Lined with historic buildings, the Central Market area is home to neighborhood shops, restaurants and other retail, while its residential community and office workers add vitality to the district. A dense and urban neighborhood, Central Market is part of a larger downtown district referred to as South of Market, or SoMa. Concentrated along Market Street, the community includes beloved neighborhood gems, hidden treasures, and new and historical landmarks.
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Originally from Argentina, Rafael Landea’s mural pays homage to the historic theaters that once lined Market Street. The mural depicts old theater seats swept up in a swirl of tornado-like activity. Each chair will be unique and reflects on the lost glamour of Market Street.
Indigenous Arts Coalition (IAC) members Rye Purvis, Nizhoni Ellenwood, Spencer Keeton Cunningham, and Richard Castaneda collaborate to celebrate and enrich the Native American community of San Francisco. Founded in 2008, the IAC fosters a voice for those with indigenous backgrounds in the Bay Area. The storefront installation includes a series of projections juxtaposing historical footage, personal photography, appropriated images, and impactful text to represent the “double life” of individuals straddling cultural identities.
Vanesa Gingold presents a storefront installation of colorful sculptures and mobiles inspired by interviews and art projects with individuals from the Central Market community. Asking neighborhood members to recall childhood memories of favorite places, the soft tunnel-like sculptures reflect a shared sense of safety and comfort.
Paz de la Calzada is a multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, sculpture, and installation. A native of Madrid, Spain, she moved to San Francisco in 2003 after being awarded an artist residency at Djerassi Resident Artist Program in Woodside, CA. For her Art in Storefronts project, de la Calzada will do a site-specific art intervention on the old Strand Theater building. The façade will be covered with a charcoal drawing of tangled strands of hair, which appear to wrap around the building. Unlike traditional murals, this wall drawing will challenge the spatial boundaries of art, playfully engaging with the architectural space and creating a sense of wonder.
Swallowtails & Sycamores Description: Amber Hasselbring brings to life the story of the Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly and the London Plane tree, two indigenous species found on Market Street. Drawing attention to one of the natural habitats found on San Francisco’s main thoroughfare, the saturated, realistic photo-collage mural illustrates the metamorphosis of the butterfly and [...]
Primarily a sculptor who also works with photography and installation, Cat U-Thasoonthorn has had a longstanding interest in night photography and incandescent light. For her storefront installation, the artist has documented defunct commercial signage in and around the Central Market neighborhood. Black and white images of these sites are combined into a panoramic fictional street view and reanimated with the insertion of neon and fluorescent lights. The artist is currently an MFA candidate at the San Francisco Art Institute.
With a degree in architecture, professional experience as an interior designer, and currently running her own “green” floral and event design business, Madeline Trait has also been making art personally for a number of years. Creating an illusion of transformation, Trait’s installation presents a pile of discarded aluminum cans that magically transform into gracefully flying butterflies. The butterflies fill the storefront as well as the exterior surroundings of the building.
Erik Otto has been working as a professional artist for almost ten years and recently completed the Artist-in-Residence program at Recology in San Francisco. Otto envisions change as a catalyst for Central Market’s history and future. His storefront installation depicts change through metaphors symbolized by clouds, houses, and a circle of neon light, representing the openness of the community and city to embrace a new future for the neighborhood.
A recent MFA graduate from the San Francisco Art Institute, Alexis Arnold’s installation highlights the bicycle culture of Market Street. Old bike rims encased in glinting crystals along with a series of gold-painted U-locks (the bicycle detritus often left behind as a marker) will fill a Market Street window. The artist has exhibited her work at Root Division, The Crucible, and Swell Gallery, among others.