Your Westmont Art Exhibit Straddles the Intellectual, Spiritual

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

Celebrated Santa Barbara artist viewing Friday, August 18, beginning at about 8 pm and lasting several hours at the observatory. Stargazing at Westmont includes the college’s powerful Keck Telescope, a computer-controlled 24-inch reflector. Members of the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit bring their own telescopes to campus to share with the public as well. shape not just the soccer player but also the whole person. Success for us looks like young men growing to become the best soccer players they can be and being equipped to become the best version of themselves when they leave Westmont. We’ll encourage young men to make an immediate impact in the world in whatever vocation they pursue.”

Linda Ekstrom offers a wide range of poetic, imaginative, and spiritual works of transformed fabric, paper, books, and gloves in an exhibition (August 31 – November 11) at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free opening reception Thursday, August 31 from 4-6 pm at the museum, honors Straddling Circumference…The Art of Linda Ekstrom, which features both recent work and a retrospective. The museum plans additional events.

Free parking is available near the Westmont Observatory, which is between the baseball field and the track and field/soccer complex. To enter Westmont’s campus, please use the Main Entrance off of La Paz Road. The lower entrance off Cold Spring Road is closed to visitors after 7 pm.

In case of cloudy/foggy weather, please call the telescope viewing hotline at (805) 5656272 to see if the viewing has been canceled.

Ekstrom’s Santa Rita

“Ekstrom creates transcendent art works often inspired by the words of female poets, mystics, saints, and women of the Bible,” says Judy L. Larson, R. Anthony Askew professor of art history and museum director. “Ever present in Ekstrom’s art is her intellectual and spiritual discernment. The title, ‘Straddling Circumference...’, is taken from Emily Dickinson, who is said to have used the word ‘circumference’ in six of her letters and 17 of her poems. For Ekstrom, a circumference marks a borderline between being and a Being, the common and the Sacred.”

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Published August 16, 23, 30, September 6, 2023

Ekstrom reads works by Dickinson and other authors in search of inspiration. “I read, find ideas, sort text… and then pull out the things that inspire me,” she said in a UCSB news article last year.

She places Bibles into beehives, preserves objects in jars, and shapes the words of poets and writers into imaginative “newreads,” drawing on her experience “as a woman, as an artist, and as a Catholic.”

For more than two decades, Ekstrom taught at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Fine Arts.

Her art work has been featured in more than a hundred solo and group exhibitions at the Pomona College Museum (now the Benton Museum of Art); the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut; the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park. She served on the committee for the Los Angeles Cathedral, Our Lady of the Angels, to select art for the exterior and interior of the new cathedral from 1998-2000.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm and 11 am to 5 pm on Saturdays. It’s closed Sundays and college holidays. For more information, please visit westmont.edu/museum or contact the museum at (805) 565-6162.

The gas giant Saturn will be the star attraction at this month’s free, public

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Pl #B, Goleta, CA 93117. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 12, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001730. Published August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023

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Morgan Cathey will lead the men’s soccer team into Harder Stadium Saturday, August 19, at 7 pm in an exhibition matchup against UCSB. The annual game, now called the Community Shield, has been played for more than six decades, but this will be Cathey’s first as the Warriors’ new head coach.

Cathey, a former men’s soccer head coach at Stanislaus State, graduated from Azusa Pacific, where he played goalkeeper before playing and coaching professionally in South Africa. He is just the fifth head coach in the 58-year history of Westmont men’s soccer.

“I believe that success within a collegiate program embodies every form of opportunity for growth available,” he says. “Westmont provides a platform to

In 2005 Cathey received an NAIA AllAmerican honorable mention at APU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in youth ministry.

He played professionally for three years with Ajax Cape Town in South Africa, where he coached professionally from 2009-11. He served as head coach at Whitworth University in Washington, posting a record of 82-39-16 in seven seasons and winning three consecutive Northwest Conference Championships. He returned to Stanislaus State in 2020, where he had previously served as an assistant coach, compiling an overall 11-18-7 record as head coach.

