Adia Millett

“Sunset/Sunrise” Mural, UCSF Health’s Bayfront Medical Building

Adia Millett presents new public art installation "Sunset/Sunrise“ at the UCSF Health's Bayfront Medical Building in San Francisco. The displays - a stunning "soundscape" mural and "an interactive sound sculpture" - are part of a synergistic approach to the patient healing journey at the new UCSF Mission Bay outpatient building. 

 

Sunset/Sunrise

The soundscape mural is titled "Sunset/Sunrise" and measures 13 feet tall and 80 feet wide. Designed and created by Oakland artist Adia Millett, the work uses three different speakers placed above a colorful mural that each emit different Koshi chime tones representing Earth's calming elements. 

 

"There was this desire for the work to be calming and peaceful," Millett said. "It's for a community dealing with healing and physical change. This piece is a much cooler pallet than I would normally use. Really, I was thinking about the space." Depending on which side of the painting one starts viewing from, the sun rises or sets.

 

Millett is originally from Southern California and graduated from both UC Berkeley and the California Institute of Arts. The self-described “visual artist” uses a wide range of materials from paint to textiles to glass to video. She’s no stranger to public art, notably partnering with youth organizations to paint a mural on the basketball courts of Lowell Park in West Oakland. This isn’t the first time Millett has been tapped by UCSF Health for her artistic prowess. She was recently commissioned to create public art for the façade of a new Administrative Support Building at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, the third local artist adding their work to that campus. 

 

“When I think about public art, hospitals, airports and schools are ideal for me,” Millett said. “You have such a diverse community of people in those spaces. They are spaces where there’s so much movement. You’re either coming or going. You’re either learning in that space, going through a process of healing or transition.” 

 

The audio element of the work was designed by sound artist Michael DuCott. 
 

Learn more -- 

Interactive Art Helps Heal Patients at New Bayfront Medical Building | UC San Francisco (ucsf.edu)

September 13, 2024
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