Larry Chambers,  writer of over 50 published books and hundreds of articles, ranging from Recondo (required reading for Army Rangers) to Protect your 401(K) and First Time Investor, highly acclaimed investment books. Chambers’ background includes nine years with EF Hutton on Wall Street after serving two highly decorated tours of duty with Army Rangers in Vietnam.

Carter Crocker writes for children’s television programming, and has won two Emmys and a Humanitas Award for his work. His young adult novel “The Tale of the Swamp Rat” was a Book Sense Pick and is now in paperback.

Jerry Camarillo Dunn, Jr. has written for the National Geographic Society for 22 years, starting as a staff writer and editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine and more recently writing guidebooks, the latest on San Francisco. Jerry’s non-travel books include Idiom Savant: Slang As It Is Slung, which collects the often hilarious lingo of more than 100 American subcultures.

Susan Florence is an internationally known author and artist whose gift books have been selling since 1987. Her recent line of books, the Journeys Series, are short, meditative reads painted with soft, loose watercolors, many reflecting the beauty and peace of Ojai. The collection of eight Journeys books have been translated into five languages.

Marty Fujita is an evolutionary biologist and the founding director of The Nature Conservancy’s Indonesia Program. Her book, “Archipelago: the Islands of Indonesia”, co-authored with Gavan Daws, celebrates the travels and discoveries of the great naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, through photos and essays that the Washington Post Book World calls “extraordinarily beautiful”.

Ken McAlpine is an award-winning travel writer; his feature stories have earned him two Lowell Thomas Awards. His latest book, "Off Season: Discovering America on Winter's Shore" (Random House) was a Barnes and Noble Great New Writers selection.

Rob Ryder played varsity basketball at Princeton, moved to Hollywood in 1978 and developed a career as a screenwriter, working at Paramount, Warners, and Fox. In 1992 he was hired as the basketball coordinator on “White Men Can’t Jump” which led to a series of sports coordinating/second unit directing jobs on movies and television shows. He wrote a column on sports and entertainment for ESPN.com which provided the grist for his memoir, “Hollywood Jock” (HarperCollins, June 2006). 

Rick Ridgeway, one of the world’s most foremost mountaineers and adventurers, has for decades been known to many through his writing, photography and Emmy award-winning filmmaking.  Esquire honored him on their exclusive list of “the top men and women who are changing America.”  Rick is the author of six books, including the highly acclaimed Seven Summits, The Shadow of Kilimanjaro, Below Another Sky and most recently The Big Open about his expedition to northwest Tibet following on foot the endangered Tibetan antelope

David Allen Roberts is widely recognized as the world’s leading expert on personal and organizational productivity. His twenty-five-year pioneering research and coaching of high-performing professionals have earned him Forbes’ recognition as one of the top five executive coaches in the United States. David has authored the best-selling book, Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity, and enjoys delivering his often sold-out Getting Things Done seminars to audiences in cities throughout the United States and Europe.

Richard Amend, whose current drawings have evolved as a result of his work as a production designer in the film business. Site location photographs became sketches for pastel drawings. There is stillness, the capturing of a singular moment, and a particular quality of light that challenges Richard in his process.

Gayel Childress paints with a touch of whimsy and a love for color, form, and design. Subjects have been figurative, landscapes and still life. Gayel works in acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, oil and mixed media. She is trying to catch the spirit of her subject with an eye for experimentation.

Bert Collins’ paintings are realistic landscapes, seascapes and still lifes. She paints in acrylic and soft pastels on sand paper, and emphasizes natural color and detail. In over two hundred juried competitions Bert has won many Best of Show and First Place Awards. In 1997, she received the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the City of Ojai.

Ruth Farnham works in oils and oil pastels, producing paintings that are rich with vibrant color and has been represented by several galleries over the last fifty years. Travels in Mediterranean Europe, the Middle East, India and China have resulted in ongoing study and development.  “I don’t paint what’s there, I paint what I see. I want to bring together images that will set up an immediate response on the part of the viewer, to share the pure excitement of discovery”.

