Public Art Proposal Display

Proposals for Mission Creek Park Public Art Project

Public Comment Period:

December 13, 2021 to January 03, 2022

Proposal Viewing Location

Virtual 
Public Comment
View the Proposals

MCP_Image.jpgThe San Francisco Commission is conducting a review process to choose an artwork for Mission Creek Park, located near Oracle Park. The art opportunity will be focal sculpture or a series of sculptures located at the entrance of Mission Creek Park, where Channel Street meets Mission Bay Drive. The redeveloped park will be an extension of Mission Creek Park South, creating an additional 3.24 acres of recreational open space west of the Mission Creek Park Pavilion. The goal of the artwork is to be inspired by and responsive to the site, including its natural and physical landscape, history and use. Additionally, the artwork should have a visual impact from a distance, yet be integrated into the landscape and appropriate to the scale of the site. Three artists were chosen as finalists by a Selection Panel to create site-specific proposals; they are: Windy Chien, Rigo 23 and Adrien Segal, 

Mission Creek Spinal Columns

Windy Chien

Windy Chien Art Proposal for the Mission Creek Park Extension .jpgThe Mission Creek Spinal Columns are monumental abstract sculptures representing key human constituencies who currently populate or have historically resided on this land, on these shores.

An evolutionary leap in the artist’s ongoing Spinal Columns series, which were previously created at a scale analogous to the human body, these sculptures are intentionally oversized, meant to evoke giant guardians and totemic beings.

The work is minimalist and abstract: several vertical columns of stacked open circles, with each column utilizing a unique, single knot repeated in sequence to semi-circumnavigate and connect the rings. Because the art of knots is primarily about line rather than secondary elements such as texture or color, the surface finish is smooth and glossy to deemphasize secondary elements. 

Each of the Mission Creek Spinal Columns’ knot types represent a constituency for whom Mission Creek land and waters have provided a home:  Sailors tie The Heaving Line Knot, and The Ringbolt Hitch. The Ohlone native people of the Bay Area and Central Coast used the classic Coiling technique in basketry. San Franciscans for centuries past affixed the Spoke Hitch around vehicle wheels for traction; craftswomen used the same loop-in-loop technique to crochet. The Spinal Hitch Knot resembles a human body’s spinal column, which will be familiar to some of the neighborhood’s current inhabitants from the medical and biotech sectors.

The use of three distinct hitch knots in the work is intentional. In the knot world, the family of hitches denote knots which must be made around an object; if the object is removed, the hitch collapses and loses its integrity. This concept dovetails nicely with our understanding of “hitching posts” as gathering places to which people come for recreation and camaraderie. Parks such as Mission Creek are our contemporary equivalent of hitching posts.

Dimensions: approximately 18 ft. 9 in, high.

Materials: Steel and polyester resin, fiber-reinforced polymers (fiberglass), with E-glass reinforcement and core if needed, urethane paint with UV-resistant clear coat.

View a larger image of the Mission Creek Spinal Columns by Windy Chien

Unflagging Presence - The California Grizzlies of Mission Creek

Rigo 23

Rigo 23 presentation boards_Final-2.jpgUnflagging Presence - The California Grizzlies of Mission Creek is a sculptural tribute to the original wildlife present within the area known today as Mission Creek Park.

In 1871, famed naturalist John Muir wrote, “Bears are made of the same dust as we, and breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters. And whether he at last goes into our stingy heaven or not, he has terrestrial immortality.”

To this day, the Grizzly Bear continues to be one of California’s most visible and enduring symbols, adorning both the state flag and seal. However, by the time the California Grizzly Bear was designated the official state animal in 1953, it had already been extinct in the state for over two decades.

With these larger-than-life Grizzlies (150 percent actual size), I aim to call upon the kind of proximity the animal world shared with the human world before there was a California.

I also aim to remind our contemporaries that the survival of even such a majestic and powerful animal as the Grizzly, is dependent foremost on the actions of us humans. The tender love and fierce protection of the mother bear alone is not sufficient to guarantee the survival of her cubs.

The work reminds us of the Grizzly’s absence by exacerbating their presence.

Dimensions: Mama bear is 13 ft. 6 in. Cub is 6 ft. 

Materials: Welded steel, concrete, glazed and unglazed terracotta tiles, and bronze.

View a larger image of Unflagging Presence - The California Grizzlies of Mission Creek by Rigo 23

Serpentine Wave

Adrien Segal

Segal_SerpentineWave_Board_12.10.21_SM.jpgSerpentine Wave is a monumental sculpture made from layers of stacked stone-like composite materials that create a sinuous curved form. The research that lead to this monolithic sculpture is a composition of ideas all relating to the serpentine curve, as seen across human history, culture, geology, architecture and mathematics.

The sinuous shape of Serpentine Wave is equally inspired by the symbol of the serpent and the seismic forces and wave patterns seen in earthquake phenomena. These sine waves mathematically describe a smooth periodic oscillation, also commonly seen in ocean tide patterns, which would have been present in Mission Bay back when it was a salt marsh lagoon, before it was filled in with earth. The stacked topography by which Serpentine Wave is formed both metaphorically and aesthetically reflects natural phenomena and geologic stratification seen in the landscape across the Bay Area.

Each layer of the cast composite material will reflect the variety of tones, colors and minerals present in the local geologic landscape. To minimize the carbon footprint while retaining the desired durability and lifespan, the composite will be uniquely formulated to utilize locally sourced materials and recycled concrete as an aggregate.

Dimensions: Approximately 5 ft.  tall by 12 ft  wide by 30-40 ft. long

Materials: cast concrete composite, with natural, locally sourced, and/or recycled components.

View a large image of Serpentine Wave by Adrien Segal

Opportunity For Public Comment

Please take a few minutes to review these artwork proposals to provide public comment. Public comments will be considered as part of the Final Review Panel meeting where the Panel members will recommend one proposal for implementation. The proposals are available online at sfartscommission.org/calendar, in the Public Art Proposal Display section. Comments may be emailed to sfacpublicartcomment@sfgov.org by Friday, January 3, 2022 at 5 p.m.

The Final Review Panel meeting will take place virtually on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and will be open to the public to attend. An agenda for the meeting will be posted 72 hours in advance on SFAC’s website under the Public Meeting section: sfartscommission.org along with instructions on how to join the meeting virtually. Please note that public comments do not constitute a vote.

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Public Meeting

Advisory Committee of Street Artists and Crafts Examiners

July 02
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10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Hybrid: 401 Van Ness | Rm 125 and Online
Public Meeting

Advisory Committee of Street Artists and Crafts Examiners

April 02
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10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Hybrid: 401 Van Ness | Rm 125 and Online
Public Meeting

Advisory Committee of Street Artists and Crafts Examiners

January 08
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10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Hybrid: 401 Van Ness | Rm 125 and Online
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Executive Committee Meeting

December 18
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1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Hybrid: 401 Van Ness | Rm 125 and Online
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