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East Los Angeles-based artist, Wayne Healy, has dedicated his career to public art projects ranging from murals and sculpture, to tile and metalwork. He and fellow muralist, David Botello, founded East Los Streetscapers in 1975 and together spearheaded the East LA mural movement. His designs are universal, narrative, site specific and compositionally dramatic in line, color and texture. His credits include numerous large-scale murals and sculptures throughout Los Angeles, including works at the Gateway transit center, the Metro Blue Line Slauson Station, the DMV facility in Culver City, and the Ontario International Airport. His studio work has been exhibited locally and internationally. Healy received his MFA from California State University, Northridge.

In conjunction with the 2008 renovation of the pool house, pool deck, equipment room and senior building at Lennox Park in South Los Angeles, artist Wayne Healy created a hand-painted glazed ceramic tile mural for the front entrance of the pool house. The vibrantly colored and dynamically composed artwork displays the activities of the facility and the spirit of the community.

Painted steel on metal fence

Rod Baer, who lives in Los Angeles, received an MFA from Claremont Graduate School and a BFA from San Diego State University. He has completed public and private commissions in California and the United States and has extensive design team experience. His work is characterized by bold geometric shapes and colors that are often rendered in three dimensions.

El Cariso Community Regional Park

The cut steel work depicts a fireman’s helmet surrounded by abstracted flames and rivulets of water. The artwork is intended to highlight either the flames or the water depending on the angle in which it is viewed.

West Hollywood

Robin Strayhorn, who lives in downtown Los Angeles, graduated from UCLA and taught at Markham Middle School in Watts for several years. Strayhorn has completed public art commissions for the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, MTA Metro Art, and the Ontario International Airport. Her work is characterized by rich, colorful, sometimes abstracted human forms and designs rendered in ceramic tile. She is recognized for involving community members in her projects.

Artists Matthew and Paul Doolin of Topanga Art Tile's glass and ceramic tile mosaic mural Ocean Journey depicts a vibrant and whimsical underwater ocean scene. The mural faces the street entrance of the pool house. It features a sand bar of beige tones, a variety of green and blue tiles depicting the water, two large sea turtles, several multi-colored fish and a pod of dolphins swimming throughout the scene. Several smaller fish are installed around the main entrance door.

Ceramics, glass, aluminum, and stained cement

Los Angeles-based artist Dakota Warren has created numerous public artworks in cities throughout the United States. He has produced murals in California for the City of Merced Redevelopment Agency and the Mountain View Medical Center in Modesto and has also completed mosaics for the Human Services Building in Irving, Texas and the Vanston Pool in Mesquite, Texas. His private commissions include works for the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Inter-American National Bank in Washington, DC.

Artist Dakota Warren's mixed media mural <em>Sea Dream</em> depicts a euphoric ocean scene. The wave imagery is painted on a color-stained concrete top coat. Flying fish and dolphins, made of powder coated aluminum, are mounted on the surface and ceramic tile and mirrored glass embellish the spaces between bricks. The mural is located on a wall facing the pool.

Anne Marie Karlsen earned her MFA from the University of Wisconsin, and has been teaching art in southern California since 1979 at UCLA, and currently at Santa Monica College. Since 1990 she has been commissioned for numerous public projects throughout the country, including the FBI Headquarters in Chicago; Paseo Colorado Development in Pasadena; North Hollywood Metro Red Line station; and Trailside Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska. In 2008, her artwork for Lawndale Library, titled Subdivisions, was among forty works cited as “one of the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2008” by the Americans for the Arts. Her work is also represented in many museums throughout California and the U.S., and internationally in the Kulturverwaltung Stadt in Salzburg, Austria.

Inlaid natural stone and cork

Tom Van Sant has created over sixty public murals and sculptures. His artwork can be found throughout southern California as well as internationally, including in the Honolulu, Taipei and Los Angeles airports. Van Sant was born in Los Angeles in 1931. He received a BA from Stanford University, a MFA from Otis Art Institute, and a MA in Environmental Arts and Sciences from Goddard College. Two other Van Sant artworks are held in Los Angeles County’s Collection, Inventive Progress of Man at the Bell Library, and Flight at the Huntington Park Library.

The Inventive Progress of Man wall mosaic by Tom Van Sant consists of four panels made of stone and inlaid cork. It is situated directly behind the circulation desk in the Bell Library. The mosaic represents twenty-six important inventions and discoveries made in human history. The figures on the left-hand side of the mural depict innovations made before recorded history; those on the right represent modern discoveries, which are often attributed to specific individuals. The center symbol consisting of two triangles, symbolizes the printing press, given the most prominent placement in the mural because of its importance to the history of libraries. The mural was installed in 1960 and a printed key to the symbols can be found on a nearby wall.

Noted American sculptor Robert Merrell Gage (1892-1981) was a native of Topeka, Kansas. He relocated out West in 1923 and served as head of the sculpture department at USC for 30 years. In addition to numerous commissions of American figures such as Walt Whitman and John Brown, as well as architectural sculptures, one of Gage’s life-long interests was in Abraham Lincoln. Gage executed likenesses of Lincoln in many stages of life, and even starred in a 1950s film in which he modeled Lincoln’s features while narrating the story of his life.

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Terra cotta tile on steel

Malcolm Leland began his artistic career as a potter and ceramicist. He studied at the Jepson Art Institute and won the Good Design Award from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1955 for his innovative ceramic bird shelter. In the mid- 1950's he became interested in working on a larger scale and he sold off his pottery to devote a year to researching architectural ceramics. He designed art elements for several prominent Los Angeles landmarks such as the American Cement Company Building on Wilshire Boulevard and the Pomona College Clock Tower. Malcolm Leland currently lives in Arizona and recently had a 2007 solo show at the Cardwell Jimmerson Gallery.

Glass, polished stone, and granite on brick

Joseph Young (1919-2007) was a native of Pittsburgh and received his BA degree from Westminster College in Pennsylvania. After serving in World War II, he studied at various art schools and academies both nationally and abroad. Young had a long and distinguished career as a public artist in multiple media including mosaic, stained glass, pre-cast concrete, granite, and wood. Two of his many projects include the Triforium, a kinetic sculpture at the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, and the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument in Pan-Pacific Park.

Ceramic on black granite

Commissioned for the Gardena Library and dedicated on December 5, 1964, this ceramic tile mosaic mural by Livio Napolitani is set into seven slabs of black stone and hung above the Library’s main entrance. The mural presents the Western development of communication through forms of writing. Beginning on the viewer’s left; a handprint symbolizes pre-civilization cave paintings. The mural then moves to representations of Egyptian Hieroglyphs, the invention of the phonetic alphabet, the development of the European printing press, and concludes with a picture of a modern woman reading aloud to a child. A quote from the Roman philosopher Pliny runs below the mural’s images. It states, “Were it not for books human culture would pass into oblivion as quickly as man himself.”

Plants, trees, rocks, and sand

This Japanese garden is nestled in a central courtyard surrounded by the Gardena Mayme Dear Library. It can be seen by Library visitors from almost any spot inside the building. Designed by the famous Japanese landscape architect, P. Takuma Tono, the garden was a gift to the Library from the Gardena Valley Gardener’s Association (GVGA). The GVGA was founded in the 1950’s by Japanese American gardeners, many of whom had been forced to live in United States’ internment camps during WWII. Among the GVGA’s goals was to improve public perception of Japanese Americans after the War as well as to increase their participation in civic life. The GVGA not only donated the garden’s materials and Tono’s services, but they also built the garden and maintained it. The stone lantern in the garden’s center is over 150 years old and is a gift from the City of Ichikawa, Gardena’s Sister City in Japan.

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) was formally trained as a sculptor in France and Italy. Over a 50-year period, he executed sculptures of many of the period’s most prominent figures including Napoleon, Voltaire, Moliere, Diderot and Rousseau.

Tom Van Sant has created over sixty public murals and sculptures. His artwork can be found throughout southern California as well as internationally, including in the Honolulu, Taipei and Los Angeles airports. Van Sant was born in Los Angeles in 1931. He received a BA from Stanford University, a MFA from Otis Art Institute, and a MA in Environmental Arts and Sciences from Goddard College. Two other Van Sant artworks are held in Los Angeles County’s Collection, Inventive Progress of Man at the Bell Library, and Flight at the Huntington Park Library.

Hung high above the Huntington Park Library’s main stairway, Flight is a curved, asymmetrical shape, which resembles various flying figures depending on which angle it is viewed. Reminiscent of a bird or a bat with its wings outstretched, it is made of aluminum and suspended by three center cables. Artist Tom Van Sant dedicated the artwork in a public ceremony at the library on July 20, 1970.

Huntington Park

Copper painted stone on marble

For many years, The Helmsman stood in front of, and was a trademark for, the world-renowned Helms Bakery on Venice Boulevard in Culver City, California. In 1971 the statue was donated to the County by the Helms family. It is now looks out over the Marina Del Rey Harbor in Burton W. Chace Park. The Helmsman is a cast concrete figure in staunch repose with both hands clenched on a wooden helm. His posture is tight, his body hunched over, and his expression determined. Although formerly the symbol of the unfaltering delivery service of the Helms Bakery, The Helmsman fits perfectly in this maritime environment.

Marina Del Rey

Visitors to the La Cañada Flintridge Library encounter a large ceramic tile mural by Frank Matranga as they enter the building. The mural features abstract forms that gracefully interlock in a beautiful display of soft shapes and muted colors. This was one of the artist’s first large-scale tile murals and, like many of his other works, is inspired by the movement of the wind and sea.

La Cañada Flintridge

Tom Van Sant has created over sixty public murals and sculptures. His artwork can be found throughout southern California as well as internationally, including in the Honolulu, Taipei and Los Angeles airports. Van Sant was born in Los Angeles in 1931. He received a BA from Stanford University, a MFA from Otis Art Institute, and a MA in Environmental Arts and Sciences from Goddard College. Two other Van Sant artworks are held in Los Angeles County’s Collection, Inventive Progress of Man at the Bell Library, and Flight at the Huntington Park Library.

