Lincoln Park Steps

Tile Art Renovation Project

Dating from the early 1900’s, the Lincoln Park Steps (at the end of California Street, at 32nd Avenue) are a gracious and elegant reminder of San Francisco’s earlier days. They are a gateway to and from the surrounding urban neighborhood and the open space of Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park Playground, Golf Course, Legion of Honor and Land’s End walk. They provide a beautiful view of San Francisco’s downtown skyline and East Bay hills, and are prominently viewed from several adjoining blocks of California Street.

Decades of neglect and disrepair have resulted in cracked steps, damaged concrete and wasted landscaping that attract nighttime loitering, frequent graffiti and dumping of unwanted items. Friends of Lincoln Park think it is important to address these issues and to conserve San Francisco’s precious history and physical beauty: the Lincoln Park Steps project will achieve these objectives by restoring and maintaining this important San Francisco landmark. Inspiration for the steps-design came from historic photographs of Sutro Baths and buildings of the 1890 World’s Fair in San Francisco, and from the artistic vision of Aileen Barr, a renowned tile artist who has worked on many public projects in San Francisco - including the award winning 16th Avenue Stairs. The project will feature beautiful handmade tiles to restore the elegant “bone structure” of the steps in the original Beaux Arts style.

The restoration will be conducted in two phases (two years), to allow for fundraising and to maximize community input. Each phase will produce a significant benefit in itself. Phase one (2009), will consist of site preparation and emplacement of art tiles on the top retaining wall bench, mid-point benches and pillars. Phase two (2010) will install art tiles on the step risers. The project will complement renovation of the adjacent Lincoln Park Playground, to be undertaken by SF Recreation & Park Department in 2009. We sincerely hope you will join us in this worthwhile effort to reclaim one of San Francisco’s neighborhood treasures. Please contact us with any questions at friendsoflincolnpark@yahoo.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Aileen Barr, an Irish born artist has been living in San Francisco since 2002. Before moving to the US, Barr lived and worked in a rural community in the Northwest of Ireland. Her art practice in Ireland developed in conjunction with her involvement with Artlink, a community based visual arts group. As an artist led organization, Artlink worked to promote access to high quality visual arts and creates opportunities for participation in collaborative contexts for all sections of the community. Her experience within Artlink allowed her to develop work practices which engage communities in a variety of ways from consultative processes to hands on collaborations. At the core of this practice is meaningful engagement and quality artwork, both of which are integral to the success of any community based art project. She helped to initiate and develop a broad program of art projects and workshops within the local community. This included artist residencies, school based programs, exhibitions, training programs and public art projects. Projects were carries out with school children, teachers, women’s groups, artists and cross border groups (between northern and southern Ireland).

In 2002, Aileen emigrated from Ireland to San Francisco. Since relocating, she has completed a number of public art projects including “The Secret Garden” at West Portal Recreation Center (San Francisco Arts Commission), 16th Ave. Tiled Steps Project at Golden Gate Heights, San Francisco (www.tiledsteps.org) and the Seating Walls at Alta Plaza Playground in Pacific Heights, San Francisco. She has also worked on 24th Street Mini Park, with Precita Eye Mural Arts Center, creating handmade tile for the tiled serpent play structure.

Aileen has continued to work in arts education in the Bay area. This has included:

Publications

Lincoln Park Steps

Tile Art Renovation Project

Dating from the early 1900’s, the Lincoln Park Steps (at the end of California Street, at 32nd Avenue) are a gracious and elegant reminder of San Francisco’s earlier days. They are a gateway to and from the surrounding urban neighborhood and the open space of Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park Playground, Golf Course, Legion of Honor and Land’s End walk. They provide a beautiful view of San Francisco’s downtown skyline and East Bay hills, and are prominently viewed from several adjoining blocks of California Street.

Decades of neglect and disrepair have resulted in cracked steps, damaged concrete and wasted landscaping that attract nighttime loitering, frequent graffiti and dumping of unwanted items. Friends of Lincoln Park think it is important to address these issues and to conserve San Francisco’s precious history and physical beauty: the Lincoln Park Steps project will achieve these objectives by restoring and maintaining this important San Francisco landmark. Inspiration for the steps-design came from historic photographs of Sutro Baths and buildings of the 1890 World’s Fair in San Francisco, and from the artistic vision of Aileen Barr, a renowned tile artist who has worked on many public projects in San Francisco - including the award winning 16th Avenue Stairs. The project will feature beautiful handmade tiles to restore the elegant “bone structure” of the steps in the original Beaux Arts style.

The restoration will be conducted in two phases (two years), to allow for fundraising and to maximize community input. Each phase will produce a significant benefit in itself. Phase one (2009), will consist of site preparation and emplacement of art tiles on the top retaining wall bench, mid-point benches and pillars. Phase two (2010) will install art tiles on the step risers. The project will complement renovation of the adjacent Lincoln Park Playground, to be undertaken by SF Recreation & Park Department in 2009. We sincerely hope you will join us in this worthwhile effort to reclaim one of San Francisco’s neighborhood treasures. Please contact us with any questions at friendsoflincolnpark@yahoo.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Aileen Barr, an Irish born artist has been living in San Francisco since 2002. Before moving to the US, Barr lived and worked in a rural community in the Northwest of Ireland. Her art practice in Ireland developed in conjunction with her involvement with Artlink, a community based visual arts group. As an artist led organization, Artlink worked to promote access to high quality visual arts and creates opportunities for participation in collaborative contexts for all sections of the community. Her experience within Artlink allowed her to develop work practices which engage communities in a variety of ways from consultative processes to hands on collaborations. At the core of this practice is meaningful engagement and quality artwork, both of which are integral to the success of any community based art project. She helped to initiate and develop a broad program of art projects and workshops within the local community. This included artist residencies, school based programs, exhibitions, training programs and public art projects. Projects were carries out with school children, teachers, women’s groups, artists and cross border groups (between northern and southern Ireland).

In 2002, Aileen emigrated from Ireland to San Francisco. Since relocating, she has completed a number of public art projects including “The Secret Garden” at West Portal Recreation Center (San Francisco Arts Commission), 16th Ave. Tiled Steps Project at Golden Gate Heights, San Francisco (www.tiledsteps.org) and the Seating Walls at Alta Plaza Playground in Pacific Heights, San Francisco. She has also worked on 24th Street Mini Park, with Precita Eye Mural Arts Center, creating handmade tile for the tiled serpent play structure.

Aileen has continued to work in arts education in the Bay area. This has included:

Publications