Naga
-ON DISPLAY NOW-
A mythic creature has surfaced in the heart of Golden Gate Park. A radiant, 100-foot-long, 25-foot-tall sea serpent named Naga—first unveiled at Burning Man 2024—now lives in Rainbow Falls Pond along the beloved JFK Promenade on San Francisco’s Golden Mile.
Created by artists Cjay Roughgarden, Stephanie Shipman, and Jacquelyn Scott, Naga is more than a sculpture—it’s an immersive, community-powered experience.
Naga’s body is adorned with over 5,000 hand-forged, iridescent scales, glows with internal light, and—on occasion—playfully blows bubbles from his nose. Constructed by more than 250 volunteers, the installation pulses with the spirit of generosity and shared creativity.
About the Artists
Naga is led by three female artists from the Bay Area: Cjay Roughgarden, an artist and architectural metal fabricator, Stephanie Shipman, an expert woodworker and arts educator, and Jacqueline Scott, an award-winning production designer and special FX artisan. The team met while volunteering on collaborative art projects of the East Bay based arts collective ‘Five Ton Crane’, most notably the Raygun Gothic Rocketship (displayed on the Embarcadero in 2010-2012) and The Capitol Theater, which was part of the No Spectator’s exhibition at the Smithsonian, as well as the Oakland Museum of California.
