THOUSAND OAKS, CA - Two artists who explore personality through different media will bring their contrasting styles to California Lutheran University in January.

“Pretty People,” featuring works by painter Zhenya Gershman and sculptor Lynn Christopher, will be on exhibit from Jan. 9 through Feb. 26 in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture. A reception will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 30.

Gershman’s portraits of her muse, Los Angeles model Mark Snyder, are painted in intense colors on an epic scale. Christopher adds more muted colors to poignant character studies of ordinary people, which she sculpts in bronze.

Gershman, whose studio is in Los Angeles, was selected to create iconic portraits of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan for the MusiCares GRAMMY Foundation, and her numerous awards include the ALEX Award in Visual Arts. Various media including “Entertainment Tonight,” “Extra” and the New York Post featured her exhibition “Larger Than Life.” Born in Russia, Gershman held her first solo exhibition in St. Petersburg at the age of 14. The youngest student to be admitted to Otis Art Institute, she graduated with honors and later received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Art Center College of Design.

Christopher began her career as a set designer at Universal Studios. The Los Angeles resident went on to become an art director and, over the span of 30-plus years, worked on films and television shows as both a set designer and art director at major film studios. She has studied painting and sculpture at art academies in the Los Angeles area. She currently works full time in her studio, focusing on the nude figure and portraits. She emphasizes rhythms, subtle gestural notes and facial expressions to create a presence. She won the Gold Medal Awards for Best Sculpture at the 2012 and 2014 California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibitions.

The Cal Lutheran Art Department is sponsoring the free exhibit. Located in Soiland Humanities Center, the Kwan Fong Gallery is open to the public 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Visitor parking is available in the parking lot on Mountclef Boulevard south of Olsen Road. For information, call curator Michael Pearce at 805-444-7716 or visit callutheran.edu/kwan_fong

"ZVJEZDICE" ("LITTLE STARS") EUROPEAN CHOIR - Ojai Youth Opera in cooperation with Thacher School is thrilled to present to the public a rare opportunity to see this elite, internationally-renowned choir that popular European editorial opinion declares has surpassed the Vienna Boys’ Choir as Europe’s leading youth choir. Zvjezdice will perform a seasonal and classical repertoire with Thacher Chamber Choir, Nordhoff Choir, and OYO Company in a festive, lively celebration for all the family.

December 15th at Thacher School, 6:30-8pm. General Admission - $30; Premiere Seating - $50; Group Discount for 6 or more - $20 per ticket; Parents of Local Performers - $20. TICKETS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR for this performance but must be purchased beforehand at www.ojaiyouthopera.org

The Ojai Photography Club will host a flea market sale of photography and artist items on Saturday, December 5, 2015. The sale runs from 9:00 a.m. (no early birds, please) to 3:00 p.m. at Help of Ojai’s Kent Hall, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA.

All proceeds of the sale benefit Help of Ojai. Payment will be accepted in cash or check only.

Many items are new or like new from the estate of a club member. Included are a Logan Mat Cutter, a heavy duty Manfrotto tripod and ball heads, Manfrotto 715B Digi Tripod, Polaroid camera, filters, Plotter film, Cokin N.D. Filters, Aquapac Underwater Camera Case, Cameras plus two vintage items, camera bags, a complete set of the Time Life Library of Photography and other books - the list goes on! A few club members will have individual items for sale: lenses, a Spider Holster and a Hoodman Crane.

Artists may be interested in wooden easels, picture frames of assorted sizes, foam core, and mat board.

Items are reasonably priced and shoppers will find many great bargains.

The Ojai Photography Club, which is devoted to education, inspiration, and camaraderie, meets on the third Tuesday of each month, February – November. Only members may submit images for review. For additional information please visit: www.ojaiphotoclub.com/

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The Museum of Ventura County presents Duets: Art and Artisans in Harmony opening December 6, 2015, which celebrates and showcases the work of remarkable local craftsmen. Works from local artisans such as Tom Anderson, Peter Boles, Fletcher Brock, Eilam Byle, David Eichelbaum, Jean Larrivé, Jim McCarthy, Tony Moraza, David Salais, Marston Smith, Joe Till, and James Wimmer take visitors through the artistry and design of music. Also included are instruments from the RKS Design and Drum Workshop in Oxnard. The exhibit will discuss their place in the context of instrument making, and their inspiration.

