For Richard Feynman, Pasadena

Today's mosaic is hidden on the back of a Ross Dress for Less in Pasadena. The store's on Lake; the mosaic/mural is on Shopper's Lane, just off San Pasqual.

The artist is ceramicist Gifford Myers, and the work is titled "The Motion of the Planet/for Richard Feynman." It was installed in 1997, and I'm guessing that a grant by the City Arts Commission may have funded it.

Compared to some of his other works ("Sad Boy/Ragazzon Malinconico" at right), the Feynman mural is downright conventional.

Although this work is mainly ceramic, Myers the artist works in many mediums, including aluminum and found objects. He also teaches at UC Irvine; here's his page there.

According to Dante Stefani of Italy, "Myers transforms the reality that surrounds him through wit, a free spirit, and a strong capacity for observation."

As to the subject, Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who hung out at topless bars when he wasn't teaching at CalTech, who worked on the Manhattan Project and sat on the panel convened to investigate the Challenger disaster, and who once answered a reporter's request to describe the reason he won the Nobel Prize in a few words by telling him, "If I could describe it in a few words it wouldn't be worth the Nobel Prize,"--well, start with Feynman's own biographies to learn more about him. And I'm paraphrasing--the quote may not be exact.

My thanks to old friend Joseph Schwartz for this picture. I never would have known of this otherwise.