Burbank Mosaics by Beverly Bigwood

Today's mosaics are found in Burbank, along the entryway and steps leading to The Villas in the 700 block of E. Olive. The Villas are condos that stretch for half the block on the odd-numbered side. You can't see the mosaics well on Google Earth; I tried.

"Mii Amo" is the name of the artwork, and the artist is Beverly Bigwood. A search in the Los Angeles Times turned up this story: in the late 1980s, Bigwood was most known for paper portraits. "Two of her works were stolen from a Westwood gallery along with a Miro, a Dali and a Lichtenstein." Not bad company, if you're going to be hijacked.

You can see samples of Bigwood's portraits and collage works at her website, BigwoodArt.com

The mosaic steps and passageway was commissioned by the City of Burbank's Public Arts Commission. On the risers of the steps, a mosaic waterfall descends--it's hard to see in these pictures.

The work was installed in 2004--here's a photo showing the plaque from the city. As far as I can tell, this was her first mosaic work--quite amazing.

Burbank enjoys more of Bigwood's art along King Street, where all those metal animal silhouettes on fences and gates are hers--also commissioned by the city of Burbank. The project is called "Urban Meadows," and you can see pictures here.

While Beverly Bigwood's work has been featured in over a hundred exhibitions all over the US and Europe, her home is in the South Bay and she's been very involved with the Palos Verdes Art Center over the years.

This month, Bigwood joined with other artists in an exhibit called "Come Together for Unity--A Group Show of Artists in Support of Humanity Art and Nature." It's at the P.S. Zask Gallery in the Promenade in the Peninsual Mall (in Palos Verdes). A part of the proceeds from all artwork sold will go to the Red Cross of Japan to help the Tsunami victims. The grand opening was two days ago, but the show runs through June 4th.