New Social Distancing “Suns” at Yerba Buena Gardens (Sept. 25-Oct. 25)

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 Installation POSTPONED – Next art installation begins Friday, November 13th – Next installation scheduled to begin “at end of the month”

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.”

Stimage is a multidisciplinary artist and educator living and working in Berkeley. Her practice explores language and the connections between ideas, humans, time, and space. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including The Murphy Cadogan Contemporary Art Award, The Toby Devan Lewis Award and a Svane Family Foundation grant. She is a Facebook Artist in Residence, AICAD Teaching Fellow, Real Time and Space Artist in Residence, and YBCA Political Power Fellow.