Eggheads that former faculty member Robert Arneson created for UC Davis are expanding the campus's reputation in the arts as they enjoy a whole new audience of viewers in San Francisco.

Reproductions of Arneson's Yin and Yang Eggheads appear along the Embarcadero, situated together just east of the Justin Herman Plaza fountain, across from the Port of San Francisco Ferry Building. The sculpture was dedicated in mid-December. A plaque recognizes it as a reproduction of one in a series of five acrylic-on-bronze sculptures commissioned for UC Davis.

A native of Benicia, Arneson taught ceramics at UC Davis from 1962 to 1991. His Egghead sculptures were created for specific campus locations and were installed during 1991-94. The original Yin and Yang Eggheads sit outside the UC Davis fine arts complex courtyard, where they were positioned by Arneson himself shortly before his death in 1992.

The eggheads that appear in San Francicso were cast in 2002 from Arneson's original molds. Installers positioned the two Eggheads in San Francisco, orienting them like those at UC Davis.

The reproduction effort was overseen by Arneson's estate and was undertaken to introduce more public art at San Francisco International Airport. However, the airport and city's arts commissions later decided the Eggheads would be a better fit along the popular Embarcadero, where an art-in-public-places effort also is under way and where some 7 million U.S. and international visitors visit annually, according to the San Francicsco Convention and Visitors Bureau.