 |
Mosaic artist, art professor
Famed California mosaic muralist and 35-year Claremont resident Denis O’Connor adored chocolate chip cookies—especially those from Some Crust in the Claremont Village, which he visited daily during his residence here. So known was he for this indulgence that dear friends of his from Claremont brought some of the sweet treats to his recent memorial service in his final community of residence, Anza.
“It was nice to know he was so loved. He did love his sweets,” said his daughter-in-law, Suzanne O’Connor, who also divulged his penchant for ice cream and mincemeat pie.
Mr. O’Connor, who was responsible for the installation of hundreds of mosaic murals across the United States, died unexpectedly at a friend’s house in Ontario on December 26, 2007. He was 74.
Born in 1933 in the small coastal town of Seaham Harbour, England, Mr. O’Connor showed an early talent for art. After earning a National Design Diploma from the Sunderland College of Art, he attended the Royal College of Art in London, earning the prestigious ARCA (Associate of the Royal College of Art) degree in sculpture and drawing. He was also awarded The Royal College of Arts Drawing Prize in 1956, an honor previously only awarded to one other sculptor, Henry Moore.
Immigrating to the US in 1959, Mr. O’Connor and his family settled in Claremont, where he remained until moving to Anza in 1994. In 1960, after an art exhibition of his work at Scripps College, he was offered the position of assistant mosaicist at Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., which specialized in large-scale art murals.
Over time, Mr. O’Connor progressed from assistant to principal mosaicist while working with the Sheets organization and, by 1963, he started his own mosaic business, Mosaic Murals Associates, which focused on the execution and installation of large-scale mosaics. He also became a visiting lecturer in drawing at Pitzer College in the 70s, and taught at Scripps College as well.
Between 1963 and 1982, over 80 mosaic murals were produced in association with Millard Sheets Designs, whose primary client was Home Savings and Loan (now Washington Mutual). The murals adorned a multitude of locations in California, spanning from San Diego to Sacramento.
During this time, while working with both Millard Sheets and designer Susan Hertel, Mr. O’Connor developed a highly personalized style of background patterns, becoming one of the first mosaicists to be able to transfer the intricate features of humans and animals into mosaic art. He also hired and trained many new mosaic artists, primarily through a selection of promising art students from the Claremont Colleges.
“He was a good man. He really took under his wing a lot of graduates from the art school at Scripps and really trained them,” said his daughter-in-law, Ms. O’Connor. “Many have gone on to do very successful work.”
In 1976, Mr. O’Connor took over the Sheets organization, starting Denis O’Connor Mosaics in Claremont, which was located slightly east of the corner of Mills Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. When Home Savings and Loan embarked on a sizable, nationwide expansion in 1983, they commissioned Mr. O’Connor to design and install an unprecedented number of large-scale mosaic murals. Over the next decade, from St. Petersburg, Florida to Coronado, California, hundreds of mosaic murals were produced by his company.
Other public artworks designed, created and installed by Denis O’Connor Mosaics grace banks, public buildings and churches, such as St. Joseph’s Church in Upland and First Pomona Federal Savings and Loan in Claremont. His work can also be found in the private collections of Cher and Bette Midler.
Mr. O’Connor’s mosaic work earned him many awards, including The Designers Award by the Ceramic Tile Institute in 1985 and 1987. He was also given the Texas Sesquicentennial Art Designation in 1986.
Though well-respected and well-known throughout the country, Mr. O’Connor remained a rather modest man.
“In terms of his profession, he didn’t toot his own horn,” his daughter-in-law said. “He knew he was very good at what he did, and he knew that very few people could do what he did, but at the same time he didn’t boast or brag about it. He just wanted to do his art and let that legacy speak for itself.”
His former wife, Anita Thomas, echoed this sentiment, noting that Mr. O’Connor was not an ardent self-promoter. His value system, she explained, steered him clear of commercialism.
“That was kind of tasteless to him,” said Ms. Thomas, who was married to Mr. O’Connor from 1977 to 2000.
He did appreciate, however, being featured on the Huell Howser program in 2002, said his daughter-in-law.
Prolific and talented artist that he was, Mr. O’Connor could have traveled a different career path with his excellent singing voice. This proficiency was realized early in life, when he sang as a child soprano in church in England. In the US, he underwent a small amount of operatic training and performed at a number of gatherings and venues. His specialty was English and Irish folk songs, and he also performed Renaissance music. During the 60s, he sang at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, a performance that was reviewed in the magazine, “Variety.”
“He was what I would call a powerful singer. He could have made a career out of it,” Ms. Thomas remarked. “He tried to sing American folk songs, but he could never get the accent, so he just gave up.”
An artist and a vocalist, Mr. O’Connor was also a humorous man, prone to pranks such as putting bubble bath in the Jacuzzi. His sense of humor, Ms. Thomas said, could be wicked or it could be cute and silly. Silliness once came in the form of mischief and potential hazard, as he once decided to teach his 10-year-old granddaughter to drive a golf cart on his Anza property.
“They destroyed more bushes and trees, but he loved it. He loved it!” said his daughter-in-law.
And though willing to be haphazard and unconcerned about the consequences of a rambunctious endeavor such as this, you “couldn’t mess with his art,” said his daughter-in-law.
“He was very meticulous about his art,” she said.
Though Mr. O’Connor had a tremendous appreciation for and understanding of great art, he also had a deep fondness for very humble things, Ms. Thomas explained.
“He would go to a swap meet and buy some stupid little thing that somebody made just to make it, and he would love it; he would value it. He was never above or beyond this sort of thing,” she said.
Mr. O’Connor also valued nature and was an avid gardener. Influenced at a young age by his grandfather, who was a gardener, this passion endured throughout his lifetime. At one of his many homes in Claremont, he nurtured a huge cactus garden, helping another one flourish at his home in the high desert once he moved. Locally, he enjoyed learning about plants at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and frequently visited the Pilgrim Place Festival where he would “load up on native plants,” said his daughter-in-law.
“He was really into it,” she said. “He was sort of like a Brit who became a desert lover.”
Much of his British heritage stayed intact throughout his California years, expressed each year, among other ways, by the Christmas tradition of getting out “little hats and poppers,” explained his daughter-in-law.
“He always did a very British Christmas,” she said. “He was British at heart although he adopted California.”
And of course, meticulous tea-making was important to Mr. O’Connor.
Even after moving to Anza in 1994, Mr. O’Connor continued to teach and create mosaic art. His most recent mosaic installation took place at St. Vianney Catholic Church on Balboa Island in 2001.
Mr. O’Connor is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Suzanne O’Connor of Montrose; and by his granddaughter, Shaelan O’Connor.
Plans for a memorial service in Claremont are in progress.
