People of Parkside Sunset

Have you been to South Sunset Playground on Vicente and 40th Ave. lately? It’s getting an artistic facelift thanks to Art in Every Classroom, a local non-profit dedicated to bringing art classes, grants and public art projects to neighborhoods in San Francisco.

The boldly colored mural “Play in Many Languages” is nearing completion. As the names states, this mural honors the native tongues of the many cultures and nationalities who use this busy urban park. The mural is being painted by Renee McKenna, Director of Art in Every Classroom in cooperation with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Dept.

“I was at the playground one afternoon with my children and I was the only parent who spoke English. I’ve always had such respect for the courage it takes to immigrate to another country and thought, wouldn’t it be great to welcome these brave parents to play with their children in their own language?”

So far the mural includes: English, Spanish, French, Thai, Gujrati, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Italian, Irish, Hebrew, Finnish and Hawaiian. The Mural “Play in 14 Languages” is the first of a two phase public art project for South Sunset Playground. The second phase is a 188 foot long ceramic tile mosaic titled “Nature Stream” which will brighten up the retaining walls at the back of the playground. Over 200 community created tiles will be included in the project, ranging in size from 2”x2” to 8”x8”. If the mosaic gets final approval from the SF Arts Commission in early October, installation should begin before Halloween.

Art in Every Classroom has held two public “paint a tile parties” and a jog a thon to raise funds a create community tiles for the mosaic and mural. Art in Every Classroom is selling 8×8, professionally created “Business Sponsor Tiles” for $250 each to raise the final $4000 needed to prepare the wall for tile installation. If you want to show your community support by purchasing a tile, contact Art in Every Classroom on the web at www.artineveryclassroom.org or call Renee McKenna at 415/672-4992.