Eagle Rock Mosaic

This beautiful picture is from the artist's website: Betty Rosen Ziff.com. If you go there, you can see pictures of soon-to-be mayor Antonio Villaraigosa helping to set the glass tiles on this mosaic. It was August 6, 2005: Villaraigosa's last day as an L.A. City Councilman.

The artwork is in Eagle Rock Park, and is titled "Q's Dream". No, not Q as in the Star Trek character, although there are probably some convoluted ways to make that fit... No, this Q is Quetzalcoatl, below. And he's ten feet long.

Almost-Mayor Villaraigosa painted a tile in August, as did around 600 local kids. Those tiles were used on the "Dream with Me" Wall in the park, and the mural/mosaic of Quetzalcoatl is a part of that. The Eagle Rock Center for the Arts commissioned the wall.

After the tiles were painted, Betty Rosen Ziff put the mosaic together in her studio, on mesh. She used glass tiles for the part of Quetzalcoatl that had already shed his skin (from the head down) since they catch and reflect the light. Ceramic tiles were used for the rest of the body.

It's a little difficult to tell in the top picture where the glass ends and ceramic begins--but it's pretty much half-way along the body.

Quetzalcoatl was install on November 1st that year--Dia de los Muertas, appropriately. The Aztec deity is the god of wind, of corn, and more; he gave his people chocolate and the calendar; he is the feathered serpent god.

He had me at chocolate.

I love what Ms. Ziff wrote about her artwork: she pictures Quetzalcoatl "shedding his skin, tossing his feathers, in an effort to grow and realize his dreams--and our dreams for Los Angeles."