Mural In Progress: New Green Bike Lane on Fell to Have San Francisco Panorama for Company

Surface prepped, sketched, and advisory posted

From this to the wall, a profusion of iconic San Francisco and flowers to match diversity

The block of Fell Street between Scott and Divisadero -- an essential link in the Wiggle Bike Route -- will soon greet pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists with a bright splash of color featuring iconic San Francisco sights and symbols of the city's diversity. With great timing, a new mural is being sketched and painted along the block that has been the focus of much frustration, contention, and risk. Earlier this month the SFMTA advanced a traffic plan that the agency hopes will improve safety for all road and sidewalk users. One element of the proposal is a green-painted bike lane to guide cyclists and give motorists a visual cue to share the road with bikers. Weather permitting, the mural will be completed this week to make the block a visual treat for all.

Marina Perez-Wong, 3rd generation San Franciscan and muralist

Marina: and a bicyclist too!

Marina Perez-Wong's portfolio convinced the owners of the building at the SW corner of Fell and Scott that she was the artist they wanted for their mural. Perez-Wong has been painting murals for four years since graduation from the California College of Arts. She is a third generation San Franciscan who grew up in the Mission with murals all around her. She applied to the Street Artist Program of the San Francisco Arts Commission and was selected to join a pool of artists ready to create murals at selected locations in the city.

"The owners had a few requirements," Perez-Wong explained. "They wanted the Golden Gate Bridge, a cable car, and a bike rider in the mural." The Alamo Square Neighborhood Association (ASNA)* wanted the mural to reflect the neighborhood, its postcard-row houses and its stunning park. And Perez-Wong was hoping to include a political statement. In the end, she included the owners' wishes, tried to accommodate ASNA's interests, and muted the political angle. "Most people travel this block on bike or in a car," she said. "I want the mural to be an easier read for them while travelling."

Perez-Wong decided to focus on the historic diversity of neighborhood residents. In the middle of her work she placed the Hall of Flowers from Golden Gate Park, a structure that houses a rich mix of plants from all over the world. She will also feature flowers geographically associated with Western Addition populations: African violets, dahlias from Mexico, Japanese cherry blossoms, and several native flowers too. "Now everybody is here in the neighborhood," she added.

To complete her work, Perez-Wong ("Micho P") had help yesterday from Rashad, who was doing some brush work, and from Ernesto Aguiler who laughed when Perez-Wong described him as "an assistant who saves Marina's ass."

Street art, a traffic-calmed corridor, and a green bike lane -- all signs of another more livable space in the city. But, does anyone in NOPA have potential mural space for Perez-Wong's more political vision?

* ASNA will cover the cost of the graffiti-resistant coating for the mural, according to board member Gus Hernandez. Something new: ASNA has a new website here.

You might also want to view BIKE NOPA's "Murals of NOPA" series.

Murals of NOPA: Bold Touch at the Laundry

You can't miss the mural at the corner of Lyon and McAllister. On the Lyon Street exterior of the neighborhood laundry "Get the Funk Out," this eerie visual evokes, for me, an Almodovar homage amid free-form graffiti script and an octoman I don't want to encounter on a dark street.

Other posts in the Murals of NOPA series.

Murals of NOPA: Divisadero Destination

Divisadero, a bit out of this world at McAllister

Before the street makeover, the artist envisioned something better

Four-eyed bananas? Six-eyed pineapples? Only on Divisadero

Sometimes greater livability requires a frothy dose of whimsy. Or perhaps this artist envisioned something for Divisadero that no one else has considered. I have friends who worked for a revitalized Divisadero corridor fifteen years ago. They either failed in their efforts or planted very slow-to-sprout seeds. And now look: Divisadero the destination.

Other entries in the Murals of NOPA series.

Murals of NOPA: Art Tucked Away

A view from NOPA

Thanks Bob ..... and Jayne

Third in a series.

Artists helped shape and enrich the North Panhandle into the complex, challenging, surprising and striving neighborhood it is today. Sometimes you have to walk our blocks to see all they have to offer. On foot you get a sense of the rich livability around us with tucked-away treasures like this mural on Hayes Street just west of Divisadero on the north side.

Other posts in the Murals of NOPA series.

Murals of NOPA: John Adams Campus Art Enlivens Masonic Avenue

First in a series

Even with the speeding traffic of Masonic Avenue as its companion, the Educate to Liberate: Lessons in Community mural bears witness to art, the rewards of education, and the struggle for liberation. The John Adams Campus of the City College of San Francisco has featured a mural on a foundation wall between Hayes and Grove Streets for more than 30 years. Beginning in 1976 with Our History is No Mystery and with Educate to Liberate in 1988, artists have represented the triumphs and degradations of a journey toward freedom. Miranda Bergman, one of the artists of Educate, created a new design in 2006 that includes restored segments of the two previous murals and new sections as well.*

Educate to Liberate reflects the traditions of the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and Jose Siqueiros with a vibrant clash between industrial/military forces and the celebration of life by people striving for respect and peace. The mural includes an homage to the two great Mexican artists with a depiction of books about their work. The message of Educate is too expansive for the Masonic Avenue exterior alone. The Bay Area's early native people are represented along Hayes Street.

When traffic calming comes to Masonic Avenue, NOPA neighbors and all San Franciscans will appreciate the beauty and the message of Educate to Liberate in a quieter, more peaceful environment. Until then, take a stroll on an early Sunday morning along this block of Masonic and turn west on Hayes to view one of our neighborhood's most significant works of public art.

* Our History is No Mystery and Educate to Liberate were painted by Miranda Bergman, Jane Norling and Arch Williams among others. The 2006 design was painted by Miranda Bergman, Jane Norling, Susan Cervantes, and other artists and neighborhood volunteers with support from City College, Precita Eyes Mural Arts, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation. The John Adams campus occupies the former Lowell High School building that was erected in 1911.

For posts added later in the Murals of NOPA series.