Mosaic unveiled at new home at Hilbert Museum in Old Towne Orange
Brian Worley, left, and Mark Hilbert, right, stand in front of the 1970 glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, after it was unveiled on the faxc3xa7ade of the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Worley worked on the mosaic as an intern in 1969 and restored the mosaic after it was taken down from the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
For the first time in decades, passersby are able to look up and take in Millard Sheets’ 40-by-16-foot “Pleasures Along the Beach” mosaic as the artist envisioned.
Mark Hilbert speaks to a small crowd about how he had admired Sheetsxe2x80x99 mosaic, Pleasures Along the Beach, long before it became available, during the unveiling of the mosaic at the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The mosaic was originally on the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A small crowd gathers for the unveiling of the 1970 glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, at the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The mosaic was originally on the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Chapman University President Daniele C. Struppa takes a photo of the glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, before it is unveiled on the faxc3xa7ade of the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The mosaic was originally on the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brian Worley, who worked on the glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, as an intern in 1969, talks about restoring the mosaic when it was taken down from the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica and then installed Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The 1970 glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, on the faxc3xa7ade of the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The mosaic was originally on the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brian Worley, left, and Mark Hilbert, right, talk as they stand in front of the 1970 glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, after it was unveiled on the faxc3xa7ade of the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Worley worked on the mosaic as an intern in 1969 and restored the mosaic after it was taken down from the Home Savings and Loan in Santa Monica. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Chapman University President Daniele C. Struppa admires the glass-tile mosaic by artist Millard Sheets, titled, Pleasures Along the Beach, before it is unveiled on the faxc3xa7ade of the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
After spending years broken down into pieces so it could fit in storage, the glass-tile mosaic has been painstakingly reassembled and will now welcome visitors to Chapman University’s expanded Hilbert Museum of California Art. The museum will reopen to the public on Feb. 23 after being closed for more than a year so it could also take over the building next door, nearly tripling in size.
The finished mosaic was unveiled on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in an afternoon ceremony that featured Mark Hilbert, who commissioned its reconstruction for the museum that he and his wife helped Chapman build, and Brian Worley, who oversaw the restoration of the mosaic that he first helped Sheets create as a young artist all those years ago.
