Renowned graphic designer, artist, and author George McCalman is breathing new life into San Francisco's century-old Pier 29 with his interactive exhibition "A March Through Time," launching November 22. The ambitious project represents McCalman's largest artistic undertaking to date, transforming a portion of the long-abandoned 150,000-square-foot waterfront structure into a multi-sensory gallery experience.
McCalman, who believes that time is not linear and that the past exists alongside the present, has always been drawn to buildings that bear the visible scars of their history. His philosophy of embracing decay and weathering as badges of honor is evident both in his choice of workspace and exhibition venue. For nine years, he has operated out of an unusual three-story studio in San Francisco's Outer Sunset neighborhood, a structure that rises like an ancient ship among its smaller, freshly painted neighbors.
The artist's studio, owned by architect Douglas Jacuzzi and ceramicist Georgia Hodges, serves as a philosophical expression of their shared belief in the purity of materials and reverence for process. The building's exterior features decades-old plywood sheets arranged in Tetris-like configurations, with a bay window wrapped in aged redwood planks patinated to near black. Inside, the space resembles a long-abandoned construction site, with visible redwood framing, brightly colored extension cords strung across rafters like holiday bunting, and ivy growing through a hole in the floor.
"What I love about this space is how the creative process is exposed," says McCalman, whose design firm McCalman and Co. is currently engaged in dozens of projects. His recent work includes exhibition design for the Museum of the African Diaspora's "Unbound" show, interior and branding design for Nopa Fish in the Ferry Building, and upcoming exhibition designs for the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. The studio space, shared with ceramicist Hodges, features hefty bags of clay sitting near an ancient Singer sewing machine, which competes for desk space with colored pencils and paint jugs.
It was in this unconventional workspace that McCalman created the 155 portraits of Black pioneers featured in his book "Illustrated Black History." The studio also served as the conception space for "A March Through Time," which expands on the book's themes. However, realizing his full vision required a much larger venue, leading him to the historic Pier 29 on the Embarcadero.
The 110-year-old pier presents a striking contrast to McCalman's beach-adjacent studio. While the classical bulkhead building with its gabled parapet and monumental arches looks impressive from the outside, the interior tells a different story. Aging timber trusses support a roof punctured with holes, evidenced by puddles darkening the concrete floors. Shattered windowpanes and yellow caution tape sectioning off mysterious areas add to the atmosphere of beautiful decay.
Within this deteriorating structure, McCalman has created a glowing coral-colored sanctuary. He has suspended flowing, sheer fabric the color of cantaloupe flesh from the trusses, demarcating a 5,000-square-foot gallery space within the vast pier. Fifteen of his portraits, printed on thin sheets of silky fabric, hang within this ethereal enclosure as part of the multi-sensory experience that will include musicians, dancers, poets, and other artists during 90-minute timed showings limited to 100 people.
"I wanted people to be able to see the background, meaning the building itself," explains McCalman, who collaborated closely with his McCalman and Co. partner Miriam Thompson on the space design. "I wanted something that was ethereal, that you could see through and view from both sides. We wanted to express this alternative concept of time, of seeing through time, and of bringing Black accomplishments closer to us. We're inviting people to experience our history in a different way."
This inaugural artistic activation of Pier 29 represents a collaboration with Art + Water, a new nonprofit led by writer Dave Eggers and artist-filmmaker J.D. Beltran. McCalman was initially invited by arts-focused landlord Cast to utilize a portion of the long-empty space, but his meeting with Eggers sparked a deeper partnership. Following this exhibition's closure, McCalman plans to continue using Pier 29 as additional studio space for creating new work for a larger spring exhibition that will occupy much more of the pier.
While McCalman remains tight-lipped about specific details of the upcoming spring show, he hints that it will represent a dramatic departure from the portraiture work he's known for. "As an artist, I'm continually pigeonholed, and every couple of years I redefine how I'm working, and I hear every time, 'Oh, I didn't know you could do that!'" he says. "And I love that. I love that I'm still underestimated. I love it." The project represents not just an artistic evolution for McCalman, but also a new chapter for the historic pier, transforming urban decay into a canvas for contemporary cultural expression.
