Hearts in San Francisco is an annual public art installation started in 2004 by the San Francisco General Hospital

San Francisco General Hospital

San Francisco General Hospital is the main public hospital in San Francisco, California, and the only Level I Trauma Center serving San Francisco and northern San Mateo County...

 Foundation for the purpose of fundraising. The project is inspired by the international CowParade

CowParade

CowParade is an international public art exhibit that has been featured in major world cities. Fiberglass sculptures of cows are decorated by local artists, and distributed over the city centre, in public places such as train stations, important avenues, and parks. They often feature artwork and...

 exhibit, in which cow sculptures are painted by various artists and installed in various cities throughout the world. The choice of hearts is inspired by the Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

 song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a popular song, written in 1954 by George Cory and Douglass Cross, and best known as the signature song of Tony Bennett...

".http://www.sfghf.net/heartsFAQ.php

Each year, uniform heart sculptures are painted by different artists and installed at various locations throughout San Francisco, including Union Square and Yerba Buena Gardens

Yerba Buena Gardens

Yerba Buena Gardens is the name for two blocks of public parks located between Third and Fourth, Mission and Folsom Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. The first block bordered by Mission and Howard Streets was opened in 1993. The second block, between Howard and Folsom Streets was...

. The heart sculptures are auctioned off at the end of each year's installation with the proceeds going to the foundation.http://www.nurseuniverse.com/Nursing-Job/7229.html Many of the previous years' sculptures are exhibited in various public locations, including Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...

, Crissy Field

Crissy Field

Crissy Field is a former airfield, now a part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in San Francisco, California, United States. Historically a part of the Presidio of San Francisco, Crissy Field was closed as an airfield and eventually the National Park Service took control over it...

, the Marina Green

Marina Green

The Marina Green in San Francisco, California, is a expanse of grass between Fort Mason and the Presidio. It is adjacent to San Francisco Bay, and this location provides good views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, Alcatraz Island, and parts of Marin County. Houses built mostly in the 1920s...

, Fort Mason

Fort Mason

Fort Mason, once known as San Francisco Port of Embarkation, US Army, in San Francisco, California, is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay. Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense...

, Civic Center Plaza, AT&T Park

AT&T Park

AT&T Park is a ballpark located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2000....

, Moscone Center

Moscone Center

Moscone Center is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. It comprises three main halls: Two underground halls underneath Yerba Buena Gardens, known as Moscone North and Moscone South, and a three-level Moscone West exhibition hall across 4th Street...

, and San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...

.http://sfghf.net/docs/HeartsLocations.pdf As of 2009, approximately US $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

5 million had been raised for the foundation.http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-02-08/entertainment/17187168_1_san-francisco-foundation-general Notable contributing artists have included Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Roy De Forest

Roy De Forest

Roy De Forest was an American painter known for his comic-like patchwork regionalist style, often depicting dogs & other figurative content in his art....

, Squeak Carnwath

Squeak Carnwath

Squeak Carnwath is a contemporary American painter. She received her MFA from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1977. She is a Professor of Art at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has taught since 1982, having previously taught at California College of Arts and Crafts and...

, and Alan Chin

Alan Chin (artist)

Alan Christopher Chin is an American artist working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, sculpture, and film. He is known for his exploratory paintings and sculptures. Chin studied at California College of the Arts in Oakland,...

.http://sanfrancisco.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Photo-Tour--Barbary-Coast/Hearts-in-San-Francisco.htm

External links

• San Francisco General Hospital Foundation Hearts in San Francisco site