“My goal is to create the most enjoyable college soccer experience possible,” Cathey says. “When people come and watch us play, it will be enjoyable because the athletes enjoy playing.” are doing business as: Mind-Body Thrive, LLC, 228 Cooper Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Mind-Body Thrive, 228 Cooper Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 24, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001825. Published August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023

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Joan Hunter Coaching, 1187 Coast Village Road 1-290, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Summit Road Enterprises, LLC, 1187 Coast Village Road 1-290, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 28, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001861. Published August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023

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NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: California Heating and Rain Gutters, INC, 4193-3 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, CA 93013. California Heating and Rain Gutters, INC, 4193-3 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 3, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20230001663. Published July 26, August 2, 9, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Memory Garden Memorial Park & Mortuary; Utter McKinley San Fernando Mission Mortuary; Lafayette Development Company, 1525 State Street, Suite 203, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. The Lafayette Corporation, 1525 State Street, Suite 203, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 13, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20230001744. Published July 26, August 2, 9, 16, 2023 things like what to wear, and getting my hair done. And then when they called our name, I was just shaking and silent for the longest time.

Turning to the Music Academy, what drew you to this job? Why is this the next right thing for you?

My whole career has been about music education and uplifting artists. I’m excited about returning to the festival lifestyle, which I absolutely loved working when I worked at Aspen. Add the Music Academy’s beautiful location and all the possibilities of what could be on top of the 75 years of amazing training and performances makes it an enormous opportunity for anyone. I’m thrilled that they picked me to be part of that atmosphere and that magic.

Not to sound like your job interview, but what can you share about specific plans or vision for the Music Academy, or ideas of directions you want to take?

Everything is going so well there, so it’s mostly about what we can add, or how to be more involved in the community. For example, the SING! choral program is fantastic, and I have thoughts about having a similar instrumental program, maybe call it “PLAY!” That’s something that would need to be worked out. I’d also like to see the Academy have year-round engagement, not just as a summer festival. That facility is just gorgeous and offers so much potential. I’d love for the community to feel like it’s their home of music in Santa Barbara, which means some partnerships, which I have always championed. I don’t want us to be a silo. You find the most enriching collaborations when you reach out and say, “What can we do together?” through August 31, 2023, as storm damage repairs continue.

[Another focus] is to do our best to support the fellows and the alumni there and all across the country. Spreading the Music Academy name and brand is a major focus, too. Out here, the Music Academy means the hall where the Philadelphia Orchestra plays. So we have a lot of work to do.

Overall, though, I want to just get there and listen to people. I’m already setting up meetings here in New York with faculty who are based here to find out what they’re most excited about and what they might think needs to be fixed or tweaked. Then we’ll start to see what makes the most sense.

Notwithstanding what you just said, I want to bring up that over the last few years, the master classes, which were always the backbone of the Academy’s offerings, seem to have taken a bit of a backseat to other performance events and initiatives, which have been spectacular, of course. I’m wondering if you have any thoughts about the concept of education/ pedagogy versus performance versus innovation enterprises.

There’s no question that the fellows’ education and development of their craft through the faculty has to be first and foremost. So all of the rest has to be examined. Thankfully the board has indicated that, too, and wants some data-driven analysis of what’s going on. But again, I can’t really do any of that until I get there. I don’t want to be uninformed in making decisions. Because there are so many options, you really have to use strategic thinking.

OK, let’s go to the big picture again. You’ve been a serious musician. You’ve had a high-level position at a major festival. You were in Chicago and worked in programming across the arts at the University of Chicago (something akin to UCSB Arts & Lectures here), and then spent a dozen years at the New York Youth Symphony. How do you think all of that varied experience might show up in what you want to bring to the Music Academy?

Los Padres raised fire restrictions across the forest effective August 1, which prohibits campfires outside of developed recreation sites.

In recent weeks, there have been repeated signs of illegal campfire activity along front country roads and trails. Visitors possessing a valid California Campfire Permit are permitted to use portable lanterns or stoves that run on propane, jellied petroleum, or pressurized liquid fuel; however, campfires are strictly prohibited along the front country.

Forest Order No. 05-07-54-22-04 prohibits campfires and cooking fires on National Forest System lands in the Santa Barbara front country from Gaviota to the Ventura County line, including but not limited to Painted Cave Road, Gibraltar Road, Stagecoach Road, the paved and unpaved sections of West Camino Cielo and East Camino Cielo, Divide Peak OHV Road, the Hot Springs above the community of Montecito, and all user trails within the identified fire use restriction area. The Forest Order will remain in effect through February 24, 2024. Violators of the Forest Order face potential fines and/or jail time.

Over the past 15 years, eight large wildfires have directly impacted the front country communities of Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria. In coordination with local fire agencies, the Forest Service encourages visitors to recreate safely and responsibly and to immediately call 911 to report any potential fire activity.

