Public Art Proposal Display

Art Proposals for Portsmouth Square - Clubhouse Wall

Public Comment Period:

June 30, 2025 to July 21, 2025

Proposal Viewing Location

Proposals located at 667 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Public Comment
View the Proposals

The San Francisco Arts Commission is conducting a review process to choose an artist to design an artwork for a large interior and adjacent exterior wall located at the entrance to the new Portsmouth Square clubhouse. The artwork will measure approximately 600 square feet and may be comprised of a durable material, such as mosaic or ceramic tile. The goal of the project is to create an artwork that reflects the culture and spirit of community service in San Francisco Chinatown; offers a compelling indoor and outdoor narrative experience; strengthens the connection between Portsmouth Square and its new community clubhouse; and includes a community engagement component led by the selected artist. Three artists were chosen as finalists by a Public Art Review Panel to design proposals for this opportunity. They are: Kayan Cheung-Miaw, Jenifer K. Wofford, and Christine Wong Yap.

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Art Proposals for Portsmouth Square - Sculpture

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Kayan Cheung-Miaw

Rising Phoenix

Cheung-Miaw - PSQ Clubhouse Wall Proposal - display board 30x40.jpgMy proposal for the interior and exterior clubhouse art walls, made from 12" square ceramic tiles, tells the stories of struggle, resilience, and rebirth that characterize the historic Chinatown and Manilatown neighborhoods surrounding Portsmouth Square. My design uses the language of comics to foreground collective, as well as individual, acts of heroism and love that turns crises into opportunities for transformation.

The interior art wall (30’ 6.5” x 19’) consists of three integrated elements. A map of Chinatown and Manilatown, in which the different blocks of the neighborhoods are outlined, forms the background. The second element is the image of two children riding a phoenix, which is overlaid on top of the map and is the central visual feature of the mural. The third element is three series of comics panels, which go around the periphery of the art wall. These panel tell three stories: the 1974 Jung Sai strike, in which over one hundred garment workers walked off the job to demand union recognition and better working conditions; the 1968-1977 I Hotel Struggle, in which elderly Filipino and Chinese residents sought to stop their evictions from a place that provided affordable housing and a sense of community; and mutual aid efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. These struggles highlight the resilience our community has demonstrated in moments of crisis. The final panels in the Jung Sai and I-Hotel sections connect these struggles to contemporary campaigns for workers’ rights and housing rights. Anahaw leaves and bamboo appear throughout, suggesting a lush forest.

The exterior art wall (10’6” x 7’7”) is composed of three panels, outlined by bamboo reeds. The panels show scenes of everyday life in contemporary Chinatown: an elderly grandmother carrying bags of groceries with grandchildren in tow; children hugging; and restaurant workers helping each other. The art wall reminds us that heroism does not necessarily mean participating in a street demonstration or dramatic protest, but is also about taking care of the people around us.

The art walls make use of vibrant colors: the Phoenix will primarily be in shades of red, accented by gold, blue, yellow, and orange. The Anahaw leaves and bamboo will be bright green. The map will be beige and yellow, in the manner of an aged map. The comic panels (both interior and exterior walls) will use a range of colors appropriate to the scenes represented, likely muted with pops of bright colors.

Symbolism is also an important element of my design. The phoenix is a symbol of rebirth in Western culture, and in Chinese culture it also stands for abundance, harmony, peace, and prosperity. The butterflies represent both migration and transformation. The bamboo and Anahaw leaves are symbols of resilience in Chinese and Filipino culture, respectively. In addition, the plants capture what I think is essential about Portsmouth Square - an area that allows for a moment of nature while surrounded by high rises, metal, and concrete. The plants also invite the viewer to think of a liberated future not in terms of technological progress but in terms of social and ecological progress and a possible return to our roles as caretakers of mother nature. The maps of historic Chinatown and Manilatown recall both histories of segregation and violence, but also the community-building that created strong attachments to place.

View a larger image of Rising Phoenix.

Jenifer K Wofford

Community Treasures

10c Wofford CommunityTreasures_final.jpgChinatown’s history, community and values are priceless treasures. Community Treasures will showcase the wonderful variety of these riches. Portsmouth Square’s importance as the “living room” of the neighborhood, as well as the “jewel box” design of the new park, calls for artwork that makes people feel at home and feel treasured.

This mural will be a community treasure wall both inside and outside the Portsmouth Square Clubhouse. It references traditional Chinese cabinets, and their place in living rooms both large and small.  It will be grand in scale like the treasure cabinets of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum and Beijing’s Imperial City, but will display additional objects that are precious to Chinatown. The history of the neighborhood is not defined by imperial acquisitions, after all: its treasures are more intimate.

The mural will be digitally illustrated in a clean, simple style, and then printed on ceramic panels for durability and longevity. The basic “treasure wall” idea is fixed, but certain additions are part of the plan. Many shelves are still blank, because the objects they contain will be developed later in community workshops. 
 
