San Francisco is an art town. From the murals in the Mission to the downtown galleries to the fine arts museums, the city is bursting with creativity. But did you know that some of the most inspiring, unexpected, and perspective-bending works can be seen right here in the Presidio?
Over the past decade thousands of visitors have discovered the park through short-term exhibitions featuring more than a dozen artists. The Presidio's best known sculptures are from the brilliant mind of British artist Andy Goldsworthy, renowned for using natural materials such as branches, leaves, stones, and even ice to create works that capture the essence of the places they were made. His sculptures can be found all over the world – the North Pole, the Australian Outback, and locally at the de Young Museum and Stanford University.
Fascinated by the Presidio's interplay of city and nature, people and place, the built environment and wild open spaces, between 2008 and 2014 he created four installations –
Spire,
Wood Line,
Tree Fall, and
Earth Wall in the park. The Presidio is now home to the largest collection of his works on public view in North America. They can be visited individually or explored together via a three-mile hiking loop. View the map in the
Goldsworthy in the Presidio brochure.
The Presidio's artistic spirit is also revealed through destinations and events all around the park.