Body of Knowledge is composed of a large undulating curvilinear shape surrounded by a pattern of intermittent bricks that jut out of the wall. The adjacent bricks form a pattern appear random and at the same time are reminiscent of Braille writing or the symbols from a computer data print out. Before installing this brick bas-relief sculpture over the Angelo M. Iacoboni Library’s main entrance, Tom Van Sant sculpted each brick according to his master diagram and then supervised the firing at the kiln site. The artwork was then set into the wall by brick masons under Van Sant’s direction.

Frank Ackerman (1933-1986) was a prominent watercolor artist who attended the Chouinard Art Institute and was President of the National Watercolor Society in the early 1970s. His designs have been exhibited at many galleries and museums including the Legion of Honor in San Francisco and the National Academy of Design, New York. Ackerman joined LA County’s Graphic Arts Department after working as a County architectural draftsman and illustrator. He headed the County Graphics Department between 1973 and 1980 and then became the Chief of Museum Exhibit Services at the Museum of Natural History. Ackerman also traveled to the South Pole as an official Navy artist in the 1960s.

Situated in the Court of Flags in Grand Park, this County-commissioned Vietnam Memorial honors the 231,000 Los Angeles residents who served in the Vietnam War. The design consists of a solitary cast bronze helmet resting on a plinth, the top surface resembles the ground. The inscription reads, “In proud recognition of the men and women of Los Angeles County who faithfully served with courage, dignity and honor 1961-1973.”

Joseph Young (1919-2007) was a native of Pittsburgh and received his BA degree from Westminster College in Pennsylvania. After serving in World War II, he studied at various art schools and academies both nationally and abroad. Young had a long and distinguished career as a public artist in multiple media including mosaic, stained glass, pre-cast concrete, granite, and wood. Two of his many projects include the Triforium, a kinetic sculpture at the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, and the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument in Pan-Pacific Park.

This work by Joseph Young is incorporated into the building’s overall design. It is composed of interlocking and overlapping bas-relief shapes, divided into three sections. The large vistas of geometric forms add movement to the facade of the library. The work was dedicated on May 15, 1973 by County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, South Gate Mayor Don R. Sawyer, and City Councilman Frank Gafkowski.

This mural is the second work that Frank Matranga created for six Los Angeles County Libraries in the 1970s and 80s. He conceived, designed, and fabricated the mural in his studio and then delivered the tiles to the Satow Library’s site (then known as the West Gardena Library). They were installed by a professional tile setter under Matranga’s supervision. This artwork, like many of his others in the County’s collection, reflects Matranga’s continuing fascination with the wind and the ocean.

14433 South Crenshaw Boulevard

In a departure from Frank Matranga’s previous Los Angeles County Library murals, this artwork was carved directly into the Marina del Rey Library’s outer brick wall. To achieve this effect, Matranga worked with the Library’s brick masons and sculpted his design into the wet bricks before they were fired. Each brick was then numbered and installed by the masons with the other conventional bricks as the building was being completed. The artwork depicts boats sailing under a sunny sky.

Lloyd Taber Marina Del Rey Library

Marina Del Rey

Frank Matranga’s artwork is found at the entryway to the library. Composed in earth tones in ceramic and glass tile, the piece features vertical curvilinear forms. The bulbous shapes are meant to evoke expressions of the sea and sea creatures like clams, mussels, and jellyfish.

The Diamond Bar Library mural is one of six that Frank Matranga created for Los Angeles County Libraries in the 1970s and 80s. It was first installed at the entrance of the original Diamond Bar Library in 1977. In 2012 a new library was built and the artwork was relocated to the new library's reading garden. The mural’s forms are organic and rounded and undulate throughout the work. Inscribed in small letters on the mural’s proper right side are words which comment on a library’s purpose: “An educated people are a free people.”

Dora De Larios has resided in the Los Angeles area all her life. Born in Los Angeles to Mexican parents, she spent her childhood living downtown near Temple Street. In 1957 she received a BFA from USC. The ethnic diversity of Los Angeles, as well as her extensive travels and study of world religions and ancient art at USC, led to the development of her pan-cultural style. De Larios’ public works include sculptures in Hawaii, New Jersey, Florida, Tahiti, Japan, and numerous cities in southern California. She has also created a ceramic dinner place setting for the White House. Since 1959 she has been featured in over 50 gallery shows and museum exhibitions including the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. She has taught ceramics at USC and UCLA.

When the Norwood Library was built in 1977, Dora De Larios was commissioned to create a mural for the Library’s entrance. The mural is comprised of ceramic tiles in an abstract and colorful design bisected by a band of brick-colored tiles. The entire artwork is meant to be reminiscent of Pre-Columbian condor and eagle motifs.

Lucerne granite on concrete

The late Los Angeles sculptor George Stanley is credited with numerous sculptural and architectural commissions. Stanley, the sculptor of the Sir Isaac Newton statue at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, was also a co-creator of the Oscar statuette of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Josefina Quezada, a Mexican muralist, came to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to help restore David Alfaro Siqueiros’ Amèrica Tropical mural on Olvera Street. She has worked with artists from the Chicana Action Service Center to produce several murals in East Los Angeles, including one at Humphreys Avenue Elementary School.

<em>Tree of Knowledge</em>, also known as the “Read” mural was designed by Teresa Chacon and painted in 1978 by artists from the Chicana Action Service Center under the direction of artist Josefina Quezada. In the center of the mural a woman reads to a group of children, on the left side several young women stand and sit reading books among trees. The tree trunks are also filled bookshelves. On the right, three children play on a hillside. In 2004 a mural conservation effort was supervised by Josefina Quezada and a few elements in the mural were altered, such as an open book added on the far right which lists the names of the mural conservators. This book replaced a Pre-Columbian figure. In 2012 the mural was restored again after suffering from vandalism. Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) restored the mural to the way it originally was painted in 1978.

Originally designed and conceived as a fountain, the King Memorial is a sweeping tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The memorial, commissioned by Los Angeles County and the City of Compton Civic Center Authority, is situated as the focal point of a plaza surrounding the Compton Civic Center and was originally designed to feature a 70-foot stream of water shooting through the center of the structure. The monument derives its symbolic impact from its simplicity of design and clean, straight lines. Arranged in the classically harmonious shape of a circle, multiple identical white panels rise up at varying angles and meet at a central circular form.

Dora De Larios has resided in the Los Angeles area all her life. Born in Los Angeles to Mexican parents, she spent her childhood living downtown near Temple Street. In 1957 she received a BFA from USC. The ethnic diversity of Los Angeles, as well as her extensive travels and study of world religions and ancient art at USC, led to the development of her pan-cultural style. De Larios’ public works include sculptures in Hawaii, New Jersey, Florida, Tahiti, Japan, and numerous cities in southern California. She has also created a ceramic dinner place setting for the White House. Since 1959 she has been featured in over 50 gallery shows and museum exhibitions including the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. She has taught ceramics at USC and UCLA.

Dora De Larios created this plaster veneer bas-relief mural for the Rowland Heights Library when it was being constructed in 1978. The artwork fills an entire wall in the library’s foyer with an abstract composition of geometric shapes that rise from the floor and descend from the ceiling. Dora De Larios cut all of the mural’s plaster forms and then attached them to the wall. A master plasterer, hired by De Larios, finished the texture of the surface shapes with a steel trowel and used a brush broom for the mural’s background. The artwork represents a rare departure from ceramics in Dora De Larios’ body of work. There is only one other similar artwork she has made, commissioned by the City of Hawaiian Gardens for the city council chambers around the same time.

Rowland Heights

<em>Ofrenda Maya I (Mayan Offering)</em> is a glazed ceramic tile mural at the entrance of the City Terrace Library. The artwork depicts two Mayan warriors kneeling on either side of a third warrior who stands above them with his arms outstretched, grasping a chalice and rattle. The figure on the right bows his head, while the opposite warrior lifts up his hands. The artwork is done in a Pre-Columbian Mayan style: highly detailed, intricate and colorful.

Harold Roach is a Los Angeles-based sculptor whose geometric and organic forms are primarily composed of metal. In the 1980s he donated several of his pieces to municipalities in the Los Angeles area and his works can be seen at the El Segundo City Hall, the Monterey Park Fire Station, and the Manhattan Beach Post Office.

Sculptor Harold Roach donated this sculpture to the West Hollywood Sherriff’s Station in 1982. According to the artist the donation was given in appreciation of Los Angeles County paramedics and emergency personnel who helped save his life during a medical crisis.

West Hollywood

Robert Freeman was born on the Rincon Indian Reservation in 1939. He is a self-taught artist and began painting in 1961. He has won numerous National Indian Art Awards in oil painting, watercolor, pen and ink, and sculpture. In addition to the San Gabriel Library Mural, his public works include a commemorative Seal for the State of California embedded on the Capital steps in Sacramento, murals at the Perris Museum in Perris, California, as well as sculptures in Capistrano and Santa Fe Springs. His artwork has been exhibited at the Riverside Museum; University of Vermillion, SD; Shriver Gallery, Kansas City; and Sioux Museum, Rapid City, IA.

In 1982 San Gabriel Library staff and the Friends of the San Gabriel Library decided that a large blank wall over the children’s section would be the perfect spot for a mural illustrating San Gabriel’s early history. Funds were raised through book sales and community donations and the artist Robert Freeman was commissioned to create and paint the mural. The artwork depicts life at the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel in the late eighteenth century including women grinding corn, a vaquero rounding up cattle, and a padre helping Gabrielinos build a stone wall. On the far left, grapes signify the wine, which was produced at the Mission, and on the far right a wickiup, a type of Gabrielino grass house. The earth tones in the mural are intended to create a restful and pastoral atmosphere.