Ventura County has been home to a vibrant musical community since the early twentieth century. Within this community, a proud tradition of instrument-making has developed. Ventura County’s craftsmen have produced some of the world’s finest musical instruments, from traditional European-style violins and guitars to newer American instruments such as archtop mandolins and environmentally-friendly drums.

Around the world, the culture of music has developed over many centuries. Integral to that development has been its tool: musical instruments. This is reflected not just in the sounds they produce but also in their design and purpose. Instruments can be made in unusual shapes, with precious materials or with beautiful decoration, making them unique and collectable items. Highlights of this exhibition include:
• A cello crafted in the mid-19th century on loan from Mission San Buenaventura which has rarely been publicly exhibited;
• A guitar made from all natural and recycled materials, crafted from resin and driftwood by musician J. Peter Boles ;
• A hand-crafted electric guitar made by Tom Anderson of Anderson Guitarworks in Newbury Park used by many current artists, such as country great Clint Black, and
• A true replica of a Baroque-period viola d’amore made by James Wimmer of Santa Barbara.

Visitors will be able to see interviews with the artists in the context of their work. Works of fine art from the Museum of Ventura County’s collection will be paired with the instruments in a thematic and complementary way, reinforcing the true aesthetic of the luthier and instrument-maker in modern culture.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - The California Lutheran University Jazz Collective will present a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11, in Preus-Brandt Forum.

Under director Uziel Colón, student performers in the Jazz Collective will play standards, modern classics and original arrangements of popular songs. The varied and interesting repertoire will include Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” George Benson’s “Breezin’” and Miles Davis’ “Seven Steps To Heaven,” among others. The band is comprised of both music and non-music majors.

Colón is a pianist and composer whose repertoire ranges from piano improvisations in Latin jazz to commercial pop to salsa rhythms to gospel. The Studio City resident has performed at events including the Heineken JazzFest in Puerto Rico, the Beantown Jazz Fest in Boston, CJW in Beijing and the MadaJazzcar Festival in Madagascar. He works for The Latin Recording Academy and composes, arranges and produces music for television shows and independent artists.

Preus-Brandt Forum is located at 135 Chapel Lane. Additional parking is available in the lots at the corner of Mountclef and Olsen.

Donations will be accepted. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit CalLutheran.edu.

SANTA PAULA, CA – In celebration of the holiday season and the community’s generous support throughout the year, the Santa Paula Art Museum will host a holiday party on Sunday, December 6, 2015, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Guests will enjoy a fun and festive afternoon of holiday music and treats inside the Museum’s beautifully decorated galleries. The event will also feature a live musical performance by the local group “Half Notes.” Admission to the event is free for everyone.

“We are so thankful for the support and kindness of the community, our volunteers, and our visitors,” says Museum Executive Director Jennifer Heighton. “Our holiday party is a fun and meaningful way for us to say thank you and to celebrate the season with our supporters.”

Reservations for the event are not required. For more information, please call the Museum at (805) 525-5554 or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. The Museum is located at 117 North Tenth Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Regular admission to the Museum is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors, and free for students and museum members.

"Clouds And Islands Inside Passage Canada" by Photographer Ines Roberts.
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"Inner Space" by Photographer Ines Roberts.
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"Our Lords Candle Owens Dry Lake" by Photographer Ines Roberts.
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The Ojai Photography Club welcomes the return of Ines Labunski Roberts, internationally recognized Santa Barbara photographer, as the presenter for its November meeting. The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, November 17, at Help of Ojai’s Kent Hall, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA. The event is free and the public is cordially invited to attend.

Roberts is a pioneer in the creation of slideshows with musical scores. Since 1972, when her husband, Gilbert Roberts, designed a fuse and dissolve unit for her, she has produced over thirty-five slide/music programs. Now entirely digital, most of her current shows have premiered at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Three years ago at the Ojai Photography Club, Roberts presented “Bodie, a California Ghost Town,” with haunting images and music evoking the eerie beauty of abandoned houses in the high mountain snows.

For this year’s event she will present a slide/music show titled “Our Values,” con-trasting the beauty of nature with the environmental damage caused by our neglect of the earth. The deep love of nature that pervades all of Roberts’ work is at the heart of this presentation. The music she has chosen for her images is by Gustav Mahler, who was inspired by the sounds of the natural world. She says about her program: “The exquisite beginning lets you imagine an environment of peace and harmony, which is colored by the natural antics of a lively stream that will finally flow into and unite with the sea. After that, the atmosphere changes, hinting at activity and progress and finally culminating in chaos and destruction. As the chosen title “Our Values” could be tinged with cynicism, there is also the ending, which suggests and gives a hint of hope.”

