by Cherryl F. Cercado
Staff Writer
At first glance, the picture on his office wall seems like any other ordinary photograph of a group of people. Take another careful glance and you begin to notice something a bit peculiar. Take an even closer look and you see what it really is: a picture of homosexuals and transvestites dressed in full drag celebrating Fasching, Munich, Germany’s version of Mardi Gras.
The photographer of the picture and the inhabitant of the office are one and the same: Brian Worley, director of facilities management at ULV.
“Every time I look at that picture, it takes me back to the moment. It takes me back to the emotions and feelings of the people,” said Worley.
Although Worley gave up photography as one of his artistic pastimes because of lack of time, he has concentrated his talents elsewhere. He is creating a mosaic mural in Claremont that will be done in glass and set in concrete. The theme will correspond with the surroundings, “which in essence means that I’m doing a representation of the mountainscape above Claremont,” said Worley.
The mural, which will be located in a retail complex which is currently under construction on the corner of Yale and Bonita, will have a dramatic sky with clouds that will include a running waterfall at the base. The owners of the complex and Worley started conceptualizing the idea about five months ago. Since the project is a “one man undertaking, it will be finished around mid-December,” said Worley.
“If you were to characterize me, I don’t think it would be fair to call me an artist rather than a craftsman, because that’s the way I view myself,” he said. “My formal training in art is a little more limited than I’d like it to be. But certainly my years of creating things and being involved in the creation of things have enabled me to accomplish a great number of projects in a great variety of art forms.”
The “variety of art forms” that Worley talks about includes mosaic signs for First Interstate Bank in Claremont, a residential remodeling in the La Verne-Claremont area, which includes stained glass and elaborate designs as well as installing marble floors.
Furthermore, Worley has done work for the University of La Verne such as designing the stained glass in front of Founders Hall, and helping design and build The Spot. Worley also designed and built the fountain in Fasnacht Court and oversaw the construction of The Oaks Residence Hall. Currently, he is overseeing the construction of the Wilson Library.
“I feel very good when I see some of the work that I’ve done for the University. I’ve helped to create this environment and we should all be doing something to make this environment better,” he said.
Creative and artistic abilities run in Worley’s family. His maternal grandmother studied enameling of application of glazed metal, his mother is a sculptor and his mother’s sister studied mosaic art.
“It’s all been an evolution…I’ve just basically gone with the flow of things.”
“If there’s an art form that I feel best about, it’s the mosaic, because it’s in dire need of resuscitation in this country,” he said.
Worley has rediscovered a process that will enable mosaic to return as a viable form of art and decoration, by cutting down the costs of mosaics. The process will eventually cut two-thirds of the material costs and one-half of the labor costs.
“I think it’s unfortunate that economics has an effect on educating people to appreciate art or people’s ability to produce it, but it’s an age old story,” said Worley.
Being a craftsman gives Worley the ability to express his creativity and gives him the self-gratification of composing a product of quality.
“I hope that most of what I create has an intrinsic sense of beauty and delicacy and a true feeling for design and geometry.
“I think [art] is important to have around us because it provides us images. Art is a basis for decision making, whether we know it or not,” said Worley.
Cherryl F. Cercado
