Art Safari at SF Zoo

On Saturday and Sunday, September 16 & 17, San Francisco Zoo & Gardens will present its first annual Art Safari, a fun, interactive weekend where art and animals meet. The event, which takes place each day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will center around the Playfield area and around the Zoo, as San Francisco artists and art instructors will be on hand to guide guests through a hands-on process of creating art through chalk drawings, origami, art workshops and more.

With oversight by the Zoo's Artist-in-Residence, Henry Jackson, San Francisco’s art community will lend their creative expertise to the program. Watch muralists paint artwork on otherwise blank fence lines, enjoy wine tasting sponsored by Highlands 41, live music and shop vendor booths. Art Safari is Free with Zoo membership or paid Zoo admission.

SF Zoo’s outdoor art collection, comprised of life-sized bronze animal sculptures, painted and sculpted murals and the one-of-a-kind, tactile Sculpture Learning Plaza depicting over 100 animals from microscopic to land and sea, is the impetus for the Art Safari event. Guests can discover artwork throughout the Zoo and see the for first time, the newly installed 45-foot-long tiled mosaic of the Leanne B. Roberts African Savanna by Jackson, in homage to the Zoo’s late patriarch, reticulated giraffe, “Floyd” and the Zoo’s giraffe conservation efforts.

In addition, the Zoo’s famous giant hay maze will be set up for the Fall. Located adjacent to the Pachyderm Building by the Great Ape Passage, the hay maze, known as the biggest hay maze in the City, is an SF Zoo tradition in partnership with Arata Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay.