San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom honors
The Urban Forest Project
After a week of rain, the sunny Saturday afternoon of January 23rd brought together a diverse group of designers, artists, high school students and business and civic leaders, along with residents from the Bayview community in San Francisco to celebrate the environment, education and public arts. The event, at the Bayview Opera House, was a sneak preview for The Urban Forest Project San Francisco, an exciting environmental, public arts and educational initiative being launched in celebration of Earth Day this year. Ed Reiskin, Director of the Department of Public Works, presented a proclamation for the project on behalf of Mayor Gavin Newsom.
A total of 100 artists, designers and students from the Bay area were asked to use the metaphor of a tree to make powerful visual statements about the environment for the project. The artwork will be displayed on light pole banners in high-traffic locations in downtown San Francisco for six months starting in April. At the end of the exhibition, the banners will be recycled into a range of fashionable products designed by Academy of Art University students. The products will then be auctioned off to raise money for Friends of the Urban Forest for tree plantings in the city.
Twenty one of the 100 banners for The Urban Forest Project were created by high school students and professional design mentors through a mentoring program hosted by AIGA SF. Many of the mentors and their students were present at the preview event, as were family members, guardians, teachers, counselors and friends.
A visual presentation of The Urban Forest Project featured images of the banner artwork produced by the mentoring program. Also on display was artwork produced by Academy of Art University students, faculty and alumni. After a series of introductions and remarks by the project partners, certificates were presented to the high school students from the mentoring program that featured their individual banners. They then gathered on stage with their mentors for a group photo.
Throughout the Opera House – workshops led by professional designers from AIGA SF – were held so that children and their families from the Bayview community could create their own Urban Forest Project artwork using the metaphor of a tree. In an effort to promote sustainability and reuse, the kids drew on large “press sheets” which were donated by Blanchette Press.
The Urban Forest Project partners in San Francisco represented at the event included: City and County of San Francisco, AIGA SF, Academy of Art University, Friends of the Urban Forest and Adobe Youth Voices. Also on hand were representatives from the five Bay area youth organizations that participated in the mentoring program: BAVC – Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco Youth Commission, San Francisco Cameraworks: First Exposures, Southern Exposure, Young Artists at Work/Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Blanchette Press contributed the press sheets for the workshops.
The Urban Forest Project, conceived and managed by Worldstudio, was first executed in New York City’s Times Square in the fall of 2006. San Francisco is among the first in a series of planned executions worldwide.
The San Francisco project is supported entirely by corporate sponsorship. The sponsorship deadline is February 26th. To learn more about how your organization can sponsor this unique environmental, public arts and educational initiative, please contact Andréa Pellegrino at apellegrino (at) worldstudioinc.com.
Tags: Academy of Art University, Adobe Youth Voices, AIGA SF, Blanchette Press, Friends of the Urban Forest, Mayor Gavin Newsom, The Urban Forest Project, The Urban Forest Project San Francisco