Jane Kim, from Half Moon Bay’s Ink Dwell Studio, enlivened downtown Redwood City with her mural series ‘Floral From Fauna,’ which features the grace and harmony created when animals and nature coincide.
San Francisco Bay Area-based graphic artist Damon Belanger showed his artistry in downtown Redwood City. In 2016, he painted 20 shadow arts around downtown, and spawned Dog the Cat on the ground of Broadway sidewalk.
In 2023, Southern California artist Timothy Robert Smith painted ‘Mural Effect IV’ behind the the Pakistani-Indian restaurant Zareen. This mural is part of his series painting in different cities and incorporating perception as the core of his work.
Mamadou Bah from San Francisco often rode Caltrain down to Redwood City for Mazra’s Mediterranean offerings, but was enchanted by the murals sprawling across downtown.
One of his favorites was “Ripple Effect IV,” part of the city’s “Women of the Future” theme and series by Southern California-based artist Timothy Robert Smith, which plays on the allegory of perspective.
“They’re beautiful,” Bah said. “As someone who lives in San Francisco and visits Oakland and San Jose. … I appreciate their emergence here.”
When Redwood City resident Tracy Ogishi’s children were younger, she remembers them having a blast interacting with the street art. For her, what touched her most was the racial equity mural along the Jefferson Avenue underpass, painted by multidisciplinary artist Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith of Oakland, who memorializes the multicultural history of the city.
“A lot of it is cultural,” Ogishi said. “It’s really nice to help us stand on and understand the context of our community and how it might be different from others.”
Over the last decade, the city of Redwood City has initiated efforts to revitalize the downtown scene through community-led initiatives. This is the result of the labor of both the city government and the businesses that aim to make the city accessible and vibrant with public art and installations.
The city enacted its Public Art Master Vision in 2017, a nine-year project that outlines the “aesthetic direction” of downtown’s culture and shapes the experience people receive when visiting.
Since then, the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department has developed committees and worked with different organizations to bring this vision to life. A new Arts Commission was instituted, and the city worked with the Redwood City Improvement Association, which represents businesses and residents.
Among the goals in the community action plan to enliven the city with public art was the One Percent Ordinance (or Art in Public Places Fund), which requires private commercial developers with constructions over 50,000 square feet to install public art on-site worth 1% of their building costs or pay an equivalent fee into the city’s Art Fund. For city-funded proposals, 1% of eligible capital project budgets is set aside in the Art Fund to support public art.
One example where this ordinance has been imposed is the construction of Elco Yards, a campus under development to be used as office, retail and restaurant space along El Camino Real.
Jane Kim, from Half Moon Bay’s Ink Dwell Studio, enlivened downtown Redwood City with her mural series ‘Floral From Fauna,’ which features the grace and harmony created when animals and nature coincide.
Chris Ceguerra/Daily Journal
Derek Wolfgram, Redwood City’s library director and former interim director of the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department from last spring until August, said a variety of installations will be visible once it opens.
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“The Arts Commission was very involved in approving and working with the developer on the public art that’s going into that space,” Wolfgram said.
Apart from the ordinance, another component completed since the master vision was unveiled was the release of the Explore Redwood City app. First launched in 2017, the app was relaunched last November to help residents and visitors navigate self-guided public art, installations and historical tours around the city and specific neighborhoods.
In 2014, community members and businesses founded the nonprofit RCIA to collaborate on elevating downtown’s presence through beautification and safety. The following year, the organization worked in contract with the city to administer “special benefits or services over and beyond what is currently provided by the city.”
The organization’s board and committees decide projects, and public meetings with the community ensure their involvement in the process. When it comes to funding, RCIA utilizes the Community Benefit Improvement District tax, a levy imposed on downtown property owners, to fund public arts such as the Art Kiosk curations at Courthouse Square, the Shadow Arts on the sidewalks, and flora and fauna murals.
San Francisco Bay Area-based graphic artist Damon Belanger showed his artistry in downtown Redwood City. In 2016, he painted 20 shadow arts around downtown, and spawned Dog the Cat on the ground of Broadway sidewalk.
Chris Ceguerra/Daily Journal
The RCIA has funded projects that not only beautify the city with public art and installations but also aim to make sustainable and long-lasting effects.
The presence of art also plays a practical role. It discourages misuse of space and contributes to a cleaner, more cared-for environment. Public spaces that feature well-maintained artwork are less likely to be neglected or vandalized. In that way, art supports our mission not just visually, but also socially and economically,” Amy Buckmaster, Chamber San Mateo County’s president that administers programs and projects for RCIA, wrote in an email.
As the master vision soon reaches its final stretch in 2026, part of the plan is to find a director of cultural affairs to oversee responsibilities such as public art, cultural funding and creative entrepreneurship. Since the summer, the city has opened the vacancy for an arts and events manager, who will work under the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department and the city’s economic development manager.
“I think that this new position is a great evolution toward addressing that challenge and giving us more capacity to do more,” Wolfgram said.
Looking into the future of downtown Redwood City, Ogishi hopes to see more artwork beyond paintings and murals.
“It’d be nice to see more physical art like statues,” Ogishi said. “They don’t always have to be metal or bronze … but even different types of more physical installations might be nice to see.”
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