CRANE

CRANE is a public art project at Hunters Point Shipyard that transforms the historic gantry crane through light, sound, and community storytelling.

The first phase features immersive soundscapes by Evelyn Ficarra, combining historic recordings, shipyard sounds, and oral histories from Bayview Hunters Point residents. Source material includes interviews with local seniors conducted by Stacey Carter and community liaison William Rhodes.

Presented as part of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Shaping Legacy: Temporary Monuments program, CRANE reimagines the crane as a living monument to the people, labor, and history of the shipyard.

The project will culminate in 6 live light and sound performances at Hunters Point Shipyard in October 2026. Dates are October  9, 10, 11 and October 16, 17, 18   More info to come on how you can attend !

Listen to the soundscapes: https://www.crane.video/

CRANE Project Team

Produced and Directed by:

Barbara Ockel Project director and producer who conceived CRANE and assembled the artistic teamand institutional support behind the project. Through Shipyard Trust for the Arts, sheleads its development, partnerships, fundraising, and implementation.

Artistic Team

Elaine Buckholtz  Light installation artist specializing in large-scale, site-specific installations that illuminate outdoor monuments, cathedrals, and industrial structures. Her work creates immersiveenvironments that respond to place, scale, and history.

Stacey Carter  Artist and historian focused on the history of Hunters Point Shipyard. Her work combines archival research, historic imagery, and public engagement to bring forward the stories oflabor, community, and industry embedded in the site.

Evelyn Ficarra  Composer and sound artist whose work explores memory, place, and collective listening. She creates layered sound environments using field recordings, voice, and experimentalcomposition.

William Rhodes  Visual artist and community collaborator known for socially engaged projects that centerstorytelling and lived experience. Through his quilt projects, he has documented HuntersPoint Shipyard history in depth, and he is a key connector to the main senior center in Bayview Hunters Point.

Ian Winters  Media and installation artist working with video, projection, and large-scale public environments. His work integrates technology and storytelling to activate architecturalspace and engage audiences in immersive visual experiences.

SHIPYARD HISTORIES

Hunters Point Shipyard History Quilt Project

Shipyard artists Stacey Carter and William Rhodes

Over the past year, Shipyard artists Stacey Carter and William Rhodes have worked with seniors from the Bayview Hunters Point community to preserve the history of the Hunters Point Shipyard through the Shipyard History Quilt Project. Seniors participated in history workshops at the Dr. George W. Davis Senior Center, exploring the contributions of African American workers during key moments in the shipyard's history. Through these sessions, participants examined historic photographs, newspapers, and shared personal stories, uncovering deep connections to their families and community.

Stacey Carter, artist and shipyard historian, contributed historic photographs along with the stories behind them, which deeply resonated with the senior community. William Rhodes transformed this imagery, along with personal stories from participants and their portraits into elements of the quilts through his artistic process.  The project culminates in a series of quilts crafted by William Rhodes and the seniors, each telling the unique stories of the shipyard. Historic documents and video interviews by Stacey Carter add context and preserve community voices and experiences.

At the heart of this exhibit are stories of resilience and determination. The African American men and women who came to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard seeking jobs played a vital role in the war effort, often working under perilous and discriminatory conditions. Their efforts not only helped end World War II but also laid the foundation for the civil rights movement. Today, their descendants remain integral to the Bayview-Hunters Point community, now recognized as San Francisco’s African American Arts and Cultural District.

About the Artists

Stacey Carter                                                                                                                                                                  A shipyard artist since 1998, Carter has transformed her studio into a mini-museum, offering tours focused on the shipyard's history, with information on the challenges faced by the Black workforce. A painter of the urban environment, she was drawn into the shipyard's history through her artistic exploration of its historic buildings.

William Rhodes                                                                                                                                                                       A STAR Artist-in-Residence and director of the intergenerational art program at the Dr. George W. Davis Senior Center, collaborates with local seniors to turn family stories into community quilts, creating artworks that celebrate the history and resilience of African Americans.

Support Acknowledgement                                                                                                                                                        This exhibit is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and California Humanities.

We would also like to thank Bayview Senior Services for their collaboration and contributions.