Introducing the 2025 Hearts in San Francisco Artists

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The San Francisco General Hospital Foundation (SFGHF) is pleased to announce the 22 artists selected to participate in the Hearts in San Francisco 2025 public art project supporting excellence in patient care and innovation at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG). 

The 2025 Hearts in San Francisco series will include two Large Heart sculptures, 10 Table Top Heart sculptures, and ten Mini Heart sculptures.

Hearts artists will be sharing their progress on their sculptures on social media. Follow SFGHF and the hashtag #HeartsinSF on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn for updates. 

Dev Heyrana, Albany— “SŌL”

Dev Heyrana speaks and connects through pigments, honoring the skin she is in, the cultures that built her, and those who raised her. Her work is inspired by moments that have taught her to grow—moments with her daughters who remind her to live in wonder, and moments while she watched her mother lead with kindness and resilience as a nurse at Walter Reed Military Hospital. She is proud of the work she does by connecting her community through art, especially with her children.

Isabelle Hung, Cupertino— “Japanese Tea Garden”

Bay Area-based designer, Isabelle Hung, is a passionate and detail-oriented graphic designer. She has worked with several organizations to lend her design expertise. For example, she designed and painted a sculpture for the Cupertino Rotary Club to fundraise for the residents of Ukraine. Additionally, she designed concert posters for three-time Grammy-winning artist Fantastic Negrito in Oakland and has been a user experience designer for Stanford University’s ambient intelligence research group. She seeks ways to positively spread art into the community and is driven by challenges and finding innovative design solutions.

Anavictoria Avila, Oakland — “Baila Corazón Purple Heart”

Anavictoria Avila is a painter and muralist known for designing colorful impact narratives with movement, energy, and identity in each piece. Her artwork centers social contemporary issues and culture, and her artistic style is rooted in her Mexican-American heritage. As a first-generation Latina professional, Anavictoria’s entire career has been committed to uplifting racial and social justice. Words were often hard to express, and art became her voice at an early age. Art helped her visualize new horizons and aided her healing journey from growing up in the family court system and domestic violence shelters for the first ten years of her life.

Suzanne Baxter, San Francisco — “You Have My Heart, San Francisco”

Suzanne Baxter’s lifelong relationships with visual art, numbers, and incessant doodling have led her to create beautiful abstract paintings that she describes as a meeting of the minds, where her left brain and right brain find common ground.

HJ Chae, San Francisco — “Connect the Worlds”

HJ Chae has recently exhibited paintings in her solo exhibition in San Francisco, CA, Korea, and France, and has shown in the SF Art Market in 2023, the Bank Art Fair in Seoul 2024, and more group exhibitions worldwide. Her paintings are in private collections in France, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Korea, and the United States. She currently provides art workshops and education to the public at spaceIN art studio in Pleasanton, California.

Naomi Delott, Half Moon Bay— “Hidden Gems”

Naomi Delott is an abstract painter whose work is influenced by the beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area. She resides in Half Moon Bay where the fresh coastal air, rolling hills, and endless ocean serve as her daily muse, fueling her creativity and passion. Naomi channels the colors of her surroundings into her vibrant abstract paintings, each piece a reflection of her deep connection to the coast and her love of color. Her art is a continuous journey, with each painting inspiring the next. Naomi uses inventive techniques, such as scrunched plastic and sponges as paintbrushes, to create rich textures and vivid colors that are uniquely hers.

Ella Rochelle-Lawton, San Francisco — “Seismic”

Ella Rochelle-Lawton was born and raised in San Francisco. Inspired by her surrounding artistic communities, street art culture, and her experiences with housing instability, Rochelle-Lawton’s work explores how creatives reclaim space.

Surf Joose, San Francisco— “Waves of Love”

Jessica Lehr is a California native with saltwater in her veins and creativity at her fingertips. She always found inspiration for her art in the rhythmic crash of the Pacific Ocean’s waves and the vibrant energy of this eclectic city. Whether you’re looking to add a splash of coastal charm to your living or working space or searching for that perfect piece to remind you of the ocean’s boundless beauty, she is here to bring a piece of California’s surf culture into your home.

Margaret Luo, Santa Clara— “Harmony”

Through her paintings, Margaret Luo provokes viewers to reflect on humanity’s roles in their environment and the rhythms of life’s processes. Drawing inspiration from the Earth’s resilience and its renewing cycles, Luo creates paintings that bring attention to the details and fractals of nature. The layered brushstrokes capture the random and repeated patterns of the world. In her artwork, Luo reminds viewers that nature reflects, contributes to, and is impacted by humanity’s patterns and processes on all scales of life.  Her artistic practice centers around understanding the land and communities of where we live and what our environment can teach us.

Julie Meridian, San Jose— “Rejoice”

Julie Meridian captures the essence of people and places through representational art that reveals impressionist details. Her art often highlights moments of contemplation and peaceful solitude. Natural and unassuming poses create a sense of being truly present. Her solemn eye for truth is brightened with glimmers of gentle optimism. Julie primarily works in richly layered acrylic with forays into watercolor, ink, and charcoal. As an artist in San José, Julie also humanizes technology as a user experience designer. She occasionally uses computing concepts as a starting point for artistic reinterpretation.

César Chávez Elementary School & Jessica Rosenfeld, San Francisco — “Pájaros de la amistad”

Cesar Chavez Elementary School is a public school in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco. Jessica Rosenfeld and her students find their inspiration in family and their experiences in the world. Creating art is their chance to enjoy a time of rest and play. Their students mostly come from Central America and their heritage is very important to them when creating art. Jessica Rosenfeld, born in Argentina and a New York transplant, has been in San Francisco since 1999 and has loved her journey to find a home in SF. The bright colors and murals have been a large influence in her own artwork. Teaching Art to children in the Mission has been a dream come true!

