Parking Garage Mosaics, DPSS

The three mosaic panels on the parking garage of the Department of Public Social Services Building at 813 E. 4th Place represents a community effort. Daniel Dodd, the designer, chief mosaicist, and  the director of Art Share LA (a gallery and artistic space right across the street), worked with students from Roosevelt High School and other volunteers in the area. They created the first mural, shown at left, in 2002.

All these pictures come from the LA County Arts website. So did the following description: 

"Their first mural depicts the City’s diversity by setting the skyline of Los Angeles above an image of the globe which is crisscrossed by LA’s freeways.  Below the globe are the faces of four children, all of different ethnicities."

The second mosaic  is inspired by a Buddhist mandala. The third--below--looks like an Aztec calendar. Both the second and third artworks are nine feet across.

The same group is working on a fourth mosaic based on Japanese designs.

Art Share LA donates time and expertise, and the high school students get involved by studying the design concepts and making choices about how the mosaic will be made and what materials will be used--and Art Share LA donates those as well.

Other examples of Dodd's artwork are the mosaic tile palm trees and other figures on the pillars supporting the pedestrian overpass over Long Beach Blvd. at 53rd Street.

All of the above is just a regurgitation of the data presented on the LA County Art page, but I cannot find out more! Daniel Dodd seems to be the only artist around who does not have his own web page . . or facebook page . . .(actually, there are dozens of Daniel Dodds on FB, but none in California), and there are no mentions of him in the Los Angeles Times.

So this is all I got, but at least it is posted while there are still 40 minutes left on Mosaic Monday!