Sutro Baths

The concrete ruins of a vast seaside bathhouse on the western edge of San Francisco, at Lands End, just below the Cliff House. Adolph Sutro, mining engineer turned mayor, opened the Sutro Baths in 1896 as the largest indoor swimming establishment in the world. There were seven pools, one freshwater and six saltwater at different temperatures, fed by an inlet from the Pacific. The roof spanned three acres of glass. The complex burned in June 1966 during demolition and was never rebuilt. The pools remain as filled concrete rectangles open to the sky. A tunnel cuts through the headland to a small tidal cave, and the Pacific moves through it all on the high tide.

Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.