Student artwork is coming to Geary Boulevard stops.
George Washington High School students will be bringing more joy to their community as part of the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project’s upcoming construction. Six new bus bulbs at busy Geary bus stops will feature students’ original designs embedded in the sidewalk.
The project is set to begin construction later this year to complete its final phase. Ahead of this work, we wanted to share the story behind student art coming to this busy boulevard.
Inspired by a community suggestion
The story begins at an open house we held back in September 2024 to get further community feedback on decorative sidewalk options. An attendee encouraged the project team to have students produce the designs.
By January 2025, our project team was introduced to one of Washington’s art teachers, Patricia Copeland. Patricia was thrilled to offer this opportunity to her honors art class students to produce the designs as part of their capstone work that semester.
A top priority: Celebrate Richmond District nature
From there, the students got to work – with some exciting parameters to keep in mind.
In an earlier phase of outreach, Richmond community members asked us to prioritize art designs that featured the nature of the Richmond District. They also wanted the artwork at Geary inbound stops to have park themes and outbound stops to have water themes.
With this design guidance, Washington students first engaged in research to understand which flora, fauna and wildlife live around the Richmond District.
Artwork highlights: Hummingbirds, windmills, seagulls and more
The students prepared initial sketches and received feedback from the Geary project team. Then, they finalized their designs -- right in time for graduation. The artwork (below) reflects diverse interpretations of the neighborhood’s natural elements.
The work features Golden Gate Park’s windmills and the Japanese tea garden’s pagoda. It also showcases the seagulls, kelp and sand dollars you might find in the Bay. The students’ different selections and styles celebrate what makes the Richmond District unique.
Art submitted, from top to bottom, by Washington High School students Myers, Kary, Chloe, Melissa, Kaitlin and Karina, and Olive.
From design to implementation
Each student’s work will be adapted from their original form for installation with lithocrete, a mosaic-like form of decorative concrete. See an example below of how the student artwork will be adapted to this medium.
The artwork will be installed at six 38R Geary Rapid stops – Park Presidio, 20th and 25th avenues, both inbound and outbound. Installation is expected sometime in 2027 near the end of construction work.
Community enhancement to include about fifty more trees
There’s another exciting community enhancement effort coming to Geary as part of the improvement project. About 50 new trees will also be installed along the corridor.
The tree species were selected by the community through surveys. You can learn more about the process in our project update. The decorative sidewalks and additional trees will help beautify the community and provide a sense of pride. They will also make visitors feel more welcome to one of the coolest 40 neighborhoods in the world (according to Time Out).
For more information about the upcoming project, visit our Geary Boulevard Improvement Project webpage (SFMTA.com/Geary).