A 40-foot glass mosaic is nearly complete at the entrance of Chapman University’s Hilbert Museum of California Art, one of the finishing touches in the museum’s expansion.
When the scaffolding comes down at the end of the month, it will reveal “Pleasures Along the Beach,” a California classic by artist Millard Sheets. The mosaic tiles combine to depict a sunny day by the ocean with birds flying across the sky and beachgoers playing near the shore.
At one time, about 120 Home Savings and Loan buildings in California featured mosaics by Sheets, including this scene that once welcomed visitors to a Santa Monica branch.
“That was a magic time,” said artist Brian Worley, who worked in Sheets’ studio for 13 years and helped install “Pleasures Along the Beach” in 1969. “He was a genius. He truly looked at transforming spaces. His philosophy was that art should be everywhere. Art should be interior, exterior. It should be like the air we breathe.”
However, over time, the bank buildings have been redesigned or demolished and many of Sheets’ murals have been lost. When the Home Savings building in Santa Monica was being repurposed, its owner gifted “Pleasures Along the Beach,” to the Hilbert Museum.
Worley is now overseeing its installation at the Hilbert. The art piece was cut up into 547 jigsaw pieces, which are now being carefully reunited.
The tiled mural is also helping unite the two buildings that will make up the expanded Hilbert Museum.
The museum has taken over the 22,000-square-foot building next door on North Atchison Street in Orange’s Old Towne, allowing it to triple in size from its original 7,500 square feet. The mural will span the space between the two.
Worley has glass tile pieces he saved from his time working in Sheets’ studio that he can use to replace any broken pieces or to cover the installation work.
Worley said murals on several other former Home Savings buildings remain in danger of being lost….
Read the full article here