Tucked into the Golden Gate Heights neighborhood in San Francisco’s Sunset District, the 16th Avenue Steps is a perfect example of an inclusive work of both public art and civic design. The project was led by artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher, who worked with more than 300 neighbors on creating the tiles used for the 163 risers that make up these stairs.
The project had over 220 sponsors, many of them area individuals and businesses, including the incomparable Heath Ceramics and the Arizmendi Bakery, truly an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts:
Standing at the top of the stairs, you can’t see the artists’ effort at all:
But, you get one of those million-dollar views for which San Francisco is famous:
Gentle readers, can you think of any other city with an array of public stairs that could use some civic intervention and attention? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Wow… That’s incredible. And we thought mosaic tile back splashes for kitchens were a lot of work.
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Comment by James — January 22, 2009 @ 1:22 pm
It’s a great project, and it’s nice that walking up all those steps dictates a leisurely pace for admiring the art on the risers [well, unless you do a Rocky-type sprint].
Comment by visualingual — January 22, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
[...] I’ve already documented. In a city of so much amazing public art, and specifically so many mosaics in public places, this small urban park is a great example of a mosaic mural with a strong impact. This mural was [...]
Pingback by Kid Power Park in San Francisco « Visualingual — January 26, 2009 @ 8:37 am
[...] content” bits that acknowledge the sponsors in the art. A similar tactic was used in the 16th Avenue Steps project I checked out in San Francisco a couple of months ago. I definitely prefer this over a [...]
Pingback by OTR’s Imagination Alley « Visualingual — March 4, 2009 @ 8:49 am