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San Francisco Chronicle
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Giant sea serpent sculpture lights up Golden Gate Park in ‘magical' debut
Under just a sliver of a moon Monday night in San Francisco, an overflow crowd turned the JFK Promenade into the Playa on the Pavement for the ceremonial lighting of a giant Burning Man sea serpent that has found its way to Golden Gate Park. After a two-hour buildup, the switch was thrown just before 9 p.m., and blinking purple and green LED lights illuminated the aqua-colored 100-foot-long, 25-foot-tall sculpture named Naga. Installed in the pond at the base of the Rainbow Falls, Naga is lit from within and periodically exhales bubbles through its nose. 'I got a contact euphoria from the whole show, like I was standing in the middle of a Harry Potter movie,' said Kat Anderson, president of the city's Recreation and Park Commission. 'It is one of the most magical things I've ever seen.' Naga, originally created for the 2024 Burning Man counterculture event in the northwestern Nevada desert, is the largest art installation ever in Golden Gate Park. A crowd estimated by a park ranger at 1,000 people came for the spectacle, many dressed in pirate attire to fit the seagoing theme, some with their hair dyed to match the serpent's scales. Cherie Defer, who described herself as 'a longtime fan of the serpent,' arrived with her hair streaked in turquoise and vowed to keep it that way 'for as long as Naga is with us.' This vow means a one-year commitment with a possible multiyear extension, which is how long the piece by artist Cjay Roughgarden will be in the park. It is handmade of aluminum scales over a steel frame, a process that cost $350,000 in grants, donations and private funding, and took a crew of artists and volunteers 35,000 man hours at Roughgarden's workshop, Seaport Studios in Richmond. Monday night's event was staged and hosted by Illuminate, the arts nonprofit behind the Bay Lights installation on the Bay Bridge. It was the second ceremony to mark the opening of Naga in Golden Gate Park. The first was a family event Saturday morning to celebrate completion of the project. Monday night's event was the adult celebration, heavy in Burners, as devotees to Burning Man call themselves. Naga premiered there on the desert playa, or dry lake bed, last Labor Day weekend, and fans came out to say hello on Monday night. 'I've seen it on the playa, but with the water it looks different,' said Maggie Li, who wore a jacket of fake turquoise fur, though she said it was merely 'on theme, not trying to match Naga.' She and Lauren Klein had come from the Mission District with a full picnic dinner, which they laid out on the grassy shoulder of JFK Drive. 'It's beautiful to see the serpent protecting Golden Gate Park,' said Klein. 'It's a sacred place.' Among the Burners in attendance were Sid and Karen Sijbrandij (pronounced, fittingly, as 'sea-brandy'), Dutch immigrants who were the lead sponsor of the sculpture through their philanthropy the Sijbrandij Foundation. 'We are aspiring to bring 100 pieces of big art to the city over the next three years,' said Sid, a 45-year-old software engineer who founded GitLab. To this end, he has partnered with art agency Building 180, and together they've installed eight works, including a 45-foot-tall wire mesh sculpture of a nude woman on the Embarcadero, and announced plans to add a dozen more installations on the San Francisco waterfront. Sijbrandij, who contributed $250,000 toward the installation of Naga in the park, set his minimum as pieces that are at least 10 feet tall or wide. 'Big art is underappreciated,' he said. 'It is out there and it brings people together.' He also only works with art that is already built and needs a second or third life, the first one usually being at Burning Man, which the Sijbrandis have attended five times. 'We focus on art that is in storage and nobody ever sees it,' Sijbrandi said. He noted that while thousands may see an artwork on the Burning Man playa, millions will see an artwork in the city. Naga is the last artwork you see moving west on the Golden Mile, a car-free stretch of Golden Gate Park that has been populated with public art curated by Illuminate. There are big yellow chairs along the way, and to promote it, Illuminate founder Ben Davis has taken to wearing only yellow. He did that Monday night as emcee for the event, while standing on a makeshift table, his yellow shoes and bandana offsetting a sea of aqua and turquoise. (The water that cascades from the 50-foot Rainbow Falls into the pond was its usual green to enhance the effect.) 'It's a privilege to come out and welcome this new icon to the 'City of Awe,' he said in his remarks, after 750 bubble wands were handed out to make the lighting participatory in the Burning Man spirit. Roughgarden, resplendent in a brocaded pirate's overcoat and head ornament, made introductory comments, during which she reminded the crowd that the installation is still in progress. The full artwork, titled 'Naga and the Captainess,' includes a shipwreck with seating and a play area, which will be added later. A fundraiser is ongoing. The crowd was far larger than anticipated, with some scampering up the hillside for an overlook. They had to wait for darkness on one of the few clear nights of what has been a foggy San Francisco summer. At 8:45 p.m., ethereal music was pumping from the DJ booth as Roughgarden led a countdown from 10. The serpent's eyes suddenly glowed and pulsed, alternating green and purple, while bubbles poured from its nostrils. The lighting happened in stages from head to tail, and by 9 p.m. it was fully twinkling, 753 lights in total. The LED scheme, by lighting designer Dan Rummel, is subtle enough that people who waited out on the JFK Promenade or on the grass on the far side of the street had to cross over and press up close to see the lights embedded in the serpent's scales and the reflection in the water. The paint job was by Tania Seabock. 'It's approachable and gentle and welcoming,' said Li, the picnicker who left her meal unattended to cross the street for an up-close look. Karen Sijbrandij, who wore a twinkling vest, was also satisfied with the show, which is expected to go until midnight, seven days a week. The scheme is energy efficient and taps into the park's source of street lighting power. 'How amazing was that?' she said. 'The detail of the lighting is mesmerizing.'
