Donor recognition Mural
Nano Nagle Garden, University of San Francisco, CA
May 2026
Mural paints, 41” x 86"
Commissioned by the Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
THE NANO NAGLE GARDEN, within the University of San Francisco campus, is an elegant, peaceful and serene environment. Orchestrated by Nanette Lee Miller and Sister Rosina Conrotto, it is nestled between the former Presentation motherhouse (now student housing), and the School of Education. Its central focal point is the majestic, noble bronze sculpture of Nano herself, created by artist Joe Aspell. There’s a moving, timelessness simplicity to the statue.
It is this simplicity of the statue, and the garden, that I kept in mind while designing the donor wall mural. The instructions from the sisters, and associate Nanette Miller, was to include a provided text, a lantern, and to surround it with Celtic knot work.
The knot work I employed has implied leaf-almond shapes, referencing those seen in the more elaborate pattern surrounding the statue, and on the metal wall opposite of the niche. It is also a nod to the same shape in the Gothic windows above the entrance at the top of the stairs.
I see this painted niche as looking as if it is a completion of a thought for the School of Education’s art and architecture. Complimentary, yet the dynamic colors - and being within a niche-doorway – as if it is a portal to the Cork streets at night, in the 1700’s. A plain cross on a shield above is repeated as cross-bars in the lantern below. Christ’s spirit enlivens and informs service.
The vent holes on the roof of the lamp consist of a star and five drops. Five-pointed stars in Catholic art sometimes symbolize Mary, Star of the Sea (the Sisters did cross the Atlantic to get here). The five drops represent Christ’s five wounds. The lantern is about the size of one in real life, as if a visitor could reach in and grab it. It is (importantly) smaller than the one in the statue – the main focus of the setting.
Text on mural: “Nano Nagle Garden was established as a joint effort of Sisters of the Presentation and the University of San Francisco. The garden was blessed on November 17, 2024. The statue was installed on April 23, 2025. We are grateful to all our donors, students and friends who have helped us carry out our mission since our coming to San Francisco in 1854.”
PLAQUES will be installed to the left of the niche, thanking: Olga Barrera, Thomas Brady, Patrick Conlon, George Hemmerle, Nanette Lee Miller, Sisters of the Presentation (Ireland), Sisters of the Presentation (Staten Island, NY), and Presentation High School, SF Class of 1962.
ART INFLUENCES included The Light of the World by William Holman Hunt, The subtler surrealist works of René Magritte (especially The Empire of Light), and the simple, calm, crisp art of Mark Adams.
I lifted the uneven brick work from patterns on a wall that was on the Nano property with the convent that is still in use since the 1700s.
