ONTARIO -- A look at the new facilities for the CCAA Museum of Art will be offered Sunday when the group holds a "Dusty Shoes Tour" of the museum. The free event will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at 217 S. Lemon Ave, one block south of Holt Boulevard in the historic Ontario Power Corp. building. Light refreshments will be served. Board members will be available for tours or visitors can view the building on their own.
The Dusty Shoes Tour is the museum's way to let the public know of the progress being made in turning the city-owned building into a facility for the CCAA.
The group has painted some walls, set up the Museum Store, and selected 45 works of art from their permanent and auxiliary collections to exhibit in the large Main Gallery. A smaller side gallery is hung with more paintings from the permanent collection and shows off the Douglas fir flooring that was recently restored.
In the lobby will be "Grazing Gazelle," a sculpture given to the Ontario-Montclair YMCA by the artist Betty Davenport-Ford in honor of her parents. Recently, the YMCA building was sold, and after residing there for over 40 years in an outdoor meditation garden, the piece is now on loan to CCAA Museum of Art.
"We wanted to create an opportunity for kids to enjoy nature and experience all that it has to offer," said YMCA branch director Tim Walborn.
He said a donor helped create the Davenport Family Campership
fund by "purchasing" the statue and then loaning it to the CCAA museum.
Walborn said it is an important piece of local art that now can be viewed by the public as part of the museum. The campership will allow underprivileged youngsters from Ontario to attended the Y's weeklong resident camp in the San Bernardino Mountains.
In the museum's Main Gallery will be "Nature's Spring," a wood sculpture by local artist John Svensen that was originally commissioned by a local bank and given to the museum when the bank was remodeled.
Attendees can view two other designated gallery spaces "" one to house a rotating exhibit from the permanent collection and one to display pieces by a featured member artist on a monthly rotation.
The museum will also provide space in Heritage Hall for art displays to be curated by the Ontario Heritage Society.
Information on the museum: 909-463-3733, while details about YMCA campership fund is at 909-986-5847