Seventeen Stair-Art Scenes: Mosaic, Paint and Community Design

A staircase is usually a way to get somewhere else. Add a carefully made mosaic and the journey itself becomes the reason to stop and look.

Two much-loved projects show how an everyday route can hold a larger story: San Francisco’s 16th Avenue Tiled Steps and Rio de Janeiro’s Escadaria Selarón.

San Francisco: a sea-to-stars community project

The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps project grew from a neighbourhood initiative begun in 2003 by Jessie Audette and Alice Yee Xavier.

Artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher developed the design for 163 mosaic panels. Community workshops and sponsored handmade tiles helped turn the idea into the staircase that opened in August 2005.

These are tiled steps, not a flight simply painted by hundreds of people. That distinction makes the work more interesting: individual pieces and panels combine into an image that unfolds as you move.

Look at the whole, then the small pieces

From below, the staircase reads as a continuous composition. Closer up, fish, shells and other details invite a slower look.

Try comparing two neighbouring panels. Notice how colours connect them and how the design works around the physical division between steps.

The surrounding planting also belongs to the experience. Stay on the route and let people pass rather than stepping into the gardens to find a different camera angle.

Rio de Janeiro: Selarón’s evolving work

Escadaria Selarón is associated with Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón, who began transforming the steps near his home in 1990.

The work grew through a mixture of tiles, ceramics and mirrors, including pieces contributed from different places. Instead of a single smooth painted surface, the staircase invites you to discover smaller images within the larger field of colour.

It sits between the Lapa and Santa Teresa areas of Rio. Our Rio de Janeiro guide provides a broader introduction to the city around it.

A public artwork is also a working route

People may be using the steps to get home, meet someone or carry shopping. Keep a clear way through and avoid treating the staircase as a private set for a lengthy photo session.

If climbing many steps does not suit you, consider which part can be appreciated from an accessible approach. Confirm the route before making the staircase the centre of your day.

Our architectural stairways feature explores other examples, including places where the structure itself creates the visual drama.

Bring the idea home thoughtfully

A community mosaic takes more than enthusiasm and a pot of paint. Permission, materials, installation, access and future maintenance all affect whether a public project can last.

If these staircases inspire you, begin by learning about an existing local art group or neighbourhood project. Supporting the people who care for a place can be as satisfying as creating something new.

The nicest detail in either staircase may be a small tile you almost missed. Give yourself time to find it—and leave the route welcoming for the next person.

The glowing cycle-path experiment in Poland offers another example of a familiar route transformed through a specific material or design idea.

The full collection extends beyond two famous staircases

The photographic sequence includes two Valparaíso entries, the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, two Seoul settings, Wuppertal, Sicily, two Rio de Janeiro views, two Beirut projects, Syria’s Stairs of Peace, Angers, Istanbul, Morlaix and Tehran, alongside San Francisco’s tiled steps. The geographical range is part of the original feature’s value.

Different materials create different effects

A mosaic uses many small pieces to form a larger surface; a painted image depends on colour applied across the risers; other installations can use temporary materials. These distinctions matter when describing the artwork. The San Francisco project should not be relabelled as a painted staircase merely because it appears in the same collection.

A city label is not a complete location

Artist and project names provide a better trail to follow than a city label alone. Mademoiselle Maurice, ZAG and Dihzahyners point towards particular bodies of work, while a caption that says only ‘Sicily’ leaves the precise location unresolved. Keep that difference visible when browsing the seventeen entries. Some installations may have changed or disappeared since the photograph was made; the image still records a design idea. Anyone planning a visit needs a current location and access check, while a reader interested in the art can begin with the surviving authorship.