Artwork Detail

This mural is the second work that Frank Matranga created for six Los Angeles County Libraries in the 1970s and 80s. He conceived, designed, and fabricated the mural in his studio and then delivered the tiles to the Satow Library’s site (then known as the West Gardena Library). They were installed by a professional tile setter under Matranga’s supervision. This artwork, like many of his others in the County’s collection, reflects Matranga’s continuing fascination with the wind and the ocean.

Frank Matranga received his BA and MA from Los Angeles State University. While working on his MA, he was offered a job teaching ceramics at a local high school. This led him to discover a lifelong love affair with clay. He completed his master’s degree in art and later studied at the University of Southern California under Carlton Ball. In 1961 he started his own ceramic studio in Redondo Beach (later moved to Manhattan Beach) and began to teach in the Los Angeles Community College system, which he would do for the next twenty years. His public art career began in 1970 when Sears, Roebuck, and Company commissioned him to create seven murals for Sears stores in the Southern California area. In the following decades he has completed over 50 ceramic mural commissions for libraries, private companies, and homes. In 1977 and 1979 he was invited to be an artist in residence in Japan, where he exhibited at the American Embassy Gallery in Tokyo. His work has also been shown in Australia and Germany.