Nate Mahoney Studio

Tag: Public art

  • The Urbanist.

    The Urbanist.

    Why did I create an urban-focused retail art project?

    The Urbanist is a retail art project designed to help people thrive in the city at the intersection of local community, urban inspiration, art, and design. 

    My passion to support people in the city is based on my own experience. I looked for a place to call home after leaving the suburbs. I moved to the city looking for creative inspiration and queer safe space. But, it was a challenge to adapt without knowing how to find belonging and the high cost of living had me operating in survival mode. 

    Now, the city is my home, I want to put all of my urban problem solving skills to good use, helping others[a] here feel welcome by creating goods, services, and community building. This is how I want to show up as an artist[b] in the city and how I want to interact with the world. 

    When I started this artist retail project, I focused on things people needed. I interviewed people and curated a welcome kit through partnerships with other small businesses. The first Welcome to San Francisco Kits were sold to brides to give to their out of town wedding guests in 2014. These kits now exist as a resource for all kinds of visitors, whether visiting or relocating, their contents offer locally made products that help welcome you to the city that has so much to offer.

    This artist run retail project has evolved from just offering welcome kits to offering services that build community[c]. It’s a potential future goal to help people find affordable[d] housing in the city. 

    I celebrate the serendipity that occurs when people meet in cities and I want to use humor and inject joy into my process, making it healthy, fun, and the end result both lively, human, and engaging. I want this small artist business to be able to thrive while maintaining its unique voice in the fast-paced urban environment.

    —The Urbanist

    Welcoming essentials for urban explorers. Taking the sense of secrecy out of urban exploration while leaving all the adventure, The Urbanist aims to offer mindful, sustainable, and essential services to the community, fostering a sense of accessibility and familiarity for visitors, tourists, and relocating urban explorers.

  • Commissioned Installation: Fontana Delle Nob Hill Art Wallpaper.

    Commissioned Installation: Fontana Delle Nob Hill Art Wallpaper.

    Inspired by sketching and photographing the Fontana delle Tartarughe water fountain contraposto posture of the bronze figures at Huntington Park at Nob Hill in San Francisco, I used an analog and digtial printmaking process to create art wallpaper. Commission to install this wallpaper at The Birdcage coffee shop in Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco.

    The orginal fountain, Fontana delle Tartarughe is in Rome, Italy.

    The fountain in Huntington park is a copy.

  • Aquatic clock proposal

    Aquatic clock proposal

    A public art proposal to connect public swimming pools in different neighborhoods across the Bay Area. Inspired by taking WSI training at Oakland public pools and learning about a proposal to create a floating long course pool on the San Francisco water front. This initial idea is to update the defunct pool clock at Fremont pool in Oakland with a functional clock with a second hand to aide in timing workouts, a similar clock would be installed at other public pools in the Bay Area that would send and receive useful and poetic data from each location.