Roberts was born in Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) and educated in Germany and England. While living in Scotland, she joined a local camera club, where she received much encouragement and support. After relocating to Santa Barbara in 1966 with her husband and children, Roberts developed rapidly as a self-taught nature photographer. Her images have been published as feature articles in London, Holland, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. Mastering the difficult and demanding technique of Cibachrome photographic printing, she went on to exhibit these prints in many one-woman shows, both in the United States and abroad.

In a long list of international photographic contests, Roberts has garnered major awards, including the Sierra Club Annual Contest and the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. She is a member of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, as well as a member of the prestigious London Salon of Photography. The Salon website: http://www.londonsalon.org

Summing up her art, Roberts states that her deep love for our natural world and her involvement in photography constantly enrich her life and are some of the greatest gifts granted to her.

The Ojai Photography Club, which is devoted to education, inspiration, and camaraderie, meets on the third Tuesday of each month, February – November. Only members may submit images for review. For additional information please visit: www.ojaiphotoclub.com

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Camarillo, CA - Santi Visalli and his camera were there when the Beatles played on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” He was there when Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the steps of the United Nations. He was there when President Richard Nixon sat down with the Soviet Union’s General Secretary, Leonid Breshnev, to sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

A photographer who captured images of five sitting U.S. Presidents, movie stars, political icons and the soul of the 1960s and ‘70s, to name just some of his work, will speak at CSU Channel Islands (CI) about his life, and the 106,964 images he will donate to the University.

“A Life in Pictures,” which will include about 30 pieces from the collection, will be on display in the John Spoor Broome Library and the second floor art gallery from Nov. 16, 2015 through Feb. 12, 2016 with a reception and artist’s talk on Thursday, Nov. 19 from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

“He’s a walking witness to the last part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century,” said Professor of Art History Irina D. Costache, Ph.D., who is curating the show. “Through his lens, he continues to be part of these moments and through him, his work, we, the viewers are also present.”

Visalli, now 83, chose CI to receive his collection because, he said, he wants to be part of an institution that is growing, and he wants his legacy to inspire generations to come.

“I want to evoke the same emotions I felt when I took the pictures,” he said. “It can be joy, it can be sorrow. Number two, I want a historical record. I want people to look at the pictures 100 years from now and know what life was like. And I want people to get educated about good photography.”

The photographer who would capture so much of American culture in the ‘60s and ‘70s was born in Sicily, always with a hunger to visit America. After World War II ended, the hunger grew fierce. “Since I was a little boy I had a fascination with America, even though they were dropping bombs on my head,” he said.

Visalli wanted to be a journalist, so he and two other aspiring young journalists hatched a plan to go around the world by jeep, a trip financed piecemeal by the Italian government with the understanding that they would extol the virtues of Italy.

The journey around the world took almost three years, with Visalli taking photos and developing a love for the process. Visalli fell in love with New York after he and his band of wandering journalists arrived under the shadow of Lady Liberty.

He enrolled in school and began doing freelance photography. Ultimately, his clients would include Look and Life magazines, Newsweek, and a broad range of high-profile American and European publications.

Throughout his career, he was hired to photograph Presidents John F. Kennedy; Lyndon B. Johnson; Richard Nixon; Ronald Reagan; and Bill Clinton.

“Johnson was bigger than life, believe me,” Visalli said. “An extremely tall man, a little on the crude side. More refined were the Kennedys. The one I really photographed a lot was Nixon. We covered him the first day he sat at his desk (in the Oval Office). I was right in front of him.”

Visalli also photographed Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the United Nations building in the early 1960s.

“They wouldn’t let him speak at the UN, so he sat in front of the UN to make a speech,” Vasilli said. “I took a long lens. When his eyes met my long lens, I immediately realized this man is going to be somebody.”

A young Robert De Niro also crossed into Visalli’s field of vision. Visalli met De Niro through his network of fellow Italian expatriates. De Niro had just landed the role of Vito Corleone in “The Godfather, Part II.”

“He knew I spoke Sicilian, so he came to be to be coached in the Sicilian dialect,” Visalli said.

CI Head of Collections and Technical Services for the John Spoor Broome Library, Stephen Stratton, said these images and negatives provide a rich learning opportunity for students of all disciplines.

“The Santi Visalli collection will provide ample opportunities for students to visualize historical personalities, places and events,” he said. “They will be able to use the photographs to study not only the work of a great photographer, but to add to their student of the historic events and periods that are part of his work.”

