Stan Dann
Stan F. Dann (May 23, 1931 Burnaby, British Columbia – May 8, 2013, in Lafayette, California) was a contemporary Northern California artist known for his puzzle-like bas-relief wall sculptures of polychrome wood. His earlier commercial career during the 1960s–1970s produced popular carved wooden signage, graphics and art objects. Early life Dann grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia. He graduated in 1949 from Faulkner Smith Academy of Fine Art, Vancouver. Dann attended Art Center College of Design (then in Los Angeles) receiving a BS degree with honors in 1957. He moved to Lafayette, California, after graduation and became a United States citizen. After briefly working as an art director at McCann-Erickson advertising agency in San Francisco, Dann formed a boutique design group, 222, with several partners in the 1960s. To call attention to the new firm, he hand-carved a redwood sign. Architects and design firms in the surrounding North Beach area took immediate notice. As the demand for his skills grew, he quit the advertising business and opened the Stan Dann Studio in Oakland, California. Most work was one-of-a-kind wood signage, massive doors, and other architectural details commissioned by designers and architects such as Gensler and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for