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KENNEWICK -- Artist Scott McMillin has spent the last 25-plus years in California hangin' with the Hollywood famous, but he still sees himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Tri-City boy.
McMillin, who recently opened a new gallery called Splash in downtown Kennewick, moved home from Santa Barbara last fall after spending almost three decades catering to the stars with his multiple talents.
"I love the Tri-Cities, loved growing up here. I missed home," McMillin said. "Moving back also meant I could be closer to my dad (Tom McMillin) who isn't getting any younger."
Tom McMillin and his wife, Joyce, who passed away in 2005, are well-known in the Tri-Cities for conceiving and organizing the construction of the Tri-Cities Veterans Memorial at Kennewick's Columbia Park.
Scott McMillin, a 1977 Kennewick High grad, will be the featured artist at the First Thursday Art Walk in downtown Kennewick. His shop at 11 S. Dayton St. is as much fun to visit as the artist is to chat with.
When he left the Tri-Cities after high school he went to Washington State University where he graduated in 1981. From there he moved to Seattle and worked as a model for time and worked for Nordstrom. In 1983, his wanderlust led him to Santa Barbara when Nordstrom opened a store there.
He also honed his artistic skills managing various departments for Sak's Fifth Avenue and other exclusive shops like Imagine, Tropicana Tremors and Blazing Hearts.
Then last year the urge to come home set in.
"I've really enjoyed nesting into the downtown area of Kennewick with this new gallery," he said. "There are so many cool shops opening up down here and I hope to see more pop up as the area grows."
He also plans to keep adding to his already eclectic and unique cache of artworks, some of which were created by top-notch artists whose work can be found on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
His shop features whimsical pieces of art everywhere -- everything from frameable glitter cards to unusual paintings and photography, to hand-crafted ornaments and exotic silver-crafted jewelry, as well as some uniquely styled and colored, one-of-a-kind wool sweaters created by well-known California artist Sara Lytle.
Also during the art walk, the gallery will have new pieces of jewelry hanging in the store made by McMillin's longtime friend Judy Stewart, daughter of Hollywood icon Jimmy Stewart.
Stewart plans to pay a visit to her friend and will be on hand at McMillin's debut at the art walk.
"I adore Scotty," she said in a telephone interview. "I have loved his work from the moment I saw it years ago when he worked at Imagine (an upscale specialty gift shop in Santa Barbara.)"
Visitors to McMillin's gallery during the Art Walk also might be surprised to find out Stewart's voice has an uncanny familiarity to her famous dad.
"Well, both my twin sister and I have been told we sound a lot like dad," she said in that familiar Jimmy Stewart voice. "I never noticed the similarity until I heard my voice on tape and realized I did have a deep voice like a man."
Stewart also believes there isn't much McMillin can't do. "He isn't afraid to try new stuff, and he's a wonderful gardener on top of all that," she said.
That gardening artistry also earned him a reputation in California where Barbra Streisand hired him to create some flower magic in her backyard for her wedding to James Brolin, he said.
Visitors to downtown Kennewick will get a glimpse of McMillin's gardening savvy this spring, he said. "I'm anxious for the nice weather to return so I can build some flower boxes for the storefront and liven things up with flowers."
McMillin knows there are some who might wonder why an artist who found success in California would choose to move back to the Tri-Cities, but he's a man who never seems to tire of adventure, change and new challenges.
"I thought it might be a good time to show my hometown just what this old dirt clod farm boy from south Kennewick can do," McMillin said with a laugh.
But his chum Stewart has her own theory about the move home.
"I think Scotty was ready to create something new in a place he loved, his hometown," she said. "I miss him terribly because now I can't just call him up on the phone and say, 'Let's go have some dinner.' But it was time for him to have his own shop instead of making other people's businesses thrive.
"So many shops and galleries are the same. And knowing Scotty, there is no doubt in my mind his shop will be nothing less than extraordinarily unique."
-- Dori O'Neal: 582-1514; doneal@tricityherald.com
