After spending a successful afternoon looking at San Francisco murals, our public art tour continued the next day with a visit to the San Francisco 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Project (at Moraga and 16th Street). My husband, Jay, and I wandered around numerous winding roads looking for vibrant mosaics when we arrived at this bland-looking set of stairs on an overcast day, and began to wonder why this was even on our sightseeing list.
Since we were there, we decided to drive around to the bottom of the steps, and found a plaque commemorating the completion of this project – and got our first glimpse of what was to come.
We learned the 163 step mosaic project was initiated as a community effort by the Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association in 2003, and supported by a number of private and public groups and contractors, from the Mayor’s Beautification Fund to the Union Bank of California. With the help of KZ Tile, who generously agreed to set the finished tiles into the steps, this group project was completed by the team in 2005.
Over 300 neighbors worked on this project in some capacity, with 220 neighbors sponsoring hand-made tiles of fish, animals, and birds imprinted with their names. The swirling patterns of vibrant blue strewn with aquatic life were an exciting surprise – so different from anything else I had ever seen. The way the individual steps fit together with such precision when seen from the bottom was nothing less than spectacular craftsmanship!
In this series of steps, patron names are inscribed in many of the fish.
As you walk up the steps, the energy shifts into a quieter design which made me think of a distant shoreline.
The colors became more intense and brilliant as we passed through a flower garden of custom shaped tiles. You can see more names, like those inscribed in the flower petals on the left of the bottom step.
Here’s a closeup of a tile with two squirrels munching away, sponsored by a couple.
I was mesmerized by the grand scope and vision of the project, the strong visual impact of the shifting perspectives as you make your way up the steps, and the surprisingly personal nature of this piece of public art. I found myself reading the inscriptions and hypothesizing what the patrons were like, based on their choice of tiles. Here names appear on the plants (maybe vegetarians with luscious gardens), animals (families with pets like the turtle), and birds (people with birdhouses in their backyard)
As we made our way up higher, the viewpoint shifted again so we were walking into a flowing stream of blue water cascading down the steps.
The variety of flowing blue colors and a myriad of marine life transported us to a delightful aquatic world.
Walking up the 16th Avenue Tiled Step Project – obviously a labor of love – is a unique outdoor experience that fits in with the quirky character of SF Bay Area. It felt monumental, like a modern day version of ancient Roman mosaics from Pompeii.
Good thing we stuck around and explored!
