Public Art Proposal Display
Art Proposals for the Plaza and Gardens Outdoor Sculpture Opportunities at the Southeast Community Center
The San Francisco Arts Commission is conducting a selection process to choose sculptural artworks for the outdoor plaza and gardens area at the new Southeast Community Center to be located at 1550 Evans Street. The new Community Center is designed to provide workforce, childcare, and educational opportunities for the Bayview community. The goal of the artwork is to celebrate the Bayview community—its people, values, history, and culture—and to promote environmental stewardship and highlight the importance of the environment to health and prosperity of current and future generations. Four artists were chosen as finalists by a Selection Panel to create site-specific proposals for the Plaza opportunity: Flaming Lotus Girls, Lead Pencil Studio, Alison Saar, and Hank Willis Thomas. Another four artists were chosen as finalists by the same panel to create site-specific proposals for the Gardens: Mildred Howard, Amana Johnson, Dana King, and Joe Sam.
A brand new, beautiful Southeast Community Center will soon rise up, after many years of hard work by the Bayview-Hunters Point community. This wonderful new resource, will enrich the lives of Bayview residents, and provide a positive, much anticipated change. It’s time to celebrate!
Adding to the SE Community Center’s natural environment is a symbolic tree for the people of Bayview-Hunters Point (BVHP). This 35 foot tall sculpture is both an abstract boundary map of BVHP and a translucently rendered Coastal Live Oak. This resilient indigenous oak tree is a visual reference for the hardship endured by the many minority communities who call this sacred land, home. It is also a map of the many activists who had labored to keep this once overlooked community, healthy, whole and thriving through decades of unrelenting adversity. Tree of Bayview is a celebration and a symbol of this community and a reminder of the physical boundaries defended with citizen participation. Tree of Bayview will serve as a quiet icon for that achievement that creates dazzling patterns on sunny days and brilliant illumination in the evenings at the much anticipated community center.
For the Southeast Community Center, I would like to propose a 16 foot tall cast bronze sculpture of a woman carrying water vessels. The figure will stand 10 feet tall and will be balancing a 6 to 7 foot tall tower of various tubs, basins pans and pitchers. She is the embodiment of Yemaja, a Yoruba deity, the goddess of all waters and mother of all living things. Yemaja can be found in throughout Africa and the Americas, she is the protector of women and children and has cleansing and healing attributes. 
Hank Willis Thomas’ TAKE THIS HAMMER is both a nod to the KQED documentary of the same name, and also a direct call to action for the residents of Bayview. As this classic film followed James Baldwin through communities of the Bay area in 1964, this sculpture will endeavor to engage the community in the same way today.
My proposal for the Southeast Community Center involves reproducing two stacks of dominoes at an exponentially large size (6’ x 3’ x 8”) to be placed near the entry at Evans and a site to be determined within the Center’s garden. Dominoes have a rich history spanning a multitude of languages, peoples, and continents. Originating in China untold centuries ago, evidence of dominoes in various European countries has been found dating back to the 18th century; they remain extremely popular in Latin America and throughout the African diaspora. Even in an increasingly digital age, dominoes are a timeless pastime; many of the games we associate with dominoes were actually invented only in the last few decades. In my own travels I have seen people “slapping bones” on tables worldwide – from the Bay Area to Cuba and from the Caribbean Islands to West Africa. In view of the considerable diversity of the Bayview neighborhood, dominoes seemed a perfect object to speak to this audience of broadly varying backgrounds.
The First Nation people known as the Muwekma Ohlone once inhabited the area now known as Bayview Hunter’s Point. Their presence in the area spanned a period of more than 10,000 years before Western settlers came to the San Francisco Bay Area. They left a blueprint for stewardship and care of the earth and its life sustaining bounty. Over the last 300 years many immigrants and migrant populations would come to partake of the golden riches in the area we now know as Bayview Hunter’s Point.
Children have been playing “Hide and Go Seek” since the beginning of time. It’s an activity that demands a bit of ingenuity, stealth and youthful vigor. But the best part is that it requires an enthusiastic group of friends to join in.
The concept for my sculpture is based on the mythology of the Phoenix. 
Opportunity For Public Comment
The Final Selection Panel meeting will take place Friday, December 14, 2018, 9 a.m.—3:30 p.m. at 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 302. All Artist Selection 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: https://www.sfartscommission.org/calendar
Comments may be emailed to sfacpublicartcomment@sfgov.org, or hand delivered/mailed to 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 325 by Wednesday, December 12, 2018 at 5:00 p.m.