What makes a city special? A city is special because it is the reflection of the people who live, work, and play there. It is made special by how people express themselves and care for their city. Through Art Builds Community, I had the opportunity to lead a social art practice project that gave community members of South City an opportunity to express themselves collaboratively through art and to express their interests for future public art in their city through community weaving. Each community member was asked the prompt, “If you were to have more public art in your city, what type of art would you want to see more of?” Participants were shown 7 categories to choose from: Performing Arts/Events, Murals, Historic Art, Functional Art, Environment Art, Interactive Art, and Light/Sound/Projection Art. Each art category was assigned a specific color of yarn. Answers to the prompt determined the color of yarn that would be added to the either a circular or rectangle loom. New participants would then add on their answer/yarn to the yarn of the participant before them in order to continue the weaving. The participants were also allowed to weave the yarn in whichever direction they chose, allowing for the piece to evolve organically. The culminating piece was not only a tapestry made by the community but also a visual representation of the type of public art that they wanted to see more of for their city. The feedback that was provided through the art project was collected and will be used to help create recommendations for future cultural arts programming and public art investments for the City of South San Francisco Public Art Master Plan.

Do you Live/work/play in South city? Share your feedback!