Thought Paper #4

Eva Dunn

Professor Stacy Asher

Art 195

September 30, 2012

Golden Gate Park

Three miles long, half a mile wide, 1,017 acres, and with a myriad of activities—Golden Gate Park is 20% larger than Central Park in New York City and the third most visited park in the United States.  This week for my San Francisco Signage class, I explored Golden Gate Park and the various signs it holds.  I was amazed at how many different types of signs one can find in a place like Golden Gate Park: there are maps, statues, museum title signs, informational signs, historical signs, and more.  It is incredible how important signage was/is in the development of Golden Gate Park and the development of the museums within.

One of the first things I noticed about Golden Gate Park was its massiveness.  My first thought when realizing its enormity was, “How in the world am I going to find everything on the scavenger hunt?”  Thank goodness that one really important aspect of the park is the fact that there are many signs directing tourists, San Franciscans, or other people (like me) toward the various sights.  This allows the park to be accessible and interactive with the people in it.  Don’t know where something is?  There should be a map close enough.  Want to find the de Young museum?  Oh, the map three feet away might help.  Although there are many directional signs throughout the park, there are also a great amount of informational ones as well.  Several informational signs include the ones telling about different works of art, different sculptures, and different historical facts.  People not only look at the signs to find their way, they also read the signs to understand the park, its history, and the many influential people who contributed to it.  Walking around the park last Monday, I noticed the numerous statues throughout the park, all different donations or installments that have specific meanings.  What are statues, exactly, and why do they exist?  I feel like statues are legacies.  People put them there so that they are remembered or so that the things that were important to them are remembered.  It’s something on the earth that remains even if someone dies or if something would otherwise be forgotten.  Maybe Golden Gate Park, in general, is a legacy, a statue, a sign installed in San Francisco to help us all remember nature in the urban city of San Francisco.  Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous transcendentalist author, said, “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”  Nature helps people better see themselves and appreciate life.  In an incredibly urban city like San Francisco, a place like Golden Gate Park is needed to allow for others to experience nature and the perspective it creates for people.  

Although there are many sights and features in Golden Gate Park, I would like to focus on the different signage for the two main museums: the Academy of Sciences and the de Young museum.  One thing I noticed about the museums was that they are right across from one another, separated by a beautiful courtyard.  The whole area seems to be brought together by the courtyard, almost as if the museums are related.  Although they both represent different things, both museums are big attractions in Golden Gate Park and one would realize this by seeing the extravagant courtyard between them, understanding the interconnectedness of knowledge and culture.  Now, both museums have entirely different signage.  According to Pentagram, the world’s largest design consultancy, the Academy of Sciences’ logo is very unique, “Radiating outward from a center oculus, the symbol appears to be growing—reinforcing the cyclical and dynamic nature of the natural sciences.”  The museum’s signs allow for form to follow function: the meaning of the logo follows the function of the museum—to educate the public about the natural sciences.  Also outside the Academy of Sciences, several signs advertise the fairly new Earthquake exhibit inside.  Now, the de Young museum’s signage is entirely different than the Academy of Sciences’.  The beautiful wall with the words “de Young” embossed in the sides stands very large.  Although the sign is massive, the message is subtle; the museum’s title is part of the building and not particularly eye-catching.  However, it is incredibly beautiful, and one can imagine that the de Young museum would be a more artistic museum than the Academy of Sciences based off of the signage.  Another very interesting “sign” in front of the de Young museum is Andy Goldsworthy’s installation entitled “Drawn Stone,” which, according to the sign describing the work of art, is “inspired by California’s tectonic typography” and challenges “viewers’ definitions of art by blurring the distinction between the natural and the man-made, while also accentuating nature’s power to undermine or destroy even the most monumental works created by humankind.”  Although the two different types of signage are very different, both forms of signage follow the function of the museums.  The Academy of Art’s signage represents the scientific education one will receive inside and the de Young museum’s signage represents the artistic education one will receive inside.

