Growing up in the east bay, trips to Golden Gate Park were an important event. My childhood memories are of having tea in the Japanese Tea Garden, trekking through the steamy jungles of the Conservatory of Flowers, the thrill of the Alligator pit at the Aquarium and the faraway adventure of the African Hall. But perhaps most formative were the visits to the De Young and seeing the intricate works of the early Renaissance painters – images that instilled in me a life-long love of art.
Those connections to early experiences remain, yet I continue to find new pleasures in the park, like the casting ponds perhaps they were there all the while, only now are my eyes open to them.
