9 Bay Area Child-friendly Public Art and Sculptures to Check Out

Agreat way to excite your kids about art? See it outside. Forget fusty museums (although let’s face it, they’re wonderful! But maybe not for all kids) and emphasize cool public art and sculpture gardens. Here are a few to get you started: CUPID’S SPAN – SAN FRANCISCO

The bow and arrow seen near the Embarcadero in San Francisco. This giant fiberglass and steel sculpture by married artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen illustrates Cupid’s arrow. FUN FACT: its curve visually echoes the Bay Bridge beyond and was meant by the sculptors to also evoke ships’ rigging from San Francisco’s early days.

DRAGON FORTUNE – SAN FRANCISCO

Sitting outside, guarding the front of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, is the Dragon Fortune sculpture. This colorful dragon comes from a menagerie of whimsical animals by Taiwanese artist Hung Yi. These gleeful creatures embody traditional wishes for abundance and prosperity, transformed for this century by morphing decorative patterns drawn from Taiwanese folk art and Japanese textile design with pop art and children’s cartoons from around the world. FUN FACT: The sculpture takes a beating, needing to be cleaned and waxed every two months.

VAILLANCOURT FOUNTAIN – SAN FRANCISCO

Also, near the Embarcadero in Justin Herman Plaza, this 40-foot-high sprawl of precast concrete tubes may inspire conversation about what constitutes art: does it have to be beautiful? What does this sculpture make us think about? People have tried to remove it in the past, and its integral water feature is sometimes on, but mostly off, due to the drought. Quebec sculptor Armand Vaillancourt won a design competition to create the piece. FUN FACT: Bono spray-painted it during a free U2 concert in 1987. Then Mayor Dianne Feinstein criticized the act and Bono was issued a citation for misdemeanor malicious mischief.

MISSION MURALS - SAN FRANCISCO

These bright examples of street art are often political in nature and spur great conversations. Get off BART at 16th and Mission and walk north on Mission, catching murals along your way to Caledonia Alley near 15th Street and Clarion Alley near 17th. FUN FACT: Art here is constantly changing, so take photos of your ephemeral favorites.

By Jean Abernathy

THE THINKER - SAN FRANCISCO

Auguste Rodin’s famous sculpture sits just outside the Legion of Honor so you can pay homage without paying admission. Although, let me just say: mummies inside! This 1904 bronze piece is one of 28 cast by the French artist or his studio. Inside the museum there are over 90 more of Rodin’s works. FUN FACT: the sculpture is meant to be seen from below, hence its always being exhibited on an elevated platform.

RODIN SCULPTURE GARDEN – PALO ALTO

Over 100 of Rodin’s works reside the Cantor Arts Center on the Stanford University campus. While there, check out the hidden gem, the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden, as well as a general collection of figurative and abstract outdoor art.

Free admission, https://museum.stanford.edu/visit.

LUPE THE COLUMBIAN MAMMOTH – SAN JOSE

Located on the Guadeloupe Walking Trail it can be a little challenging to find but the sculpture is pretty cool. The massive 11 feet tall, 18 feet wide sculpture gives perspective of just how big these creatures were. A cool snippet of one of the coolest cousins to elephants that used to wander in Silicon Valley in the Pleistocene period. FUN FACT: In 2005, actual bones of a juvenile mammoth were discovered at this spot. The remains are now housed at the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.

SIGAME – OAKLAND

This sculpture of an “amalgamated woman” may enrage viewers and start a productive discussion about the importance of women in history. Emeryville sculptor Scott Donahue chose to honor 20 different trailbreakers by casting disparate pieces of each women into one. You may see Amy Tan’s forehead, Julia Morgan’s cheekbone and Delilah Beasley’s chin (just guessing). Made of concrete, fiberglass and steel, it stands in Oakland’s Union Park. Plaques discuss each of the 20 women depicted. NOT-SO-FUN FACT: The statue was supposed to be dedicated September 12, 2001, but was delayed a month because of the events of September 11th.

MID-CENTURY MONSTER – OAKLAND

This 1952 sculpture by jewelry designer Bob Winston was originally painted green and fully intended to have children climb all over it, part of why it’s sited in a playground near the Lake Merritt bandstand in Oakland. It resembles a freeform octopus and has its own Facebook page, Lake Merritt’s Mid-Century Monster Fan Club, created when residents worried about its cordoned-off status and need for repairs. The statue has since been restored. The 40-foot beast consists of a steel armature sprayed with concrete. FUN FACT: It is featured on the cover of Sly and the Family Stone’s album Dance to the Music (1968).