Hassan Shabber, San Francisco— “Galactic Birds”

Hassan Shabber’s identity as an artist stems from growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa during the 1990s. His art was a survival tool during a turbulent time and has followed him to three continents. Today, the different lines of work symbolize elements of being present in San Francisco, the city that raised him and the world that surrounds it, a product of survival. The “Taking Shape” series explores nature, using shape and bold colors to bring to life our local plants. This line of work was developed when he became a parent and formed ideas of learning from the perspective of a naive mind. As an artist, his goal is to continue to challenge himself and to develop a cohesive body of work that grows along with his community

Whitney Alyssa, Redwood City — “Harmonious Balance”

Whitney is a passionate creator of sewn abstract art, currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a colorful artistic journey deeply rooted in nature and personal experiences, Whitney’s affinity for art and design emerged early on. Living in California, surrounded by stunning landscapes, has inspired Whitney’s deep connection to nature and sustainability, influencing both her artwork and her approach to life. Unconventionally blending acrylic and watercolor paints on unstretched canvas, she incorporates hand-painted and handmade papers, adorned with delicate touches of gold and silver leaf. Each piece is finished with her signature touch—sewing machine stitches that impart depth, texture, and a sense of fluidity. Through her sewn abstract art, Whitney seeks to create a captivating visual experience.

Katya Bloshkina, San Francisco — “Green Pulse of SF”

Katya Bloshkina is an artist and illustrator based in San Francisco. For the past nine years, Katya has been freelancing, parenting, and continuously improving her artistic skills. She loves creating visuals in various ways, using digital tools like Procreate and Adobe suite to make animations and illustrations. She also enjoys experimenting with traditional media like printmaking, ink, pencils, acrylics, and oils.

Brittany Burrows, San Francisco — “Protection”

Brittany Burrows is Nomlaki-Wintun/Pomo, born in Chico, CA, and moved to San Francisco, CA at age 11. From a young age, Brittany has always been fascinated with art, mostly ballpoint pen drawings. Brittany once took an art class in high school, and that is where she discovered her love for portrait drawings. She is mostly a self-taught artist who specializes in black and white portraits. Her mediums are pencil, charcoal, and graphite, but she enjoys other mediums such as painting, sculpting, and even arranging flowers because this taps into her creative side. Brittany’s biggest inspiration is her 10-year-old son, who encourages her to expose her work and dream big! Her community has also driven her to be more vocal because they believe in her talent. There is nothing more motivating than her child looking up to her, cheering her on, and reminding her to share her work.

Cristina Chavez, Walnut Creek— “Sweet Like Candy”

After relocating to the Bay Area in 2020, Cristina Chavez joined Design Girl Magic, an Artist’s Collective formed by friend and fellow artist, Valerie Margolin. Together, they participated in some meaningful public art projects throughout the San Francisco area—most notably, she and Valerie were chosen to create a Tabletop Sculpture for the 2023 Hearts in SF Series and a Mini Heart to Commemorate the ZSFGH 150th Anniversary.

Vicky Ha, San Francisco — “Porcelain Heart”

Vicky Ha is a San Francisco-based artist whose work explores the human experience through a unique lens. Inspired by her upbringing as a Chinese American in the Midwest, Ha’s work evokes a range of emotions, from tranquility to nostalgia. Through her work, she seeks to translate personal experiences into visual narratives that resonate with viewers on a deeper level.

Rae Lanzerotti, San Francisco — “Touching Love”

Rae Lanzerotti (they/she) is a genderqueer, low vision/Disabled artist who is enamored by the creative possibilities of blind and low vision art access. After sudden vision loss in 2020, they developed new ways to make and share art with accessibility in multiple mediums. Rae utilizes disability access tools to tell haptic, touchable, and audible, as well as visual stories. They are at the forefront of innovating accessible comics and the leadership of Graphic Medicine International. A San Franciscan from birth, Rae’s heart is always here.

Sophia Lee, San Francisco— “Bubbling with Love”

Sophia Lee is a multi-media artist who lives in San Francisco. She immigrated from Taiwan at age 9. After living in LA, NYC, Lyon, and Taiwan, she moved to San Francisco in 2014, making this her home. She loves nature and spends many hours hoarding waste to create her beautiful layered calligraphic paintings. She works in various mediums, from encaustics, acrylic, and weaving plastics to paper clay and ink.

Quinn & Rowan Heyrana de Leyos, Albany— “Spark In Our Hearts”

Quinn Heyrana de Leyos is 11 years old and a proud Asian-American. Her parents have taught her and her sister to be curious, open-minded, and lead with kindness. They surrounded her with art and encouraged her to express her creativity in many ways. She loves to sing and play the ukulele. She also loves to skateboard with her mom, ski with her dad, and hike and bike outdoors with her family.

 Rowan Heyrana de Leyos, is 7 years old and wants to be an author and illustrator when she grows up. She loves to swim and read with her big sister. One of her favorite things to do is listen to her playlist and dance! She also loves to paint with her mama and bike with her papa.

Meehaun Glasper-Wade, Oakland — “Water Ritual”

Meehaun (he/him) is a Black trans man and abstractionist and multidisciplinary artist, currently based in Oakland, CA. His art is inspired by (e)motion(s) and movement, nature scapes, and music (think “synesthesia”).

Salome Chelidze Wilson, Sacramento— “Heart to Heart with Autism”

Salome Chelidze Wilson, born in a Georgian-French family in the Republic of Georgia, was inspired by Gaudi’s Mosaics and Art Nouveau while living in Spain.  After being awarded a talent green card, and her petition was approved, the artist moved to Sacramento and is a permanent resident of America. The artist gained recognition as the author of oil mosaics. This is Salome’s unique methodology.