Sutro Baths Project - Judith Blankman

I spent my earlier years developing an approach to defining and articulating the importance of places through sculptural and social investigation. The Sutro Baths Project was my Master of Arts thesis, an investigation of historical, sculptural and social phenomena surrounding a popular recreation site, a ruin on Point Lobos in San Francisco.

The project was a site-specific proposal comprised of drawings, a topographic model, and sculptures built to scale.

Cliff House Visitor’s Center Exhibition

From October 7 – December 7, 1986 all but the larger sculpture were exhibited at the (what is now the former) Cliff House Visitor’s Center adjacent to the site. After viewing the proposal, visitors could peer out of a large picture window overlooking the baths, or go down to explore the site themselves.

caption below for details — Topographic model: foam core, plexiglas and polymer clay.

Site sketch. — Sketch: marker and colored pencil on tracing paper.

Part of the appeal of showing this work on location was the large ready-made non-arts audience. At peak season, 1000 people a week walked through the Visitor Center’s door. I was exhibiting in a space that was an alternative to alternative arts spaces.

Axonometric - caption below for details. — Axonometric drawing: Proposed sculpture adjacent to the walkway leading to a big rock just off shore. Ink, marker, and colored pencil on vellum.

Site model - caption below for details. — Model detail: Proposed architectural sculpture adjacent to the engine room ruins and the walkway bordering the edges of the old heated pools and cold plunge.

Bronze figure integrated into the ruins — Detail of larger sculpture – partial figure integrated into the ruins. Bronze, wood, paper mache.

Bronze model - caption below for details. — Detail of larger sculpture – partial figure integrated into the ruins. Bronze, wood, paper mache.

Public Tours

To directly experience this contact with the public, I gave four tours of the baths through the course of the exhibition to narrate the history, to engage with others about their past experiences, and to delineate my proposal on site. The tours were performance pieces intended to tie the proposal to the site and the public.

I also produced a video, a people’s version of the baths, in the form of an oral history. Six San Franciscans ranging in age from 94 to 35 narrated stories about their own experiences there.

Judith explains the connection of her proposal to the site.

Judith imparts the history of the Sutro Baths during one of four public site tours.

Judith points out the large catch basin at the ocean's edge that fed the pools through a tunnel.