Millard Owen Sheets, painter-muralist, dies

GUALALA – Millard Owen Sheets, a well-known artist who helped develop the California School of Water-color, died at his home on the Mendocino coast. He was 81.

Mr. Sheets, who had been ill for several years before his death Friday, was a painter and muralist recognized for his evocative landscapes. His work hangs in 48 museums in 15 states nationwide.

Mr. Sheets was born in Pomona on June 24, 1907.

Since he began his career at age 16 with an exhibit at the Laguna Beach Art Association in 1923, Mr. Sheets has made an imprint in the art world with more than 100 murals and mosaics and has designed about 100 buildings.

Mr. Sheets, who was graduated in 1939 from the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles – where he studied with F. Tolies Chamberlain – served as professor of art, then chairman of the art department at Scripps College in Claremont for 28 years.

Mr. Sheets, who also served as director of the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1950-56, had several books published and worked as a war correspondent for Life Magazine to the India-Burma War from 1943-44.

His works include the Library Tower Christ the Teacher at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., 1964; mosaics for the Dome of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C., 1969; mosaic facade at the Detroit Public Library, 1960; and two tile murals-facade in the Los Angeles City Hall, 1972.

"His extraordinary spirit, talent and persuasiveness have been put in service of a philosophy which in Itself has been widely inspiring... hundreds of young artists and dozens of communities have been affected by his vision of the arts as integral to the fabric of life," said David Scott, of the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Mr. Sheets, who once said, "life Is infinite in its ability to arouse us," is survived by his wife Mary and four children, Owen, Hilo, Hawaii; Carolyn Owen-Towle, San Diego; David Stary-Sheets, Gualala; and Tony, Sebastopol. .

Oakland Tribune

Oakland, California

Sunday, April 02, 1989

Page 20

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Millard Owen Sheets (June 24, 1907 – March 31, 1989) was an American artist, teacher, and architectural designer. He was one of the earliest of the California Scene Painting artists and helped define the art movement. Many of his large-scale building-mounted mosaics from the mid-20th century are still extant in Southern California.[1] His paintings are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum in New York, the Chicago Art Institute, the National Gallery in Washington D.C.; and the Los Angeles County Museum.

Source: wikipedia