Workers install the Millard Sheets mosaic, xe2x80x9cPleasures Along the Beachxe2x80x9d, at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. The 20-ton mosaic, made of Murano glass, depicts a California beach scene and was originally installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica over 50 years ago. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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.
Brian Worley tears up as he looks over pieces of Murano glass being used to repair a Millard Sheets mosaic at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Worley saved unused pieces of glass from Sheetsxe2x80x99 studio and is using it to repair the 20-ton mosaic that depicts a California beach scene and was installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Workers install the Millard Sheets mosaic, xe2x80x9cPleasures Along the Beachxe2x80x9d, at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. The 20-ton mosaic, made of Murano glass, depicts a California beach scene and was originally installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica over 50 years ago. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dolphin artwork that once hung over a doorway at a Home Savings in Santa Monica, sits above an entrance to the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brian Worley shows off pieces of Murano glass being used to repair a Millard Sheets mosaic at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Worley saved unused pieces of glass from Sheetsxe2x80x99 studio and is using it to repair the 20-ton mosaic that depicts a California beach scene and was installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mark Hilbert, benefactor and donor, Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University, left, Mary Platt, Director, center, and Brian Worley, an artist who originally worked on Millard Sheetsxe2x80x99 xe2x80x9cPleasures Along the Beachxe2x80x9d mosaic in 1969 and is overseeing its restoration and installation on the Hilbert Museum facade in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brian Worley looks to dolphin artwork that once hung over a doorway at a Home Savings in Santa Monica but now hangs sits above an entrance to the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brian Worley shows off pieces of Murano glass being used to repair a Millard Sheets mosaic at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Worley saved unused pieces of glass from Sheetsxe2x80x99 studio and is using it to repair the 20-ton mosaic that depicts a California beach scene and was installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Workers install the Millard Sheets mosaic, xe2x80x9cPleasures Along the Beachxe2x80x9d, at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. The 20-ton mosaic, made of Murano glass, depicts a California beach scene and was originally installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica over 50 years ago. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brian Worley, left, and Mark Hilbert, at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Workers are installing the 20-ton mosaic, made of Murano glass, which depicts a California beach scene and was originally installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica over 50 years ago (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Workers install the Millard Sheets mosaic, xe2x80x9cPleasures Along the Beachxe2x80x9d, at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. The 20-ton mosaic, made of Murano glass, depicts a California beach scene and was originally installed on a Home Savings in Santa Monica over 50 years ago. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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. Looking back at the work and passion put into those pieces, he hopes that more will be done to protect the public art.
“There are countless other murals that are on buildings in California, not just Home Savings or Millard Sheets murals, but other murals, and all of these things should be protected. It’s important that we keep art as part of the environment.” Worley said. “Part of my mission is just to save what I can while I’m around and show people how it can be done.
“I hope everybody walking in just looks up and truly enjoys it.”
The Hilbert Museum will officially reopen on Feb. 23, along with nine exhibitions including one celebrating art by Sheets.
