Peter C. Jordano

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University is reviving an annual event that brought big names in the business world to campus and enabled students to discuss issues of common interest with community leaders for 35 years.

The Mathews Leadership Forum will be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, in Lundring Events Center. The theme will be “Human Capital: Building Business Through People.” Keynote speaker Peter C. Jordano, CEO and president of Jordano’s Inc., will discuss “A Few Good Ideas to Build On.”

Following an opening reception, students, faculty, staff and business and community leaders will participate in roundtable discussions. The facilitators will include Conejo Valley Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Baarstad, Harbor Freight Tools Chief Financial Officer Jordan Copland, Natural Balance Pet Foods President and CEO Joey Herrick, Thousand Oaks Mayor Jacqui Irwin, Thousand Oaks Police Commander Randy Pentis and Ventura County CEO Michael Powers.

Jordano will speak after dinner. His Santa Barbara-based company, which his father and uncles started in 1915 as a grocery store, is now the largest distributer of food, beverages and restaurant equipment in San Luis Obispo,Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Jordano has supported and served on the boards of many nonprofit and business organizations and received countless honors.

Former CLU President Mark Mathews, who started the forum as a classroom seminar while he was a business professor in 1970, will be honored at the event. He served as CLU’s president from 1972 to 1980, strengthening the university’s financial position and fostering relationships with the community.

Mathews, who now lives in Santa Barbara, started the annual forums to bring students together with business and civic leaders. Keynote speakers have included Kinkos founder Paul J. Orfalea, The Body Shop International founder Anita Roddick and former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. The last forum was held in 2005.

The CLU Community Leaders Association and UCLA Health System are presenting the event. Sponsors include Joanie Young of Sotheby’s International Realty, the Area Housing Authority of the County of Ventura, Bernie and Sue Bauer of Integrated Lighting Concepts, John A. Short III of UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo, Klein Friedlander LLP and dentist William M. Hang.

Tickets are $55. Reservations, which are requested by Friday, Oct. 26, can be made at callutheran.edu/cla. For more information, contact the University Relations office at 805-493-3151.

"Koi" by Photographer Les Dublin
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"Life Force" by Photographer Myrna Cambianica
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"Post Office Tower" by Photographer Phil Harvey
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TienhaaraKaarina Peace Brochure
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Phil Harvey, one of Ojai’s “Living Treasures,” has been an artist and nature photographer for over thirty years. He has an eye for the light of life and he creatively captures the essence of those moments that take our breath away. This gifted photographer expresses this essence in his collection of “Mystique of Ojai” images, which will be on display during Ojai’s annual Art Detour.

Harvey founded the Ojai Photography Club in 1984. In honor of Harvey and in celebration of the club’s 28 years, several members of the club will be joining him in exhibiting their photography. Their exhibit, “Mystique of Ojai Fine Art Photography - Phil Harvey and Friends: Myrna Cambianica, Sally Carless, Les Dublin and Kaarina Tienhaara,” will be at Phil’s studio, 302 S. Montgomery Street, Ojai.

The Ojai Art Detour provides the opportunity to visit artists’ studios and galleries of some of Ojai’s accomplished and unique artists. The tour will take place Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14, from 10 am until 5 pm. It is free to the public. The Artist reception will be Saturday October 13th, 6-9pm at Bohemia, 214 W Ojai Avenue, Ojai.

Cambianica will be showing her delicate and dramatic composite images that reflect fragility and the cycle of life. According to the artist, the photography bug first bit her 16 years ago during a trip to Taft gardens. Now she can’t imagine being without her "third eye.” “I used to physically set up these complicated still lives using props like nests and butterflies,” said Cambianica, who now uses computer graphics with multiple photographs to achieve her final images.

Carless, a photographer and educator, sees photography as a way to feed the soul as well as educate and inspire. She will display images from her short film, “Portraits as Portals: An Invitation.” Her photo of a soulful chimpanzee, “Reflection,” won first place in the 2012 Art Center photography show.

“My photographs are intimate portraits,” said Carless, whose work has been published by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Radio Project, and the Sacred Land Film Project. “I want people to experience a deeper connection with the animal world . . . to be able to look into their eyes and see a ‘Being’ looking back at them.”