San Francisco Chronicle
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
A giant sea serpent sculpture has arrived in Golden Gate Park. Here's an early look
Hannah Macauley and Alex Zaldastani were walking their mutt Ruby through Golden Gate Park on Sunday morning when out of the mist came their favorite memory from Burning Man 2024. There, resting in a dry lake bottom along the JFK Drive pedestrian promenade was Naga, the 100-foot sea serpent that had been a highlight on the playa. 'I thought we'd never see it again,' said Macauley, who was so shocked at the sight that she had to stop her walk and join a crowd of gathered admirers. 'That's the most magical thing about San Francisco. You are out walking and you stumble upon your favorite things.' Sometime this week it will get more magical than it was in the Nevada desert because Rainbow Falls, the 50-foot manufactured waterfall that has been turned off during the installation, will be activated to pour water down and fill in the pond where Naga sits. After a grand opening Saturday featuring bubbles and mermaids, it will have a night lighting ceremony on July 28. The sculpture, at the western end of the promenade, just uphill from Transverse Drive, will be the payoff for making the trek downhill from the de Young Museum. 'The park is our favorite city escape, and the dragon will make it more so,' said James Mitchell of the Outer Sunset, who has been watching its progress by riding his bike through with his sons, Jay, 4, and Theodore, 2, in a covered wagon. On Sunday the progress was far enough along that they stopped and all three dismounted, with the two boys immediately headed toward the dry lakebed. 'The dragon is not to play on,' Mitchell scolded the boys while allowing them to climb the hillside at the dragon's tail to get an overview. 'It's going to be super cool when they put the water back,' he said. Even with its concrete base fully exposed, the spectacle was cool enough to cause a foot- traffic backup during AIDS Walk San Francisco as people posed for group photos and selfies. 'Kind of like the Loch Ness Monster, with lights,' is how Richmond resident Francine Prophet described it. Even the firefighters from Station 23 in the Sunset came roaring up in their engine to stop, get out of the truck and take a look. 'A waterfall with this thing, that's going to be awesome,' said Mike Crehan of Station 23. 'What's going to come out of the tail? I hope it's not fire.' The artist, Cjay Roughgarden, 41, of Richmond, likes that idea, 'but the permits for that would have been impossible,' she said Sunday afternoon while adding scales at the water line to ensure that the concrete foundation will be invisible. She also noted that dragons, not serpents, deal in fire, a common mistake. 'Sea serpents don't breathe fire, they blow bubbles out of their nose, obviously.' Roughgarden, who owns a metal fabrication shop called Element 26 at Seaport Studios in Richmond, took a year off work to dedicate herself to the construction of Naga, which is named after a species of mythical Southeast Asian protectors. It is assembled from five separate humps, each made of a steel frame and mesh, covered by aluminum scales painted teal, in eco-friendly paint. Each scale was hand-shaped, more than 5,000 by a small navy of volunteers, more than 250 people in all. The serpent, which took three years end to end, was paid for by Roughgarden's credit card. She estimates the total bill at $350,000, 'but if we had paid everyone it would have been like $2 million.' Burning Man was Ben Davis, founder of the public art organization Illuminate, saw a rendering of 'Naga' at a cocktail party and immediately knew it would work in the park. He brought it to the attention of Rec and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg, who greenlighted it for the greenish pond before it was even built. Illuminate helped raise funds and is the presenter of all the temporary public art on the Golden Mile of JFK Drive, where it is closed to auto traffic. After its premiere at Burning Man, it became the largest public art installation in the history of Golden Gate Park, said Davis, who has been doing art in the park since the Summer of Love 50th anniversary psychedelic light show in 2017. "With its dazzling lights and larger-than-life scale, Naga is a breathtaking work of art — and Rainbow Falls is the perfect home for it,' Ginsburg said, noting that it is the largest art installation on the JFK Promenade. 'Public art is meant to inspire connection and spark conversation, and thanks to our partners, this installation is certainly accomplishing that.' The conversation will not be complete until a second part of the installation is completed this fall — a shipwreck to be built off to the side. The shipwreck's fundraising is ongoing in hopes it will be installed in October by Stephanie Shipman (yes, it is a namephreak) and Jacqulyn Scott. The goal is $250,000. The title of the work in totality is 'Naga & the Captainess,' and it is a complicated story, worthy of a graphic novel that Roughgarden has in mind. 'Naga is friendly, but he'll sink your ship if you're doing the wrong thing, like a good protector does,' she explained. 'I hope he helps bring back some of the spirit of the old San Francisco, to help people step out of the mundane.' It worked for Beth Ludwig and Margaret Campos, who drove in from Walnut Creek after reading about Naga on social media. 'We like seeing the sculptures from Burning Man around the Bay Area,' said Ludwig, who was only mildly disappointed to find the artwork uncompleted. 'We'll come back,' she said. 'A lot.'
