Tag Archives: Millard Sheets Center for the Arts

Art comes to life at the Fair’s Millard Sheets Center for the Arts

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One of the hot trends in the art world today are studio tours where visitors get a behind-the-scenes look at artists and their creative processes. Many tours cover a lot of artists and their means of expression while covering a lot of ground going from one studio location to another.

The Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at Fairplex is a one-stop studio tour with about 40 artists demonstrating their talents in painting, wood and stone carving, ceramics, art glass and much more. Fairguests can ask questions and get inspired by what they’re seeing and then try their own hand at creating art in a workshop for all ages.

MSCAF is proud to be a part of the Smithsonian Institution Affiliation Program. Through this partnership the Center shares with the community the Smithsonian Institution’s artifacts, programs and expertise.

MSCAF is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Here’s some of the action you’ll see at the Sheets Center:

Kazumi Svenson fashions sculptures from glass beads.

Wood sculptor Osvaldo Orellana at work.

Nelson Scherer discusses printing with a visitor.

Artists' works are on sale in the busy Gallery Store.

Crispin Gonzalez demonstrates ceramics.

Innovative display comes together at Millard Sheets Center for the Arts

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Things are shaping up at the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts exhibit From the Industrial Age to the Computer Age . . . Three Centuries of Artistic Innovation.

The entrance features a kinetic metal sculpture of a tree roosted with robotic birds, I kid you not. The tree trembles ever-so-slightly like a breeze is going through it, and the birds ruffle their wings individually, then do so in unison, as their eyes light up. It’s just fascinating to watch. I want this for my backyard.

Progress is being made in each room. A steam engine dominates a corner of Room 1 now. Various old printing machines, provided by the International Printing Museum in Carson, have taken over a wall near the entrance of the next room.

Photography was a huge industrial and artistic development, and gets its own special place in the exhibit this year. An enormous neon sign advertising CAMERAS in an Art-Deco design points the way to an exhibit of photographs, vintage cameras and more. Get your own cameras out to take a picture of that neon sign, on loan from Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles.

The Gallery Store, twice the size it was last year, is full of creations by artists who will be doing demonstrations in painting, ceramics, sculpture and more. Get your ATM cards out, you won’t be able to resist!

Kids will get plenty of inspiration to create their own airplanes in Room 5, where 1/2-scale model of the Wright Brothers historic bi-plane — with a 25-foot wingspan – hangs above (with Mickey Mouse at the controls). Not only kids can participate in the fun here – any Fairguest can create squares that will be added to murals to be displayed in the main exhibit, learn hands-on about ceramics, use drawing to solve problems, and create collages using “ordinary stuff.”

Take a look at more by visiting the MSCAF web site here.

Storytime at the Fair

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I know it is an unusual place for storytime, but the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts, the art gallery at the Fair, has a storyteller you have to see. Jim Cogan entertains, educates, amuses and mesmerizes visitors with his amazing tales, all centered around the gallery’s theme, The Making of Art – The First 30,000 Years.

Jim gives tours of the gallery throughout the day. Take a look at story he told about bronzing and mirrors and a Chinese proverb about two lovers and a mirror:

You have to visit the gallery to find out if the lovers ever get back together!

The Countdown Begins

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There are 101 days left until opening day of the L.A. County Fair – but who’s counting? Well, we are actually! While a countdown to the big day creates some anxiety, at a certain point we all start doing it. Pretty soon our Web site will have a daily counter (which really drives us crazy, seeing it right before our eyes!). So, since we are counting down, we should make it worthwhile and remind ourselves what we are counting down to:

 

  • Hot Dog on a Stick
  • Giant slide
  • 72 totally excellent rides
  • 2 kiddie carnivals
  • Hot Dog on a Stick
  • A luscious Flower & Garden Pavilion featuring Escape to Hawaii
  • An erupting volcano! How cool is that! (This is so Krakatoa of us!)
  • Watusi cattle – these always amaze me, cattle with huge horns – up to seven feet in length. They look like Tim Curry’s character in the movie “Legend.”
  • Hot Dog on a Stick (can you tell I love these?)
  • A gallery exhibit dedicated to the horse in art
  • America’s Kids’ “Wild Things” Backyard Fun exhibit

 

 

 There is so much. I’ll keep adding to my list.