It was a dark and stormy night somewhere on the other side of the globe, but in Ojai it was a brief, shining, though chill interlude in the rainy weather when the proud men and women of the Rotary Club of Ojai sauntered into the Soule Park Clubhouse on February 8 for civic engagement and finding purpose in our community, and the world.
First up was Randy Roth at the desk, organizing the assemblage’s entry, while Ron Polito and Patricia Anderson checked us in with their fancy gadget. Christine Golden led us in the flag salute while Nancy O’Sullivan blessed us a stirring, poignant invocation.
After gaveling the proceedings to an opening, President Deirdre Daly thanked the following … Suzanne Scar for roving mic duties; Randy for desk duty; Dr. Gross for being our official photographer and yours truly for Reminder editing.
Visiting Rotarian included …
Mark Fowler with the E-Club of World Peace
Guests included …
- Larry Beckett, Lisa Supina, Marcy Toscher and Cynthia Weirick
ANNOUNCEMENTS
February is Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution month in the Rotary world. “When you live by Rotary’s motto of ‘Service Above Self’ it is easy to promote peace and reduce conflict.’”
Jane Spiller passed around signup sheets for Rotary’s night at the theater, Saturday February 23rd for a performance at the Art Center of “Night Must Fall,” a revival of the same play that first played at the center back in 1939, going on 80 years, at the continuously operating art center in the state.
LIVING TREASURES
Dr. Fauvre spread around living treasures ballots for 2019; this is a joint effort with the Rotary West to recognize outstanding civic leaders in Ojai. Ballots will be around town and online at RCOLT.org and must be back to Dr. Fauvre by March 4th.
IRISH JOKES
Ren Adam switched it up to Scottish jokes. One about two duffel bags and a disabled veteran, and another about the Scottish version of the Stones’ classic, about which you will have to ask him as this is usually a family-friendly forum.
FINING
Patricia Anderson picked up a few confessions, including …
Bill Weirick, expressing appreciation for his wife’s aesthetic sensibilities and for the recent rains.
Colin Jones, for his overflowing 1 million gallon reservoir which filled literally overnight last week. “We have enough rain, we don’t have enough storage,” he said.
Tony Thacher: Was proud of his daughter Emily, who will be giving a talk on Feb. 17th at 10 a.m. at Green Thumb nursery in Ventura as their resident citrus expert.
Patricia’s questions were about names for groups of animals, the famous
Shakespearian aggregations being “a murder of crows,” and a “quarrel of sparrows.”
With a selection that included an Unkindness of Ravens, a Crash of Rhinos, a Stand of Flamingos, an Ostentation of Peacocks; a Leap of Leopards; a Flother of Jellyfish; a Pandemonium of Parrots, she got some money from the following: Ren Adam, Kay Bliss, Colin Jones, Marty Pops, Nancy O’Sullivan; Tara Saylor; Ron Wilson; Betsy Watson and Bill Weirick.
PROGRAM
Speaking of Bill Weirick, he gave a thoughtful introduction to club member and chairman of the Ojai Arts Commission, Christine Golden, who ran through a brisk yet thorough presentation on Ojai’s public arts program. The ordinance requires developers of any project more than $300,000 to devote 2 percent of the project to installing public art.
Christine gave us the fun fact — Ojai has 45 public artworks. Among those are the lizard sculptures at the Emerald and Blue Iguana inns owned by our own Marc Whitman; and the 4-ton horse sculpture at the Rotary Park at the “Y” intersection. Golden also said that RTK Tile featured in a lot of public art in Ojai, and she talked about their distinct methods.
Public art can be controversial, she said, noting that the “Early Bird Shopper,” built by Sylvia Raz was stolen from its location at the back of the Arcade. It later re-emerged, overlooking the Ojai Valley above Shelf Road. She also noted that Mark Weil was strongly opposed to public art when he built the dorms at the Weil Tennis Academy. Until, that is, Christine worked her magic powers of persuasion, convincing him to hire public artist Jeff Sanders to install “fortune cookie” engravings into the sidewalks around the academy, pithy aphorisms that Mark often says to his students, such as “Hard Work Equals Great Success.”
Another of the public art projects Golden talked about was the Sane Center’s soon-to-be-installed Evo 3 sculpture, designed by center founder Aubrey Balkind, a swooping ironwork that traces mankind’s evolution, and which also looks like a question mark laid on its side, literally working on more than one level. The Barn at the Ojai Valley Inn is another story; a redwood (non-native) grove was removed from the site on the golf course and taken in by Ryan Lang, at Oak Grove School, who stored it at his house. Then the Thomas Fire swept through, charring the wood. Somehow, it occurred to him that the wood would make an excellent table, which now adorns the Barn site, 18 foot long.
The famous international artist, Trimpin, built the sound arch at Libbey Bowl, which came with its own controversies. Despite that, it’s become a fixture in the Ojai arts scene. The arch plays a set of pipes, and can be operated with a custom phone app that allows people to pick their own tunes.
Fielding questions, Golden said that public artists “must be qualified,” which is a process involving the arts commission, and that she came by her role “because no one else wanted to do it.” She said that other cities have developed public art programs. For example, the Collection shopping mall in Oxnard features art by Ojai’s Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend. She also said that Chicago is an important role model, esp. the Millennium Park which includes the Cloud Gate, affectionately known as “The Bean.”
Prez Daly closed us out with the quote from Greek street artist Ino,
“Few people go to art exhibitions. The power of street art is that it goes to people’s daily life to be seen.”