Dublin, a New York transplant, loves to work with contrasts and is comfortable dealing with macros, landscapes, and abstracts. In his words, “In my photography, I attempt to share my vision of our journey through time and space. I am interested in exploring the dualistic illusion of light and shadow and playing with nature’s patterns. My goal is to give the viewer an opportunity to disengage the thinking brain and release their imagination in unexpected ways.”

Tienhaara, whose photographs document reality with no computer manipulation, joined the now forty-eight member Club, because of its inspirational, supportive atmosphere, which is so aptly expressed by its present credo: “education, camaraderie, and inspiration.”

“I never thought I’d be exhibiting my work,” said Tienhaara, who credits the Club for her growth. “I like to document the beauty in nature that many people miss because they don't take the time to observe,” said Tienhaara, who also makes one-of-a-kind handmade books. “I want to capture that sense of peacefulness and wonder. The play of light and shadow and reflections, which can make familiar objects seem strange and mysterious, especially fascinate me.”

For more information about these artists visit the Ojai Photography Club at: http://ojaiphotoclub.com/ For information on the Ojai Art Detour, or to download a free map, visit www.ojaiartdetour.com/

"Rootbound" by Charles Grogg
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"Victory" by Charles Grogg
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"Mooring" by Charles Grogg
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"Cracked" by Charles Grogg
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"Ascension2" by Charles Grogg
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Ojai, CA - American contemporary fine artist and photographer Charles Grogg will address the Ojai Photography Club on Tuesday, October 16, at 7:00 PM.

Grogg will talk about “the creative process, and the important phenomenon that occurs as we work creatively, specifically that work leads to more work. Our job as photographers and critics of our own work is to anticipate the patterns we establish, and to be able to review those patterns in retrospect. What we say about our own work is what leads us to our next project, not simply the project itself.” After his presentation, Grogg will critique images submitted by club members.

Grogg’s arresting, and hauntingly beautiful, artwork includes fractured photographic images printed in silver and sewn through, or printed in platinum and palladium on handmade Japanese washi, which are then stitched into whole images, frequently featuring tethers, sutures, or other three dimensional elements. The resulting images focus on issues of growth and restraint, hesitation and power.

His images have been shown in galleries internationally and published widely in fine art photography periodicals. In 2012, 21st Editions published a deluxe limited edition monograph of his work – Cracked: The Art of Charles Grogg. Grogg personally printed the thirteen platinum prints included in this book on a rare and luxurious Gampi Torioko paper.

Grogg is primarily self-taught, his interest in photography beginning in his thirties following his father’s gift of a Leica camera. For several years he devoted his time to studying and reading about photography, going to art exhibitions, teaching himself black and white film techniques, and studying with and about other contemporary photographers. Learn more at: http://www.charlesgroggphotography.net

The Ojai Photography club meets at Kent Hall, located at Help of Ojai’s Little House, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA 93023. More information is available at: http://ojaiphotoclub.com/

An evening of decadent delights, music, dancing, and art awaits you at the Museum of Ventura County’s Night of the Living, Day of the Dead celebration on Friday, November 2 from 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. The Day of the Dead fundraiser is hosted by Las Contemporaneas, the museum’s Latina support group. It includes dinner by El Taco, dancing to the music of DJ Solo, no-host bar, artist-created and traditional altars, Day of the Dead adult crafts, and a silent auction of shadow box retablos created by local artists for the occasion. Reserved admission is $20, $15 for museum members, or $25 at the door. For reservations, call 805.653-0323 x 7.

The evening opens with a blessing ceremony by Roberto Vargas, and during the party guests can make silent auction bids on retablos created by artists including Dianne Bennett, Robert Bermudez, Christine Brennan, Ryan Carr, Michele Chapin, Richard Flores, Susan Gerrard, Porfirio Gutierrez, MB Hanrahan, Maribel Hernandez, Pete Ippel, Elana Kundell, Xavier Montes, Shelly Anne Moore, Cecilia Ortiz, Claudia Pardo, Amadeo Perez, Bob Privitt, Arturo Rivas, Ricardo Rodriguez, Susan Seaberry, Courtney Sprigg, Veronica Valadez, Carlos Valdivia, Naomi Valdivia, Andrea Vargas, and Hiroko Yoshimoto.

Traditional and artist-created altars by Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, Pete Ippel, Susan Haverland, Laurie Johnson, and Courtney Sprigg will also be on display. Museum galleries remain open until 7:00 p.m. during the Friday celebration, and feature the exhibit Social Resurrection: Ceramics by Richard Flores. Altars and retablos will remain in the Pavilion for viewing through Sunday, November 4.

