Norman, Emile (1918-2009), was an American artist known for his work in many forms using a variety of materials. Norman created art in such forms as sculpture, jewelry, and mosaics. His materials include resin, wood, plastic, and stone.
Norman’s best known works include a mosaic window (1958) created for the California Masonic Memorial Temple in San Francisco. The window portrays the history of the wayfarers and the seafarers that helped found California Freemasonry. The window includes thousands of bits of metal, parchment, felt, linen, silk, natural foliage, thinly sliced vegetable matter, shells, and sea life, plus 180 colors of stained glass. The lower portion consists of actual gravels and soils of the 58 counties of California and the Hawaiian Islands.
Norman was born on April 22, 1918, in San Gabriel, California, and lived most of his life in northern California. He began creating art as a boy. Norman began his career as a commercial artist, designing windows for department stores. He also designed jewelry, dishes, screens, and window shades. Norman had his first major show as a noncommercial artist in 1951, exhibiting marble sculptures of animals and abstract organic shapes.
In 1946, Norman and his partner, Brooks Clement, a radio repairman, moved into a house in Big Sur, California. Norman lived and worked there until his death on Sept. 24, 2009.
