Artists possess their individual sets of priorities. For Millard Sheets sketching form on paper and drawing was an utmost priority. This was a necessary exercise and wondrous window to the world. Born in 1907 and raised in a rural part of Southern California, he traveled with his father who was selling grain to ranches in the southland. This offered him the opportunity to study and draw the everyday activities on the farms and ranches of that period. Later, when he entered art school in Los Angeles in 1929 this habit of drawing was reinforced as a required part of the curriculum. He and his fellow students traveled extensively sketching people and their surroundings. They would take these drawings back to their studios and use them to formulate a composition for an oil or watercolor painting. This habit would become a lifelong discipline. And while Millard would leave South California many times to travel internationally he would never leave this discipline or his sketchbook behind. His artistic rendering of the people and places he visited mirrored his earlier training. Recording an interesting animal or a human gesture or a different architectural composition was a daily occurrence. He felt this constant observation and recording to be a most important exercise for the visual artist – much like a musician practicing his instrument.

In 1983 Millard published a book entitled, “Your Drawing is a Measure of Your Mind”. He felt drawing to be an essential aspect of an artistic journey. We are pleased to share with you a portion of his special journey. The works on paper in this show come from the private collection of Millard Sheets and span over six decades from the 1920s to the 1980s. Included are original drawings in graphite, pen and ink, etchings, lithographs, serigraphs and watercolors.