In this mosaic, natives on horseback stop for a break among the many blossoming Yuccas that populate Mt Baldy and its valleys, and which contribute an incredible aroma to the area they populate. Millard Sheets was one of PVAA’s founding artists; he served as Director and as President of PVAA around 1952. He says, “The purpose of forming an art association should be the development of a basic appreciation of art. This calls for vision and a genuine effort to achieve something worthwhile, as well as to create an aesthetic appreciation in all things which springs from deep within the heart.” from a talk given by Millard Sheets, Director of PVAA, March 17, 1952.

The building pictured below was dedicated to Millard Sheets around 1957, who was its architect. Millard Sheets became involved in the Los Angeles County Fair at its inception in 1922, and he once served as its President. It is said that as a boy, Millard Sheets entered his drawing into the fair and won a prize, and they say that was the moment he dedicated himself to art. As Millard rose to fame as an architect, and also for his public murals and mosaics, his fame brought people to the Fair. And so like a full circle the Fair which created a passion for art in a boy was returned by those following his fame as an accomplished artist which ultimately made the Los Angeles County Fair one of the largest county fairs in the land.

Millard Sheets Art Center, 1101 W McKinley Avenue, Pomona, CA

PVAA has been invited to occupy Room Four inside the Millard Sheets Art Center on the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds during the fair this May, 2025. Forty three exhibiting artists from PVAA’s Gallery SOHO will be participating in the exhibition this year as well as demonstrating in the adjoining patio. It is an enormous honor because Millard Sheets, the man to whom the building was dedicated, was one of our founders 73 years ago.