For more information about the Santa Barbara front country fire ban and extended closure of the Old Romero Road, Romero Canyon Trail, and the San Ysidro Trail, please visit the Los Padres National Forest Website or contact the Santa Barbara Ranger District Office at (805) 967-3481.

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage works by Sondheim, the late actor and singer Anthony Newley (an old friend), Sammy Cahn, George and Ira Gershwin, Pink, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and even Harry Styles.

I am constantly curious. Education never stops. I want to keep learning from experience and I love being exposed to different things. Chicago was great because I was able to not only program, but also work with that incredible faculty who were the subscribers sitting out in the audience. They were way smarter than me and I was thrilled when it became interactive. I’d ask a Soviet specialist to give a pre-concert lecture when we had Russian music on the program to add depth to the experience. Like so many other people, I’m always looking for a deeper meaning and a deeper experience, a way to make things relevant… I have an older sister who is a Broadway theater artist, and my middle sister does digital marketing for pop stars, and I’m the classical musician in the family. I love that our dialogue comes from different perspectives. I think that’s basically how audiences are. The world doesn’t fit in a box. I love everything, and I go see any kind of concert, classical, pop music, whatever. I’ll jump up and down to Flo-Rida at the Grammys. That’s what life’s about. So I think that’s what I am bringing.

Husband and wife hoofers Beverly and Kirby Ward, a Laurence Olivier Award nominee, were special guests along with a heavenly host of young talent ready for their big moment in the spotlight, including Cassidy Broderick; Blaise, Chance, Guy and Henry Challen; Jack Forgea; McKenna Gamberling; Hunter Hawkins; Scarlett Johnson; Jeff and Beck Mortensen; Soleila Rucker; Shannon Saleh; and Khalen Sanchez.

A truly magnificent night...

Social gridlock reigned when society gadabout Rick Oshay hosted a boffo birthday beano at his Montecito home for his longtime companion Teresa Kuskey, founder of the colorful and energized La Boheme dance troupe.

Nearly 70 guests turned out for the sunset soirée when Rick and Teresa returned to our rarefied enclave after catching Les Misérables at the Pantages in L.A. and din- ner at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, one of my favorite eateries.

Among those dancing the night away to local DJ Joseph Souza were Maitland Ward, Kostis Protopapas, Adam McKaig and Melissa Borders, Mike and Debi Stoker, Erik and Angelique Davis, Fred Brander, Fritz and Gretchen Olenberger , David Bolton and Gonzalo Sarmiento, Joan Rutkowski, Karen Knight, Chris and Mindy Denson, Robert Adams, and James and Erin Graffy de Garcia.

To La Cumbre Plaza to view the new 3,500-square-foot Voice Magazine and Gallery that has been opened by the dynamic duo of Mark Whitehurst and accomplished sculptress Kerry Methner with rotating shows of around 60 artworks each month.

Works from Santa Barbara Visual Arts currently adorn the walls to be replaced in due course with a new exhibition, Autumn Arias, with at least 70 paintings and sculptures, with a percentage of proceeds donated to Opera Santa Barbara.

“We also had a hand in launching First Thursdays in town and now we also have Third Fridays here at La Cumbre Plaza featuring the many galleries that have sprouted up in the complex,” says Kerry, who also helps organize Santa Barbara Beautiful.

“We always have a great turnout for recep- tions,” she adds. “People enjoy the joy of gathering and everyone likes to look at art.”

Among the artists checking out the show when I was there with my trusty shutterbug Priscilla were Sophia Beccue, Carol Talley, and Jan Smith

A delightful addition to our vibrant art community...

Jonathan Fox, who left the Ensemble Theatre Company after 17 years as artistic director, has been spending the summer in Santa Barbara’s sister city Kotor, Montenegro.

Jonathan has been presenting a production of An Iliad, a modern-day retelling of Homer’s classic.

The opening performance was at the

18th century St. Nicholas Franciscan monastery.

The production staff includes French composer David Alan-Nihil, who wrote music for the show, and actor Richard Baird, who was in ETC’s 2019 production of Measure for Measure.

Jonathan will be back in town in due course pursuing the next chapter of his successful career...

Oprah Winfrey, who owns more than 2,000 acres on the Hawaiian island of Maui with three different properties, has been helping out at a local rescue center after the catastrophic wildfires killed nearly 100 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

The former TV talk show titan, 69, brought diapers, pillows, and bottles of shampoo to the War Memorial Stadium on Maui after asking what people needed.

