“
Russell uses
the money he earns on Vayable to create and maintain murals at a community art space.
”
San Francisco, California
DURATION:
3 hours long
PEOPLE:
for 1 - 15 people
TAGS:
Art & Culture, Off the Beaten Path, Urban, Politics & Activism, Social Good, history, street art, Walking, banksy, featured, street art tour, waling tour
Incredible art, hidden in plain sight!
Mmm, free public "art". Whether you see street art and graffiti as art or vandalism, San Francisco walks a fine line between the legal, quasi-legal, and illegal. The heart of the City by the Bay beats in the colorful Mission District, where alleys, parks, and other spots hold amazing murals and legal art. Then there's the art that surrounds these works in a quasi-legal state. There are also the illegal walls that become colorful, go away with the "buff", and then come back again.
Where can you start to see all this amazing art? Where are the Banksy pieces that went up over a year ago? Where are the Eine words that just got painted? Where else can a tourist go to see more pieces, posters, stickers, and stencils?
Fortunately, I have been wandering the San Francisco streets for almost 15 years and know the answers to all these questions! I'll even steer you towards more places to find street art, including the galleries that bring folks like Blek, Above, etc. inside where the walls get locked up at night!
Come along and see living art on exterior walls with a book author, photographer, and artist who has stories, tales, and answers for the most curious questions.
Pre-tour fun can include some websites I manage:
http://www.stencilarchive.org/
http://stencilnation.org/
For: For anyone who's curious about the phenomenon of street art!
Cost Includes:
A tour through alleys, parks, streets, and lots of San Francisco. Expert explanations, stories, and background for most of the art that constantly changes on the streets. Expert advice on where to continue to see more of this similar art (if our route does not cover certain parts of the City).
Reviews
Amazing!
We decided to celebrate my wife's birthday by taking this tour. There were 8 of us on the trip and almost everyone had lived in the mission, or nearby, for a while, so we all felt pretty familiar with the streets Russell was taking us down. But, with Russell's help, we soon realized how much we had been missing! While there are amazing pieces of art in every nook and cranny of the neighborhood, it's so easy to overlook them. I'd highly recommend this tour to SF natives or visitors. It's an amazing way to spend a few hours exploring a new side of the city.
Highlight of our trip!
Russell's tour was just what we needed for our trip to San Francisco. We were visiting art schools in the area, and had been to museums, galleries, and exhibitions, but found the street art all around us wherever we went most compelling. Russell's background makes him the perfect tour guide; as a street artist, author, and member of the arts community, his knowledge and approach are authentic and user-friendly. We got to see something of everything, from grafitti and stencil work to curated murals and even a few works-in-progress. The street art in San Francisco is a living part of the city, and had we not been on the tour our trip would have been incomplete.
A Wealth of Knowledge
As Russell guided us along the main thorough fares and the back alleys of the Mission, I got to experience, for the first time, an amazing street art "underworld" that I'd walked past so many times, but never stopped to really notice -- or in many cases, appreciate. Throughout the tour, Russell was a wealth of knowledge and anecdotes. We got to hear insider stories of the greats like Banksy, Rowa, and Adam5100 and learn about the unique communities and implicit rules of the complex and chaotic street art world. And we explored, together, the nuance between creation and destruction, artistic expression and just plain vandalism. It was a beautiful tour. One that will forever shape my perception of a city I thought I knew pretty well.
Such a fun tour!
Russell was such a great guide on our tour of the mission district, and it is truly unbelievable how much he knows about each mural or stencil or tag you walk by. By the end of the tour I was recognizing different artists and noticing all kinds of new street art all around me. I would recommend this tour to anyone who is a fan of street art or graffiti, and it is also a great way to see San Fransisco.
Really cool!
I just moved the san francisco and started working in the mission district, and I have never realized just how much art is right in front of my eyes. Russ point out some really cool pieces I would never have come across with an untrained eye. he knows such an amazing amount about graffiti and the street art community. a must do for anyone passing through the mission
Underground art at its best.
If you’re looking for someone who is friendly and knowledgeable about graffiti and stencil art, Russell is definitely your guy. This tour was unique and nothing like anything you'll find anywhere else.
So knowledgeable!
Russell was my tour guide for the Banksy tour with TransportedSF, but he is really knowledgeable about all types of street art and specializes in stencils. A lot of the time you walk through the city not paying attention to the little messages and images on the walls and sidewalks, but Russell definitely made me appreciate an entirely new perspective on the city. He also curates the walls on CELLspace in SoMa, so be sure to ask him about that! Now, whenever I pass by a stencil, I take a picture of it and send it to him, asking whom it was by. He almost always knows!