Observed in many parts of Mexico and Latin America, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) honors the departed who are said to come back to walk among the living on November 1 and 2. It .is now popular in the United States among Latinos and non-Latinos alike. Humorous skulls (calaveras) and skeletons going about worldly business are the dominant symbols of the celebration, which has roots in pre-Columbian as well as Spanish religious beliefs.

The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura. Hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the exhibitions is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, members and children under 6 are free. The first Sundays of every month are free general admission for the public. For more museum information go to www.venturamuseum.org or call 805-653-0323.

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THOUSAND OAKS, CA - Barbara Collins, a pioneering biology professor in her 50th year of teaching at California Lutheran University, will discuss her life and her new memoir from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, in the Lundring Events Center on campus.

Collins’ photo-packed book, “You Lead a Mean Trail: Life Adventures and Fifty Years of Teaching,” was released in August by Lutheran University Press. The book’s title came from one of Collins’ students. Struggling to keep up with his professor during a strenuous field trip, he declared, “Dr. Collins, you sure do lead a mean trail.”

The 83-year-old Thousand Oaks resident has been a trailblazer in many ways, and the paths she carved out have been challenging ones, particularly for a woman of her era. The New Jersey native, who loved athletics and competition, received dolls for Christmas while coveting her brother’s erector and chemistry sets.

Collins earned a bachelor’s degree from Bates College and a master’s degree from Smith College. At a time when few women studied science, she became the first female to earn a doctorate in geology from the University of Illinois. After living in Germany for two years, she returned to the University of Illinois and discovered her love for botany. She went on to complete the requirements for a master’s degree and doctorate in the subject.

She found her calling as a college professor. She taught at San Fernando Valley State College, which later became California State University, Northridge, for three years before becoming one of the first faculty members at CLU in 1963. As a woman in a man’s profession, she worked full time while raising five children in the days before maternity leave. In 1964, the chair of the biology department told her she couldn’t teach while she was pregnant. She resisted and the university’s administration changed the policy so she could continue.

Collins, who has climbed Mt. Whitney several times, has been sharing her passion fornature with CLU students ever since, taking them on scientific field trips in California’s deserts, Hawaii, Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. Students named her Professor of the Year in 1996, and she received the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007. Still teaching full time, she plans to retire in May.

She has worked to preserve local open space and written more than 10 books. At CLU, she identified more than 100 plants for the Barbara Collins Arboretum on campus and compiled an online directory of thousands of plants.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of Homecoming and Family Weekend activities. Refreshments will be served. Books will be available for purchase.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on the north side of Olsen Road between Campus Drive and Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, contact Stephanie Hessemer in the Alumni & Parent Relations office at hessemer@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3161.

SANTA PAULA, CA – The Santa Paula Art Museum welcomes back the incredibly talented “Razzberry Jam” on Sunday, October 14 from 4 to 6 p.m. The band will be performing one of the great American art forms, New Orleans style jazz. Guests of the concert will also enjoy refreshments and hors d’oeuvres. Admission to the event is $10 for Museum Members and $15 for non-members.

Razzberry Jam was formed more than 20 years ago, its seven members also being active players in a number of well-known musical groups in Ventura County including the Ventura County Concert Band, Swing Shift, the British Brass Ensemble and others. The group specializes in playing traditional Dixieland style jazz tunes such as “Bill Bailey”, “Won’t You Please Come Home” and “Bourbon Street Parade”. To get a taste of the band’s sound, visit the events page on the Museum’s website, www.SantaPaulaArtMuseum.org.

Members of Razzberry Jam include vocalist Dia Takahashi, Tom Hackney on piano, Chuck Mullett on clarinet, Charlie Myerson on banjo, Jim Wade on tuba and drums, Jim Walker on cornet and trumpet, and Michael Wallace on trombone. As a band, they not only recreate the elegant music of a bygone era, but they also simply love playing together.

The Santa Paula Art Museum is the repository and exhibition hall for the Santa Paula Art Collection. The valuable assemblage represents the accumulation of award winning entries in the Santa Paula Art Show which began in 1937. Exhibits currently on view at the Art Museum include Carlisle Cooper: A Retrospective, Next Generation: Student Art Show, and special selections from the Santa Paula Collection.

