What a beautiful event it was to support the local artists community at the art show opening!
Link to all of the photos from the art show opening.
Link to the online catalog featuring all of the art from the art show.
Category: Art projects
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Valentine’s Day art gallery tour.
Hosting Kit and Brian on a tour of art galleries for Valentine’s Day was a privilege!
Take my fun art style quiz to personalize your own art gallery tour at this link.
“What an incredible experience – WOW!”
“Visiting excellent galleries with private tours, a secret rooftop stop, AND a hard-to-get reservation on Valentine’s Day. What! On top of that, the whole thing was customized to our art preferences. Truly a must.”
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Urban Romance. Art show invite.
Inviting you to our art opening this first Thursday in February, it would be great to see you there!
Invite: RSVP on Partiful
Event Details:
– Event: Urban Romance: A love letter to city life. First Thursday.
Local Artist Group Show
– Location: 220 Geary Street San Francisco CA 94102
– The kiosks are located inside the Union Square MUNI Station in the
middle of the concourse level.
– Date: February 5th 2026
– Time: 5pm – 9pm
– Admission: Free / Open to the Public -
Happy Birthday Maria! Personalized, Artist led Walking tour in Downtown San Francisco.
I ended 2025 on a high note with one of the most joyful birthday celebrations ever!
Link to book my Downtown San Francisco walking tour, personalized just for you.
🎂 Maria celebrated her special day in the most unique way, by booking my Downtown SF POPOS Walking Tour! 🌆
I had an absolute blast personalizing the tour with little surprises and delights along the way, think hidden rooftop gardens, secret art corners, and some sweet birthday touches just for Maria. 🥳💐
Seeing Maria light up with her family and friends as we explored the tucked-away gems of San Francisco’s skyline made the day unforgettable.
Thank you for letting me be part of your celebration, Maria, what a way to start 2026! 🥂✨
Here’s to more adventures, more hidden city magic, and more joyful moments in the year ahead. 💛
#HappyBirthday #POPOSTour #SanFranciscoAdventures #HiddenGemsSF #BirthdayGoals #NewYearVibes
Link to book my Downtown San Francisco walking tour, personalized just for you.
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Open call for art. Urban Romance: A Love Letter to city life.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Urban Romance: A Love Letter to city life
Opening February 5, 2026
Urban Romance is a public love letter to city living told through art, music, and collective expression.
Set inside the underground Union Square Muni transit station, this show explores what it means to love in cities, with them and through them.
We’re seeking original visual work that captures the emotional landscape of city life:
– Where do you find softness in the noise?
– Where do you see beauty hiding in plain sight?
– What about the city makes you swoon?
- Original artwork ready for hanging (any 2D medium, not heavy, ideally smaller than 16×20″)
- A short artist bio or statement (2–4 sentences)
- A short statement about how your entry relates to the group show theme. (1 paragraph)
- A high-res digital file (300ppi) of your piece to be included in a postcard series for sale in the kiosks.
Apply before midnight on January 15, 2026.
Pop Up Gallery Opening
February 5, 2026, 5-9PM at the kiosks inside the Union Square MUNI station.Curated by Ariana Wolf
Hosted by Nate Mahoney, The Urbanist.
In collaboration with Flight Design Co. - Original artwork ready for hanging (any 2D medium, not heavy, ideally smaller than 16×20″)
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Happy Holidaze. 2025 Art Card.
Holiday card for December 2025.
Dear friends and family,
Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season. May the new year inspire your creativity and fill your days with love and connection!
Love, Nate
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Mini Mart Gallery art show.
I’m part of a super fun end of year group show at Mini Mart Gallery in SF! It’s an honor to show alongside so many talented artists and to celebrate creativity together.
For Walking, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 11” x 14” x 1” Come check out the amazing mix of works and help us wrap up 2025 with a burst of color and inspiration!
📍 Mini Mart Gallery, 720 Geary, San Francisco
🗓️ Opening: December 4th, first Thursday art walk.
Hope to see you there and can’t wait to share my latest cowboy painting with y’all! 🤠
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Serendipity. The art of intuition and iteration.
Serendipity in the City: The Spark Behind My Curated Retail project.
In starting The Urbanist, I was motivated by solid intuition, and the city itself conspired to give me a nudge. My curated retail pop-up venture, focused on helping people slow down and truly appreciate San Francisco, was born out of moments of pure serendipity.
Serendipity and the power of community recently played a role. I joined The Kindredly, a community of entrepreneurs co-organized by good friends, Ariana and Luisa. At their recent event hosted by Mae, I met Tarita who introduced me to Cathy, the host of walking tours in the Castro. Kathy invited me to take her Cruising the Castro walking tour on the Saturday after black Friday.
Cathy telling the story of the AIDS quilt. On Cathy’s Cruising the Castro walking tour, I met Heiko and Nicole visiting from southern Germany, currently, on a sabbatical year to explore the world. We admired the activist history of the neighborhood together, and then went our separate ways. Or so I thought.
