Beatrice Wood

Denying reality was easy when Beatrice Wood made a grand entrance at her 105th birthday celebration in Ojai on March 3 (obituary, March 13). True, she was in a wheelchair and her state of health was rather frail. Yet, her inner radiance shone through, and the luminous pottery that she created reflected that same illumination. Beato's appearance and her appreciative delight in the eclectic gathering was very reassuring and made her passing unexpected. Beatrice Wood was an exceptional woman who followed her own avant-garde road with an open mind, as well as a caring heart.

ART Roger Ballen Following his acclaimed series "Outland" and "Shadow Chamber," Johannesburg, South Africa-based artist Roger Ballen presents a series of recent black and white photographs, "Boarding House," published in book form by Phaidon, and now on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery. The work straddles the line between documentary and art, depicting a dreamlike, transitory space full of people, animals and odd objects making for psychologically charged surroundings. Fahey/Klein Gallery, 148 N. La Brea Ave., L.A. Through Oct. 15. Free.

I believe there was one glaring omission in Mark Ehrman's profile of Beatrice Wood ("Glory Days," Nov. 23). And that was Beatrice Wood herself. The article implied that she is a petrified relic, unable to function, decorated by handlers and paraded about for people's amusement. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have known Beatrice Wood for more than seven years, first as a collector, then as the publisher of one of her "limited-edition sketchbooks and storybooks" and, finally, as a friend.

ART A retrospective of the late artist Beatrice Wood is opening at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Wood, who died in 1998 at the age of 105, was born to a wealthy family in San Francisco but made her home in the bohemian circles of New York before spending the later part of her life as a ceramist in Ojai. Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2525 Michigan Ave., Bergamot Station, Santa Monica. Opens Fri.-Sun., through March. $5 suggested donation. (310) 586-6488; http://www.smmoa.org

Famed ceramist and Ojai resident Beatrice Wood frequently exhibits her work in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. But starting Sunday, the puckish, 102-year-old iconoclast is playing a local venue: the Ventura County Museum of History & Art. "Sometimes places close to your home are the last to acknowledge you," said David VanGilder, who manages Wood's studio in the Upper Ojai.

The drawings on the wall of the Ojai Art Center on Sunday evening showed figures and faces drawn in a strong and steady hand. The artist, Ojai resident Beatrice Wood, celebrated her 103rd birthday Sunday. But as some of the more than 100 guests at the center noted, her work has lost none of its power.

Beatrice Wood's ceramic work is comfort food for the soul. There is nothing of the fragile or overrefined about her bowls, bottles and vases. They seem to have as hearty a constitution as Wood herself, who is now 103, and their presence is equally life-affirming. While the luminous luster work and crater-pocked lava glazes venture out into exploratory formal terrain, Wood's work, whatever the texture or surface, always harks back to the fundamental humanism of hand caressing earth.

They spoke of her pioneering work in ceramics, her crush on Clark Gable, her uncanny wit and her lust for anything chocolate. But in the end, renowned artist Beatrice Wood offered the best line. "The last years of my life were the happiest," Wood said in a videotaped interview as she discussed the 50 years she spent creating and teaching in Ojai. "I'm also--don't tell anybody--so old that my libido has calmed down."

Beatrice Wood's renowned luster-glazed ceramics hold shimmering pride of place in the retrospective of her work at the American Craft Museum. But don't be surprised to find much more, including evidence of the artist's sense of fun. The show's 4 opening last month coincided with her 104th birthday, and that long life has been adventurous as well as creative.

Southern Californian visitors to New York City this spring might be heartened to find a sizable presence of "local" artists making a mark on the big city. The Whitney Biennial exhibition, for example, is thickly populated with Southern Californian artists, including Ed Ruscha, Chris Burden and Jason Rhoades. Meanwhile, down at the American Craft Museum on 53rd Street, Ojai's own living legend, Beatrice Wood, is toasted with a huge retrospective, "Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute."

Beatrice Wood: An article in the Aug. 31 Calendar section about a Beatrice Wood exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art said Wood was called the Mama of Dada in New York during World War I. In fact, she earned the nickname later. High school football: An article in the Aug. 30 Sports section about Anaheim Servite linebacker Butch Pauu said Pauu had a sister who plays tennis at Anaheim Rosary. Rosary is in Fullerton.

Before she died in 1998 at the age of 105, artist Beatrice Wood liked to say that she owed her longevity to "chocolate and young men. " A Santa Monica Museum of Art retrospective of her work does include a campy ceramic sculpture she made on that theme, which shows a regal woman flanked by a phalanx of tiny adoring male figures. But the show, opening Sept. 10, promises to go beyond the sensational, sari-wearing persona that Wood cultivated to find an artist of contradictions and complexities.

In Ojai, serenity prevails. Over the years, I've felt it here during many a laid-back weekend visit. But my most recent trip wasn't intended to be serene. I had a specific goal: to take the inside track and visit the home studios of my favorite Ojai artists, whose work I had seen online and in galleries. They were scattered from one end of the valley to the other, and I didn't expect to have much time to relax. Live and learn. Ojai is all about relaxation. It began with my home base ?

The idea was to create a little getaway that you didn't have to go far to get to, Tony Gwilliam said of his design for the T House, a small multipurpose backyard shelter for adults. The architect, who was born in England and has lived in Ojai for more than 20 years, said creating the design was easy because he spends quite a bit of time in Bali. "I often stay in little houses.

Theater League brings the hit "If You Ever Leave Me . . . I'm Going With You" to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza beginning tonight. Husband-and-wife team Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor wrote and star in this autobiographical comedy spanning their 30-year stage and film collaboration. * "If You Ever Leave Me . . . I'm Going With You"; today-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.; Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza's Kavli Theatre, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. $32-$45.50. 449-2787.

As most people with even a slight familiarity with the area's art scene knows, Beatrice Wood was a beatific yet looming figure. The ceramist, also known for her drawings and her link to art history--as a liaison with Marcel Duchamp and other 20th century icons--died at 105 in 1998. But in a sense, it's like she never left, as her work gains a kind of posthumous presence in local galleries and beyond. The latest glimpses of the woman nicknamed "Beato" show up at the G. Childress Gallery in Ojai.

"I am beginning to feel thoroughly that sex is utterly unimportant to me," Beatrice Wood scribbled in her diary on a bleak day in October, 1926. More than half a century later--in her travel memoir, "Pinching Spaniards"--she captioned a self-portrait of a huge-eyed woman with a small, sad mouth with the words, "I feel lonely when there is no one to sparkle with."

Ask Beatrice Wood what home means to her, and she'll reply mischievously: "Whatever bed that's not empty." At the venerable age of 104, the ceramist still loves to raise eyebrows, insisting that her two greatest weaknesses are chocolate and young men. In reality, home is Ojai, where she has produced her acclaimed lusterware pottery for the past 50 years. "I've never thought about living anyplace else," she says. "This is the end of the rainbow for me."

In terms of artistic life, 1998 will go down in Ventura County history as a year like many others, with losses and gains, disappointments and hope renewed. But there was at least one momentous event: It was the year we lost Beatrice Wood, at the sage age of 105. From her lofty but not snooty perch in upper Ojai, Wood was the county art scene's guiding light, actively and symbolically, a seemingly immortal presence over the past few decades. As symbols go, Wood was a wonderful paradox.