Exposition Park Welcomes the World

In preparation for the 1984 Olympic Games the Los Angeles Olympic Coordinating Committee (LAOOC) commissioned Exposition Park Welcomes the World on the side of the old Department of Public Social Services Building. Goez Studios painted the mural with 20 high school students (whose names are listed above the mural) under the Ernie Barnes Youth Art Project. Situated opposite Exposition Park, one of the main venues for the 1984 Olympics, the mural features “The Queen of Angels” as a representation of the City of Los Angeles. With her arms extended she symbolically welcomes all the countries of the world by embracing their flags above an image of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The artwork suffered severe damage during the Los Angeles riots of April 1992 and today is partially obscured by ivy as well as a portion of the mural was lost due to the construction of a building immediately adjacent to the old DPSS building.

Frank Matranga was commissioned to create a mural with a historical theme for the La Verne Library in 1985. Composed of glazed ceramic tiles, this mural in the foyer of the La Verne Library is described by the artist as a “very traditional design" compared to the more abstract works he made for other County libraries. The mural features motifs and local area landmarks, such as the Church of the Brethren, the Lordsburg Hotel and the Lordsburg depot with citrus trees and mountains in the background.

Louis Aimé Lejeune, the son of a woodworker and cabinetmaker, was born in Normandy in 1884. As an adolescent, Lejeune studied design at the École Bernard Palissy in Paris and later received a scholarship to attend the École des Beaux-Arts. Lejeune's work was popular in the early twentieth century and many European and American museums collected his pieces. He came to California in 1926 to complete a portrait bust of Horace Huntington, and it was then that Anita Baldwin commissioned him for both Je N’Oublierai Pas and a bronze fountain at Anoakia’s entrance.

One of the oldest artworks in the collection, Louis Aimé Lejeune was originally commissioned in 1930 by Anita Baldwin to create this work. Baldwin was a well-known patron of the arts and daughter of southern California land developer E.J. Baldwin. The title, Je N'Oublierai Pas, translates as “I will not forget,” a phrase which appears on the Baldwin family crest. The artwork is a statue of a woman standing beside a low column while her arms encircle an urn. The column is decorated with a bas relief image of a squirrel holding three acorns, below the squirrel are three pairs of oak leaves, as well as the phrase "Je N'Oublierai Pas" carved into the base. Oak trees were significant to the Baldwin family. To honor her father’s love of oaks, Anita Baldwin named her estate Anoakia. In 1991 the manager of the Baldwin estate, Lowry McCaslin, donated the sculpture to Los Angeles County in memory of his friend, Richard A. Grant, Sr., father of the president of the California Arboretum Foundation Board of Trustees. McCaslin also donated the funds to relocate it to the Los Angeles County Arboretum. In 2008 the sculpture was conserved and relocated within the arboretum because the first location was among trees which were contributing to condition issues. Now the sculpture is out in the open for all to enjoy.

Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden

Spanish American War Memorial or The Hiker

Bronze on concrete and stone

Theo Alice Ruggles (1871-1932) was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. She showed an early sculptural ability and by the time she was nineteen she had exhibited and won an honorable mention at the Société des Artistes Français, Paris. In 1893 she married fellow sculptor, Henry Hudson Kitson. Her most famous artwork is The Hiker and casts of it can be found in cities all over the United States.

In 1996 Martin Flores and the Rogelio Flores Foundation partnered with Self Help Graphics and First District Supervisor Gloria Molina to sponsor a mural to honor the life of Martin’s brother, Rogelio Flores, a young man who was the victim of a drive-by shooting. The artists José Antonio Aguirre, Eva Cristina Pérez, and Alfredo Calderon led a group of eight high school students: Eddie A. Portillo, Jerry Ortega, Andre R. Reyes, Adriana Verduzco, Frank England, Crystal Hernandez, Reggie Hoyos, and Jaime Ochoa to design and execute this mural. For six months the students learned technical skills and were taught about mural history and Mexican and Native American imagery. The finished work depicts past events as well as future hopes. Two teenagers in the lower left dream about their contemporary high school lives as well as their aspirations for the future which intermingle with historical scenes. The central images are bordered by traditional Meso-American symbols such as the quetzal bird sitting on an ear of corn. The mural is made of hand-painted ceramic tiles. The building originally housed the East Los Angeles Public Library but was renovated and reopened in 2007 as a new East Los Angeles Civic Center “City Hall” offering a number of County services under one roof. The mural project was funded through Community Development Commission Block Grants and the County of Los Angeles.

Born in 1948, John Cody spent his youth in Virginia and became interested in stone sculpture as a teenager after volunteering at an indigenous archaeological site in South Carolina. The stone carvings he helped excavate fascinated him and he soon began sculpting in the same medium. Cody moved west when he was eighteen and arrived in southern California in 1967, first settling in Solvang. It was here that he began quarrying serpentine stone, a material that remains his favorite. In 1976, Cody moved to Los Olivos and later opened an art gallery there in a former blacksmith’s shop. His public commissions include works at the Santa Maria Natural History Museum, the Santa Maria Courthouse, and Knotts Berry Farm.

Sculptor John Cody created this monument, The Aviator, for County aerial firefighters at the request of his friend Karen Langley. Karen’s son, Jeffrey Langley, was a firefighter paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department who lost his life in 1993 in a helicopter accident during a rescue attempt. Jeffrey Langley was also a prominent safety advocate and worked tirelessly to raise money for additional practice equipment and training time for County firefighter air operations personnel. Following his death his friends and colleagues continued his efforts and a stationary helicopter was installed on top of a tower at the Pacoima facility for training. The sculpture sits in front of this tower.

Paul Botello was introduced to mural painting at an early age by his older brother David, a fellow muralist. Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Botello went on to receive his BFA and MFA from California State University, Los Angeles in addition to a certification in industrial drafting and computer-aided design. In 1994 Botello collaborated with Eva Cockcroft on a mural in Berlin, Germany entitled Global Chessboard. Besides adorning buildings throughout East Los Angeles and southern California, his works are held in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum and the Laguna Art Museum.

Paul Botello worked with at-risk youth through the County Probation Department to produce a monumental mural for the exterior of the City Terrace Park Gym. This, like Botello’s other murals, references Latin American culture and history through a variety of complex symbols and diverse themes. The park is in a residential area, so Botello wanted to create a peaceful mural “about the veneration of life,” in his words. The central figure is a Mexican Indian goddess, a Mother Earth character from whom life and bounty flows. She is surrounded by people planting, harvesting, and celebrating. On the right, a mother lovingly guides her daughter out the front door into the larger world outside.

Raised in East Los Angeles, Richard Haro studied art at East Los Angeles College. Haro did most of his murals during the 1960s and 1970s including a 40-panel work at Sierra Park Elementary School and a piece at the Watts Towers Arts Center. He was also one of the first artists to exhibit at Goez Art Studio and Gallery. In more recent years Haro has painted portraits and taught art to the mentally disabled.

Dozens of famous Latino faces gaze down from the wall in the Community Center at Ruben F. Salazar Park. The mural by Richard Haro covers a large triangular wall inside the multipurpose building. At the top of the mural two cupped hands pour out colorful orbs that float throughout, unifying all the separate sections of the artwork. In the center a cutaway offers a glimpse into a fictional cosmic world while children play on a strip of grass below. The predominant feature of the artwork is the over 30 portraits of famous and influential Latino people on the right and left sides. Included in this group are boxer Oscar De La Hoya, Los Angeles newscaster Laura Diaz, pop singer Selena, musician Carlos Santana, actor Ricardo Montalbán, actor Edward James Olmos, labor leader César Chávez, actor Rodolfo Valentino, singer Ritchie Valens, filmmaker Gregory Nava, actress Carmen Zapata and teacher James Escalante.

Denise Jones was a 24-year-old student at California State University Long Beach when she won the commission to create a mural for the new Agoura Hills Library. At the time she was also a resident of nearby Thousand Oaks and had painted a mural for a dentist’s office which was brought to the attention of the Library Design Committee. Since the mural’s completion, Denise Jones has studied in Italy at the Accademia di Belle Arti and received an MFA from the New York Academy of Fine Art. In addition to painting, she now teaches art at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California.

The Friends of the Agoura Hills Library commissioned Denise Jones to paint this mural when the new Library was built in 2001. The mural depicts a sunlit grassy meadow in which deer and other California wildlife appear. Reminiscent of the Hudson River School landscapes and illustrations from early twentieth century children’s books, the image curves along the wall of the library’s children’s section.

The Wall That Speaks, Sings and Shouts

Paul Botello was introduced to mural painting at an early age by his older brother David, a fellow muralist. Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Botello went on to receive his BFA and MFA from California State University, Los Angeles in addition to a certification in industrial drafting and computer-aided design. In 1994 Botello collaborated with Eva Cockcroft on a mural in Berlin, Germany entitled Global Chessboard. Besides adorning buildings throughout East Los Angeles and southern California, his works are held in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum and the Laguna Art Museum.

Located outside the Ruben F. Salazar Park recreation center, Paul Botello’s mural <em>The Wall That Speaks, Sings, and Shouts</em> is an energetic expression of movement and emotion in brilliant ranges of color. The mural was commissioned by Los Tigres del Norte, a well-known Norteña band whose portrait is featured on the left side of the wall. According to Botello, Los Tigres del Norte “write about the struggles and strength of the everyday man and woman and share my philosophy of speaking out for those with no voice.” Amidst a variety of complex symbols, the artist depicts groups of marching men, women, and children who will not be detained by a small detachment of police officers. The park’s namesake, journalist Ruben F. Salazar, is included in a small blue portrait on the right side of the mural.

Michael Amescua is an artist whose practice is based in East Los Angeles. Amescua has executed many public art projects in the Southern California region at varied locations including the MTA Gateway Transit Center in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles International Airport, Paseo Colorado in Pasadena, the Los Angeles Zoo, McCambridge Park in Burbank, Montebello Transit Center, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Amescua holds a BA from Occidental College.