The gold/red palette was chosen to be auspicious and welcoming, and to showcase the objects on the shelves. The shelves will be rendered in a soft brown that matches the real wood in the main room for visual harmony with the architecture.  
 
Treasures are precious, but not always traditional.  While this new wall will certainly include some classically beautiful ancient curios, what will set it apart is the inclusion of objects and images that speak to collective action and community on the ground level for the people that have been gathering here for decades. The complete inventory of treasures will be co-created with the community in workshops.  Two important questions for these workshops are:

What do you value?
What objects do you hope will remain precious in the future?

Here is a short list of possibilities, from ancient to recent, from grand to humble.
 

  • Classic porcelain like vases, ginger jars, decorative plates
  • Mahjong tiles and/or table
  • Auspicious plants like bamboo, chrysanthemum, tangerine
  • Delicious foods like dan tat, bao, zong
  • Childhood treats like White Rabbit, Haw Flakes, boba
  • Performance items like a lion dance costume or veiled fans
  • Classic albums of various eras
  • Beloved comics and books
  • Musical instruments such as guzheng or erhu
  • Festival lanterns and firecrackers 
  • References to Wing Chun like a Bruce Lee statue or a practice dummy
  • Mementos of the glamorous history of Chinatown nightclubs
  • Historic portraits from the May’s Photo Studio
  • References to Manilatown like the I Hotel, KSW, Lucky M pool hall
  • Images from the long history of Chinatown’s resilience and activism
     

Personal Connection: I’m a Filipino American SF native who also grew up in Hong Kong, so I have an unusual connection to the cultures of Chinatown and the former Manilatown. I have made art about it, and I teach about it regularly at USF. I have spent countless wonderful days at its numerous establishments and events. I have supported and exhibited at Chinese Culture Center, and I created a temporary pandemic mural in Chinatown. I’ve consistently celebrated the culture and history of the neighborhood, and hope to continue doing so.

View a larger image of Community Treasures, 

Christine Wong Yap

Generations of Love and Care

SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine Wong Yap.jpg“Generations of Love and Care” is my joyous, multigenerational, and interactive tribute to the people of Chinatown, which celebrates the Chinese New Year Parade as a space of belonging, collective effervescence, and cultural and civic pride. Dozens of everyday residents march alongside a dragon in a proud display of unity, diversity, and cooperative movement. Building upon my past projects, I utilize a color palette of peachy-pink and coral, hand-lettered texts in multiple languages, flags and banners, and graphic illustration style. Porcelain enamel on steel panels provide a vivid, durable, long-lasting, and easy-to-clean substrate for the beloved “living room of Chinatown.”


The title and quote comes from one of my previous projects in the neighborhood: Sunflower (alias) hoped that Chinatown would be a place where “generations of love and care will continue.” The quote appears in the proposed design in English, Chinese, Tagalog, and Spanish.


In the exterior panel, seniors are depicted at monumental scale­—becoming giants upon whose shoulders stand younger generations, represented by lion dancers in the vertical panel. This nods to filial piety as well as a tale of the origins of lion dancing, in which villagers use creativity, unity, and culture to empower and protect themselves.


I plan to continue to solicit input and to conduct listening sessions in partnership with the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, Edwin and Anita Lee Newcomer Elementary School, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Manilatown Heritage Center, Self-Help for the Elderly, and nine female, working-class, Chinatown residents who I’ve engaged in my projects, “How I Keep Looking Up / Como Sigo Mirando Arriba / 仰望” (2022–2023) and “Bay Windows / Ventanas en saliente / 窗花” (ongoing). My goal is to learn about activities and conditions which support feelings of intergenerational love and care, and to rework the design to integrate those responses as fictionalized characters.


In lunar new year parades, dragons chase a pearl of wisdom, which represents knowledge, spiritual energy, and power. The pearl is typically carried on a staff by a dancer. In my design, this dancer is a silhouette­—an open invitation to the public to join the parade.


Eight low-relief pieces of CNC-routed, powder-coated aluminum will be integrated into the wall, from which the public can make rubbings—a low-barrier form of creative play requiring only paper and crayon or pencil. Depicting lucky motifs, the Four Noble Ones (plants symbolizing the cyclical nature of life), and the I-Hotel, the plates will also function as tactile graphics. 

View a larger image of Generations of Love and Care.

Opportunity For Public Comment

Please take a few minutes to review these artwork proposals and provide feedback. The proposals are available online at www.sfartscommission.org/calendar/proposal-displays, or accessed by the QR Code below, where you can leave feedback in the public comment form. Comments may also be submitted via email to sfacpublicartcomment@sfgov.org by Monday, July 21 at 5:00 p.m. PST.

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 during the week of August 11, 2025. 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

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