J
ames Dinh Resumé
12723 Park Street
C
erritos, CA 90703
562.841.2512
[email protected]
www.studiofolia.com
WO
RK EXPERIENCE
2014 – present Principal, Studiofolia, Cerritos, CA
E
DUCATION
Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Calif ornia, Berkeley Master of Public Health, with a concentration in epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine PU
BLIC ART COMMISSIONS
Cu
rrent North Valley public art, Reno, NV – completed
Quincy Jones Square public art, Bremerton, WA – completed, with Michael Stutz Kahului Community Park mural, Maui, HI – completed, with Thinh Nguyen Leinberger Memorial Center public art, Woodland, CA – completed Montgomery County Law Enforcement Memorial, Dayton, OH – under construction September 11 Memorial, Indio, CA – under construction
Community Resource Center public art, Surprise, AZ – under construction, with Mandy Palasik Oakey Dog Park public art, Las Vegas, NV – under construction, with Michael Stutz Washington State University School of Medicine public art, Spokane, WA – in design development Bitter Lake Reservoir public art, Seattle, WA – in design development Villa Chiquita Park public art, Mountain View, CA – in design development Springwood Park public art, Kent, WA – in design development, with Lauren Iida Colorado Mental Health Hospital public art, Denver, CO – in design development, with Lauren Iida New Mexico Tech public art, Socorro, NM – in design development, with Mandy Palasik 2024 Office Building public art, Santa Ana, CA – completed Baltimore County COVID-19 Memorial, Baltimore, MD – completed Higuera Adobe public art, Milpitas, CA – completed
2023 Vista Canyon Multi-Modal Center public art, Santa Clarita, CA – completed 50th Anniversary sculpture, Cedar Park, TX – completed
Commemorative public art, Frankfort, KY – completed
Woman's College tribute, Uni. of N. Carolina, Greensboro – completed, with Michael Stutz 2024 CODAawards Winner, Education category
2022 St. Thomas University student memorial, St. Paul, MN – completed University of Nebraska public art, Lincoln, NE – completed Westminster Crossing affordable housing art, Westminster, CA – completed, with Thinh Nguyen 2021 Evergreen Cemetery Veterans Memorial, Gainesville, FL – completed 2020 Equity Fountain public art, Helena, MT – completed, with Michael Stutz 2018 Los Angeles County Peace Officers Memorial, Los Angeles, CA – completed Art in Transit Program, bus shelter public art, San Antonio, TX – completed National Native American Veterans Memorial, Smithsonian, Washington D.C. – finalist 2017 Of Two Lineages public art, Westminster, CA – completed 2016 David & Margaret Youth and Family Services Public Art, La Verne, CA – completed 2014 Circles of a Ripple public art, Hacienda Heights Community Center – completed Attachment 7
S
YMPOSIUMS / LECTURES
2023 Webinar: Re presentation: the Crux of Public Space , World Heritage USA The webinar pushes the activism of creators into the forefront, featuring guest speakers f rom the United States of America and Afghanistan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmYqfagqZng
EX
HIBITIONS & WORKSHOPS
20 18 Viet Stories: Recollections & Regenerations , Richard Nixon Library, CA – exhibition designer 2 017 Impress, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art – participating artist 2016 Coastal Communities Cancer Center Temporary public art, Ventura, CA – commissioned artist 2015 Earth Day Temporary Public Art Installation, City of Garden Grove, CA – commissioned artist 40 Hues Between Black & White, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art – participating artist Re:Imagine Garden Grove, Garden Grove, CA – participating artist for community workshop AWARDS
2019 Orange County Arts Awards Honoree: Achievement Award for Arts Leader 2017 American for the Arts Convention Scholarship
2006 Post-Katrina New Orleans East Design Residency, New Orleans, LA Attachment 7
Image List
Image # 1, 2
Title Chur Chur
Year 2025
Location Reno, NV
Medium Steel and alluminum
Dimensions 18’ high x 12’ wide x 11’ deep
Budget $120,000
Client City of Reno
Collaborator Mandy Palasik, architect
Inspired by a workshop with art-class students from the local O'Brien Middle School, the sculpture has two components: branches and birds. The weathering steel branches allude to the area’s sagebrush and grasses, while the seven birds (that move in the wind) evoke flying geese formations that one can see in the area of the North Valleys Regional Park. The shape and color of the birds was inspired by the Mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), which is the state bird of Nevada that makes a “chur chur” sound. The birds also reference the racing planes that once flew from the nearby Stead Airport. The sculpture is intended to express a sense of aspiration, freedom, nature, and community. The sculpture's form changes depending on the viewers' position, as they drive or walk around the traffic circle.
Image # 3, 4
Title T.I.E. (Transformation, Illumination, Effort)
Year 2022
Location College of Education, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Medium Painted steel
Dimensions 20' high x 14' diameter
Budget $100,150
Client University of Nebraska
Located in front of the new College of Education, the sculpture encapsulates ideas that are often associated with learning and education, namely transformation, illumination, and effort.
To
create a three-dimensional artwork that embodies the process of change and growth, a flat plane is conceptually cut and folded. As light is a universal metaphor for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, both sunlight and night-time illumination are incorporated into the artwork.
Depending on the time of day and how sunlight hits the sculpture, the resulting light and shadow patterns created by the circular perforations on the sculpture change throughout the day.
The design also creates a welcoming gathering space that is inspiring and joyful.
