Speaker Series: Victoria Lautman on the Creative Multiverse of Millard Sheets | May 24

Most of us have admired the architecture and epic mosaics of the former Scottish Rite Temple building across Wilshire Blvd. from the Ebell, the creation of California regionalist artist Millard Sheets. Now veteran arts and culture journalist Victoria Lautman has deep-dived into Sheets’ life to discover the astonishing range of his work that extends far beyond his many 1930s and 1940s paintings and all the sleek mid-century banks and mosaics punctuating the West Coast.

From reimagining graduation gowns to designing military airfields to scouting movie locations in Egypt, all the while running several college art departments and heading the exhibition program at the LA County Fair for 25 years, Sheets influenced generations of artists.

Lautman has hosted and produced several long-running radio programs dedicated to the arts, contributed to dozens of international newspapers and magazines, and worked for the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum. She is now well-known for her book, The Vanishing Stepwells of India, the subject of a recent exhibition at UCLA’s Fowler Museum.