Located in northern San Fernando Valley, the Chatsworth Courthouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court opened in May 2002. Michael Amescua's majestic Tree of Life is a twenty-foot-tall stainless-steel sculpture situated outside the courthouse where it can be seen by passersby as well as by jurors in the jury assembly room. Tree of Life is comprised of ten large decorative medallions which radiate in four directions from a central post. Each medallion depicts familiar California flora such as oak, palm and bird of paradise. The intricacy of Amescua’s design lends the sculpture a kinetic quality as sunlight and shadows pierce through the open work of the steel.

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Remembrance of Genocide in the Ukraine

The Ukranian Genocide of 1932-33 was a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukranians. This monument is remembrance to all who suffered.

Porcelain and glass tiles

Paul Tzanetopoulos was born in Athens, Greece but has lived in the Los Angeles area for over thirty years. He received his BFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and his MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Tzanetopoulos works in many different media including video, light, painting, and sculpture. His public works include tile murals for the US State Department's Consular Office Building in Ho Chi Minh City, integrated artwork for the Sun Valley Metrolink Station, and an outdoor video installation for the City of West Hollywood. He once stated to the Los Angeles Times that he believes "art for public spaces should be site-specific and interactive with its environment." His most famous work, the lighting design for the pylons outside of the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) illustrates this belief.

Artist Paul Tzanetopoulos designed a tile mural for the pool house at Mary M. Bethune Park. The mural features a graphic design of abstracted swimmers and is located on the back wall surrounding the pool. "Different Strokes," the title of the artwork, celebrates diversity in all its aspects. The community pool is a place for all people to come together.

Unity Through Diversity Public and Private Work and Play

Cha-Rie graduated from MIT Architecture Dept. in 1973. After a master's degree from University of Colorado, arrived in Pasadena and fell in love with the architecture, culture, flora and fauna of Los Angeles. She is a registered architect, presently mainly doing residential remodels. In the past 10 years Cha-Rie has become an expert Craftsman tile maker and sculptor of relief wall murals. She has one of the largest collections of Batchelder tile molds, which she slip casts, glazes with her own formulation and produces tiles of exceptional rich textures. Her public art and large architectural installations include an installation at the LA Metro station in Monrovia and her “Fairy Tale” glass pictures and relief tiles have been installed in the new LA City Exposition Park Branch Library. To learn more, visit <a href="http://www.pasadenacraftsmantile.com">http://www.pasadenacraftsmantile.com</a>.<div><div><br /></div></div>

Visitors to the administrative headquarters for Los Angeles County, the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, are welcomed by a glass artwork by artist Cha-Rie Tang. Tang illustrates, in her words, “the variety of landscapes, from the mountains to the ocean, from the desert to the valley,” and depicts how, “people from all over the world with diverse cultures set roots here [in Los Angeles], pursuing individual dreams, sharing common interests and working for the public good.” The ideas are organized in the artwork. People are illustrated on the top line; the environment is depicted on the second line and the shoreline below. The translucent glass artwork spans the length behind the reception desk. The County of Los Angeles is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse communities in the world, encompassing over 4, 000 square miles and over 10 million residents. Cha-Rie Tang believes that “This is a great opportunity to celebrate joyful diversity in a dignified and inspiring sort of way.” This artwork was conserved in 2015.

Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration

Robin Strayhorn, who lives in downtown Los Angeles, graduated from UCLA and taught at Markham Middle School in Watts for several years. Strayhorn has completed public art commissions for the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, MTA Metro Art, and the Ontario International Airport. Her work is characterized by rich, colorful, sometimes abstracted human forms and designs rendered in ceramic tile. She is recognized for involving community members in her projects.

Located in the heart of South Los Angeles, Ted Watkins Memorial Park was renamed in 1995 to honor Ted Watkins, the founder of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC). Robin Strayhorn’s mosaic tile mural on the park’s flagpole is a memorial to Ted Watkins and his commitment to the Watts community. The other panels on the flagpole depict colorful images of garden tools which are symbolic of the Watts community’s constant growth.

Nickel plated steel and brass bead chain

Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues of LA-based Ball-Nogues Studio, began their practice together after having met as Sci-Arc undergraduates. Prior to partnering in business, Benjamin Ball worked for several Los Angeles architecture firms including Gehry & Associates and Ramer Architecture, and Gaston Nogues worked as a product designer for Gehry Partners. As a Studio, Ball and Nogues have completed designs and installations for the New York Museum of Modern Art / P.S. 1, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and Materials & Applications. In the fall of 2008, they were invited to install their artwork, Echoes Converge, at the 2008 Architecture Biennial in Venice, Italy.

Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues of Ball-Nogues Studio created a suspended sculpture titled Drop-in Distraction for the Southwest Building and Safety Permit Office lobby. This is where engineers, architects and contractors apply for construction permits. Drop-in Distraction expresses the artists’ desire to blur art and architecture. Composed of over one thousand individual nickel and brass plated bead chains hanging from custom-made aluminum ceiling panels, the work exemplifies the artists’ experimental and inventive approach to sculpture. While lightweight and diaphanous, the sculpture has a voluminous and undulating presence intended to intrigue the waiting clientele.

Southwest Building and Safety Permit Office

Sandow Birk received a BFA from the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design.  He went on to receive an NEA International Travel Grant as well as Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Getty Fellowships. Birk has had over 40 solo exhibitions, and many prominent collections possess his artwork, such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the DeYoung Museum. Birk currently resides and maintains a studio practice in Long Beach. More information is available at: <a href="http://www.sandowbirk.com/">http://www.sandowbirk.com/</a>.<br /><br />Elyse Pignolet is a California artist of Filipino heritage. Born in Oakland, CA. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach. Pignolet has created several bodies of work that place the extensive history of ceramics in contrast with the temporary nature of graffiti as a starting point to make hand-built sculptures that draw from the traditional calligraphies of various cultures and the characters, combined with the lettering of contemporary urban writing. Her works have been featured in several contemporary arts publications including the LA Weekly, Juxtapoz Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.<br />

The Lifeguard Division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department works closely with the City of Avalon Fire Department and the United States Coast Guard to provide emergency assistance to Catalina Island.  This vital service is celebrated in a ceramic tile mural designed and fabricated by artists Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet.  Using a traditional “azulejo” blue and white glazing technique, the mural depicts a seemingly tranquil Avalon Harbor, its peace broken only by a ship in distress near the horizon and an LA County vessel speeding to its rescue.  This seascape is bordered by tiles inspired by the Catalina Tile Company’s designs as well as six vignettes that depict the various specialized activities and vehicles of the Baywatch Avalon lifeguards.  Below the words “Baywatch Avalon” are dots and dashes that signal SOS in Morse Code – the universal distress call that the Lifeguard Division always answers.<br /><br />The mural is accompanied by ceramic tiles on the stair risers that bear the core values of the Fire Department – Commitment, Courage, Community, Caring, Teamwork, and Integrity – and the poem that is the informal code of the U.S. Lifesaving Service: “You have to go out, and that’s a fact, but nothin’ says you have to come back.”<br />

Avalon Lifeguard Paramedic Headquarters

Terra-cotta on concrete

Artist Timothy Gibbs designed ten stained glass panels at the front entrance of the library. Working closely with the local historical society, Gibbs created a contemporary interpretation of a traditional stained-glass window that features iconic La Crescenta landmarks, such as the Bathey House and the La Crescenta Women’s Club.

Lanterns, waterwheel, bridge, rocks, trees, shrubs, and flowers

In 1962 the Japanese Women's Volleyball team visited Culver City after winning the World Championship against the Soviet Union. Although the team represented all of Japan, its members were each originally part of the Nichibo Kaizuka Textile Factory's company team in Kaizuka, Japan. After they had returned home, Kaizuka's Mayor asked Culver City to become Kaizuka's sister city. To strengthen the bond between the two cities, the people of Kaizuka spent many years planning, engineering, and donating materials for a meditation garden. It was first constructed in Japan and then disassembled and sent to Culver City in 1974. Although the rocks, lanterns, waterwheel, bridge, and other objects originated in Japan, the trees and plants were grown locally. The garden was installed in front of the Culver City Julian Dixon Library and dedicated in a Japanese ceremony officiated by a Shinto priest on April 21, 1974.

Stained glass and cement

In 1974 Los Angeles County built a library named for Madame A C Bilbrew, a community leader, poet, musician and Los Angeles County deputy. Madame Bilbrew was a pioneer in radio and the first African American person to have her own radio show in the United States. The Bilbrew Library also houses the Black Resource Center which many authors and researchers use to study social, historical, and cultural aspects of Black history. Architect and artist Vincent J. Proby was hired to design this important library. Proby was passionate about art and he included an artwork of his own in the building. The artwork is in the entrance foyer and is composed of concrete panels with embedded stained glass. The glass shapes form a bright and organic curvilinear pattern. The panels are interspersed with narrow vertical windows that let light into the building.

Frank Ackerman (1933-1986) was a prominent watercolor artist who attended the Chouinard Art Institute and was President of the National Watercolor Society in the early 1970s. His designs have been exhibited at many galleries and museums including the Legion of Honor in San Francisco and the National Academy of Design, New York. Ackerman joined LA County’s Graphic Arts Department after working as a County architectural draftsman and illustrator. He headed the County Graphics Department between 1973 and 1980 and then became the Chief of Museum Exhibit Services at the Museum of Natural History. Ackerman also traveled to the South Pole as an official Navy artist in the 1960s.

When the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs renovated the lower level of Patriotic Hall in 1974 a new dining area was created and named after General James “Jimmy” Doolittle. General Doolittle was the leader of the famous 1942 Doolittle Raid over Tokyo, the first U.S. air raid against Japan. The raid proved that the U.S. could invade Japanese airspace and greatly boosted morale after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Doolittle Room contains a mural by Frank Ackerman depicting the Doolittle Raid’s Mitchell B-25 bombers taking off from the USS Hornet as they begin their mission. The mural is based on several famous photographs taken by military personnel on the morning of the raid. The artwork was dedicated along with the Doolittle Room in 1974.

Barbara Leone was born in Seattle, Washington in 1952. She received a degree in fine arts (with a focus on ceramics) from USC and soon afterward began designing tile works for homes and commercial properties. She has lived and worked in Southern California since the 1970s and runs her own studio, Chelsea-Arts. Her other public art projects include works for the Sheraton Molokai Hotel in Hawaii and Seacliff Village shopping center in Huntington Beach.

