Bet you didn't think anyone could capture Chuck Close's giant portraits, Robert Bechtle's hyper-realistic street scenes or Kiki Smith's painstaking wall paintings on paper – yet here they are. Crown Point Press printmakers work with international artists to turn singular visions into large-scale, limited-edition woodblocks and etchings. When master printmakers are at work, you're often invited to watch – and if you're inspired to make your own, you can pick up how-to books and tools here.

Workshops are offered during the summer.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

2. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

0.1 MILES

When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expanded in 2016, it was a mind-boggling feat that nearly tripled the institution's size to accommodate a…

3. Museum of the African Diaspora

0.14 MILES

MoAD assembles an international cast of characters to tell the epic story of diaspora, including a moving video of slave narratives told by Maya Angelou…

4. SPUR Urban Center Gallery

0.15 MILES

Cities are what you make of them, and urban-planning nonprofit SPUR invites you to reimagine San Francisco (and your own hometown) with gallery shows that…

5. California Historical Society

0.15 MILES

Enter a Golden State of enlightenment at this Californiana treasure trove, featuring themed exhibitions drawn from the museum's million-plus California…

6. Yerba Buena Gardens

0.18 MILES

Breathe a sigh of relief: you've found the lush green getaway in the concrete heart of SoMa, between Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Metreon…

7. Children's Creativity Museum

0.22 MILES

No velvet ropes or hands-off signs here: kids rule, with high-tech displays double-daring them to make music videos, film claymation movies and construct…

8. Palace Hotel

0.25 MILES

A true SF survivor, the Palace opened in 1875 but was gutted during the 1906 earthquake. Opera star Enrico Caruso was jolted from his Palace bed by the…