Artwork Detail

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Circles of a Ripple

Artist: Dinh, James T.

Date: 2014

Medium: Porcelain enamel steel, concrete, rock, sculpted earth, sycamore trees, deer grass and no mow lawn

Artwork Dimensions: 12 x 24 x 0 1/16 in.

County Department: Parks and Recreation

Artwork Site: Hacienda Heights Community and Recreation Center

Supervisorial District: 1

Location Status: Permanent

About the Artwork:

Artist James Dinh designed Circles of a Ripple, a crescent shaped earthwork inspired by the topography of Hacienda Heights, to create a gathering place for visitors of the community center and park. Located on the park’s southeast corner, with an outside diameter of 88 feet, this large-scale artwork is of the land art tradition, which utilizes natural materials like soil, rock and plants in the creation of art. The overall design reflects the local geography and flat lands that rise toward the crescent shape of the
Puente Hills. Notable elements:

- Forty-two porcelain enamel panels which are embedded in the benches feature historical photos and documents, creating a visual timeline of the Hacienda Heights community from its agricultural heritage to the present day.
- Three arched concrete benches that have the texture of agricultural fruit crates used to transport walnuts, citrus fruit and avocados once grown in the area.
- Concentric rings that are meant to symbolize land, ecologies and time. The outer band is created by the curve of the planters and the berm. The benches and circle of rocks form the inner rings.
- Three California Sycamore trees which are the centerpiece of the artwork, surrounded by a bed of river cobblestones and three desert sand boulders.

Dinh chose plants native plants and grasses once found along creeks in Californian foothill and coastal ranges to evoke a former local ecological landscape. He selected the California Sycamore for its picturesque, mottled bark. Also unique to this species is its ornamental leaning and twisting growth pattern and dense yellowish-green canopy that, in its mature state, provides generous shade during hot months. On the day of the dedication, the community was invited to take photographs with Polaroid cameras, write wishes and string them from the trees. Dinh hopes this event will be the first of many like it and that this act of making wishes together will inspire future events for the community center and park.

About the Artist:

James Dinh is an artist, landscape architect and founder of Studiodinh—a multidisciplinary studio that specializes in site specific environmental art and graphic design. He received a Master of Landscape Architecture from University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Public Health from University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of California, Irvine. Circles of a Ripple is Dinh’s first commission with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. For more information, please visit www.studiodinh.weebly.com.