Overall, the signage in Golden Gate Park is very important to the development of the park. The signage is also crucial to the understanding that people have of the museums within the park. I will leave you with an important revelation I have had.  Every single sign in the world is created to be seen and recognized.  Every sign has a purpose, just like every person has a purpose.  I guess it’s up to us to define what the purpose is, for signs and for ourselves.

Golden Gate Park Adventure

Thought Paper #3

Eva Dunn

Professor Stacy Asher

Art 195

September 23, 2012

Psychedelic Questions, Dude

            In order to fully understand the outing that my San Francisco Signage class went on during Week Four, I needed to answer a few important questions first:

What is a symbol? Well, oftentimes a symbol is an object that stands as a representation of something abstract and important.  For example, the street sign at the corner of Haight and Ashbury is a symbol of an American movement during the mid-sixties in which a counterculture emerged.  The epicenter of this counterculture occurred in the area of San Francisco known as the Haight-Ashbury, hence the importance of the street sign at the corner of Haight and Ashbury.  By studying the countless signs surrounding Haight Street, I gained a higher understanding of what life was like during the counterculture movement of the ‘60s.

            What is counterculture?  Without defining and understanding this term, a person would not fully comprehend or appreciate the signage of the Haight-Ashbury and what it all embodies.  In general, the term ‘counterculture’ describes a movement in which people, often the young, reject established social values; or rather, people who are opposed to the conventional.  However, in reference to the movement in San Francisco, the term ‘counterculture’ describes the lifestyle of the people who were then proclaimed as “hippies” or “flower children.”  The Vietnam War, an event that pervaded this time period, had a huge impact on the counterculture movement.  The war convinced many of the counterculture youth that America had “lost its soul” and that the American Dream did not exist (Gustainis).  Therefore, the hippies lived their lives “rejecting the ethics of capitalism, conformity, and repressive sexual mores” (Gustainis).  In their dismissal of societal norms, these people indulged in none other than sex (due to the invention of “the pill”), drugs (LSD, marijuana, etc.), and rock and roll (The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, etc.).  All people of a certain culture have ways of identifying themselves; in this case, the hippies donned themselves in colorful clothes, and, mainly due to LSD, decorated their surroundings with “psychedelic” signs and art (visually stimulating pictures, words, etc.).  This is why tie-dye became a huge fascination and identifier of the hippies and counterculture movement.

            How do we see the counterculture movement in the Haight-Ashbury today?  Walking down Haight Street, I can easily see that it is influenced by a specific culture.  Although much has changed since the counterculture movement, there are still remnants of the hippies every which way I turn.  Number one remnant: color.  Everything on Haight Street is full of color—the signs, the people, and the products.  The great deal of color is highly influenced by number two: drugs.  Drugs continue to influence a considerable amount of Haight Street.  There are homeless people holding up signs asking for money or weed.  There are countless smoke shops in which you can buy fancy lighters, pipes, hookahs, and much more.  Not to mention, the graffiti paintings, wall murals, and art in the Haight-Ashbury are also very influenced by drugs—especially marijuana, but also by LSD.  And finally, number three: the people.  Although “Art 195” is a class dedicated to reading signs, and people are not often considered “signs,” I firmly believe that a person who falls under a certain culture can represent that culture as an unconventional sign.  When walking though the Haight-Ashbury, I see homeless people, people with dreadlocks, people wearing tie-dye, people smoking weed, people donning peace signs or ‘60s band t-shirts, and people who are not afraid to break the norm and be themselves.  Isn’t that the moral of the movement?  The most important moral of counterculture: do not be afraid to break from the social norm.  Countless people in the Haight represent that very moral through the signage that is their appearance, their actions, and their beliefs.

            Where’s the conclusion? Oh yeah, that! To conclude, the counterculture movement was a very important time period in San Francisco and America in which people disregarded normal social values.  The people of the culture, or the hippies, define the movement with one saying: sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  Looking at the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood today, one will see remnants of that very colorful counterculture movement through the signage of stores, art, people, and more.  It is always important to appreciate the past when trying to understand the present.

Works Cited

Gustainis, J. Justin. "Counterculture." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd             ed. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 433. Gale Virtual Reference Library.                   Web. 23 Sep. 2012.

The Haight Adventure

Signs around USF