The Ojai Valley is a haven for artists from all over the world. Around Mid-October the residents put on the annual 'Ojai Studio Artist's Tour' attended by thousands of art lovers and residents.
Visit the Ojai Valley Historical Museum housed in the old St. Thomas Chapel or attend a performance at the Ojai Center for the Arts.The Happy Valley Foundation owns 450 acres of land in the upper Ojai Valley where the Beatrice
Wood Studio is located. This is where Wood created her celebrated artwork until three years ago when she passed away at the age of 105. "Beato, as she is known to locals, described her art as sophisticated primitive,"
said Martin Gewirtz, studio director. Wood lived and worked at her studio where she collected folk art, displaying her collection throughout her home-studio. "You walk through the front door and see the beautiful pink walls,
her favorite color. Then tour the art gallery and her workroom-studio. Beato held court and received her visitors here," commented Gewirtz. The studio opened in May 2000, with over 1,000 visitors. Open weekends, this studio
has special artist's weekends on their calendar and viewing by appointment."
"It is the dream of the estate to establish a cultural center here. Wood didn't want a museum but would have loved to have visiting
artists," said Gewirtz. "We have a gallery next door for that purpose."
"Ojai is a wonderful eclectic mix full of different people. You have the artistic type, the spiritual types, business people, Hollywood
types and fundamentalists," said Gewirtz.
Other artists like Otto Heino, born in Finland, educated at the University of Southern California, found his way out west in 1952, and has made Ojai his home for 30 years. Heino is
a full-time potter, specializing in wood fired yellow glaze. He keeps two wood kilns, two gas kilns and a salt-glaze kiln busy year round and ships about 2,000 pieces of art internationally every year.
Heino says that people
from all over come to buy his pottery. Touching the highly glazed pieces signed and marked with the date, they get a sense of good feeling.
"I brought this place from Beatrice Wood in 1969," said Heino. The studio is
located in the east end of town. If you look around his studio you would see big bottles, vases, and small ceramic pieces in pleasing colors. Each year he makes three new glazes and a new clay body design.
The town of Ojai is at
a 600-foot elevation. Heino's studio in the hills is at 1,200 feet. "In my studio there is a nice breeze that blows through when I open both doors. When you can see mountain that's freedom," said Heino. "It is warm
in the winter and cool in the summer. Where I am is quiet a perfect place to create. There is a nice spirit to this town."
In the foothills overlooking the national forest, at the Studio of the Hills, is The Walk, created by
Zubin and Shahastra, two inventive Ojai artists. "The walk came from an inspiration to go into the woods behind our home on 18 acres," said Zubin. "No one had gone in them for 30 years because of the thick
chaparral."
And Zubin didn't stop for six months, not until he completed the Walk and the contemplation stations, an interactive self-discovery experience. "People ask questions and go through a process to receive
answers. It is similar to a labyrinth but with content," offered Zubin. "You have to interact with yourself, art and nature. The Walk has deeply touched people."
"There are certain towns in this country that
attract artists, certain places that artists seem to go where it is open to their expression," said Zubin. "Ojai is a wonderful mix of a variety of people who are fortunate to live in a community surrounded by mountains,
streams, where people are open and friendly."
Like a true art colony, there is always something happening in the arts in this town. Art studios line Bryant Street and if you drop in on Thursday evenings at the bookstore you
might catch a poetry reading. Grab another cup of café mocha and chill.
As the night sky descends on the quietude and beauty of the Ojai Valley, it is a sure bet you will return to Ojai, the real difficulty is leaving