“It is really overwhelming,” says the longtime Montecito resident. “I came earlier to see what people needed and then went shopping... So I actually went to Walmart and Costco and got pillows, shampoo, diapers, sheets, and pillowcases.”

You go girl...

Prince Harry and his actress wife Meghan Markle are planning a production of Canadian novelist Carley Fortune’s romance Meet Me at the Lake.

The New York Times bestseller, Fortune’s second novel is a story about two long lost lovers whose paths cross by chance a decade after first meeting.

Netflix or the Sussexes paid around four million dollars for the rights to a film production of the novel, depending on which reports you read.

Watch this space...

Singer Katy Perry and her British actor fiancé Orlando Bloom have been embroiled in a three-year legal battle with an 83-year-old veteran over his $15 million Santa Barbara home.

In July 2020, Carl Westcott signed a real estate contract to sell his property to the former Dos Pueblos High student and the Lord of the Rings actor claiming he was under the influence of opioids and painkillers following back surgery.

When the effects of the drugs wore off days later, Westcott, a retired U.S. Army 101st Airborne officer and known for his entrepreneurial venture with

1-800-Flowers, claims he realized what he’d signed away and rescinded the contract.

But the celebrity twosome’s agent disregarded the pleas from Westcott, who also suffers from Huntington’s Disease, and threatened to sue if he did not proceed with the sale of the eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom property.

Three years later, the trial in Los Angeles Superior Court is set for later this month.

Westcott was 80 at the time of the sale and had been suffering from Huntington’s Disease since 2015.

He purchased the 9,285-square-foot home in May 2020, and moved in two months before the sale with Perry and Bloom.

Stay tuned...

Kevin Costner ’s estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner , 49, who moved out of his $145 million oceanside Carpinteria estate last month, has found a new home in Santa Barbara for $35,000 a month.

The new pad has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a swimming pool.

After the court-ordered move, Baumgartner stayed at a smaller house near to the former Padaro Lane estate which had been used for staff.

The new property will allow the twosome’s three children – Cayden, 16; Hayes, 14; and Grace, 13 – to continue their current schools.

The Oscar winner, 68, has been spotted with the youngsters in Aspen, Colorado, where he also maintains a massive 6,000-square-foot home, Dunbar Ranch, on 160 acres composed of 12 bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

Costner was also seen at a Taylor Swift concert in L.A. with Grace last week.

Rob Lowe, who left his starring role on the NBC hit series West Wing after four years, has opened up about his decision to quit.

The Montecito actor, 59, played the White House deputy communications director, and was considered the show’s lead when it debuted in 1999.

However, the show’s popularity led to the network tinkering with the series, leading to major changes to Lowe’s role.

That ultimately led to Lowe leaving after the fourth season, with the show’s creator Aaron Sorkin and director-executive producer Thomas Schlamme leaving shortly thereafter, with the show running three more seasons until 2007.

In a Stitcher’s Podcrushed podcast Lowe said quitting the show was “the best thing I ever did” and compared his time on the series to a “super unhealthy relationship.”

“I felt I was underrated,” he explained. “It happens in the workplace. You can be in an environment where people sandbag you, wanna see you fail, don’t appreciate you – whatever it is.”

As well as a birthday dinner with Prince Harry to celebrate her 42nd birthday, actress Meghan Markle had a girls’ day out with actress Portia de Rossi seeing the new movie Barbie before spending the evening at the San Ysidro Ranch’s Stonehouse restaurant.

Markle, according to the New York Post’s Page Six, also congratulated a brideto-be who was celebrating her upcoming nuptials with friends and posed for a photo with the bachelorette party.

On a personal note, I remember Laird Koenig, a longtime resident of our Eden by the Beach, who has moved to more heavenly pastures at the age of 95.

A successful novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, he published eight novels, had six plays on the Great White Way and Off Broadway, and 14 movie credits. Laird was best known for his book The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane, published in 1974. It was adapted for a film of the same name in 1976 starring Jodie Foster

A world traveler, great raconteur, and gentle soul.

Barbie actor Ryan Gosling and wife Eva Mendes with daughters Esmerelda and Amada walking on Miramar Beach... Former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi dining at Caruso’s at the Rosewood Miramar... Rocker Travis Barker noshing at Tre Lune.

Pip! Pip!