Reservations for the concert are recommended. For more information, contact the Museum at (805) 525-5554, or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. The Museum is located at 117 North 10th Street, Santa Paula, CA 93060. The Museum’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM – 4 PM, and Sundays, 12 PM – 4 PM. Regular admission is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors and free for museum members and students.

Known internationally for their traditional son jarocho music, the group Conjunto Hueyapan appears at the Museum of Ventura County Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula on Saturday, October 27, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Two generations of the Herrera family compose Conjunto Hueyapan, which has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Hollywood Bowl, President Reagan’s 1885 Inaugural Ball, and at other venues throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe. Admission to the concert is $5, with doors opening at 7:00 p.m. There are no reservations; first come, first seated.

During intermission, visitors can purchase refreshments, view new museum exhibits, and listen to music played by the guitar students of Santa Paula harpist Xavier Montes. Members of Montes’ “Angels On Harps” also perform earlier in the day at the opening reception for the De Colores Art Show at the neighboring Santa Paula Art Museum. Go to www.santapaulaartmuseum.org for more information about that exhibit and reception.

Son jarocho is a regional folk music style from Veracruz, Mexico, which the Conjunto Hueyapan family ensemble learned to play in their native California, then perfected under master musicians in Mexico City and Veracruz. In addition to performances of son jarocho, the ensemble begun by Fermín Herrera in 1973 has dedicated itself to research, preservation, and documentation of the traditional Mexican music. Members of the group include brothers Fermín, Andrés, Jorge and Tomás Herrera; sister María Isabel Herrera; and Fermín’s sons Xocoytzin and Motechzomah.

The Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum is located at 926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula, California, in their historic downtown, near the Depot and next to the railroad tracks. Hours are 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, free for Museum of Ventura County members, and children ages 5 and younger. On first Sundays of the month, admission is always free. For more information, go to www.venturamuseum.org or call (805) 525-3100.

David Kassan

VENTURA, CA - Artists, critics, academics, collectors and students will come together in Ventura in October to discuss representational art’s place in the 21st century.

California Lutheran University is presenting TRAC2012: The Representational Art Conference from Oct. 14 through 17 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Representational art portrays recognizable people, places and objects and captures natural phenomena while demonstrating the artist’s skill. The rise of postmodern art pushed representational art to the shadows both in academia and the art world. CLU faculty members Michael Pearce and Michael Lynn Adams organized the conference to address the lack of critical appreciation of representational art and explore the new directions it might take.

The keynote speakers are art critic Jed Perl with The New Republic and artist John Nava, whose major commissions include the tapestries in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Perl will discuss “Re-Imagining Representation: On the Challenges of the Real and the Ideal.” Nava will present “Representing by Hand: Painting in the Digital Age.” Featured presenter Virgil Elliot, a painter and writer, will speak on “The Concept of Quality in Art: Inspirational and Practical Concerns.”

Panelists include Elaine Adams, CEO of the California Art Club and director of American Legacy Fine Arts LLC; Peter Adams, one of California’s most recognized landscape and figurative painters; David Kassan, a teacher at the Art Students League in New York best known for his life-size realist portraits; Sadie Valeri, an internationally recognized still-life oil painter from San Francisco; and Ruth Weisberg, a drawing and printmaking professor at the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Arts whose work is exhibited internationally.

Studio art demonstrations will be presented by Béla Bácsi on sculpting, Jeremy Lipking on figure painting, Tony Pro on portraitpainting, Alexey Steele on Russian academy drawing and Mia Tavonatti on mosaics. Kassan will give a demonstration during a Ventura Limoncello tasting.

American Artist magazine just named Kassan and Lipking among the Top 25 Great Artists of Tomorrow.

Academics from throughout the United States and foreign countries including Australia, Iran and Nigeria will present papers. Exhibits and presentations organized in conjunction with the conference will take place at the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard and Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture and William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art on CLU’s Thousand Oaks campus.

For more information and registration, visit TRAC2012.org or email info@TRAC2012.org.

Camarillo, CA – CSU Channel Islands (CI) will host “Politics to the Extreme: American Political Institutions in the 21st Century,” Monday, Oct. 15, and Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the Grand Salon at the CI campus.

