In the A to Z Challenge, the letter “Q” can be a difficult one but luckily I was able to find some quotes!
Anima is a cylinder of curved metal that is lit from inside to cast shadowy bits of poetry and ancient text in a halo across the plaza in front of Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
The illuminated words are in different languages and include pieces from the Human Genome Project, Dr. Leslie Taylor, Louis Pasteur, Greek physician Claudius Galen, Roman historian Pliny and a quote from Qi Bo, physician to the Chinese Emperor.
It was designed by Jim Sanborn in 2006 and is located at 1700 Owens Street in front of the Alexandria Real Estate Equities building. There is a plaque that details the quotes but I couldn’t get a good picture of it. I also couldn’t really read any of them because most were in a different language. I did manage to find the Qi Bo section, so that counts as my “Q” right?
Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk. I will say that this was very easy to get to and is in a quiet place so you can park and walk around to read it all.
Continuing to work our way through the alphabet for the A to Z Challenge this year, we are at the letter “P.” As you know I am wandering around the streets of San Francisco looking for the interesting light installations that are part of the “Illuminate SF” project.
Today we have Point Cloud which was designed by Leo Villarreal and opened in 2019. It is a 100-foot pedestrian bridge that crosses Howard Street, connecting the two sides of Moscone Center (named for George Moscone, the Mayor of San Francisco who was assassinated with Harvey Milk).
I was able to pull over to the side of the road and get this short video to give you an idea of the light show. See if you can spot the little friend I found in the building.
There are 858 steel rods suspended from the roof with 28,288 LED lights which are individually programmed and change 30 times PER SECOND into shades of blue, yellow, orange, pink and lavender.
Best Viewing: Nighttime from the corner of Howard and Third streets. That’s just about where I was parked.
To anyone new here, I am blogging this year about a San Francisco experience called “Illuminate SF” which is a “celebration of the ability of light art to transform our most familiar spaces and an opportunity to turn the long nights of winter into an inspiring time to visit San Francisco.” It has been going on for 10 years now and the installations I am focusing on are the ones that have become permanent fixtures around the city.
“Seeing Spheres” was designed by Olafur Eliasson and is his largest public artwork display in the United States. It consists of five polished hydroformed steel spheres that are 15-1/2 feet tall. Each sphere has a flat, circular mirrored face framed by a ring of LED lights oriented inward to reflect the mirrored faces of the surrounding spheres.
Per the Illuminate SF description, this is supposed to produce an “environment of multilayered reflected spaces in which the same people and settings appear again and again, visible from various unexpected angles. Tunnel-like sets of nested reflections open up in the mirrors, repeating countless times and disappearing into the distance.”
Unfortunately while the spheres are still there, they are not reflecting at the moment due to vandalism so that explains why I didn’t see anything when I stood in front of them. I didn’t read about the vandalism until I was doing the research for this post. It’s too bad people can’t control themselves and not ruin it for others.
Best Viewing: After dusk, located on the triangular plaza in front of the East entrance to Chase Center, 1 Warriors Way. The big round balls are still interesting, reflective or not.
Okay folks, thanks for coming along on this journey with me. Make sure to come back tomorrow because I have a real treat for the letter “P!”
And so we begin another week in our A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is a San Francisco experience called Illuminate SF. For the last 10 years there have been installations of lights around the city. Some have become permanent and those are the ones we are visiting.
For the letter “N” I am using Ivan Navarro’s design called “The Ladder.” It was installed in 2020 on the side of the building at 1066 Market Street. During the day it looks like a normal functioning fire escape but at night the neon lights make it look like a stairway to the sky.
Mr. Navarro’s concept is to take ordinary looking things and transform them into works of art. This particular ladder is 10 stories high and cost $850,000. I am wondering how the people who live in those apartments deal with that neon light right outside their window all night. And I don’t think it’s an actual functioning fire escape. You can see that some of the lights need replacing too.
Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk.
That’s all I got for this one. Come back tomorrow for some “O’s.”
I know I have been using some creativity to connect the dots on the A to Z but for this one I am able to match the name of the Illuminate SF installation to the correct letter of the alphabet! Actually, there were 14 of the 26 that I was able to match exactly.
The Monarch sculpture was designed by Cliff Garten in 2015. It is made of stainless steel and LED lights. It depicts the metaphor of how individuals become stronger by gathering together in communities. San Francisco has a “percent for art” requirement for new buildings and this piece was chosen by local Kaiser Permanente staff.
During the day sunlight breaks through the installation highlighting individual butterflies. At night programmable LED lights illuminate the gathering with “multi-colored luminescence.” I didn’t see any changing colors but it did look different from different spots in the little park. Maybe it was still too early, although it was dark out and I did wander about a bit getting it from different angles.
