Waves, spiny poles, grizzly bears, oh my!
Mission Creek Park, located at the northern end of Mission Bay, will welcome a new sculpture at the entrance to the park extension, now dropping from 135 feet to these three.
Among the three artists are Windy Chien, who created the spiny shafts. 23 Rego, who created grizzly bears; and Adrian Segal, who portrayed The Surf. They exchanged their suggestions Thursday evening with the Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee.
The San Francisco Art Commission asked the artists to create a design based on the Mission Bay environment, and taking up enough space to “make a visual impact from a distance.”
All three will be lit at night for the enjoyment of park-goers. The final decision will be made at a public meeting on January 18, which will be reported to public and advisory committee comments.
“Spines Mission Creek“
The Chin pillars represent the different types of people who wandered Mission Bay before it became a park. Its spiny columns are open circles, stacked on top of each other. Standing more than 18 feet high, the pillars evoke images of the spines of “giant guardians and totem beings,” according to her project description.
Shen plans to mark each of the five columns with specific nodes, acknowledging the people who once lived there. The first and second knots call the sailors who have traveled to the Gulf. Quilling is often used by the Ohlone tribe as a basket weaving technique. The spinal node is very similar to the vertebral column, a nod to the nearby biomedical community.
Perhaps Qin could give a Boy Scout a run for their money by tying the knot. Her previous art projects have prompted her to learn a new knot every day, many of which have appeared in past exhibitions and writers.
“A Presence Like No Other: The Grizzlies at Mission Creek, California“
Rigo 23, one of the founders of the Clarion Alley Mural Project, is the mission in this competition. He plans to build on his experience with detailed sculpting to create a mama bear and a baby.
Rigo 23 wanted to connect the park with wildlife history, and chose the bear — the grizzly bear, the state animal — to do so. The texture of the fur will include bronze and terracotta tiles. A mother bear will be 13 feet tall and her cub six feet tall.
Sculptures can also educate viewers about the impact people have on our four-legged neighbours. Trees are extinct in California.
“I also aim to remind our contemporaries that the survival of such a majestic and powerful animal as the grizzly, depends primarily on the actions of us humans. Delicate love and fierce protection for mother bears alone are not sufficient to ensure the survival of their young,” Rigo 23 wrote in a statement.
“serpentine wave“
Ride the wave, baby! Auckland-based artist Adrien Segal’s proposal aligns with her other internationally recognized work, which often combines science, statistics and creative expression. In her statue, which is five feet high and extends between 30 and 40 feet, it mimics the “zigzag” shape you might remember from a class before reckoning.
However, the shape of the pocket represents the many symbols that Segal associates with the Mission Bay scene. It is the form left on the sand after the tide recedes, as when Mission Bay was a salt marsh lake; Mimics the shape of a snake. Invokes the graph after seismic activity.
On top of this zigzag shape, Segal plans to recreate a topographic appearance with reused materials to draw attention to the area’s geology.
Decisions Decisions
Arts Committee member Jackie Von Tresko presented the proposals to the 10-person Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee, and said she would take the committee’s comments into account.
So, how did these ideas arise?
One member loved all three. “They are all great. It’s hard for me to decide what I want more than anything,” said commission vice-chairperson Donna del Aira.
Others disagreed strongly.
“I’m suffering. I’m not crazy about any of them,” said member Catherine Sharp.
Member Alfonso Felder suggested that the idea of at least the Rigo 23 bear was immediately available to “multiple generations and a diverse population,” but he hoped to “improve” the bear’s situation later. Sharpe agreed, but added that a tag had to be added to explain the piece, or else people would just view it as just a random bear.
Von Treskow assured her that the artwork would have banners.
The commission took advantage of the fact that the sinuous creation of Segal’s sinuous sculpture would encourage climbing.
“I can see it has become an ongoing problem,” said Theresia Nemeth, chair of the committee, adding that if children came in at the nearby school, they would definitely want to climb it. Dell’Era agreed, noting, “I know of some other public arts that seem to be welcome going forward, and we seem to be keeping people away from that.”
Von Treskow noted that the committee was aware, and if Segal’s proposal were chosen, they would create barriers or other distractions to ensure that people did not touch the art.
The public commentator off the committee, Bettina Cohen, has gone so far as to call the second and third proposals (Chen and Segal) “my yawns.”
I preferred the artwork in the nearby Daggett Plaza. “I heard there will be art [Mission Creek Park]; I was really excited and looking forward to seeing something that would really put me in Mission Bay as soon as I saw it. “None of those do that,” Cohen said. “What they did to Mission Bay, I don’t know.”
A comment barely passed on Chien, except for a question about how the knots look in real life.
Want to see if your favorite wins?
The final review committee will vote at a public meeting where the artists will present their ideas again. Tune in Tuesday, Jan. 18, via the San Francisco Art Commission website.