Art

Charles Unser, Alcatraz Portraits

Charles Unser has been a participant of Art Explorers for twelve years, often exploring historical themes with a particular interest in American gangs of the 20thCentury. He created ten portraits of famous Alcatraz prisoners with colored pencils on wooden panels, offering a unique artistic and visual window into the lives of some of the most feared individuals to have been imprisoned on the Island.

Prisoners of Age exhibit
Ron Levine, Prisoners of Age

Featured in cities and prison museums across North America, Europe, and Australia, Prisoners of Age found a temporary home at Alcatraz in the New Industries Building from June 2015 - June 2016. A product of over 18 years of work, Prisoners of Age seeks to connect faces and stories of aging inmates with numbers and statistics.

Home Land Security Exhibit
Home Land Security

Presented by the FOR-SITE Foundation in partnership with the National Park Service, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the Presidio Trust, Home Land Security  featured 18 contemporary artists and collectives from 12 countries around the world, providing a global perspective on the themes of home, safety, and defense.

Shortening Art Exhibit on Alcatraz
Shortening on Alcatraz by Nelson Saiers

Alcatraz, best known for the historic federal penitentiary and occupation by the Indians of All Tribes, also has a long tradition of welcoming artists to provoke thought about freedom and incarceration.

Ai Weiwei, Trace 2014 (New Industries Building, Alcatraz)
Ai Weiwei Explores Human Rights and Freedom of Expression in Series of New, Site Specific Installations Inspired by Alcatraz Island

Opening September 27, 2014, @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz will feature a series of seven site-specific installations by artist Ai Weiwei in four locations on Alcatraz Island, offering a new cultural lens through which to experience the notorious military and federal penitentiary turned national park.

Ai Weiwei, Trace 2014 (New Industries Building, Alcatraz)
Ai Weiwei explores human rights and freedom of expression through seven new site specific installations inspired by Alcatraz Island

Featuring seven new sculpture, sound, and mixed media works by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz explores human rights and freedom of expression in the context of this iconic historic site.

Homeland Security Exhibit
Site Responsive Exhibition Convenes 16 International Artists To Reflect On Human Impact And Increasing Complexity Of National Security In Our Time

Home Land Security brings together work by 16 contemporary artists and collectives from around the globe to reflect on the human dimensions and increasing complexity of national security, including the physical and psychological borders we create, protect, and cross in its name.

Ranger Michele Gee experiences the Portal
Portals Connecting San Francisco to the World Comes to Crissy Field

The National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy are partnering with Shared_Studios and Luminalt Solar Energy Solutions to present the San Francisco Portal at Crissy Field.

Mark di Suvero sculpture
New Partnership to Launch SFMOMA's Off-Site Programming

Next spring (May 2013-May 2014), the SFMOMA in partnership with the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy will present a major outdoor exhibition of sculptor Mark di Suvero’s works near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ai Weiwei, Trace 2014 (New Industries Building, Alcatraz)
FOR-SITE Foundation in Partnership with the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Commissions New Site-Specific Artwork on Alcatraz Island​​​​​​​

America’s most infamous island to serve as site and inspiration for new sculpture, multimedia, and sound works exploring individual and creative freedom.

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