Limited parking is available on campus with the purchase of a $6 daily permit; follow signs to the parking permit dispensers. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station/Lewis Road with bus service to and from the campus. Riders should board the CI Vista Bus to the campus; the cash-only fare is $1.25 each way. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more about CI by visiting CI’s Social Media.

Just in time to create thoughtful, original holiday gifts, the Museum of Ventura County presents a workshop taught by Los Angeles craft-house and fabric maker French General. Students will learn "linocut", a printmaking technique using rubber relief surfaces. Students will be taught how to carve the printing blocks and be guided through the process of transferring their designs onto paper or fabric. Create wrapping paper, a set of napkins and a tote bag.

The class costs $40 per person, and $35 for Museum members. All materials will be supplied including blocks, ink, cutters, brayers, paper, cloth for napkins and tote bags. Students will be able to purchase additional materials to print on, including: linen yardage, aprons and napkins. To register, please call (805) 653-0323 x 315. Class limited to 30 students.

The Ag Museum is located at 926 Railroad Avenue in Santa Paula. Regular museum hours are from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Friday – Sunday.

Professional dancer and Australian native, Aaron Smyth and State Street Ballet Profession, Kate Kadow.
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International dance star Aaron Smyth from Australia will join the Ventura County Ballet (VCB) in the role of “Nutcracker Prince” in their 17th annual production of The Nutcracker at Oxnard Performing Arts Center, November 21 at 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. and November 22 at 2 p.m. Performances will be accompanied by the 52 piece Ventura College Symphony Orchestra.

This will be Smyth’s fifth appearance with the company. VCB Executive Director Kathleen Noblin stated, “We are thrilled to have Aaron back dancing with us for his fifth season. He is a wonderful role model. It is a joy to watch our pre-professionals dance with such a fine young man and to have him serve as mentor to so many them.”

“It is really fun to work on such a holiday classic like The Nutcracker, and to dance with pre-professionals that have big dreams to be amazing dancers,” expressed Smyth. “It brings me back to the days when I aspired to be a professional dancer. It is an honor to mentor others that have the same passion that drove me.”

Smyth was a scholarship student to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of the American Ballet Theatre New York. He has danced with the Royal Ballet, London, Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, and was a silver and bronze medal recipient at the International Ballet Competition 2014, and recently was a quarter finalist with Season 10 of America’s Got Talent.

Other featured performers: Alexandra Roth, 17, Ballet Academy Ventura’s “2015 Dancer of the Year” will dance the Sugar Plum Fairy and Dew Drop Fairy.

Jazmine Quezada, 15, also named Ballet Academy Ventura’s “2015 Dancer of the Year” and the first recipient of VCB’s Ronald Noblin, MD Scholarship will dance the role of Snow Queen.
Natalie Burkhart, 13, 2014 and 2015 scholarship to State Street Ballet Summer Intensive will dance the role of Clara at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, November 21 and November 22.

Sophia Parker, 13, American Ballet Theatre Young Dancer, New York will dance the role of Clara at Ventura College Performing Arts Center, December 4, 5 and 6th.

In addition, there will be three days of performances at the Ventura College Performing Arts Center which are on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m.

VCB strives to connect artists, audience and community with artistically engaging performances. VCB features national and international ballet stars performing alongside pre-professionals and students, which provides unique training, production experience and mentorship for the next generation of dancers. For more information and for tickets, which are only $15 for children, visit www.venturacountyballet.com.

More about Aaron Smyth:
Smyth’s professional dance career began at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in New York City on a full scholarship. Shortly after, he was promoted to ABT II under the direction of Wes Chapman. With ABT II, Smyth performed in many new choreographic works including leading roles in Jessica Lang’s “La Belle Danse,” “Vivace Mottifs” and “Oblivion.”

Smyth was “Showcase” Australian Dancer of the Year in 2006. He won the silver medal from the Beijing International Ballet and Choreography competition in 2013, and performed at the Beijing International Ballet Awards Gala and Seoul International Dance Gala in Korea. Smyth also performed at the International Olympic Committee Gala at the Royal Opera House in honoree of the London Olympic Winter Games.

About the Ventura County Ballet Company and Ballet Academy Ventura:
Celebrating its 17th year, the Ventura County Ballet Company features professional dancers as well as VCB pre-professionals and students from Ballet Academy Ventura, the official school of the VCB.
Kathleen Noblin, a recipient of the City of Ventura 2008 Mayor’s Arts Award, founded Ballet Academy Ventura in 1992 as the official school of the Ventura County Ballet where the company is in residence. She has served as executive director of the company since its inception.
For more information, or to sponsor an upcoming ballet or educational program, call (805) 648-2080 or visit www.venturacountyballet.com.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University’s Wind Ensemble will perform its annual fall concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20, in Samuelson Chapel.

