Area Artists Flourish in ‘Body and Soul’

Roxanne Sexauer, professor of art at UC Long Beach, juries Westmont’s annual exhibition featuring Tri-County artists May 16-June 22 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free, public opening reception for “Body and Soul: Annual Tri-County Juried Exhibition” on Thursday, May 16, from 4-6 p.m. The Westmont Art Council will hand out $3,000 in awards to the artists at the reception.

Sexauer, who pored over more than 360 submitted works, has chosen a wide-variety of pieces for the exhibition, including prints, paintings, collages, sculpture, photography and watercolor. “There are so many talented artists on the Central Coast,” says Judy L. Larson, R. Anthony Askew professor of art history and museum director. “Every year, the impressive works by the new artists and returning artists’ surprise us. Our juror, Roxanne Sexauer, did a great job choosing works that interpret the theme of ‘Body and Soul.’”

Featured artists include David Peterson, who graduated this year from Westmont with a degree in art, Pecos Pryor, an adjunct professor of art at Westmont, Maria Rendón, Linda Ekstrom, and Joan Rosenberg-Dent, who won First Prize at the exhibition in 2017.

Sexauer, a native of the Bronx, New York, earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the University of Iowa and an MFA from the State University of New York at Purchase. The printmaker has served residencies at the Plains Museum of Art, Fargo, North Dakota; Palenville Interarts, Palenville, New York; The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, Georgia; and Dorland Mountain, Temecula, Calif. She joined the CSULB faculty in 1989, and heads the printmaking discipline, teaching relief, etching, and survey of printmaking classes.

All the pieces in “Body and Soul” are for sale, with 30 percent benefiting the museum.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. It is closed Sundays and college holidays. For more information, please visit www.westmontmuseum.org or contact the museum at (805) 565-6162.