April 5, 2025 – September 21, 2025
Inspired by the movements of Alvin Ailey’s dance composition “Revelations,” artist Kristine Mays pays honor to the ancestors — those that walked, lived and tended to this land — to the lives that have been recognized and those that have been “forgotten.”
Rich Soil features 29 life-size sculptures presented in 7 groupings located in thematically appropriate areas throughout the Garden.
The exhibit is included with Garden admission or free for members.
Artist Statement
Sculpted from thousands of pieces of wire hooked and looped together, each figure embodies a fleeting gesture or expression that delivers a message of strength while challenging how we view ourselves and others. An invisible occupant revealed through the sculpted folds and wrinkles of a garment, or the shapes that come together to create the human form. A strong spirit shines forth in the dichotomy of what is revealed. The sculptures look fragile and soft and yet are solid and strong, reminiscent of a foundation of sorts. Within the confines of hard metal wire is sense of resilience and perseverance — a need to push forward and thrive. The work speaks to identity — the question of who we are and what we can do with our lives, the impact our lives have on the world.
Groupings
All Night Worship Service
Woodland Glade
The deepest grief and the holiest joy rise up from the soil in a furious dance beckoning you forward.
Listen to Kristine Mays describe All Night Worship Service.
Ancestral Spin
Wildflower Field
Dancing between the veil of flesh and spirit, only the quiet will truly hear.
Listen to Kristine Mays describe Ancestral Spin.
Celestial Prayer Meeting
Dewdrop
Meeting the aunties. Storytellers. Sage spirits. They wipe away tears and place bandages on wounds. Your secrets are safe here.
Listen to Kristine Mays describe Celestial Prayer Meeting.
Conjuring
Bayou Oaks
Shadow, silhouette, the rustling of trees, breeze on your face, sunshine warming your skin — evidence that you are not alone.
Little Worlds Within Us
Mediterranean Garden
An invisible thread binds us together, bone and marrow, soul and spirit, them and us.
Listen to Kristine Mays describe Little Worlds Within Us.
Not Just Happenstance
Culinary Garden
Sky above, ground below, the very fibers of our being. Breathe. Give thanks to both living and dead, creation unfolding, creator at work.
Listen to Kristine Mays describe Not Just Happenstance.
Soon And Very Soon
The Sanctuary
Land watered by tears and rain, buried seeds that spring forth hope, despair covered in manure transformed into unspeakable beauty – when souls blossom.
Meet the Artist
As a contemporary African-American sculptor, Kristine Mays captures physical and spiritual movement in thousands of interconnected strands of wire. “I am breathing life into wire,” she says. “With each work, I create a form that reveals the essence and spirit of a person, and that speaks to humanity as a whole.” Quotations accompanying her sculptures often provide important context for full appreciation of their content.
Mays has developed her unique sculptural method over more than two decades. Initially exploring the sculptural qualities of beading wire she encountered while making jewelry, she has transitioned to creating monumental figures, each handmade by bending and hooking rebar tie wire with pliers. Each piece takes at least 60 to 80 hours or more of labor, during which she gives form to a human body or garment without reliance on a mold or model. Especially remarkable are the gestural qualities that make the works appear both animate and soulful.
A San Francisco native, Mays has been an exhibiting artist since 1993. An installation of her work is permanently installed at the East Lake Station of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in Georgia. Her past public art works include a 400-pound Heart of San Francisco, benefiting the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. Her work was featured in “The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill 20th Anniversary World Concert Tour.” Mays’ work also has been featured in Art Basel Miami, as well as the SCOPE NYC Art Fair.
In her hometown of San Francisco, Mays was a featured artist in the San Francisco Art Commission’s “Art in Storefronts” pilot program, a project that transformed vacant storefronts and commercial corridors into a destination for contemporary art, bringing a new energy to the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. A participant in the San Francisco Open Studios program for over 20 years, Kristine has also served on the Board of Directors for ArtSpan, the Producers of SF Open Studios, and participated on several of their committees. Kristine served as the 2011-2013 artist-in-residence at the Bayview Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco. She has occasionally served as a grant review panelist through the San Francisco Arts Commission. In 2015, she worked in collaboration with artist Shawn Bullen on a mural in San Francisco, combining flat surfaces with two dimensional sculpture. Kristine has participated in programming at the De Young Museum, Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD), and exhibited at the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles. She is currently working on a permanent public installation in a park along the San Francisco shoreline.
Seeking to create impact and change with her art, Kristine has participated in raising thousands of dollars for AIDS research through the sale of her work by collaborating with organizations like Visual Aid, the San Francisco Alliance Health Project, and WE-Actx.
Mays’ work has received local and national press, including the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Source Magazine, Artsy, and the interior design blog Apartment Therapy. She is represented by Modernism Gallery in San Francisco.
Collectors of Kristine Mays’ work are an eclectic mix, including George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, as well as the dearly departed art collector and philanthropist Peggy Cooper Cafritz. Her work is displayed in many San Francisco Bay Area homes and in private collections throughout the U.S. The Crocker Art Museum recently acquired one of Mays’ sculptures for their permanent collection.
The exhibition Rich Soil made its debut at Filoli Historic House and Garden in Woodside, California, in 2020. The exhibit, made up of 29 life-size figures, has continued to travel across the U.S., to a total of nine cities, counting Houston.
“The beauty of working with wire is that it’s been used in the foundations of buildings,” Mays says. “I know it has that durability to last.” Timely and topical today, her work is made to reverberate through the ages.