Your Westmont

Famed Ceramist Juries “Mixed Up”

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

The Westmont RidleyTree Museum of Art highlights the exceptional talent of local artists in its annual Tri-County Juried Exhibition, “Mixed Up,” from Thursday, May 18, to June 17. The public is invited to a free, opening reception on May 18 from 4-6 pm. Award winners will be announced at 5:15 pm.

Rae Dunn, popular Bay Area artist, designer, author, and illustrator, juried this year’s show. She reviewed several hundred submissions from area artists, ultimately accepting 50 works by 45 artists for the exhibition.

Dunn, who will display a small exhibition of her work in the downstairs space below the museum, is most recognized for her line of household wares sold throughout the United States. She began to pursue a career in ceramics full-time and founded her own brand in 1995. She has authored several books, including 2015’s Wilma’s World: Good Advice from a Good Dog, France: Inspiration du Jour and In Pursuit of Inspiration: Trust Your Instincts and Make More Art

All the pieces in “Mixed Up” are for sale, with 30 percent benefiting the museum. Westmont began hosting local artists in juried exhibitions more than 30 years ago at the Reynolds Gallery.

David Brooks Speaks at Leadership Conference

A stellar lineup of internationally renowned speakers, authors, CEOs, visionaries, and luminaries descend on Westmont’s eighth annual LEAD Where You Stand Conference from Saturday, May 31, to Monday, June 2, at the college’s Global

Leadership Center. The event’s speakers will offer empowering leadership principles and best practices for any sphere or line of work and service.

David Brooks, New York Times columnist and bestselling author, headlines an inspirational group of speakers at the conference. Dr. Charity Dean, a public health executive, Marcus “Goodie” Goodloe, a Martin Luther King Jr. scholar, Malcom Guite, a poet and priest, and Erin Meyer, author and expert in cross-cultural communication, will also share their perspectives.

Other speakers include Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe, musician and author Steve Bell, Westmont Provost Kim Battle-Walters Denu and Jeff Schloss, T.B. Walker professor of natural and behavioral sciences at Westmont, and director of the Center for Faith, Ethics and Life Sciences.

Purchase tickets to the three-day event, which cost $299, at westmont.edu/lead. The college, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary, expects the leadership conference to sell out.

The Mosher Center for Moral and Ethical Leadership and the Montecito Institute sponsor the event.

Brooks has written two No. 1 New York Times Bestsellers, The Road to Character and The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life. One of America’s most prominent political and social commentators, he contributes a bi-weekly, op-ed column for the New York Times and regularly appears on PBS NewsHour and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered

Beebe, Westmont president since 2007, has spent more than a quarter-century in higher education. He has authored or edited more than 40 articles and 10 books including, The Shaping of an Effective Leader: Eight Formative Principles of Leadership. Under Beebe’s leadership, the college has raised more than $400 million for various projects and added 390,000 square feet in new or renovated facilities on campus and in downtown Santa Barbara.

Bell, a Canadian Christian songwriter and storyteller, has produced 20 solo CDs and won numerous music-industry awards. He has also written and co-authored a number of books to encourage Christians in their faith, including Pilgrim Year, a seven-book series on the spirituality of the Christian calendar year.

Dean, CEO and co-founder of the Public Health Company, brings together the best expertise in public health disease control with private-sector tech innovation to build autonomous disease-control decision capabilities in scalable software. Previously, she served as assistant director of the California Department of Public Health and part of the executive leadership team directing California’s strategy and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Denu, Westmont provost and dean of the faculty, has more than a quarter-century of experience in executive leadership in higher education. She has worked as vice president for educational programs for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. At Azusa Pacific University, she served as vice president and chief diversity officer.

Goodloe has written the books King Maker: Applying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Leadership Lessons in Working with Athletes and Entertainers and Habits: Six Steps to the Art of Influence. He travels the country mentoring students and educators, business professionals, athletes, and entertainers, and faith communities on a range of issues, including cultural and interpersonal relationships, leadership, team and synergy, character formation, and faith.

Guite, an English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest and Life Fellow and former Chaplain of Girton College (Cambridge), lectures widely in England and