A few years after the San Pedro Service Center was built in 1972, ceramicist Barbara Leone designed this mural for the Center’s lobby. The mural celebrates San Pedro’s active harbor life. It is composed of glazed and unglazed ceramic tiles and depicts the Vincent Thomas Bridge, as well as other San Pedro sites, such as a cargo ship, a tug boat and a fisherman. The mural was fabricated by Barbara Vantrease Beall Studio in Torrance, California.

Emil Seletz was a Los Angeles neurosurgeon who also worked as a sculptor. He completed a number of busts in his lifetime, mostly of noted physicians.

Emil Seletz’s bronze bust of Lincoln currently resides in the second-floor lobby of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration facing Grand Park. Originally, it was located in the County’s Courthouse; however, due to a perceived conflict between Seletz’s role as a frequent court witness and his prominently situated statue, the Board of Supervisors decided that the bust of Lincoln should be removed from the Courthouse and re-located to the Hall of Administration. The bust depicts Lincoln before he became president and before he grew his iconic beard.

Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration

Sol Dember was born in 1923 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the New York School of Industrial Art and, after serving in the Army during WWII, also studied at France’s School of Fine Arts (L‘Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts). In the 1950s and 60s he created many depictions of potential space vehicle designs for NASA. In the 1960s he also created the design for a White House Christmas card and Lyndon Johnson bought the original painting on which the card was based. He has lived in Southern California since 1946 and has taught art at Pierce College for 25 years and at Moorpark College for 22 years.

On the fourth floor of Bob Hope Patriotic Hall is Solomon Dember’s mural representing the history of the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. The artwork was created using a fresco technique on the room’s stucco wall. The mural was part of the renovation done for the Navy/Marine Corps meeting rooms and was dedicated by Ronald Reagan in 1982. To depict naval history, Dember chose to show famous American ships and sea battles. The history begins on the left with the Revolutionary Warship Bonhomme Richard engaged in the Battle of Flamborough Head and continues with ships and battles of the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and finally Vietnam. The mural was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Naval Foundation.

Charles Freeman (Brother Boko) was born in 1951 and grew up in Houston and New York City before moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s. He has created many murals in the Los Angeles area including ones for the Los Angeles MTA, the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), and the Magic Johnson Theatre Complex. He currently lives and produces art in Atlanta, Georgia. He restored Spirit of ’76 in 2004.

At the top of Bob Hope Patriotic Hall’s north facing exterior wall, is a large painted mural by Charles Freeman (Brother Boko). Able to be seen from miles away, this mural was commissioned by Los Angeles County in 1992. It is an interpretation of Archibald Willard’s 1876 painting, The Spirit of ’76, which depicted a Revolutionary War drum and fife band marching through a battle. This new version alters the original imagery by making the central figure a black man – thereby symbolically embedding the contributions of African Americans into the United States’ official history, which often omits them.

Betty Gold, born in Austin, Texas in 1935, received her BA from the University of Texas and later apprenticed under sculptor Octavio Medellin. Gold moved from Texas to the Los Angeles area in 1977 and opened her current studio in 1985. Her artworks are inspired by geometric and figurative forms and they reside in public and private collections in the United States and Europe. Gold’s other public works include sculptures in Vancouver, Canada, Chetumal, Mexico, and Mallorca, Spain. Betty Gold currently resides in Venice, California.

This Corten steel sculpture was installed in the South Coast Botanic Gardens in July 2003. It was the first artwork permanently placed in the Gardens and its installation involved cooperation between the donors, John and Marilyn Long, and the South Coast Botanic Gardens Foundation. The sculpture’s form, composed of paper-like folds, creates shapes that change as the viewer encounters and moves around the figure. The artwork’s title comes from Sóller, Spain, a village on the island of Mallorca where artist Betty Gold spends time each year. <em>Sóller I</em> stands near the main entrance to the Gardens and can be seen by visitors as they walk from the Administration Building into the Children’s garden.

Palos Verdes Penninsula

Born in Calgary, Canada in 1974, Maya Gohill grew up in Canada and received her BFA from the University of Calgary in 1997. She later traveled abroad and received her MFA in illustration from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. She taught fine art for several years at Antelope Valley College before relocating back to Calgary where she now currently lives and works. Gohill has won two awards from the New York Society of Illustrators for her work.

Bestowal occupies a ribbon of wall above the Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse’s entryway. It was created in 2003 by Antelope Valley College art instructor Maya Gohill with assistance from five of her students. The mural depicts a stylized Antelope Valley landscape from dawn to dusk. Images include the Valley’s surrounding mountains, red poppy fields, and yucca cactus blossoms. The mural was initiated and funded by the Fifth Supervisorial District.

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Michael D. Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse

A ceramic tile artwork created in 1928 depicting children's storybook characters.

Artist Willie Middlebrook has been working as a professional artist/photographer for over 20 years. He has participated in over 200 solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Mexico including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the Watts Towers Arts Center. Middlebrook has received several awards and fellowships for his work in the arts. In 2009 he was awarded the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA) award granted by the Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to his gallery experience Middlebrook was commissioned in 2008 by Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) to complete artwork for the Crenshaw Expo Line Station, scheduled for completion in 2010. “Art is about communication,” Middlebrook states. “My work is based on collaboration between the subjects I select to photography and myself …we have an understanding of each other, an understanding, focused towards a single goal; to speak to and about our people, our communities.”

Portrait of Madame A.C. Bilbrew for whom the library is named. Bilbrew was a community leader, poet, musician and Los Angeles County deputy. She was also a pioneer in radio and the first African American person to have her own radio show in the United States.

Geri Jimenez Gould received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and pursued Masters Studies from California State University, Los Angeles. She specializes in the creation of bas-relief sculpture for medals, awards and public spaces. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is included in such collections as the Smithsonian Institution, the Vatican Museum, the Serra Museum and the Southwest Museum. Geri is a native of Los Angeles, California, of Mexican American / Native American descent and an active tribal member of the Gabrielino/Tongva Nation, also known as the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. Geri's husband Bill, who sculpted the Montrose Bicentennial Memorial in 1975, designed the cut marble and granite compass dial surrounding the medallion. They started Gould Studios in Montrose in 1973.

Artist Geri Jimenez Gould, a former Crescenta Valley resident now residing in Fallbrook, CA, designed and sculpted a bronze floor medallion for the first-floor atrium. The medallion, commissioned by the Friends of La Crescenta Library, features key historical figures of the region. These figures include Don Jose Verdugo, a Spanish soldier and bodyguard to Friar Junipero Serra, who was granted the first Spanish Land Grant in the area and was assigned to the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel; Toypurina, a young Gabrielino/Tongva Warrior Chief who led the revolt against the Spaniards in 1785; and Dr. Benjamin Briggs, a physician who coined the name La Crescenta Valley, after the three crescent shaped peaks he saw out his window. Gould worked closely with the local historical society to accurately depict La Crescenta's rich history.

Artist Chris Toovey replicated a citrus label in this tribute to the primary industry of early La Verne. This mural was a joint project sponsored by the La Verne Redevelopment Agency and the University of La Verne. The tiles were fabricated by the Barbara Vantrease Beall studio.

Under the instruction of Theatre of Hearts/Youth First and Artist-in-Residence Michael Massenburg, the female youth at Juvenile Camp Kenyon J. Scudder participated in an intensive 14-week program learning the history of art, murals and design. The curriculum met the California State Standards for the Visual and Performing Arts. The young women then utilized the new skills they learned to design and paint a mural in Camp Scudder’s cafeteria.

Enameled stainless steel

Airworks Studio, Inc., George Peters and Melanie Walker, have worked on a wide range of projects since they began collaborating in 1995. The artists bring their individual visions and histories together to create large scale commissions that enliven and activate the environment in both interior and exterior spaces. Peters has 25-years of experience in making kites, banners and other wind-related sculptures. His sculptural and installation works reflect his fascination with the air as a medium. Walker, a self-described visual satirist, investigates family, home, city and place through various mediums. She credits light, transparency and celebration as the inspiration for her artworks.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center is a full-service hospital. George Peters and Melanie Walker created a lively and colorful polycarbonate suspended sculpture that hangs in the Center’s large open atrium.

Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center

Acrylic on fiberglass mesh

Roberto Delgado is a Los Angeles native, born and raised in the Koreatown area. After serving three years in the US Army in Vicenza, Italy, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and completed his BA and MFA at UCLA. He has received several fellowships, including two Fulbrights to conduct research in Mexico and to teach mural painting in Honduras. His public art commissions have steadily increased in the past few decades. Among his public projects are works for the LAPD’s North Valley Police Station, the Atlanta International Airport, the Heritage Square Station on MTA’s Gold Line, the Pico-Aliso Housing Projects in Boyle Heights, and the Federal Courthouse in Pocatello, Idaho.

Artist Robert Delgado created this mural for the Woodcrest Library. He engaged the Woodcrest community with a “Show and Tell” presentation of his work at the library’s grand opening and photographed youth in the audience. He used those images to design a dynamic composition of familiar faces from the community. According to Delgado, his photographic images are “broken down into line drawings and juxtaposed and superimposed so that the design becomes a thoughtful puzzle that provokes imagination and creativity in the viewer.”

Artist Willie Middlebrook has been working as a professional artist/photographer for over 20 years. He has participated in over 200 solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Mexico including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the Watts Towers Arts Center. Middlebrook has received several awards and fellowships for his work in the arts. In 2009 he was awarded the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA) award granted by the Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to his gallery experience Middlebrook was commissioned in 2008 by Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) to complete artwork for the Crenshaw Expo Line Station, scheduled for completion in 2010. “Art is about communication,” Middlebrook states. “My work is based on collaboration between the subjects I select to photography and myself …we have an understanding of each other, an understanding, focused on a single goal; to speak to and about our people, our communities.”

