Whose job is it to save our public art treasures?

The brilliant red mosaic that adorns the façade of the Wells Fargo Bank on Pacific Coast Highway and Torrance Boulevard desperately needs some TLC. Chips of red glass are missing in spots over the door, and the edges where concrete meets tile are ragged.

In these recessionary times, though, bank patrons may be more concerned with dropping off payments than appreciating art.

Designed and installed by Susan Lautman Hertel in 1979, when the bank—originally a Home Savings and Loan—first opened, the mosaic has had two subsequent owners. Washington Mutual took over the property at 301 S. Pacific Coast Highway when it acquired Home Savings and later sold the site to Wells Fargo. Hertel's mosaic of birds in flight was pretty much overlooked during those transitions.

Because the bank building is less than 50 years old, it falls outside the mandate of Redondo Beach's Preservation Commission and Historical Society. The city Cultural Arts Supervisor Pam Ament acknowledges the artwork's beauty but points out that it is privately owned, so responsibility for its care rests with the company occupying the building. As Alex Plascencia, staff liaison to Redondo Beach's Preservation Commission said, "It doesn't fall into anybody's particular purview."

Who would save the mosaic? Instead of a knight on a white horse, picture an old West stagecoach charging to the rescue. Wells Fargo officials became downright excited when Patch told them about the mosaic's history. 

When they learned about its condition, they made a quick decision. 

"We're going to repair the mural and actually refurbish the entire thing," announced PR representative Edna Silva. "We have a commitment to maintain public art associated with our locations."

The bank is proud of its 150-year-long tenure in California; in fact, it maintains nine museums highlighting that history. And although the bank's officers had not heard of Hertel before, they knew the work of her mentor, artist Millard Sheets, very well. 

"Actually, Millard Sheets is one of my favorite artists of all time," said Beverly K. Smith, vice president and manager of Wells Fargo Historical Services.

Sheets designed most of the Home Savings and Loans in Southern California from 1956 through the late 1970s, filling them with murals, mosaics, statues and stained glass. Hertel worked for him for three decades, collaborating on murals and mosaics. She did all this while raising a family and building up a solid reputation as a painter as well. Hertel's work can be seen in several other local banks, such as a stained glass window titled "Love and Care of Animals" in the Chase Bank in Rolling Hills Estates.

That bank, at Hawthorne and Silver Spur, also had an exterior mosaic in disrepair, designed by Milliard Sheets himself. The picture, set against black marble panels, showed horses galloping over the hills, with dogs at their heels. Salty air on the hill had damaged the adhesive that held the mosaic in place. In 2009, Chase took the artwork down piece by piece and restored it at a cost of $400,000. 

When Sheets retired, Hertel took over his design firm and continued to work on Homes Savings buildings for a few years. She then moved to Cerillos, NM, where she died in 1993.

Much of Hertel's work features animals, and the mosaic in Redondo Beach is no exception. "Susan Hertel's art embodies what is marvelous in the mundane experiences of life," wrote Mary Davis MacNaughton, curator of a Scripps Colllege art gallery that put together a retrospective of Hertel's work. In Redondo Beach, what could be more mundane than birds? We have our noisy parrots, seagulls and sometimes-ailing pelicans along with sparrows and crows. In the Wells Fargo Bank mosaic, birds dip and soar and glitter in the sunlight, truly embodying what is "marvelous in the mundane."

What began as a story about neglected art has a happy ending, with a giant corporation as the good guy. How often does that happen?