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Artist Norie Sato Gets First Look at Her Work Along Evans Avenue

Artist Norie Sato Gets First Look at Her Work Along Evans Avenue
  • Heidi Anderson

As the New Headworks Facility Project progresses, a new art wall is being installed on the facility’s wall on Evans Avenue between Rankin and Quint Streets. Artist Norie Sato, who conceived the art, recently made a visit to watch the first panels of her work be installed. “I can’t believe it! This is so amazing!” said Sato. 

She donned construction safety gear and walked along the wall to get a closer look. “You know, I came up with an idea, but the process of making something as big as this is always interesting,” said Sato. “We got down to what is most important. We wanted to evoke the movement of wastewater as it moves through the treatment process.”

Sato is a Seattle artist who has created public artworks since 1990 and has been involved in urban and public art planning since 1984. She recently completed an award-winning $1.2 million project for Miami International Airport, involving windows and a terrazzo floor. She was also part of the artist design team who created a 1,100,000 square foot terrazzo floor for the Dallas Convention Center, and she created a permanent sculpture installation at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. 

“My concerns as an artist are involved with connections, often between nature and technology. Issues of transition, edges moving from one state to another, and memory, play an important role within that larger construct,” said Sato. “My work often involves layers— layers of materials, combining the translucency and transparency of glass with other materials, as well as layers of information and concept. Research about place is at the core of my work.”

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) intends this art to call attention to its commitment to environmental stewardship. The New Headworks Facility Project is an important part of the SFPUC’s Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP), which is part of the SFPUC’s 10-year Capital Plan. The first mega-project at the Southeast Treatment Plant, the New Headworks Facility, will help reduce odors and improve operations and resilience in the face of climate change and earthquakes. 

To learn more about the San Francisco Arts Commission’s public art program, click here.