Day 10: San Francisco

Day 10: San Francisco


August 4 was our last full day in San Francisco, and it was a busy one exploring lots of outdoor art and beautiful gardens. It was a day rich with interesting things, so bear with us for a long blog post with lots of images, observations, and a little green friend…



After a big British breakfast at the apartment, we went to the Presidio’s Crissy Field to clear the arteries by walking around a magnificently expansive installation of Mark Di Suvero sculptures. Photo by Blake.


Like the exhibition we had seen a couple days earlier at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in downtown, the Di Suvero installation was part of the exceptional satellite exhibition program that San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has conceived while their building is closed for expansion.

The Di Suvero sculptures were clearly selected to sing with the Presidio’s architecture, the bay, the sky, the Golden Gate Bridge, the city’s skyline, and the expanse of Crissy Field. Photo by Blake.



They all had that great Di Suvero combination of gesture, engineering, architecture, and some even felt quite nautical. Photo by Blake.





The morning was chilly and drizzly – very pleasant. We were fortunate throughout the trip, with no oppressively hot and sunny days. Photos by Sarah.



Three buoys and three birds. Oh look, there are three circles too! Photo by Blake, who hates this kind of serendipitous, ironic, contrived photograph.


This work is called Mother Peace, 1969-70. It was made at the height of the Vietnam War and inspired controversy when installed outside the courthouse in Oakland in 1974. As happens too often, the sculpture was removed due to public anxiety. This is the first time it has been installed in the Bay Area since. There seem to have been some changes in our society given its current installation at a former army post. Are we now more peaceful, open, and tolerant…?


…or more indifferent, are we? A good time to contemplate, it is.



WWYD?


Geek-out, Yoda would!!! At the Presidio offices of LucasArts, which were closed the day we were there; but it was cool to peek in the windows, especially knowing that there’s a flurry of new Star Wars activity going-on inside. Photos by Sarah.


Also on the grounds were statues of ground-breakers of motion picture, including this one of Eadweard Muybridge. Photo by Sarah.


Muybridge was a late-19th century innovator in photographic motion studies. He is best-known for his images of galloping horses, which helped to resolve debate regarding the positions of a horse’s hooves during gallop.




Muybridge was also one of the first photographers to work in Yosemite. On the top left is his 1872 image from Glacier Point and Blake’s 2013 image is below it. On the right is one of his images of Vernal Falls, which we also visited and which is pictured in an earlier blog post from Yosemite. Muybridge climbed-up higher above the falls than we did, and with a donkeyload of equipment.



Next, we sought-out the first of two Andy Goldsworthy installations (a third has been completed since we were there) at the Presidio. These works, like much of Goldsworthy’s, are site-specific and made of natural, usually local, materials which will deteriorate over time. This one is called Wood Line and is sited in a beautiful grove of eucalyptus trees. Photo by Blake.




As the title suggests, this work very much evokes an act of drawing in space. The line redefines the site and welcomes interactivity. Photo by Sarah.


We walked along the line from top to bottom and back. Along the way, previous visitors had made their own Goldsworthy-esque sculptures. Photo by Blake.


Sam and Sarah at Wood Line. Photos by Blake.



This is Spire, Goldsworthy’s first installation at the Presidio. It is 95 feet high and made of 37 felled Monterey cypress trunks. It references the Presidio’s trust to preserve the historic forests there, as well as church spires and the general shape of downtown San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid. We didn’t find Spire to be as interesting as Goldsworthy’s Wood Line or his installation at the De Young museum. Photos by Sarah and Blake.


After leaving the Presidio, we went to Golden Gate Park where Kenny and Sam found a little bit of Scotland in San Fran. Photo by Sarah.


Next stop: the Japanese Tea Garden.


Sam was especially looking forward to this and was not disappointed. We all found this place beautiful. Photos by Sarah and Blake.




More from the Japanese Gardens. Photos by Sarah and Blake.





Then we crossed the street to the Botanic Gardens, which were also magnificent. Photo by Blake and Sarah.


For dinner, we ate at a lovely little restaurant called Pacific Catch on the south side of Golden Gate Park. Photo by Blake.


Our final evening in San Francisco was topped with a trip down to the Ferry Building for a view of artist Leo Villareal’s fantastic light installation on the Bay Bridge – visible in the background of this image. Photo by Blake.


This is a commissioned artwork of 25,000 LED lights illuminating the bridge’s west expanse, which is almost 2 miles. It commemorates the bridge’s 75th anniversary and Villareal programmed the lights to modulate with never-repeating patterns.


Here’s a video of the lights “in motion”. Notice the trucks and cars driving across. The quiet evening was disrupted only by the docking of a ferry. Magnificent!
Video by Blake.