Fun and fantastic works of public art abound in the Bay Area, which is blessed with an abundance of creative talent. Stroll around and you’ll find pieces ranging from silly to stunning, from retro to futuristic. Here are some of our favorite artworks in the Bay Area.
~ Randy McMullen
“Albuquerque,” a large welded steel sculpture created by Gale Wagner in 1982, can be found on the lawn of Palo Alto Art Center in Palo Alto. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) The sculpture “Color Face” by Wanxin Zhang at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga. This work was part of a Color Face series which started in 2007 and is in reference to Chinese opera performances where actors’ faces are painted in a stylized fashion. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) Bear claws from the grizzly bear statue embrace the night at the Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) “Lupe the Mammoth,” by artists Freya Bardell and Brian Howe, resides along the Guadalupe River in San Jose. Made of galvanized steel, it depicts a 12.5-foot juvenile mammoth that was found at that spot by San Jose resident Roger Castillo in 2005. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) “Crocodile Dandy,” a bronze steel sculpture created by Bill Bond in 1998, can be found at the bus stop near the intersection of East Middlefield Road and Ellis Street in Mountain View. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) A public artwork called “Tonglen” by artist Ryan Mathern is on display on Mare Island. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) “Journey of a Bottle” was created in 2010 by artist Marta Thoma and is on display for visitors to view at the Walnut Creek Library. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) “The Orb,” designed and computated by artist Marc Fornes, is on display at Google’s Charleston East Campus in Mountain View. The orb is constructed of ultra-thin aluminum and stands 33 feet high and is held together with 217,847 rivets. Depending on the time of day, a visitor can walk around the Orb and experience a different perspective based on how the light falls on the artwork. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) The public art piece “Fountain” by Woody Othello dominates the corner of Murphy and McKinley Avenues in Sunnyvale. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) A view of artist Taraneh Hemami’s “Ever Green” sculpture in front of the Atlas high-rise tower at the corner of 13th and Franklin streets in Oakland. “Ever Green” is a 24-foot oak tree crafted of stainless steel and surfaces of iridescent green glass. Hemami was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) Patricia Vader’s “Wheely Whirly Peacock” sculpture spins at the Orinda Public Library in Orinda. The city acquired the sculpture in 2012. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) Isaline Nemeth, 6, of Oakland, reaches for her friend Ava Nakayama, 6, of Orinda, as they play on a 42-foot-long crocodile statue named “Niloticus,” created in 2019 by artist Peter Hazel, on display at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond. “Niloticus” was created to be shown at Burning Man. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Pedestrians walk past Gordon Huether’s 13-foot tall “Hubcap” artwork outside the County Garage in downtown Redwood City. Completed in 2021, the piece contains 1,000 chrome hubcaps. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) The “Truth is Beauty” sculpture by artist Marco Cochrane at the San Leandro Tech Campus in San Leandro. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) Birdhouse artwork called “Control Tower” by artist Cameron Hockenson adorns a tree at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) The “Flame of Inspiration” sculpture by artist Amie Jacobsen at Inspiration Plaza in Fremont. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) The wind-activated kinetic sculpture “Two Rectangles, Vertical Gyratory Up V” is on Koll Center Parkway in Pleasanton. The sculpture, which was dedicated on January 13, 1988, was made by kinetic sculptor George Rickey. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
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