Later that very day, I was stationed at my pop-up kiosk at the Union Square Muni station, my kiosk business was barely a day old, when I looked up to see Heiko and Nicole. We laughed at the coincidence, and we all had the pink rose crystals from the Pink Triangle Park, which commemorates LGBTQ+ history in such a moving way. We even snapped a photo to send to Cathy, connecting the threads of our serendipitous meetings.
We all had the crystals from our Castro walking tour that morning. Yana’s design for the SF walking map. As if the universe wasn’t done weaving the story, the couple booked my Downtown rooftop adventure tour for Monday morning. That tour turned into another magical moment, Yana, the brilliant designer behind the San Francisco walking map, that we just finished printing at Colpa Press by Luca in the Mission, joined us just before our meeting to discuss plans for our New York City map design. I found myself guiding new friends from across the globe through hidden rooftops while collaborating with a local creative talent I deeply admire. It just so happened that the couple’s next stop was to visit New York!
That’s the heart of why I started this retail art project, The Urbanist: to create opportunities for spontaneous connection, discovery, and appreciation of the city. San Francisco is full of moments like this, glimpses of beauty and community, if we simply slow down to notice.
If my first week in business at the kiosk was any sign, serendipity is not just a theme for my business, it’s at the core of my artist lifestyle, and the ethos for the experiences I hope to share with every curious person who engages in community with me.
Yana, Heiko, and Nicole on my POPOS walking tour. -
Kiosk in the Union Square Muni Station.
There’s something magical about Thanksgiving morning in the city. It’s quiet with many having traveled to the suburbs for turkey prep.
However, this year instead of cooking, I had a last minute morning meeting with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, (SFMTA, better known as the iconic worm logo, MUNI) to finally get kiosk keys for the Union Square Muni Station.
Autobus Worm, (2025) acrylic on canvas, 10” x 8” x 1” Nate Mahoney. This morning I was clutching a fresh set of keys that jingled like music for the holiday season!
Today is about food, friends, and family for sure, but it’s a complex holiday that carries both joy and reflection. Embracing both sides of Thanksgiving allows us to celebrate family and food while honoring the truths of the past.
This year was very special for me, it was about getting the keys to be ready for opening day, this Black Friday for theurbanist.com kiosk!
I had been working behind the scenes with the city on permitting and with collaborators for months. Designing goods and services to help everyone enjoy the city like a local. We crafted our best welcoming urban conversation starters with welcome kits, walking maps, and our walking tours.
Travelers and shoppers are about to rush through the station this Friday. I am ready to join the Black Friday buzz. There’s a unique thrill in opening the kiosk for business for the first time.
I’m excited to be rolling up the shutters for the first time this Friday. The metallic click, click, click will feel like unlocking a tiny stage where personal, people-focused community building can happen.
By the time the post-turkey crowds head to downtown for Black Friday, I’ll be right in the heart of it all. Union Square is already shimmering with lights, an ice skating rink, and the energy is contagious.
Whether you’re a commuter, a holiday shopper, or just passing through, swing by our new kiosk. We’ve got Urbanist flair to share. You might even find a city-themed surprise or two in our just released 2026 Walking map design!
2026 San Francisco Walking Map Here’s to starting the season by rolling up the gates at our new kiosk, with a smile, and to bring a whole lot of excitement for what’s ahead.
Happy Thanksgiving and see you in person at the Kiosk!
220 Geary Street San Francisco CA 94102. The kiosk is inside the Union Square Muni station.
Land Acknowledgment. We acknowledge that this project takes place on the ancestral lands of Native Peoples. We acknowledge this not only in thanks to the Indigenous communities who have held a relationship with this land and stewarded it for generations, but also in recognition of the historical challenges. Additionally, we make this acknowledgement as a point of reflection for us all as we address these wrongs in an effort to heal our relationship with Native Peoples.
Open 11 am to 6 pm for Black Friday, 2025.
Open 24/7 at theurbanist.com
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CCA Art Fair.
Participating in the California College of Arts, CCA art fair was an exciting opportunity to promote my small business, theurbanist.com Setting up my table with unique designs and pieces for sale was an engaging experience, allowing me to connect with art, craft, and design enthusiasts.
My wallet collaboration with Manikgrl, crafted with maps of San Francisco was a top seller!
The fair provided a vibrant location to showcase my work, engage with the community, and share the story behind my small business theurbanist.com. It was a rewarding day filled with conversations, sales, and valuable connections that will undoubtedly benefit my business for the future.
Photo by Zefania I also received helpful feedback from customers who completed my survey. Please feel free to fill out the survey at this link. If you’re a small business owner, I highly recommend participating in local art fairs to expand your reach and engage with community in person.
theurbanist.com All of my links are here. https://linktr.ee/natemahoney
Follow along on Instagram for my latest art and city adventures! @natemahoney @theurbanistsf