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.
Our 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.
Potrero 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.
For 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.
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