The Florence-Firestone Service Center provides comprehensive human services to neighborhood residents which include elderly care, emergency food assistance, internship opportunities and mediation and conflict resolution. Over 20 County departments and other public and private agencies have satellite offices at the Center. Artist and photographer, Willie Robert Middlebrook created a mural for the entrance lobby. The mural, titled Short Stories, depicts the ethnic diversity of the past and present of the Florence Firestone community and features landmarks from the community and local plant and animal life. To produce the mural, digital images were printed on the archival cotton canvas using archival pigment to create a surface that looks like a painting.

Raised in East Los Angeles, Richard Haro studied art at East Los Angeles College. Haro did most of his murals during the 1960s and 1970s including a 40-panel work at Sierra Park Elementary School and a piece at the Watts Towers Arts Center. He was also one of the first artists to exhibit at Goez Art Studio and Gallery. In more recent years Haro has painted portraits and taught art to the mentally disabled.

From 2006 to 2009, seniors who frequent Ruben F. Salazar Park in East Los Angeles raised funds for a mural honoring local military service men and women. They hired artist Richard Haro to paint the mural who had created other murals at this location. The seniors solicited photos from the community of veterans and their families which Haro translated into the mural’s “photo montage” imagery.

During the 2011 renovation of the San Pedro Service Center, artist Carlos Callejo was commissioned to create a mural for the Center’s exterior. The artist hand painted the mural over several months while the Center was fully operational so that users and visitors to the Center were able to observe the artist’s process. The artist describes the mural as “a combination of the history of San Pedro with what the center represents.” Callejo creates art to promote community interaction — he believes the theme of the artwork should be less about his singular interpretation of San Pedro and more about the many interpretations of the people who live here. Therefore, Callejo spent some time at the center talking to community members, based on their input he included iconic images of San Pedro such as the Vincent Thomas Bridge, cannery workers, the Angel’s Gate Lighthouse and the Port of LA and its workers. The mural also features a woman dancing accompanied by a man playing guitar to reflect the center’s popular dance classes.

Barbara Beall was the founder of the Barbara Vantrease Beall Studio. Many well-known ceramic tile muralists and ceramicists apprenticed and worked at the studio, which was located in Torrence, CA. The studio was very active in the 1970s. Other public projects include The Lady Liberty mural in the Los Angeles downtown Fashion District, as well as murals for the Autry Museum and Disney World’s Epcot Center.

Ceramicist Barbara Beall designed the enameled tile mural, <em>The Mexican Tree of Life</em>, to be an integrated part of the Los Nietos Library. The tree of life is a popular image in Mexican folk art – its origins arising from a combination of pre-colonial ceramic craft and post-colonial biblical imagery of the Garden of Eden. Mexican ceramic artists, especially in the highland region of Metepec, create highly intricate trees of life that showcase their skill. The tree of life is often used to adorn a communal event such as a wedding or a funeral. Beall’s tree, like other Mexican trees of life, is filled with exotic birds, flowers, and butterflies. The artwork has been a part of the Los Nietos Library since it was dedicated on July 27, 1979.

Marina Del Rey

Fire pit, lithocrete, and carved boulder

Matt Dehaemers received his B.F.A. from Creighton University and his M.F.A from the University of Wisconsin. Dehaemers has exhibited his artwork since 1996 and has been commissioned for various public art projects throughout the United States. His projects were recognized four consecutive years (2004-2007) by the Public Art Network’s “Year in Review,” a prestigious, annual selection of the best new public artworks in the nation. Dehaemers writes, “I want to create a space that honors the story of the LA County firefighter representing aspects of honor, duty, courage, compassion and perseverance, while creating a space for communal gathering and solitary, peaceful reflection.”

Artist Matt Dehaemers designed a fire pit for the station’s exterior courtyard. The surface is richly colored and patterned in lithocrete, and the “pit” is a carved-out boulder.

Gerald Heffernon is a surreal sculptor who is recognized for his creations of lifelike works of art that shock, amuse, delight and disturb viewers. His whimsical and realistic portrayals of animals range from domestic cats, dogs, and birds all the way to life-size jungle creatures and hybrid humanoids with animal features. While at first glance many of these animals appear as though they could exist in nature, these animals are not always what they seem. The artist lives and works near Davis, California and has been producing animal-inspired sculptures for over twenty-five years. His art has been shown in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris and other cities in the United States and Europe.

<em>Fertile Minds </em>is a cast bronze sculpture that explores the themes of literacy and community through an anthropomorphic depiction of rabbits reading. The adult rabbit reads from an open book, while four young rabbits are engaged in a printed book and electronic reading devices. The artwork promotes a passion for learning that can be passed through generations and acknowledges the technological advancements that continue to change the way we discover, learn and communicate.

Maps and Maping: The Firefighter's Life Line

Eric Powell currently resides and works in Berkeley, CA where he was commissioned by the Berkeley Arts Commission to create the Mandala Gates for the City of Berkeley Corporation Yard. His work has been featured in various museums and galleries, such as the Oakland Museum and the Artscape Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA. He is well known for his metal gates which he says, “…are among the most noted and public aspects of my work. I have made gates for cities including Madison, Wisconsin, Oakland and Berkeley, California and also for many historical buildings and private homeowners.”

Artist Eric Powell designed custom laser-cut steel gates, based on a bird’s eye view of the neighborhood street layouts. Maps are crucial and essential part of successful firefighting. Today firefighters use sophisticated satellite-driven technology to obtain information about the location of a fire, establish priorities, and implement an action plan. Using that same technology, artist Eric Powell examined the area surrounding Fire Station156. Powell began seeing very interesting patterns and designs in the layout of the streets and cul-de-sacs. At that point, he realized that maps would be a compelling theme for the development of an artwork. The shapes that form the designs of the three entry gates at Fire Station 156 are called directly from the streets in the immediate neighborhood. Made of welded steel tubing, the patterns of the streets evoke references to numbers, letters, and ancient petroglyphs or rock engravings. The transparency of the gates allows the natural landscape to merge with the artwork. During certain hours of the day, the light adds an interesting dimension through shadows cast on the ground. Says Powell, “My intention was to explore a theme that would connect the fire station and the firefighters to the community they serve. The gates are meant to create a boundary without creating a sense of separation.”

Acrylic and watercolor on paper

Roberto Gutiérrez (b.1943) is a native Los Angeles painter known for his dense cityscapes most notably from the vantage point of East L.A. where he went to high school and college. His rooftop views of the city are inspired by Vincent Van Gogh and Édouard Manet and his portraits of urban Latino men and women laborers are in the vein of the Mexican social realist painters José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. Gutiérrez is described as “one of the most important artists to come out of the East Los Angeles artistic boom of the early 1970s” by the University of California Los Angeles’ Chicano Studies Research Center who house several of his prints in their special collections library. He is also in the prominent and much toured collection of Cheech Marin. His work was included in the 2008 exhibition Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.: Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He currently has a solo exhibition at the Fremont Gallery in South Pasadena titled Los Angeles Noir which pays homage to his childhood in Los Angeles’ Chinatown.

James (also known as Jim) Sullivan is a current resident of Topanga Canyon. He is the co-founder and owner of Malibu Ceramic Works, a Topanga tile company which replicates the Spanish cuerda seca and cuenca tiles originally produced in the 1920’s. Sullivan utilized his familiarity with the medium of tile in his mosaic work for the Topanga Library. He created a mosaic entry “rug” for the library’s main entrance from a variety of colorful handmade shaped and broken tiles.

Jim Sullivan’s tile rug, titled <em>First Light</em>, is integrated into the floor inside the library’s main entrance and is composed of handmade, unglazed tiles arranged in the pattern of a flame. Sullivan began creating broken tile mosaics years ago after his daughter discovered during a field trip to the Adamson House in Malibu that a broken mosaic threshold at the foot of a doorway presents an obstacle to evil spirits. The artist chose the flame, which historically signifies knowledge and passion, to symbolize the new library’s collected intellect that illuminates the world in which we live.

Lucy Blake-Elahi is a Los Angeles-based artist. She is a graduate of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn and State University of New York, New Paltz. She has been an art & art history instructor at UCLA’s Graduate Art Education Department, West Los Angeles College, Culver City, and was artist-in-residence in Yellowstone National Park. As a public artist, Blake-Elahi has permanent artwork in LA County, Long Beach, Culver City, Pasadena and Inglewood, CA.

This tile artwork was created in 1996 through the Arts and Children Project for juvenile offenders founded by L.A. Theatre Works, a youth intervention program with the L.A. County Probation Department and the L.A. County Office of Education. Artist-in-residence Lucy Blake-Elahi supervised the creation of the tile artwork and the youth worked on every stage of the artwork from the design to the installation.

Third District Van Nuys Field Office

Rammed earth and mixed media

Didier Hess, a Los Angeles based collaborative led by Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess, creates interactive artwork for public places. The artists bring distinct areas of expertise to each project including lighting design, rainwater catchment design, water feature design and engineering, metal fabrication, responsive visual effects, computer programming, site-specific land art, and sustainable design. Often, inspiration is drawn from the natural forces at each project site – air, quality and currents, solar paths, persistent weather patterns and the movement of people: <a href="http://www.emanate.org/">http://www.emanate.org/</a>.

The site-specific artwork at Vasquez Rocks, titled Orit Haj, is a tribute to the Tatavium culture of the Santa Clarita Valley. Orit Haj are words from the Tataviam language, which mean “river” and “mountain” respectively. Like the fading Tataviam culture and language, <em>Orit Haj </em>will also transform and dissolve with time to reveal inspiring artifacts and legends that have been left behind. <div><br /></div><div>To construct Orit Haj, the artist team Didier Hess and community members used an architectural building material called rammed earth, which is a mixture of soil and cement compacted into forms to create a solid earthen structure. Over the course of about 250 years, due to the artists’ creative modification in the rammed earth formula, personal artifacts embedded by the participants will be revealed as the rammed earth material slowly erodes. Hidden within the rammed earth is a bronze sculpture, meant for a future generation to discover.<div><br />Evoking the dramatic formations of Vasquez Rocks, the sculpture invites people to touch it and visitors to climb on it. As people return to Vasquez Rocks at various points in their lives, they will notice dramatic changes in physical appearance of the sculpture as well as the surrounding natural environment.</div></div>

Acton-Agua Dulce

<em>Topanga View (with locals)</em>, set into the wall high above the foyer, captures the feeling of being in Topanga Canyon. The ceramic tile mural depicts a detailed nature scene filled with Topanga’s wildlife icons. Can you spot all of the plants and wildlife creatures in the mural. Look for a creek flowing by an oak tree, yucca plants, coyote, raccoon, squirrel, lizard, frog, tortoise, blue jay and a hawk.