The ensemble, conducted by Michael Hart, will perform a wide variety of works for concert band. The program will open with the joyful “Fantasia in G” by Timothy Mahr. Other works include the “Florentiner March” by Czech composer Julius Fučik, “Cloudburst” by Eric Whitacre with poetry by Octavio Paz, and “Scenes from the Louvre” by Norman Dello Joio. “Festal Scenes” by composer Yasuhide Ito will close the concert. This composition weaves together several Japanese folk songs into a powerful tour-de-force.

Hart is director of bands and an assistant professor of music. In addition to conducting the Wind Ensemble and the Pep Band, the Moorpark resident teaches courses in music theory and ear training, provides private lessons in trombone, euphonium and tuba, and serves as a field supervisor for music education majors.

As a tubist, he performs as a solo artist and frequently appears in chamber groups, symphonies and concert bands throughout Southern California. He is active as an adjudicator, presenter and guest conductor throughout California.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

Samuelson Chapel is located at 165 Chapel Lane 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.

“Rows Upon Rows” by Trice Tolle, acrylic on canvas, 31” x 31”, Collection of the Artist.
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“Lemons and Gingko” by Gail Faulkner, watercolor, 24” x 24”, Collection of the Artist.
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SANTA PAULA, CA - The Eighth Annual “Art About Agriculture,” an agricultural themed art exhibition featuring 75 works of art, will be on view November 14, 2015 through January 31, 2016 at the Santa Paula Art Museum. Presented by the Ag Art Alliance, the purpose of the exhibit is to promote art about agriculture by exploring all of the facets of agriculture from workers to water, machinery to soil, to the food that goes on our plates. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 14, 2015, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Santa Paula Art Museum. The cost of admission is $10.00 for museum members and $15.00 for non-members.

The Ag Art Alliance was formed in 2007 by Gail Pidduck and John Nichols to promote a greater appreciation of the place of agriculture in our lives by revealing the many facets of agriculture through the eyes of artists. Art About Agriculture features art by over 60 artists working in both two and three dimensional media who create art that in some way draws its inspiration from our agricultural heritage and/or contemporary agriculture. That inspiration includes, but is not limited to, depictions of rural landscape, farm animals, farm products, rural life, and art that in a more abstract way deals with issues and ideas related to agriculture. All work in the exhibition will be for sale.

The Santa Paula Art Museum is located at 117 North 10th Street in historic downtown Santa Paula. The Museum is open Wednesday-Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sunday from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Regular admission is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors, and free for members and students. Please call (805) 525-5554 or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org for more information.

WHAT: Ag Art Alliance Eighth Annual Exhibit “Art About Agriculture”

WHERE: Santa Paula Art Museum, 117 N. 10th St. Santa Paula, CA, 93060

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, November 14, 2015 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Santa Paula Art Museum, cost of admission is $10.00 for museum members and $15.00 for non-members.

EXHIBIT DATES: November 14, 2015 through January 31, 2016

SANTA PAULA, CA - Sip, shop and support the Museum! On Sunday, November 8, 2015, the Santa Paula Art Museum will host a fun and festive shopping event in the Museum’s gift store from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Guests will be able to shop for exciting gifts for everyone on their holiday shopping list. Admission to the event is free for everyone.

The Santa Paula Art Museum gift store offers a wonderful variety of products including accessories, books and home decor. In addition to fresh new merchandise in the museum store, the event will feature many handmade items by local artist vendors including handcrafted jewelry, bags, pottery and paintings. Plus, every purchase made in the Museum’s gift store directly supports the Museum and its educational programs.

Reservations for the event are not required. For more information, call (805) 525-5554, or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. The Museum is located at 117 North 10th Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum gift store’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Brittany Corbucci

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - An art and language educator will lead a free tour in Italian of an exhibit at California Lutheran University from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 11.

Brittany Corbucci, an Italian instructor at Pepperdine University and the art education and museum coordinator at the Pepperdine Center for the Arts, will guide visitors through “Transmission: Secrets of the Studio” in the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art. Corbucci, who studied Italian at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia in Italy, is the adviser for Pepperdine’s Cultural Italian American Organization (C.I.A.O.), which promotes the study of Italian language, heritage and culture.