And while I was getting those pictures I saw this:
Best Viewing: The Monarch is located at 1600 Owens Street outside the Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices. Arrive after dusk to view the oscillating LED illumination (which I didn’t see – LOL)
We made it through the second week! Are you having fun going through SF with me? I’ll see you next week. We still have a few really cool lights to see.
This was by far the hardest of my Illuminate SF installations to find. You would think that 6-feet, 6-inch letters on the side of the building would be easy to see but it took me THREE trips to locate it. The first time I went by myself and went to the address given on the website. I drove around the block three or four times looking up at all the corners but I couldn’t see it anywhere so I gave up and went on with the other stops I had to make that night.
The next time I enlisted the help of my husband, thinking that if he dropped me off at the corner and then went around the block to pick me up, I would have time to walk around a little bit to see if I could find it from a different angle. I mentioned in a prior post that the streets of San Francisco are not “normal” streets so you can’t just drive around the block exactly and he got lost coming back so I had plenty of time to look around and I still couldn’t see the lights. We gave up again and went on to some other spots.
This was the last letter I needed to finish my alphabet and I was determined to find the dumb thing so I went one more time by myself to see if I could capture it. I also wanted to swing back by the Lantern Stories to see if I could find the right lanterns, which I did!
The address given on the Illuminate SF website was 165 Jessie Street but when I looked at the actual description of the sign on a different website it showed Annie Street, which is right around the corner so off to Annie Street I went. I drove around the block. Still nothing. Then I decided to go down a second block on Annie Street and in front of me was the glass windows of a store on Mission Street and I SAW SOME BLINKING LIGHTS!
I drove toward them and it indeed was the reflection of the sign I was looking for. I crossed the street and parked, got out and looked up and STILL COULDN’T SEE IT! I kept walking up the block a little bit and at last I saw this:
Oh my goodness I was SO excited. I had found the illusive “Love Over Rules” designed by Hank Willis Thomas and installed in 2017. It is a tribute to the artist’s cousin who was murdered in 2000. The blinking lights are the last recorded message to him from his cousin. As you watch the video, you will see that there are different ways to read this. Is it Love Over Rules or Love Overrules?
Finding this meant my alphabet was complete and since I had all my posts drafted before the A to Z Challenge started, I knew I was home free. This has been the easiest A to Z I think I’ve ever done.
Best Viewing: Near the California Historical Society, stand near the Annie Street sign on Mission Street facing north and LOOK UP!
See you tomorrow for the final letter of the week!
I used to see this interesting set of words on the side of the Bill Graham Auditorium in 2020 when I was driving my son to and from work, which gave me the idea for that year’s A to Z. I didn’t write about it then but I was pleasantly surprised to see it pop up in this year’s Illuminate SF exhibit.
Wrapped around the building is a string of words which form the “Word Family Tree” of civic and auditorium. Designed by Joseph Kosuth, the lighted words were installed in 2019 and represent the first major project funded by the City’s Public Art Trust. Mr. Kosuth describes his work as follows:
“The structure of this installation has two parts: the etymology of the words āCivicā and āAuditoriumā in white neon on the western faƧade. The word āCivicā is intricately connected to the long history of civil rights activism that has taken place (and continues to take place) in the plazaāfrom Gay Rights to Black Lives Matter. The word āAuditoriumā on the other hand is more specific to the building itself, referring to the collective audience assembled by Bill Graham, who found a way, as a concert promoter to not only promote concerts but also community. It is only in the present when a word is used, as it is with a work of art being experienced, that all which comprises the present finds its location in the process of making meaning. Here, in this work, language becomes both an allegory and an actual result of all of which it would want to speak.“
From where I parked, I could only see this side of the building. The “Auditorium” tree is on the other side. The front of the building had the rainbow colors in the window that I included in my “I” post. I have to say that when I first saw the letters “WFT” I read them as “WTF” and wondered how that would work out. Then I read the description and realized I had the letters mixed up. – LOL
Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street, SF.
We are moving right along here in our A to Z Challenge. See you tomorrow for “L.”
Continuing on our journey through San Francisco looking for the “Illuminate SF” art projects, once again I am using a little creative license to connect these dots. John F. Kennedy Drive goes through Golden Gate Park and that is where you will find the Conservatory of Flowers and there you will see some Psychedelic Photosynthesis.
As you will remember with the “Entwined” exhibit, Golden Gate Park was actually closed to traffic by the time I got there. A few folks were out walking their dogs and there were some tennis courts with people still playing so the lights were on but I didn’t really want to just randomly park the car and go wandering by myself so I kind of overlooked the signs that said “do not enter” or “road closed” and drove to where I saw the flashes. The Entwined exhibit was on the same road, just a bit farther down.
