Demetrio Braceros Overview

Demtrio Braceros is the creator of Cayuga Park, a sculpture garden in the Excelsior neighborhood, in San Francisco. Braceros emigrated from the Philippines in 1973, and began working as a groundskeeper for San Francisco Parks and Recreation. In 1986, he was... [more]

Demtrio Braceros is the creator of Cayuga Park, a sculpture garden in the Excelsior neighborhood, in San Francisco. Braceros emigrated from the Philippines in 1973, and began working as a groundskeeper for San Francisco Parks and Recreation. In 1986, he was assigned to Cayuga Park, an overgrown field in an undesirable location. The park is at the end of a dead-end street, underneath elevated BART tracks where trains roar by every few minutes.  Braceros transformed this disheartening setting into a beautifully landscaped jungle filled with brightly colored wooden sculptures and structures. He carves the cypress trees that blow over in windstorms into archways, benches, totem poles, and treehouses. Braceros' sculptures are incredibly detailed and varied, although he uses a chainsaw and chisel. Many of his carvings contain Bible passages or religious scenes; others represent celeberities like Princess Diana, Micahel Jordan, and the Crocodile Hunter (sharing a totem pole with a stingray). Locals will be amused to recognize Willie Brown and Barry Bonds peeking out of carved trunks--even the Governator gets a rather ghoulish portrait.

Braceros is a visionary artist on par with Nek Chand and Fernand Cheval, but his fantasy environment has yet to be recognized outside the neighborhood. Since he retired last year, the future of the park's sculptures is uncertain.

[show less]