“Transmission,” which will run Oct. 30 through Jan. 21, highlights the ways artists inspire each other. It features works by contemporary representational artists and some of the artists who inspired them.

The exhibit will feature paintings, drawings and sculptures by artists from the United States and Europe.Painter Daniel Graves founded and directs The Florence Academy of Art. Painter F. Scott Hess has works in the Smithsonian Institution, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other public collections. Mixed-media artist Brad Kunkle of New York City was named one of the 25 Artists of Tomorrow by American Artist magazine in 2012. Internationally celebrated sculptor Richard MacDonald will concurrently exhibit a dozen of his sculptures along a path between the Rolland Gallery and the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture on campus. Norwegian Odd Nerdrum is considered by many as one of the greatest living representational painters and his work is collected by museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego and the Gothenburg Museum of Art in Sweden. Jon Swihart received commissions to paint portraits of Walter Cronkite, Elizabeth Dole and Jack Lemmon. The paintings and prints of Ruth Weisberg are in several collections including the Met and Instituto Nationale per la Grafica in Rome. Painter Lea Colie Wight has earned multiple awards from the Portrait Society of America. Other artists include sculptors Lynn Christopher, Alicia Ponzio and Gary Weisman; painters Luke Hillestad, Hüicho Lé, David Molesky and Michael Pearce; and charcoal artist Annie Murphy-Robinson.

Alongside works by these current artists will be those of 16th- and 19th-century predecessors who provided inspiration. These artists are French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Flemish sculptor Giambologna (Jean Boulogne) and French painters and sculptors Alexandre Falguière, Adrien Étienne Gaudez, Jean-Léon Gérôme and Antonin Mercié.

Admission is free. The gallery is located in William Rolland Stadium on the north side of Olsen Road between Campus Drive and Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, contact Rachel T. Schmid at 805-493-3697 or rtschmid@callutheran.edu or visit CalLutheran.edu/rolland.

Sip, shop and support the Museum! On Sunday, November 8, 2015, the Santa Paula Art Museum will host a fun and festive shopping event in the Museum’s gift store from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Guests will be able to shop for exciting gifts for everyone on their holiday shopping list. Admission to the event is free for everyone.

The Santa Paula Art Museum gift store offers a wonderful variety of products including accessories, books and home decor. In addition to fresh new merchandise in the museum store, the event will feature many handmade items by local artist vendors including handcrafted jewelry, bags, pottery and paintings. Plus, every purchase made in the Museum’s gift store directly supports the Museum and its educational programs.

Reservations for the event are not required. For more information, call (805) 525-5554, or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. The Museum is located at 117 North 10th Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum gift store’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Keynote Speaker Fred Ross

VENTURA, CA - Keynote speakers at The Representational Art Conference 2015 to be held Nov. 1-4 will include an activist, a curator, a neuroscientist and a sculptor, as 350 international attendees try to identify the guiding principles of art after postmodernity.

The theme of the third in a series of conferences presented by California Lutheran University is “Rock Solid: Finding the Aesthetic Foundations of Contemporary Representational Art.” Discussions, presentations and demonstrations at the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach will illuminate a search for aesthetic themes that connect contemporary works. Participants will include academics, artists, collectors, critics and curators.

The keynote speakers will be curator Elliot Bostwick Davis of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, internationally celebrated sculptor Richard MacDonald of Monterey, New Jersey-based Art Renewal Center (ARC) Chairman Fred Ross and London-based Institute of Neuroesthetics Founder and Director Semir Zeki. Davis led her curatorial staff in opening the four-level Art of the Americas Wing in 2010 and has mounted a variety of installations, including the first major exhibition of 19th-century American painting in Italy. MacDonald works with ballerinas, athletes and acrobats to create sculptures of them in motion. Ross founded ARC in 2000 to promote classical realism in contemporary art through advocacy, education, research and training. Zeki founded his institute at University College London to study the relationship between art and the mind.

Other presenters and panelists include curator Joseph Bravo, critic Peter Frank, museum director Michael Zakian and artists Candice Bohannon, Max Ginsburg, F. Scott Hess, Julio Reyes, Alexey Steele and Ruth Weisberg.

Several accomplished artists will demonstrate their skills, including draftsman David Kassan, Chinese brush painter Nan Liu, sculptor Alicia Ponzio, watercolorist Mario Robinson and painters Ginsburg, Jeremy Lipking, Tony Pro, Conor Walton and Lea Colie Wight.