Theodore Gall has been working in metal since his early days as an artist. Although his work has not been limited to the human form, it has been his primary focus throughout his career. Gall’s work uses the lost wax process to produce works in bronze, aluminum or stainless steel or welded Cor-ten steel. Most of his sculptures are comprised of many separate components that are assembled in either the wax or metal stage. While the concept may be repeated many times, each sculpture is unique.

Otto Heino is an exceptional potter, who uses a special pale yellow glaze used by ancient Chinese potters. The formula for the glaze had been lost, but Otto and his wife Vivika spent over 10 years re-creating the formula. Otto turned down a huge sum from the Chinese government for the formula. Otto may be the oldest (at 90) working potter in the US, and he is certainly one of the best. Originally from New Hampshire, Otto served in World War II as a waist gunner on a B-17 bomber and survived 40 bombing missions over Europe. Otto's work is collected world-wide and has been exhibited internationally at numerous important museums “Clay is the earth; it’s alive," Otto has said. "It’s the only live material artists can work with. I let it decide what it will be."

Karen K. Lewis is primarily a studio painter, whose subjects include chairs in studio settings, still lifes, and large groupings of people. Lewis is also a plein air painter of the Ojai landscape, and a printmaker who has explored solarplate etching and monoprinting, most recently in Florence in 2003. She exhibited at Pindar Gallery in Soho, NYC, and taught high school art and Art Education at the College of New Rochelle before moving to Ojai in 1990. Her work can be seen annually at her studio on the October Ojai Studio Artists’ Tour, or online by visiting her website.

Sherry Loehr started her career as a junior high and high school art teacher in Colorado, experimented with pottery in her spare time, and developed a whimsical and very successful line of tableware. This was followed by a line of terra-cotta dinnerware decorated in black-and-white designs. She and her husband moved to Ojai in 1985, and she took community college classes and discovered her passion and talent for painting. From Sherry’s website:” I create an imaginary environment for the things I see. I want to isolate them, to study, perhaps just two pears or a single branch of loquats. I enjoy the simplicity, the spareness of a few objects, carefully observed”.

Julia Pfeiffer is a master beadweaver and designer of distinctive beaded art wear, Julia Pfeifer has perfected a wide variety of techniques. Inspired by her earlier work in textiles design, Julia uses traditional stitches in unique and innovative ways to achieve the desired complexity for her original, custom beadwork designs. Julia has been beading for over 25 years and has employed mixed media such as feathers, precious metals, stones, leathers, and furs in conjunction with beadwork in her many designs.

Betty Saunders. “All paintings are completed on site (en plein air) and are mostly landscapes. I transport my easel and painting materials to a site a few miles from my home. I am very influenced by nature and enjoy responding to the views I witness. I love color and this is expressed in all of my images. During the summer I travel to England, Spain, Italy or France and return with paintings for my next show. I consider Cezanne, Gauguin and other Post-Impressionists as influences in my work.”

Debra Scolari worked as a clothing designer and costumer for the film and television industry in Los Angeles, moving to Ojai in 1988 where she began painting and incorporating her love of texture, pattern and design into her artwork. In 1998 she studied photography and digital imaging, leading to combining the traditional methods of art with the limitless possibilities of the computer to create digital illustrations for her stock images business. Debra Scolari Studio and Gallery shows a combination of fine art painting and art prints.

Shahastra is an eclectic artist working in various fine art modes: pastels, oils and mixed media. Her figurative soul studies have recently been published into a 50-card reflective deck. She is also a functional designer, translating her work into sterling and gem jewelry and sculptural ironworks. Her work can be viewed at ZSGallery.com.

Linda Taylor has been an art instructor at Nordhoff High School for 19 years. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from University of California, Santa Barbara. Linda is active in the arts community of Ojai as one of the founders of Ojai Studio Artists, and maintains an active printmaking studio in her home.

Nancy Whitman paints in an exuberant style, combining broad brush strokes and unexpected use of color. With her oil, acrylic and watercolor creations, she acknowledges the influence of Matisse, Jawlensky and the Fauves. The vigor and joie de vivre bursting from her canvases reflect her love affair with nature. Enormously versatile and varied in her expressions, Nancy attempts to work toward the feeling of the magic and freedom of a child.