The free public conference will bring nationally noted authors, experts, politicians and pundits to the CI campus for two days of presentations, moderated sessions, discussion and debate about polarization in American politics. The conference is the first of several events planned to engage the CI campus and community in political discourse during the 2012 Presidential election year.

“With ‘Politics to the Extreme’ we are convening some of the country’s leading political minds and members of our community to dissect causes, effects and solutions for the hyper-partisanship and gridlock plaguing our political system,” said CI President Richard R. Rush. “We may not be able to resolve the problems in Washington or Sacramento in two days, but we can enjoy sharing in a lively and eye-opening discourse.”

The keynote speakers CONTINUED »

David Colin Freeman

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University’s Founders Day Concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, in Samuelson Chapel.

The University Symphony will present the Suzanne Freeman Memorial Concert under the direction of veteran faculty member Daniel Geeting.

The concert will feature “Elegy in Memoriam” by Freeman’s son David Colin Freeman. Other full orchestra pieces on the program include two movements of Debussy’s “Petite Suite” (originally a piano piece redone for orchestra by Henri Busser), Christoph Willibald von Gluck’s overture to the opera “Iphigenia in Aulis,” and the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 5.”

The program also features two chamber ensembles. The Honors String Quartet willperform the first movement of Mozart’s “Quartet in C Major,” K. 157. The University Percussion Ensemble will perform “Piece for Percussion,” a contemporary work by Mitchell Peters.

David Freeman is a composer, arranger, pianist and flutist. His recent album, “Symphonic Allusions,” can be heard on iTunes, Pandora, Rhapsody and Amazon, and his backing tracks can be heard on stage in Las Vegas where he currently resides. The 2000 CLU music alumnus is also an educator who specializes in musical development and theory.

Donations given in memory of Suzanne Freeman, a longtime CLU staff member who died inAugust 2011, helped fund the concert. Donations will be accepted at the concert.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus. Additional parking is available at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit callutheran.edu/music.

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Opening October 20th, 2012
Bug Fair on Saturday, October 20th from 10am to 4pm
Bug Exhibit, October 20 – February 24

Come see what the buzz is all about! The California Oil Museum will be host to hundreds of bugs during a day-long Bug Fair and a bug exhibit in our main gallery with every kind of small creature from bugs in fossils to exotics. The Bug Fair will have featured speakers such as Steve Kutcher, well known as the ‘Bug Man of Hollywood’ (http://bugsaremybusiness.com/bio.htm), Mike Caterino, Curator of Entomology at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, and Bennett’s Honey will have a short film and demonstration on bees. Come join the fun with many collectors as they show their creepy crawlies! There will be Bug Fair displays from the Farm Bureau, Limoneira, Associates Insectary, Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, BioQuip, GBU Exotic Pets, and more. The California Oil Museum is located at 1001 E. Main Street. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, $1 for students 6-17, free to members and children 5 and under. The Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 4pm. For more information the website is www.oilmuseum.net and phone number is 805-933-0076.

One of the collectors displayed in this exhibit is Jerri Larsson from BioQuip. Jerri has been collecting for over 30 years and has more than 100 cases of butterflies, moths, spiders, walking sticks, beetles, just to name a few. As the technical advisor for Bioquip and owner of Insect Adventures, he is the answer-man for many problems and advice most bug collector’s need. A large portion of Jerri’s bugs will be on display as well as those from Mike Caterino, Curator of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Steve Kutcher, Stuart Wilson, Susan Mulqueen, Bardsdale 4-H, Dave Mautz and Jim Brace-Thompson.

Who: Bug Collectors
What: All Kinds of Bugs!
Where: The Amazing California Oil Museum
When: October 20, 2012 to February 24, 2013, BUG FAIR ON OCTOBER 20th
Why: To see what the buzz is all about!

The Moorpark College Foundation and America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College will host Rendezvous at the Zoo on October 11, 2012, from 6-9 p.m. at 7075 Campus Road in Moorpark. The event promises to be a WILD night, featuring new friends and exotic animals under the stars. Guests will enjoy live music, hors d’oeuvres, wine, and beverages while “stalking” their favorite items at the Silent Auction.

All profits from this event will be used to help fund student scholarships, animal medical care, Zoo betterment projects, such as upgrading to more naturalistic animal enclosures, public interaction stations, and the implementation of multi-species exhibits. Dedicated to the education of students in the Exotic Animal Training and Management program and Moorpark College students, America’s Teaching Zoo also supports the local community as a resource for recreation and learning.

