Stephen ColesMay 29, 2023

From the 1950s–90s #MillardSheets designed hundreds of mosaics for banks and other buildings throughout the US, esp California. @adamarenson wrote a book about these landmarks https://adamarenson.com/books/banking-on-beauty-millard-sheets-and-midcentury-commercial-architecture-in-california/ and made a handy list/map: https://adamarenson.com/books/banking-on-beauty-millard-sheets-and-midcentury-commercial-architecture-in-california/definitive-list-for-home-savings-and-loan-artwork-savings-of-america-artwork-and-the-millard-sheets-studio-public-projects-2-3/

For Memorial Day, @laureola & I decided to visit three of the Bay Area mosaics. Unfortunately, the Tiburon and Berkeley art is no longer visible from the outside, but the San Francisco mural on Van Ness remains, and it’s fabulous!

#Architecture

Adam ArensonMay 1, 2023
Since today #jpmorganchase acquired a troubled bank, a throwback to their acquisition of #washingtonmutual , which led to a threat to the public art and architecture of the #Millardsheets studio, this 2009 blog post, and my second book in 2018: https://edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/saving-the-banks%e2%80%99-artistic-assets/ which became https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477315293
Saving the Banks’ Artistic Assets

The Edge of the American West