The conference kicks off with a paint-out at the Ventura Pier and includes visits to galleries and museums throughout Ventura County. During an excursion to Cal Lutheran’s Thousand Oaks campus, participants will visit artist-in-residence Brad Kunkle at the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture, stroll through MacDonald’s outdoor exhibit “Sculpture | Walk” and take in the “Transmission: Secrets of the Studio” show in the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art that was organized in conjunction with the conference.

Cal Lutheran faculty members Michael Pearce and Michael Lynn Adams organized the first conference in 2012 to address what they identified as a lack of critical appreciation of representational art and to explore the new directions it might take.

For more information or to register, visit trac2015.org.

Three Ramona silent films will highlight a weekend celebration of 19th century rancho life at Rancho Camulos National Historic Landmark.

Saturday night November 7 enjoy "Ramona Movie Night" with a candlelight dinner in the 1852 adobe followed by two movies filmed at Camulos, the 1910 Mary Pickford and a rare clip from the "lost " 1916 Adda Gleason epic.

The 1910 movie is believed to be the first film shot in the Santa Clarita River Valley while the 1916 film was a three hour innovative extravaganza.

Hugh Munro Neely internationally recognized silent film historian will lead a panel discussion that will include Patricia Clark Doerner whose family's Casitas Springs ranch was the primary location for the 1916 film.

Reservations are required. The $50 donation for this extraordinary evening fundraiser includes museum membership.

On Sunday afternoon, November 8 experience 19th century rancho life at "Rancho Camulos Days ". Enjoy historical reenactments, displays, tours, children's hands on rancho activities , regional museum exhibits, food and other opportunities. For example, meet Evie Ybarra , author of Legendary Locals of Filmore or hear your own voice using a replica of Thomas Edison's first recording device. At 3:30 watch the recently recovered and restored
1928 Dolores Del Rio Ramona film with commentary by silent film historians such as Hugh Munro Neely.

The suggested donation for "Rancho Camulos Days" is $5 for adults and children 12 and under are free.

Details about the weekend actives , reservation information and additional information about the non-profit Rancho Camulos Museum and the National Historic Landmark can be found at www.ranchocamulos.org. The museum is
located on Highway 126 , 10 miles west of the I-5 at Newhall Ranch Road and 1 mile east of Piru.

SANTA PAULA, CA - Come and celebrate Dia de los Muertos on Sunday, November 1, 2015, at the Santa Paula Art Museum, the Museum of Ventura County Agriculture Museum, and the Santa Paula Cemetery. This free Family Day Event will include a day of traditional craft making, music, Aztec dancers, food, storytelling and altar installations. Dia de los Muertos attire is welcomed.

Pick up a Dia de los Muertos passport and collect a stamp at each of the participating locations to enter into a free raffle drawing. A limited number of passports will be available at each of the participating organizations during the event. The location, hours and activities for each organization is listed below.

Santa Paula Art Museum, Jeanette Cole Art Center
117 North 10th Street, Santa Paula, CA 93060
(805) 525-5554
12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

The Santa Paula Art Museum will feature works by artist John Nava and the annual De Colores Art Show which honors female farmworkers. Families can explore the Museum by participating in an “I Spy” activity, create paper flowers, La Catrina bonnets and El Catrin sombreros, decorate sugar skulls and hear stories of the Day of the Dead.

Museum of Ventura County Agriculture Museum
926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula, CA 93060
(805) 525-3100
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

The Agriculture Museum, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will showcase the relationship between Monarch butterflies and other pollinators to agriculture, as well as the symbolic role of the Monarch representing the spirits of ancestors in the Hispanic community.

Each year, hundreds of millions of butterflies travel from the United States and Canada in late October to early November during the time of Dia de los Muertos. The monarch migration is symbolic of ancestors' journey home.

During the event visitors can participate in butterfly-themed activities including creating a butterfly mask and making paper butterflies. Tour our garden of native plants and pollinators, see a live bee hive demo, and count wintering butterflies.

Pierce Brothers Santa Paula Cemetery
380 Cemetery Road, Santa Paula, CA 93060
(805) 525-5258
12:00 pm to 6:00 pm

The Santa Paula Cemetery will hold a day of festivities where visitors can build an altar (ofrenda) at a loved one’s grave site or a community altar, and participate in a procession lead by Aztec Dancers, a blessing by Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Mariachi music, face painting, sugar skull decorating, and Folklorico Dancers. Food trucks and vendors will be available during the event.

