Our open-air market will launch with a thoughtful and comprehensive COVID-19 safety plan. The plan will include guidelines, protocols, and a modified program of activities that will evolve along with this situation but will reflect at all times the goal of helping to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the community, vendors, and staff.
The expansive lawns of Yerba Buena Gardens, located in the cultural heart of downtown San Francisco, will showcase colorful social distancing spheres by local artists beginning Friday, September 25, 2020 with the bold, enveloping “Infinite Center, infinite sun” by Tosha Stimage.
“Infinite Sun” Lawn Art & Social Distancing Circles September 25-October 25, 2020 Yerba Buena Gardens But note that the art will slowly fade away
Next art installation begins Friday, November 13th
Stimage’s images are the first in a series of installations of the Lawn Art Project by the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that oversees operations of Yerba Buena Gardens. The two debut installations are curated by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) and supported by a grant from the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, with artist fees co-supported by YBCA.
Subsequent installations will involve a diverse collection of artists, shapes and eclectic designs. Stimage’s installation will be in the Gardens through Sunday, October 25, and will slowly fade with the natural growth of the grass to make way for the next installation.
The work of artist, designer, and architect June Grant will be on display beginning Friday, November 13.
“The Lawn Art Project highlights the vitality and strength of the Bay Area arts scene. It also encourages people to safely enjoy art outdoors, and the Gardens’ greenscape,” said Scott Rowitz, executive director of the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy. “The Conservancy is excited about exploring ways for artists and visitors to interact with art in a safe, clean, and inspiring natural environment. We feel so fortunate to have this big, beautiful lawn to use as a canvas. Tosha’s social distance-inspired designs are purposely larger so visitors can be within them, or view them as a source of inspiration.“
Nineteen of Stimage’s designs will be stenciled on the Garden’s lawn, which serves a green centerpiece adjacent to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and Waterfall, YBCA, SFMOMA, METREON and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Stimage said each pattern, which will be created with grass-safe paint, is a “12-foot explosion of color” with a repeating pattern that expands outwards from a central point, row by row, into the grassy esplanade.
“The design can be interpreted a
number of ways — that’s always the intention,” said Stimage. “Seeds parachuting from a dandelion, the pull of a magnet, a star exploding, even molecules colliding. The image is just a symbol, where there ceases to be a point. It is the suggestion of infinite love radiating from each center, in a mutually shared space.”
