In 2000, the Volunteers of America and the Catholic Big Brothers conceived of a project for Los Angeles entitled “A Community of Angels.” Designed to be a large-scale public art exhibition, it was coordinated with the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as the Volunteer Bureau of the Mayor’s Office.

The project committee asked artist Tony Sheets to design the angel’s form. He worked with Silvestri Studios to create a urethane foam model which was used as the mold for fabricating the finished fiberglass sculptures. The form was intended by Sheets to provide a simple canvas for chosen artists to express their own style and creativity.

Over 150 angels were painted by emerging and established artists and installed throughout Los Angeles for several months in 2001. This specific sculpture, Angel of Vision, was sponsored by El Arca Foundation, and created for LAC-USC Medical Center by artist Eddie Rodriguez. In his design, Rodriguez depicted adults and children standing in the heavens watching as an infant is touched by a being made of light. The sculpture still stands in its original location in the main interior entrance to LAC-USC Medical Center.

About the Artist: Tony Sheets was born in 1942 in Upland, California. The son of well-known California artist Millard Sheets, Tony studied landscape architecture for two years at California Polytechnic State University before leaving to pursue an arts apprenticeship at the Walt Disney Company. His mentors and teachers included Los Angeles artists Albert Stewart and Tom Van Sant. In 1972 Tony Sheets began his own business and has since received many commissions throughout the United States. Public works in the Los Angeles area include the World Trade Center, the Los Angeles Times parking garage, and the Broadway-Spring Center.

Information provided courtesy of Tony Sheets and Public Art in Los Angeles.