Photograph by Chris Jensen
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Photograph by Chris Jensen
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Photograph by Chris Jensen
Enlarge Photo

Photograph by Chris Jensen
Enlarge Photo

Photograph by Chris Jensen
Enlarge Photo

The Ojai Photo Club welcomes Ventura photographer and musician, Chris Jensen, as its guest presenter for the month of October. His talk and slide show of images will take place on October 20, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Help of Ojai’s Kent Hall, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA.

Jensen will be addressing portrait photography. His images range from creative and often quirky compositions to masterful studies that reveal the sitter’s essence. He will discuss the primary and secondary elements of creating compelling portraits and he indicates, “First and foremost is lighting, lighting and lighting!” Pointers on creating a scene with sets, backdrops, and environments will be included. Part of that scene creation topic will include posing the subject, composition of the image and use of props. Each of these elements in his work helps create and convey the character and personality of his models. He will also address how “sell through” can help develop a photographer’s bottom line.

Also a musician and drummer, Jensen back-burnered the drum kit and rock bands in 1976 to concentrate on earning a BA in Graphic Design from Utah Technical College at Salt Lake City. It was during that time he purchased his first camera and began experimenting with photography. Before long he had collected a bag full of cameras and lenses and found his new hobby extremely useful in his budding graphic design career. In 1978 he opened his first graphic design/photography studio in Salt Lake City.

Inspiration came early with a fascination for the works of Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Francesco Scavullo, Arthur Elgort and other fashion and portrait photographers of that time. Today Jensen finds great inspiration from Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger, David LaChapelle and others. Lighting and mood has always seemed to him the key for successful portraits.

The eight years in his Salt Lake City studio expanded and in 1983 he moved it into a 2600 square foot warehouse unit and converted this to a commercial studio space with two large photographic shooting bays, a darkroom, dressing room and offices.

His clients during that time included ad agencies with accounts for major companies. He shot for all the area talent agencies, providing headshots and portfolios for models and actors. As Jensen progressed in photography, his love for rock & roll and association with area musicians seamlessly led him to becoming the photographer of choice for most of the bands and musicians working in Salt Lake City.

Fast forward to the mid-‘80s when Jensen was commissioned to shoot Ozzy Osbourne in his Salt Lake studio. Later that same year he found himself in LA in a rented studio shooting Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck. Having had a fleeting taste of being an A-list rock photographer, Jensen decided to close up shop in Utah and head west to pursue the same. Aiming for Los Angeles, the first stop was Ventura, where he decided to stay, and where he currently lives, shoots (the occasional rock star), surfs, and once again drums in a half-dozen local bands. See his website to explore all aspects of Jensen’s imagery: http://chrisjensen.com.

Monthly presentations are part of the Ojai Photography Club’s community service and education outreach. Visitors are welcome to attend.

The Ojai Photography Club, which is devoted to education, inspiration, and camaraderie, meets on the third Tuesday of each month, February – November. Only members may submit images for review. For additional information please visit: www.ojaiphotoclub.com.

Saturday, October 24th, the Santa Paula Theater Center presents The Honeysuckle Possums a concert for the entire family. The Honeysuckle Possums are an all-woman band, playing high-energy, old-time, mountain-bluegrass, and original music. The three lead singers, Nicola Gordon (fiddle and ukulele); Susan Marie Reeves (guitar, strumstick, and ukulele); and Rebecca Troon (banjo, fiddle, bodhran, and tin whistle) are all accomplished songwriters. Lisa Macker plays stand up bass and mandolin and joins in on vocals and harmonies, while Ruth Alpert is the band’s dancing percussionist…an Appalachian-style flat-footer, who seems to float as she makes it easy for the crowd to clap along.

The Honeysuckle Possums have played all over California and continue to gain praise for their beautiful vocals, carefully crafted harmonies, and spirited style. They have performed at the Old Time Fiddlers Convention and the Parkfield Bluegrass Festival to rave reviews.

The group’s intention is “to create and share bliss through music”. Their collective joy onstage is delightful, and their performances are carried on a strong current of love and friendship. “Possum” audience members often comment on how that energy is irresistible!

Saturday, October 24th, Doors open at 7pm, Concert Scheduled to Begin at 7:30pm, General Admission $15.00. Limited Seating and All seats are reserved - Order now through Brownpaper Tickets to guarantee your favorite seat for the Honeysuckle Possums Concert. Online ticket sales at http://honeysucklepossums.brownpapertickets.com will end at 7am the morning of the concert.

Need more information go to: http://www.santapaulatheatercenter.org