Location: Alameda Creek Watershed Center, Sunol, CA

ARTIST: Walter Kitundu

The SFPUC is constructing a science learning center in the Alameda Creek Watershed with direction from, and in partnership with, the Muwekma Ohlone tribe and surrounding communities. To highlight the past, present and future of this site we commissioned artist and MacArthur Fellow Walter Kitundu to create an artwork for this site.

The artist writes: It begins at the threshold of mixed evergreen and oak savanna and winds its way to the edge of the bay. It pays tribute to the Muwekma Ohlone People and recognizes both their history and their continued presence and power. Ruupaywa (the eagle) is a chief, a protector, and a creator in the Muwekma Ohlone creation story. This sculpture represents a protector spirit, a guardian of spaces above and below ground. It is meant as a vessel, a sheltering place for reflection, remembrance, and visioning.

The Alameda Creek Watershed Center is located on unceded land which is the ancestral home of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.

Artwork Renderings: Walter Kitundu

San Francisco Arts Commission Project Manager: Jackie von Treskow

Project Status: Currently being fabricated, install estimated 2022.