Image # 5, 6
Title Of Two Lineages
Year 2017
Location City of Westminster, CA
Medium Steel, powder-coated aluminum panels, concrete, landscape Dimensions Sculpture 18’ high x 3’ wide, plaza 35’ x 35’ Budget $200,000
Client Vietnamese American Cultural Alliance
Located in the heart of the largest Vietnamese community in the U.S., the artwork is a contemporary re-telling of a traditional Vietnamese origins legend. The artwork conveys the hopeful story of the building of a new community from the tragedies of war. At night the
Attachment 7
sculpture is illuminated from within like a lantern, symbolizing the resiliency and hopes of the community. Surrounding the central sculpture are benches that showcase 100 portraits of everyday Vietnamese Americans, a collaborative project with the Vietnamese American Oral History Project of the University of California, Irvine.
Image # 7
Title Abounding in Rushes
Year 2025
Location Woodland, CA
Medium Stainless steel
Dimensions 84" high x 54" diameter
Budget $100,000
Client Yolo County
Yolo County is located in the Sacramento Valley area of California. Yolo comes from the Native American Patwin word “Yo-loy”, which means “place abounding in rushes", a reference to the land that was once covered with wetlands. The sculpture is inspired by Native tule-reed baskets, rendered in the shape of an acorn. The sculpture is “woven” from wave-like strips of steel that contain text in Patwin, Spanish, and English expressing the Seven Values of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
Image # 8
Title Circle of Time
Year 2024
Location Higuera Adobe Park, Milpitas, CA
Medium Granite and concrete
Dimensions 9' wide x 6' high x 10" deep
Budget $45,000
Client City of Milpitas
The stone sculpture resembles a large granite millstone, evoking the ranching and agrarian period in early California history when this land belonged to José Loreto Higuera (1778-1845) and was known as Rancho Los Tularcitos or “place of the little tules”. Muwekma Ohlone Indians, the original inhabitants of the land, used tule reeds to make boats, baskets, and housing.
Engravings of the plant can be seen on the face of the sculpture. The “window” in the middle of the sculpture invites people to look through and gaze at the historic adobe building on one side and the beautiful landscape on the other side.
Image # 9, 10
Title Memorial to Deceased Students
Year 2022
Location University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
Medium Granite and cast glass
Dimensions 8' high x 5' diameter
Budget $60,000
Client University of St. Thomas
Four stone panels intersect to form a cruciform, symbolizing the earth and the corporeal body. In contradistinction, glass discs inset into the stone panels evoke an ephemeral lightness with their translucency. Their circular form symbolizes the heart and the eternal soul. Both loss and renewal are made visible through this void that captures light. The gradient of materials—from rough to smooth—creates a sense of revealing.
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SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER GROUNDS SCULPTURE
Folding Home
Design Concept
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SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER GROUNDS SCULPTURE
Chur Chur- 2025
North Valleys Regional Park, Reno, Nevada
Of Two Lineages - 2017
LiƩle Saigon, Westminster, Calif.
Introduction
James Dinh is a Los Angeles County–based arƟst and the founder of Studiofolia, a collaboraƟve public art pracƟce dedicated to creaƟng site-speciĮc works that resonate with community memory, idenƟty, and place. With a unique background in both landscape architecture and public health, Dinh brings a mulƟdisciplinary lens to his art.
His work centers on exploring the emoƟonal and cultural histories of a site, translaƟng stories into evocaƟve visual languages that foster reŇecƟon and connecƟon. Whether honoring collecƟve experiences or elevaƟng overlooked narraƟves, Dinh’s projects invite viewers to engage with public space in meaningful and transformaƟve ways.
T. I . E .- 2022
College of EducaƟon, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
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SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER GROUNDS SCULPTURE
Inspiration
Nearly half of the populaƟon of Sunnyvale is originally from another country, making it a culturally rich city within Silicon Valley. Inspired by this fact, the proposed artwork uses the image and symbolism of birds to speak about ideas such as migraƟon, community, and home.
Many seasonally migraƟng and resident birds make their homes at the ponds at the Sunnyvale Community Center as well as the city’s bay shore wetlands.
The sculpture’s locaƟon near the Community Center’s ponds adds to the artwork’s meaning and site-speciĮcity.
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SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER GROUNDS SCULPTURE
Design - Folding Home
The artwork uses origami-
like bird forms to reference
movement and migraƟon as
acts of adaptaƟon (folding),
arrival, and seƩlement.
Folding evokes intenƟon,
care, transformaƟon, and an
embracing quality—all of which
reŇect Sunnyvale’s idenƟty
as a place shaped by human
journeys and home-making.
The sculptural birds rest quietly
within a Įeld of slender curving
reeds. They are supported and
sheltered by the landscape,
just as communiƟes welcome
and shelter their ciƟzens, who
in turn care for the places that
receive them.
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SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER GROUNDS SCULPTURE
~ 8 Ō
Design
The sculpture will be
fabricated from lightweight
aluminum, with a base plate
designed to distribute the
sculpture’s weight across a
wide area.
How the artwork looks will
change depending on where
the viewer stands, lending it
a dynamism.
The birds and reeds will also
move slightly with the wind,
adding a kineƟc element.
Base plate, 6-7 feet wide
ExisƟng 4-inch-thick
8-feet square concrete pad
Birds range from 12 inches
to 18 inches wide
Attachment 7
SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER GROUNDS SCULPTURE
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