Seen Andy Goldsworthy's “Spire” In The Presidio
“An instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches with spire steeples which point as with a silent finger to the sky and stars.”
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I heard about this one from the website SF Secrets. I must’ve driven by this thing tons of times and never even noticed it. “Spire” is a sculpture by British artist and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy. It’s made of the fallen trees from the Presidio forest.
This is the description the Presidio gives for this unique sculpture:
In 2006, artist Andy Goldsworthy visited the Presidio and was inspired by the history and character of the forest. He saw an opportunity to create a sculpture with the felled mature trees. Constructed in October 2008, The Spire tells the story of the forest, celebrates its history and natural rhythms, and welcomes the next generation of trees. It is a poetic reference to the forest’s past; as new young trees grow up to meet the sculpture, it will eventually disappear into the forest.
I brought my friend Becca with me to check this out because it’s so close to work. There’s a short trail that leads here to the right of the Presidio Golf Course. Once you walk up the trail a few feet, you see the sculpture right away.
When we went there, I noticed a stack of fallen trees nearby.
The sculpture is super tall. It dwarfs the little trees around it.
I stood at the bottom and looked up.
The wood had its own character as well. There were termite trails in this section that had lost its bark. They almost looked like scorpions.
I also spotted a few spider webs around the tree. I was hoping I’d see the spiders too, but no such luck.
This was a cool little gem. It’s a nice sculpture that hardly anyone notices. It’s been here over two years, and I never knew about it until last week. I like it because it’s quiet, and it’s a testament to the nature that helped build it that still shows some of the characteristics of the trees when they still lived.
It’s a very nice place to come if you want to be alone and want to appreciate a tribute to the nature of the hundred year old Presidio forest.
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