which was convened to select members of the artist pool, included three arts professionals: Saudy Sanchez, Public Art Officer with the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs; Beau Takahara, Director of Zero One, an art and technology organization; and JoeSam, an artist. Also serving on the panel were Marilyn Thompson, the Branch Library Improvement Program Manager, and Joan Jasper, Chief Curator of the San Francisco Public Library.

The original Artist Pool has been disbanded and a new Artist Pool was established in August 2008. The new Artist Pool will provide candidates for the Bayview, North Beach, Ortega and Visitacion Valley branches.

For the second tier, community-based panels select the artist(s) whose approach and medium is most compatible with the architectural and neighborhood characteristics associated with each branch. This process ensures maximum community participation in the art enrichment process. The community-based panels include three neighborhood residents elected by community members, the branch manager, the project architect for the branch, and an Arts Commissioner.

Branch Library BLIP Projects and Artists

IN PROGRESS

Bayview/Anna E. Waden Branch

Location of new branch: Revere Avenue and Third Street
Completion date: Spring 2012
Artist: Ron Saunders
Description: Ron Saunders, a  photographer who is based in the Bayview, works with photograms, or images taken without a camera. He is currently working on the design for two art sites at the Bayview branch; one is the interior wall in the Children’s Area and the second is the outdoor wall in the courtyard.

North Beach Branch

Location of new branch: Mason at Columbus
Completion date: TBD
Artist: Bill Fontana
Art project status: World-renowned sound artist Bill Fontana will create a site specific sound sculpture celebrating the unique character of the North Beach neighborhood.

COMPLETED

Ortega Branch

Location of new branch: Ortega at 39th Avenue
Completion date: August 2011
Artist: Artist Team Wowhaus
Description: Located near the entrance of the library, the artwork features a duo of large-scale, shimmering glass mosaic fish sculptures. The sculptures  represent a silver Forage Fish and a vermillion Rockfish, two species that swim in the waters just off Ocean Beach that have played a vital role in the natural and cultural history of the region.

Visitacion Valley Branch

Location of new branch: Leland near Bayshore
Completion date: July 2011
Artist: Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector.
Description: Suspended 20 feet above ground in the central dome of the newly-built library, Full Circles is a dynamic constellation of interlocking steel hoops embellished with recycled bicycle gears.

Potrero Branch

Location of renovated branch: 20th Street at Connecticut
Completion date: March 2010
Artist: Gina Telcocci
Description: Here and past here is an abstract sculpture with many layers of meaning referencing the unique natural and cultural history of the Potrero Hill neighborhood.

Richmond Branch

Location of renovated branch: 9th Avenue at Geary
Completion date: May 2010
Artist: Scott Donahue
Description: The artist fabricated two bowl-shaped concrete sculptures covered by horizontal bronze disks. The bronze disks feature relief maps of the Bay Area and are imbedded with small porcelain enamel disks depicting the history of transportation in the Bay Area. The sculptures are located on either side of the outdoor path leading to the front door of the branch.

Portola Branch

Location of new branch: Bacon and Goettengen
Completion date: March 2009
Artist: Dana Zed
Description: Twenty colorful translucent glass panels, inserted in metal shutters, are installed in the front window of the new branch. Titled California Wildflowers, each glass panel design reflects a different Bay Area native plant.

Ingleside Branch

Location of new branch: Ocean Avenue and Plymouth Street
Completion date: September 2009
Artist: Eric Powell
Description: Mounted above the bookshelves on the back wall of the north reading room, Ocean Current is a 30 ft x 4 ft low-relief sculpture composed of metal tubing fashioned by hand into an organic, curving design inspired by the library’s location and proximity to the Ocean. The surface of the sculpture is awash with subtle colors referencing the neighborhood’s cultural diversity.

Glen Park Branch

Location of new branch: Wilder and Diamond
Completion date:  October 2007
Artist Team: Reddy Lieb and Linda Raynsford
Description: The artwork, Six Degrees, is a wall relief of hand-made circular glass and metal elements referencing local history and ecology.  A poem written by Diane DiPrima for William Blake is quoted on a glass disk located at the bottom of the artwork. The artwork is installed on a wall in the entryway of the branch.

Mission Bay Branch

Location of new branch: 4th Street at Berry
Completion Date:  July 8, 2006
Artist: Vince Koloski
Description: The artwork, A Library Book, is an illuminated sculpture in the form of an accordion-fold book. Installed on two adjacent upper level walls in the main reading room of this library branch, the artwork includes quotations about books and libraries contributed by patrons of the San Francisco Public Library.

This information was last updated in April 2010.