Garin Baker received his BFA from Pratt Institute in New York, NY. Garin has exhibited his artwork since 1983 and maintains an active teaching career. His public commissions include murals for the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles; American Road & Transportation Builders, Washington DC and Rudolf & Slatten Engineering Co., Irvine, CA. He maintains a studio in New Windsor, NY.

Artist Garin Baker created a large-scale painted mural for the day room. Using his research as inspiration, the mural Baker created reflects the "heart and soul" of the firefighters who will be living and working at Fire Station 150. The oil on canvas mural is on a wall in the station's day room where firefighters relax and share meals. The imagery of firefighters protecting the lush California landscape from a hillside fire is seen quite often in the Santa Clarita Valley. Baker hopes that the mural will acknowledge the many fire men and women who perform their duties with professionalism and dedication in circumstances which are often life threatening.

Al Price has a history of making art that conveys a sense of motion: floating, ascending, and expanding. He employs linear compositions that merge the elegant and simple with the vigorous and dynamic. The artist’s large steel sculptures are activated by the moving viewer whose perspective of the structure and the shadows it casts changes constantly. Price has recently completed projects for the KFC Yum Center in Kentucky, Target Field in Minnesota, and the award-winning Kyrene Monte Vista Pedestrian Bridge in Arizona.

Sculptor Al Price found inspiration in the local history of La Puente. According to legend, Don Gaspar de Portola arrived in the area in 1769 and named the region “Llana de la Puente” meaning “Plain of the Bridge,” after making a bridge of poles so his party could cross San Jose Creek. The custom artwork functions as a bridge railing that incorporates shapes and forms indigenous to Avocado Heights. The railing’s repeating moiré effect suggests a sequence of floating horse hooves, indicative of the active equestrian community in the area. Al Prices' sculptural bridge railing is a composition that changes relative to viewing angle. Viewed head on, the rods are as vertical and as straight as pinstripes, but in the periphery of these vertical lines the composition changes quickly to diagonal lines of increasingly oblique angles that generate fascinating matrices of shapes and patterns. Visually, the sculptural railing appears to twist and turn as pedestrians walk across the bridge deck. The look of the bridge will evolve as light and shadow change over the course of the day.

As a native Californian, Christine Nguyen has always had an affinity for the ocean, nature and wildlife. Growing up with her father, who was a fisherman, she was able to develop a natural curiosity for science. She writes, "my work draws upon the imagery of science, but it is not limited to the technologies of the present. I imagine that the depths of the ocean reach into outer space, that through an organic prism, vision can fluctuate between the micro- and macroscopic." Nguyen received her B.F.A from Cal State Long Beach and M.F.A from the University of California-Irvine. Her exhibitions include solo shows at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Westwood, Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, galleries in Long Beach, San Pedro, New York, San Francisco, Germany, and Hong Kong. Nguyen currently works as a photographer for the J. Paul Getty Museum while developing her public art practice.

<em>Oceanic Cosmic Whisper</em> is an underwater dreamscape that transports library-goers into a world where the real and surreal meet through an exploration of Malibu’s plant and aquatic life. Faintly visible line breaks in the piece remind the viewers of the artist’s hand and the slippage of passages of time. At first glance, this picture seems to depict the quietness of the ocean floor, but with deeper investigation, the scene comes to life. The large underwater mountains begin to shift and glow with splashes of aqua and orange. A fantastic array of bright kelp-like plants maneuvers upwards and dances with the currents of the ocean. Streams of light jet through the frame and catch the attention of two jellyfish with tails made of strands of pearls. In the distance, a school of arrow-shaped fish swims by on their way to somewhere far away. Oceanic Cosmic Whisper explores imagination, and regardless of age, invites viewers to insert their own interpretations into this dreamscape.<div><br /></div><div>To achieve this effect, artist Christine Nguyen first hand-painted each element on squares of Mylar paper, a heavy-duty transparent polyester film that was most commonly used as the top layer of Polaroid photographs. Using a combination of color pencils and paints, Nguyen then layered and pieced the drawings together on a white background. The resulting image was digitized and the artist used Photoshop to enhance and change the color of each component. A local fabricator translated the artwork into eight enamel porcelain tiles. The heavy finished product (each panel weighs 75 pounds) arrived in eight panels at the newly constructed Malibu Library in March 2012 and was installed by a team of professional contractors.<br /></div>

Glass, concrete, trees and shrubs

<em>Azul Healing Garden</em> was a collaborative design between artist Dan Corson and Ahbe Landscape Architects. The artist’s goal was to create a garden that facilitates stress reduction by utilizing the basic tenants of chromotherapy by saturating the space with the color blue. The color blue has calming effects that have been shown to reduce blood pressure, slow breathing and reduce heart rate. It stimulates the parasympathetic system which is responsible for rest and digestion and has been known to have anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxing effects. A blue hued environment has also been shown to make people more responsive to new ideas, allowing for increased creativity and problem solving.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Campus

Carbon steel and powder coated aluminum

Artist team Kyungmi Shin and Todd Gray of Shin Gray Studio, based in Inglewood, created a shade sculpture for the entry plaza of the library and constituent services center. The tree features large circular disks with cutout patterns of plants, leaves and flowers. These icons reference the tropical regions from which many Lennox residents originate. Also included are depictions of the elm tree, inspired by the name “Lennox” in Scottish, meaning “with many elm trees.” Shadows cast on the ground throughout the day become slowly moving images of the banana, palm and coconut tree leaves.

Lennox Library and Constituent Services Center

Woven Hands (Community Mental Health)

Digital moving image on wood

Kim Abeles' installations and community projects cross disciplines and media to explore biography, geography and environment. Abeles’ work merges hand-crafted materials with digital representations and often includes the engagement of a specific community or audience in concept and design development. Abeles has received fellowships and awards from the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, California Community Foundation, Durfee Foundation, Pollack-Krasner Foundation, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and California Arts Council.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Community Mental Health Act in November 2013, artist Kim Abeles created a media art wall, titled Woven Hands (Community Mental Health), on temporary display in the lobby of Kedren Community Health Center. Abeles also created a community sand tray that has been donated to the center for use in their future programming initiatives. The project features video footage of Kedren's young patients engaging in sandplay therapy, photos that represent key milestones in the 50-year trajectory of the Community Mental Health Act, as well as imagery documenting Kedren's history as one of the first nonprofit mental health agencies to receive funding through this landmark legislation. Still photos from the videos are woven together with images of trees and sky. The hands of young patients engaging in sandplay therapy are related to imagery of John F. Kennedy's hands signing the Community Mental Health Act.

Kedren Community Mental Health Center

Louise Griffin is a Los Angeles-based artist who is transitioning from an architecture to a studio art practice. Her work demonstrates a deep commitment to environmental sustainability and community. This commission will result in her first permanent public art installation. Griffin received her MArch from UCLA and completed her thesis at the Royal Academy of Art, Architecture School, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Lucy Blake-Elahi is a Los Angeles-based artist. She is a graduate of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn and State University of New York, New Paltz. She has been an art & art history instructor at UCLA’s Graduate Art Education Department, West Los Angeles College, Culver City, and was artist-in-residence in Yellowstone National Park. As a public artist, Blake-Elahi has permanent artwork in LA County, Long Beach, Culver City, Pasadena and Inglewood, CA.

Artist Lucy Blake-Elahi designed a median fence along a half mile length of Firestone Boulevard between Hooper and Compton Avenues. The fence meanders in a ribbon-like form down Firestone Boulevard. The fence incoporates images of Florence-Firestone's history and surrounding community. The fence is constructed out of punch-out steel and was completed in collaboration with the Department of Public Works.

Bob Zoell is a Los Angeles based designer, illustrator and visual artist who creates public art projects that reference typographical shapes and graphic illustration. He has won public art commissions in Denver, Nashville, San Francisco as well as other locations in Los Angeles County. Zoell’s artwork can be found in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the City of Pasadena and the City of Burbank. www.bobzoell.com

<em>Bbubbles</em> is a 21 panel, glass window full of bubbles with Zoell's signature stick figures hiding in the corners. The artwork dramatizes the purpose of the facility as a public pool and harmonizes with the interior color scheme. “There is a careful balance to be struck between the location and the artwork,” says Zoell. “When the two elements work in harmony, an opportunity for positive community impact develops, giving art and architecture the power to create a dynamic and memorable urban environment."

Powder coated aluminum

Elena Manferdini graduated from the University of Structural Engineering in Bologna, Italy with a professional degree in engineering and later from University of California Los Angeles with a Master in Architecture. In 2004, Manferdini funded Atelier Manferdini, an artist studio that has been recognized internationally for its ability to create new, distinctive and unique characters for public spaces by means of imaginative public art installations. In 2011, Manferdini was awarded a prestigious grant from the United States Artists (USA) Foundation for her achievements in architecture and design.

Artist Elena Manferdini created a dramatic artwork for the entrance of the Hubert Humphrey Health Center that embraced the existing building structure and is memorable for patients, visitors and staff. The piece is titled <em>Nembi</em>, the Italian word for cloud. The artwork wraps the concrete wall at the right of the entry ramp, folds back to occupy the ceiling above it, and finally folds onto the front façade where it connects with the existing green stripes on the building elevation. Specific areas of the artwork were perforated to filter the light coming from the existing light fixtures in the ceiling above the main hospital entry gate. The figural geometry of the clouds emerges from a series of bi-dimensional drawings produced by the iterative use of a digital coding algorithm that Manferdini developed. The clouds reflect on the act of 'looking up,' and support notions of optimism, care and transformation.

Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center

Terra cotta, glass, porcelain, and hand painted ceramic tile

Juliana Martinez is a mosaic tile muralist and teacher who taught art in Los Angeles, throughout the United States and abroad for 28 years. She has completed artwork for several public agencies including the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. To learn more , visit: www.julianamartinezart.com

The sculpture by artist Lawrence Argent titled Pieces Together is a tribute to the legacy of Dr. King, the local community and the power of the collective to affect positive change. Pieces Together was created through a community engagement process. The design was inspired by the idea of being one part of a whole where, like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece is integral. Argent saw parallels between the symbol of a puzzle piece and all the voices of a community. To hear individual voices firsthand, Argent spent a week in Willowbrook interviewing 32 local residents and encouraged the participants to tell their personal stories. At the conclusion of the interviews, Argent collected three-dimensional data scans of each individual’s lips. The facial scans were massed together, forming one side of the sculpture that from afar looks like undulating topography. Enlarged to a monumental scale, the uniqueness of each individual is magnified. Following the curve of the entry roundabout where the artwork is located, the viewer encounters the other side where a spiral passes through one open mouth, signifying a single breath that unites each voice into one. The artwork was constructed as a puzzle within a puzzle. Carved of gray granite and comprised of twelve separate pieces, each was carefully engineered to fit together seamlessly. The result is a monument to the community reaching 18’ high, 7’ wide and 20’ long and weighing 110 tons.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Campus

Fiberglass and cast stone on plywood

Born in Brooklyn New York, David Kraisler settled in Sandpoint, Idaho where he works both as a painter of figurative subjects and sculptor of large-scale installations.

David Kraisler was commissioned to make the Hawthorne Library bas relief artwork in 1976. The artwork was completed and installed in 1978 during a renovation of the library building. Located at the library entrance, the artwork is intended to softly reflect the environment without being overpowering. It is made of fiberglass and stone and was conserved in 2014.

<p style="text-align:left;">The Golden State Mutual Art Collection is a remarkable representation of Black visual arts in Los Angeles. It is considered one of the largest African American art collections in the United States. Recognizing the collection’s legacy and its significance to Los Angeles County, the Second District leadership supported its preservation when it was in danger of being sold. Now residents in the Second District and throughout Los Angeles County can experience and appreciate the Golden State Mutual artworks.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>History of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">The Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company was founded in 1925 by William Nickerson, Jr. and Norman Houston. In 1954, artist William “Bill” Pajaud began collecting artworks for the company to highlight significant artistic contributions to African American culture. Pajaud used his decades-long position as a platform to champion Black artists who were underrepresented in Los Angeles and the art world at large. The collection contains various media including oil, watercolor, etching, wood and linocuts, serigraph prints, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and wood sculpture. When the company went out of business in 2007, it began to auction off its art collection to cover its debts. Pajaud learned of this and put out a plea for the collection to be cared for and remain publicly accessible.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><em><strong>“Take care of the work and take care of the concept of the people. If, for instance, you are able to get your hands on a piece of that work, any of it, realize that all of it was put together in love, for you and anybody else in the world to see.”</strong></em></p><p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong></strong><span><span><strong><em><span style="font:7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"></span></em></strong></span></span><em><strong>William “Bill” Pajaud</strong></em></em></p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>The Rescue of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">Second District leadership prioritized keeping as much of the collection as possible in Los Angeles County. In November 2015, the Department of Arts and Culture acquired 123 works from the original collection, launching a multi-year effort to make these artworks accessible to County residents. The Second District provided funding to purchase the artworks and exhibit them in its unincorporated areas. In the first phase of this initiative, under the management of Arts and Culture, curator Jill Moniz created an exhibition strategy to install as many works as possible and collaborate with County facilities to create a thematic presentation of artworks at each site. Eighty-three Golden State Mutual artworks were installed at AC Bilbrew Library, View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library, Willowbrook Senior Center, and the County’s Hall of Administration. The remaining artworks were placed in art storage. </p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>The Current Phase of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">In the current phase of the collection, the remaining artworks were removed from storage, documented, conserved, and reframed or mounted in custom cases. Since April 2021, these artworks have been installed at Carson Regional Library, Masao Satow Library, Curtis Tucker Health Center, and Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health Center. Three artworks related to the founders and a rendering of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building by its architect, Paul Revere Williams, were returned on loan to the historic building in West Adams for the first time since their removal. The Golden State Mutual Art Collection is now fully accessible throughout the Second District, maximizing its visibility and audience to activate creative minds and support Black art excellence in Los Angeles County.</p>

<p style="text-align:left;">The Golden State Mutual Art Collection is a remarkable representation of Black visual arts in Los Angeles. It is considered one of the largest African American art collections in the United States. Recognizing the collection’s legacy and its significance to Los Angeles County, the Second District leadership supported its preservation when it was in danger of being sold. Now residents in the Second District and throughout Los Angeles County can experience and appreciate the Golden State Mutual artworks.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>History of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">The Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company was founded in 1925 by William Nickerson, Jr. and Norman Houston. In 1954, artist William “Bill” Pajaud began collecting artworks for the company to highlight significant artistic contributions to African American culture. Pajaud used his decades-long position as a platform to champion Black artists who were underrepresented in Los Angeles and the art world at large. The collection contains various media including oil, watercolor, etching, wood and linocuts, serigraph prints, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and wood sculpture. When the company went out of business in 2007, it began to auction off its art collection to cover its debts. Pajaud learned of this and put out a plea for the collection to be cared for and remain publicly accessible.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><em><strong>“Take care of the work and take care of the concept of the people. If, for instance, you are able to get your hands on a piece of that work, any of it, realize that all of it was put together in love, for you and anybody else in the world to see.”</strong></em></p><p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong></strong><span><span><strong><em><span style="font:7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"></span></em></strong></span></span><em><strong>William “Bill” Pajaud</strong></em></em></p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>The Rescue of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">Second District leadership prioritized keeping as much of the collection as possible in Los Angeles County. In November 2015, the Department of Arts and Culture acquired 123 works from the original collection, launching a multi-year effort to make these artworks accessible to County residents. The Second District provided funding to purchase the artworks and exhibit them in its unincorporated areas. In the first phase of this initiative, under the management of Arts and Culture, curator Jill Moniz created an exhibition strategy to install as many works as possible and collaborate with County facilities to create a thematic presentation of artworks at each site. Eighty-three Golden State Mutual artworks were installed at AC Bilbrew Library, View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library, Willowbrook Senior Center, and the County’s Hall of Administration. The remaining artworks were placed in art storage. </p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>The Current Phase of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">In the current phase of the collection, the remaining artworks were removed from storage, documented, conserved, and reframed or mounted in custom cases. Since April 2021, these artworks have been installed at Carson Regional Library, Masao Satow Library, Curtis Tucker Health Center, and Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health Center. Three artworks related to the founders and a rendering of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building by its architect, Paul Revere Williams, were returned on loan to the historic building in West Adams for the first time since their removal. The Golden State Mutual Art Collection is now fully accessible throughout the Second District, maximizing its visibility and audience to activate creative minds and support Black art excellence in Los Angeles County.</p>

View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library

<p style="text-align:left;">The Golden State Mutual Art Collection is a remarkable representation of Black visual arts in Los Angeles. It is considered one of the largest African American art collections in the United States. Recognizing the collection’s legacy and its significance to Los Angeles County, the Second District leadership supported its preservation when it was in danger of being sold. Now residents in the Second District and throughout Los Angeles County can experience and appreciate the Golden State Mutual artworks.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>History of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">The Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company was founded in 1925 by William Nickerson, Jr. and Norman Houston. In 1954, artist William “Bill” Pajaud began collecting artworks for the company to highlight significant artistic contributions to African American culture. Pajaud used his decades-long position as a platform to champion Black artists who were underrepresented in Los Angeles and the art world at large. The collection contains various media including oil, watercolor, etching, wood and linocuts, serigraph prints, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and wood sculpture. When the company went out of business in 2007, it began to auction off its art collection to cover its debts. Pajaud learned of this and put out a plea for the collection to be cared for and remain publicly accessible.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><em><strong>“Take care of the work and take care of the concept of the people. If, for instance, you are able to get your hands on a piece of that work, any of it, realize that all of it was put together in love, for you and anybody else in the world to see.”</strong></em></p><p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong></strong><span><span><strong><em><span style="font:7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"></span></em></strong></span></span><em><strong>William “Bill” Pajaud</strong></em></em></p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>The Rescue of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">Second District leadership prioritized keeping as much of the collection as possible in Los Angeles County. In November 2015, the Department of Arts and Culture acquired 123 works from the original collection, launching a multi-year effort to make these artworks accessible to County residents. The Second District provided funding to purchase the artworks and exhibit them in its unincorporated areas. In the first phase of this initiative, under the management of Arts and Culture, curator Jill Moniz created an exhibition strategy to install as many works as possible and collaborate with County facilities to create a thematic presentation of artworks at each site. Eighty-three Golden State Mutual artworks were installed at AC Bilbrew Library, View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library, Willowbrook Senior Center, and the County’s Hall of Administration. The remaining artworks were placed in art storage. </p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>The Current Phase of the Collection</strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">In the current phase of the collection, the remaining artworks were removed from storage, documented, conserved, and reframed or mounted in custom cases. Since April 2021, these artworks have been installed at Carson Regional Library, Masao Satow Library, Curtis Tucker Health Center, and Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health Center. Three artworks related to the founders and a rendering of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building by its architect, Paul Revere Williams, were returned on loan to the historic building in West Adams for the first time since their removal. The Golden State Mutual Art Collection is now fully accessible throughout the Second District, maximizing its visibility and audience to activate creative minds and support Black art excellence in Los Angeles County.</p>