Rendezvous at the Zoo is a Moorpark College Foundation Fundraiser. You must be age 21 or older to attend. Online Tickets: $40 at www.moorparkcollege.edu/zoo (plus $1 processing fee); Tickets at the Door: $55. Free parking will be available. For more information, contact Brenda Woodhouse at bwoodhouse@vcccd.edu or Tel. 805-378-1441.

Camarillo, CA - CSU Channel Islands (CI) will welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author Junot Díaz as the featured guest at its eighth annual Campus Reading Celebration, Thursday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon on the CI campus. Díaz will sign copies of his books after his presentation.

The Campus Reading Celebration is an annual event that unites the CI campus community, the public and noted authors in a dialogue about culturally and socially significant books and their underlying themes. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, chosen by CI students as this year's Campus Reading Celebration book, recounts the life of Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an overwhelming critical success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008, John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize, the Dayton Peace Prize in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as appearing in more than 35 best-of-the-year book lists. New York magazine named it the Best Novel of the Year and Time magazine named it No. 1 of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007. Miramax acquired the rights for a film adaptation in 2007.

Born in the Dominican CONTINUED »

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - An exhibit of art reflecting life in the early 20th century will run from Oct. 10 through Feb. 2 in The William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art at California Lutheran University.

An opening reception for “Resonating Images: 1900-1950” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27. The free exhibit is being held in conjunction with TRAC2012: The Representational Art Conference, which CLU is presenting Oct. 14 through 17 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ventura.

The exhibit features works by such prominent American artists as George Bellows, a realist known for his bold paintings of urban life in New York City, and John French Sloan, a member of The Eight whose 1908 group show created a sensation and led to the realist artistic movement known as the Ashcan School.

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“Ulama: The Game of Life & Death,” an award winning documentary which explores the origins of a Pre-Columbian ball game still played today, is presented at the Museum of Ventura County on Saturday, October 13, at 2:00 p.m., followed by a question and answer session with filmmaker Roberto Rochín of Mexico City. Admission is $5, $3 for students and seniors, museum members free. Price includes entry to all museum exhibits, including Social Resurrection, featuring ceramic vessels by Richard Flores that reflect the teaching of the ancient Maya.

Ulama is still pursued today in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, and the film details the history and significance of this still existing link between pre-Hispanic and modern Mexico. The documentary delves into the ritualistic origins of a game once played to the death, as well as its symbolism and representations in mythology and the visual arts. It also highlights the game courts found by archaeologists and the way the game is currently played. The 110-minute film is in Spanish with English subtitles.

“Ulama” received five Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy ofFilm, including best feature length documentary and cinematography. Director, writer, and producer Rochín is a director at Motion Control Mexico, and his film work includes documentaries, animation and visual effects.

The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura. Hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the exhibitions is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, members and children under 6 are free. The first Sundays of every month are free general admission for the public. For more museum information go to www.venturamuseum.org or call 805-653-0323.

Ojai, CA - More than 25 local restaurants, as well as local wineries and breweries, will join together to share the fruits of their labor on Saturday, October 27, 2012 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the 10th green at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa.

This year’s “Taste of Ojai” will include local wines and beers, food tastings from Ojai’s finest restaurants, and great music for dancing. In addition, we are pleased to offer our VIP tent featuring the tastes of the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa’s signature restaurant, The “Maravilla”. The VIP tent is available to sponsors only this year. There are a couple of sponsorship opportunities still available. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor please contact Peter Bowen at 805.832.5382.

Proceeds from this event will support the Rotary Club of Ojai’s Educational Foundation, which helps more than 15 local, non-profit organizations serving the Ojai Valley, including families, seniors, youth, and schools. The 28-plus participating restaurants, in addition to the wineries and breweries, share their menu favorites with “Taste of Ojai” attendees, who are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, and bring their party personalities.

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THOUSAND OAKS, CA – An expert on Latin American literature and culture will discuss hip-hop artists and their music at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at California LutheranUniversity.

Christopher Dennis, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, will discuss his new book “Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop: Globalization, Transcultural Music, and Ethnic Identities” in Lundring Events Center on the Thousand Oaks campus. A reception will be held at 4:30 p.m.

“Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop” explores the impact that globalization and the transnational spread of U.S. popular culture – specifically hip-hop and rap – are having on the social identities of younger generations of black Colombians. Dennis will discuss why and how hip-hop has migrated so effectively to Colombia’s black communities and will introduce the audience to some of the most renowned Afro-Colombian hip-hop artists and their musical innovations and production and distribution practices.

Dennis has published articles on Afro-Colombian literature, racial iconography, Cartagena’s tourist industry and the representation of black subjects in Colombian colonial literature.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on the north side of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard.

CLU’s Department of Languages and Cultures and Center for Equality and Justice are sponsoring the free lecture and reception. For more information, contact the Center for Equality and Justice at 805-493-3694 or cej@callutheran.edu.

This is a special Lecture/slide presentation for the Ventura Co Potters' Guild.
It is held at the Ventura Senior Center, but is not a Senior activity.

Emily Therous Threatt
Monday September 24th, 2012, 7 - 9 pm

EMILY THIROUX-THREATT, the featured artist at the VCPG Pottery Gallery at Ventura Harbor, will present a power point program about her experiences at Idyllwild Arts Summer Program, that has offered intensive workshops in visual arts since 1950. Featured will be classes given by Linda Ganstrom, a figurative ceramic artist for over three decades who hand builds and often forms her large life size sculptures of slabs or coils, Linda’s figures have a narrative, storytelling appeal that is enhanced by the addition of mixed media elements. The other portion of the program will feature Richard Burkett who has over 40 years of experience in ceramics. He is the author of HyperGlaze glaze software and coauthor of the 6th edition of Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook. There will be discussion of Burkett's new computer glaze software.

Ventura Senior Center
420 E. Santa Clara St.,
Doors open at 7pm, Talk starts at 8 pm
Refreshments, Public is welcome. FREE
For more information call 985-5038

Moorpark, CA — The Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival Committee announces the entertainment lineup for the 3rd Annual Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival will include performances by Sonic Abatement and Steven Hur and musical intermissions by DJ Apple Juice.

Both Sonic Abatement and Steven Hur performed at the 2nd Annual Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival. DJ Apple Juice is a new addition to the event’s entertainment lineup.

Lillian Canterbury, Chairman of the Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival Committee had the following remarks, “Sonic Abatement and Steven Hur were crowd favorites at last year’s festival. We are glad to have them back. We also are happy to add DJ Apple Juice to the Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival lineup. The addition of a disk jockey at this year’s festival will ensure uninterrupted entertainment for festival attendees and DJ Apple Juice is a top-notch entertainer who will provide a lively atmosphere for all.”

Sonic Abatement and Steven Hur will perform two 45-minute sets each. DJ Apple Juice will play music before and after each band’s set and during scheduled intermissions. For more information about Sonic Abatement, Steven Hur or DJ Apple Juice visit http://www.moorparkbeerfestival.com/entertainment.

The Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival is the annual fundraiser of the Moorpark Morning Rotary Club. Started in 2009, the event has become a staple in the Moorpark community calendar and funds the Moorpark Morning Rotary Club’s philanthropic efforts throughout the year. All of the proceeds of the Moorpark Beer Tasting Festival will benefit the Moorpark Morning Rotary Club Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which uses the funds to support local schools and community organizations.

For more information please visit http://www.moorparkbeerfestival.com

California State University Channel Islands

Camarillo, CA - The OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at CSU Channel Islands (CI) will kick off its 2012/2013 Lecture Series at the Camarillo Public Library on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 2 p.m. with “The Magic of Georges Melies.”

The free, two-hour lecture and discussion led by film expert and OLLI instructor Bob Koster will examine the life and work of French illusionist and film pioneer Georges Melies. Widely considered the “father of special effects,” Melies built the first movie studio in Europe and was the first filmmaker to use production sketches and storyboards. Though his silent films entertained audiences more than a century ago, he has recaptured public interest after being portrayed in the 2011 Martin Scorsese Oscar-Award-winning film “Hugo.”

With more than 40 years’ experience working in film and television production, Bob Koster now shares his passion for film and TV through teaching. He has taught production at UCLA, USC, Art Center College and AFI, lectured internationally, and authored three books on film production. As an instructor at OLLI, he teaches such popular courses as “From Hitler to Hollywood,” “Movie Musicals,” and “A History of Propaganda Films.”

OLLI brings the excitement and CONTINUED »