This colorful projection on the outside of the Conservatory was developed with the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department and started in 2021. The moving colors and different flowers are reminiscent of the San Francisco Summer of Love. I couldn’t get any closer to the building itself but was able to park on the hill and look down.
As I was just about finished shooting this sequence, a man walked by who was cleaning up (or I assumed he was cleaning up because he had a big black trash bag) and he said that there were heavy fines for being in this area. I thanked him and got back in the car. I wish I had taken just a few more minutes though because I could see as I was pulling away that the colors on the Conservatory were turning a deep blue and then red. I didn’t hear any music but the addition of some would have been really cool I think.
Best Viewing: Outside the Conservatory of Flowers, 101 John F. Kennedy Drive. Starts at dusk each night and runs on a loop through the night. Make sure to get there early enough so you don’t have to break the law to see it!
I’m sorry to say that the pictures on the website show much more color and vibrancy than the video I got. I would like to go back sometime and see it again. I’ll be sure to post about it if I do. Thanks to all who have been visiting me from the A to Z. I promise I’ll try to get out and visit some new folks soon!
The installation I was going to use for the letter “I,” “Illuminavia” is located in a bar across the street from Oracle Park and it was closed so instead I’ll share some of the other interesting (I hope) tidbits about my experience with the Illuminate SF project.
First off I’ll mention my process for finding and capturing the different installations. First I had to look at all the sites and figure out how to fit them in the alphabet. Some, as I’ve said, I had to be creative about. Then I couldn’t just go alphabetically through the list because it would have meant going back and forth from one end of the city to the other. Since I knew I might have to enlist the help of my husband or daughter to drive me, I mapped out where each spot was and then made four different routes. Each route had about 6 or 7 stops and would take about an hour or so to get through. I ended up doing most of them by myself and it actually took more than an hour each time because I got out and took pictures. It looks from the maps like it would be really easy to get them all at one time but you have to remember that in San Francisco there are a lot of one-way streets so something could be right on the next block but you have to go three blocks west and two blocks south to come back to where it actually is. A few of them I went back a second time to get just the right picture/video. Fortunately we live right near the freeway so most of it was just a straight shot to the city. I planned them on Sunday night or weeknights so that the streets wouldn’t be too crowded.
While I was driving around, I did notice some other cool lights that weren’t part of the actual “Illuminate SF” program. This was a group of trees in the middle of downtown that were all lit up. I didn’t realize until I got home that Coit Tower was right behind them. I guess sometimes I have tunnel vision and focus on one thing while something else is right in front of my nose (see “Archipelago” where I totally missed a 6-foot sculpture while I was looking at a heart!)
The carousel ride at the Children’s Creativity Museum looks really pretty all lit at night. The windows of the Civic Auditorium shows the City’s pride. Louise K. Davies Symphony Hall was magnificent lighting the whole corner.
A few random lights on the buildings and more lighted trees. These trees are in Union Square (I forgot to look for the hearts!). And finally, the top of City Hall.
These aren’t lights exactly but I spotted this sculpture out of the corner of my eye when hubby was driving and he went around the block so I could get out and get these pictures. Looks like some kind of sea creature, doesn’t it? Love the pretty scales. There are lights on the ground around it so I bet if it was later in the evening it would be interesting.
As a thank you for taking me out so I could get my pictures and videos, I treated my husband to dinner at the Stinking Rose. He had a hamburger and I had a prosciutto sandwich and salad. They were delicious and too much for one meal so I had my other half for lunch the next day. This friendly guy was next to me at the bar.
We’re starting our second week here on the A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is the Illuminate SF light art experience. I hade fun going through San Francisco looking for the different light installations that are hidden throughout the city.
Today we have, Hope Will Never Be Silent, which is written in lights above the SoulCycle building that overlooks Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro District. You may remember I wrote about the Castro District when I went through the city in 2020. It is the center of the gay community in SF.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the history of California. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco in 1977 and assassinated in November of 1978. There was a movie made about him starring Sean Penn who won an Oscar for his portrayal. I’d recommend watching it. He had an interesting life, cut short by a mentally deranged colleague, Dan White, who also killed the mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone. White was convicted and went to prison but killed himself two years after he was released.
The photos aren’t that great because this is one of the busiest intersections in the city. I had to find parking and then walk up the block to get this shot. As you can see there are lots of telephone poles and street signs in the way so I did the best I could.
Illuminate is the arts group that designed the fixture and it was installed in 2017. It is to honor Harvey Milk’s legacy “through light’s power of attraction.”
Best Viewing: The lights can be seen from dark until dawn. View it from the top of the Castro Muni Metro Station escalator and other spots around Harvey Milk Plaza.
One of the things that this excursion is reminding me is to look up. So often we just look straight ahead and we may miss something special. I didn’t get to visit as many new folks as I would have liked. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that this week. See you tomorrow for “I.”
Janet's Smiles 