Millard Sheets, art, dogs

I dropped in Sunday at Scripps College's Ruth Williamson Gallery to see the Millard Sheets art exhibit.

Sheets was a titan in the Inland Valley's art scene, a watercolorist and muralist who taught art at Scripps from 1932 to 1955 and assembled exhibitions at the Fine Arts Building at the L.A. County Fair, giving the masses sometimes their first exposure to art. He also designed more than 40 mosaics for Home Savings bank branches.

The Williamson Gallery has some nice paintings of his on display through Oct. 14, from rural scenes -- including 1930s Claremont, Chino, Carbon Canyon and the Chino Hills -- to the California coast, urban L.A., Mexico, New Mexico and Hawaii. There's a second Sheets exhibit, at the county fair, that I hope to catch this week.

The Williamson Gallery show is at my kinda price -- free -- and you can find it at 11th Street and Columbia Avenue, open from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

As I left the gallery, two middle-aged men passed me on the sidewalk, walking together and chatting. One was walking a small dog. The other was pushing a baby stroller. It carried two small dogs. In Claremont, the free entertainment never stops!