A minotaur mural in Mill Valley, CA

If you drive down Throckmorton Avenue (x street Madrona) in Mill Valley you may happen upon a bright and colorful reclining minotaur mural painted on the side of a building.

It is the creation of artist Zio Ziegler, a Mill Valley native. To learn who the artist was I Googled the "ZZ"  signature and "mural, Mill Valley" and found this article from 2011 about Zio in the Mill Valley Patch. There's a photo there that shows what the wall was before it became the minotaur.

To see his most recent work check out his blog at ArteSempre.Tumbler.com. Zio sells hand-silk screened t-shirts and hats on his website ArteSempre.com. Or if you're thinking something bigger and more permanent check out the Porsche he was commissioned to paint in this video:

I recently spotted another mural in downtown San Jose. I just have to figure out how to shoot it because it's not at street level which makes it more challenging.

Oceanic SF Street Art by Henry Lipkis

While up in San Francisco for Macworld I happened upon a rather magnificent piece of street art. #1 it's gorgeous. #2 it's huge.

"The Catch" by Henry Lipkis

It's located on Mission between 3rd and 4th Streets along the eastside plaza wall in front of the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

I'm no expert when it comes to the street art scene but I absolutely love when something creative takes me by surprise and makes me stop in my tracks. I always like to give credit where credit is due so I photographed artist Henry Lipkis' signature on the mural and Googled him. That's how I found out he painted this mural in 12 hours as a piece of performance art at Yerba Buena Night in November 2012.

You can watch him create the entire mural, including the diver to the left I didn't include in the picture, on this Youtube video.

You can see more of Henry's work on his website or follow him on Facebook. I hope someday you get the chance to see "The Catch" in person. Here's how to find it:

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Stunning street art in San Francisco

His name is Apex, and he painted this incredible mural in San Francisco. He's a street artist, a painter, and a sculptor.

Hubby and I were driving south on Masonic in the rain today when this breath of energy, a piece of public art comprised of layers and layers of spray-painted color, caught my eye as we approached the intersection at Haight.

We doubled back, found a parking spot, and there in the rain and wet I took these photos.

His signature reads @Apexer. It's his Twitter handle.

I'm actually glad I saw Apex's work for the first time on a cloudy day. The drab greyness that hung over the city, more quiet than usual because it was Christmas day, only made his painting even more vivid.

Do you love public art? I do. I think it's great when it's out in the open for everyone to enjoy.  We're very fortunate that SF is a city where art in all forms seems to thrive and you can literally stumble upon it when you least expect it.

If you're ever in the neighborhood you should swing by and enjoy this mural, visit his website, and read more about Apex in this SF Weekly blog post. In the post it's mentioned that the painting isn't a permanent work. The store that commissioned it will update the mural from time to time. If you look at the street view of the intersection on the link below you'll see it used to be a completely different painting. So if you want to see this one, don't wait too long.

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San Francisco's Mosaic Street Art: Fell ST x Pierce ST

9/12/17 ETA - TRIGGER WARNING PLEASE READ: When a reader contacted me privately and asked that I include a "trigger warning" that this post contains references and a link to a news article about pedophilia I didn't hesitate to honor their request. I do understand and appreciate how traumatic events can translate into an experience of personal pain when one sees a reminder of a similar situation and hope this warning will help others to decide if they want to continue reading this post or not.

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A few days ago I was up in SF and spotted a stunning mosaic mural running along the north side of Fell Street between Pierce and Steiner. I was thankful for A)The red light, and B) That I was the passenger in the car and not the driver so I could take some quick pictures while we parked at the intersection.

Online sleuthing brought good and bad news.

The good news is the piece was part of an art project made in 2009, in part, funded by a San Francisco's Community Challenge Grant to help students beautify their neighborhood and express their creativity. The mosaic is 200 feet long. This is just one section of it. It was designed and produced by the students at Ida B. Wells High School along with the founder of a local art non-profit.

Over the course of a decade the artist had produced over 80 murals and mosaics around the Bay Area.

The bad news? According to this CBS news article, the artist who ran the non-profit was arrested two years later in 2011. He was fined and sentenced earlier this year to 6 years in prison and 5 years probation for possessing an extensive collection of child pornography on his computer. A charge he plead guilty to.

With this knowledge my knee jerk reaction was what does this art symbolize now? The celebration of creativity by the children who helped to design and make the murals? Or does the sordid story, arrest and imprisonment of someone who worked closely with the children while harboring inappropriate thoughts about them take away too much from the work itself?

Some of the tiles were made by the students and include images of women they admire. If you look closely you'll see them tucked into the background of the mural. Because of this, ultimately, I think the creativity of the students shines through because light overcomes darkness and the piece is so beautiful you can't help but to feel awed by it when you stand in front of it and take in the scope of what the students accomplished.

To view the entire mosaic online or in person you can use the Maps.Google links below.

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Urban Art: Street Koi

Recently I was up in San Francisco and happened to look down. There on the sidewalk was a school of peaceful koi goldfish gliding and swirling across the sidewalk at the northeast corner of Church and Cesar Chavez in Noe Valley. The funny thing is that I'd walked past this section of the sidewalk earlier in the day but hadn't noticed them as I'd failed to looked down.

A little online sleuthing and I learned about Jeremy Novy, a local street artist who has painted over 2000 koi in San Francisco. Some were commissioned. Others he stencils/paints over other graffiti to beautify less aesthetically appealing tagging.

I'm not certain if these particular koi are the work of Novy. But, I suspect even if they weren't made by his hand, they may have been inspired by his designs and desire to bring art and beauty within reach of everyday citizens. It was a special and refreshing moment to be able to enjoy them.

I know most of us are just trying to make it from point A to point B while surviving the hustle and bustle of our day to day lives. But for me, these koi were a reminder we should always take time to smell the roses and, when we're lucky enough to stumble upon them, be sure to take a minute to enjoy the street koi :)

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A photography note: I took this image with my iPhone 4s using the Photojojo Fisheye Phone Lens. It's a magnetic lens and I love it! I then processed the image through the Snapseed iPhone app using the Tilt Shift filter.