Public Art Proposal Display

Potrero Gateway Park Public Art Project

The San Francisco Arts Commission is conducting a review process to select an artist, for the Potrero Park Public Art Project, which will be located at 17th St., between San Bruno Ave. and Vermont St. The goals of the project are to transform the 17th Street area into an engaging, beautiful, and compelling public environment and thoroughfare and enhance wayfinding, and enrichen the experience of traveling through the area. Three artists were chosen as finalists by a Public Art Review Panel to create proposals for the Potrero Park Public Art Project opportunity, they are: Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher, Randy Colosky, and Futureforms. 

FLYWAY

Colette Crutcher & Aileen Barr

Barr + Crutcher.pngOur proposal creates a colorful and harmonious counterpoint to a noisy, congested urban underpass. The laser-cut metal sculptures on both corners are inspired by plant life and urban architecture, two elements that must live side by side in a city. These abstracted shapes are llnked and animated by silhouetted  flocks of birds. The sculptures will be anchored to concrete walls with flowing mosaic insets, incorporating both handmade and cut commercial tile. Connecting both corners, the 17th St. underpass will continue the mosaic wall insets, and metal birds will be attached to the wire fence.

In the natural world, so drained and brutalized by our freeway culture, bird life manages to survive, and even to nest in underpasses. From the disdained pigeon, with its uncanny ability to carry messages and to find its way home, to the hawks, crows and ravens that proliferate in our cities, these birds share the tenacity, resilience and adaptability to thrive in unpromising circumstances. Feral parrots from faraway climates contribute unexpected flashes of color to our urban environment. Both our proposed sculptures and connecting underpass fence will feature the lively grace of urban birds. We use the momentum of their flight to welcome the viewer to the Potrero neighborhood and to create a flow from San Bruno to the Vermont St. side. Our aim is to enliven an otherwise unappealing area with color and playful exuberance.

In this age of cruel inequality, freeway underpasses have served as makeshift shelter for the least fortunate in society. The Potrero Gateway is one such location, and neighbors are understandably distressed by the fallout of this informal community of street-dwellers. It is our hope that the City has plans to house those who will inevitably be displaced by the reconfiguring of this streetscape.

Art cannot solve the problem of homelessness; however, we are acutely aware of it, and will, if chosen for this project, involve the unhoused community in the creation of our mosaics, through workshops held at St. Martin De Porres House of Hospitality, two blocks away. Inspired by Piece by Piece, an organization located in Los Angeles’ skid row, we hope to teach mosaic and tile-making skills to struggling residents of this neighborhood. Artistic expression may not be the high road to solvency, but there is deep satisfaction and personal empowerment in creating wholeness from what is broken, and finding beauty in what others might dismiss as trash. Participating in a project that will become a permanent feature of the urban landscape bonds a community together, and creates a sense of ownership and pride. At least one of the street folks who now live at 17th and Vermont is a talented painter and is eager to collaborate in this endeavor. The mosaic portion of our proposal will be a colorful and flowing design, but we are leaving the details to be fleshed out  collaboratively in our workshops, possibly including poetry written by locals.

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Untitled

Randy Colosky

potrero rendering no7.jpgPotrero Hill has a unique historical background. From Native hunting grounds to the gold rush, early industrialization and immigration, Potrero Hill has seen its share of diverse narratives play out in its pastures over the last 150 years. No area has gone through more change topographically than Potrero Hill. Beginning as a steep outcropping in the Bay, it was slowly dug away to backfill the Bay to what it is today. This massive geological change is a record of all the different events that occurred in Potrero Hill – from immigration to the Gold Rush to Railroads to industry, and finally to one of the most beautiful residential neighborhoods in San Francisco.

A single unified design plan would not necessarily pay homage to the diversity of Potrero’s population and rich history and to the unique elements that Potrero has come to symbolize. Instead, the artist, Randy Colosky, proposes a contemporary piece that plays off the idea of two dissimilar elements to create a cohesive narrative. Randy Colosky wants to highlight the continuous passage of light and time. This will be accomplished with a tube lighting element and painted historic topographic maps of Potrero Hill. The relationship between these two elements will enable the viewer to travel through time and relate to the area as it stands today as they themselves are approaching their next destination.  

The concept of ‘connections’ seemed also particularly well suited for this project given the artist’s own personal ties to the neighborhood. Randy Colosky has been a resident of the Bay Area for over 30 years; he played shows with his band at “Bottom of the Hill” and spent early mornings at Farley’s before going to work doing construction and renovations on the many Victorian houses in the area.

The lighting piece will offer safety lighting at night under the overpass and will also be visible to drivers to see the area illuminated from the street. The light tube also is reminiscent of a DNA strand symbolizing the Biotech and medical research currently happening in the Potrero Hill Mission Bay Area.

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Serpentine

Futureforms

210524_POTRERO GATEWAY FINAL SUBMISSION by FUTUREFORMS.pngFor the Potrero Gateway public artwork we propose to create a series of colorful planted forms that help highlight and support the neighborhood’s biodiversity. Rather than create a single monumental gateway, this collection of sculptural planted objects celebrates local habitat networks by placing them front and center. Each planter in this network creates a unique “ecological stage” for the interaction of plants, insects, birds and humans. Like pearls on a necklace, each woven stage is planted to create an attractive stepping stone for species populations. These curvaceous waystations stitch the site together along 17th Street and help complete the Potrero Loop concept and biodiversity restoration. They help tie together future community gardens along Vermont Street and the Potrero Gateway Eco-patch, Benches Park, Fallen Bridges Park, and future gardens along San Bruno. They also help reinforce the neighborhood’s desire to build community around art, ecology and public space.
 
The artwork’s woven biomorphic forms are meant to evoke a multitude of meanings: from Ohlone Native American canoes woven out of Tule reeds (the marshy edges of Mission Bay were just a stone’s throw from the site), to mysterious garden creatures. They would bring a stream of color, creative energy and imagination to an otherwise forgotten site.

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Opportunity For Public Comment

Please take a few minutes to review the proposals above and complete a comment form below. You may also email your comments to sfacpublicartcomment@sfgov.org, 

The Final Artist Review Panel meeting will take place on Monday, June14, 2021 1:00 p.m – 5:00 p.m. at hosted virtually on Webex. All Artist Review Panel meetings are open to the public. An agenda for the meeting will be posted 72-hour in advance of the meeting on SFAC’s website under the Public Meeting section: www.sfartscommission.org/calendar

What's Coming Up

Public Meeting

Visual Arts Committee Meeting

April 17
/
3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Hybrid: City Hall | Rm 416 and Online
Public Meeting

Executive Committee Meeting

December 18
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1:00 PM to 2:30 PM

Hybrid: 401 Van Ness | Rm 125 and Online
Public Meeting

Community Investments Committee Meeting

April 16
/
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Hybrid: City Hall | Rm 408 and Online
Public Meeting

Civic Design Review Committee Meeting

April 15
/
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Hybrid: City Hall | Rm 416 and Online