EDITOR’S NOTE | By Bret Bradigan

Leo Da Vinci, Party Planner

“To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.” — H.P. Lovecraft

That quote from H.P. Lovecraft fascinates me, because it’s so unexpected coming from a writer of such macabre and dark fantasies. It’s as if the great chronicler of the battles between light and dark is weighing his thumb on the scale toward the light.

Another irony that fascinates me is that Leonardo da Vinci — who has created some of mankind’s most eternal masterpieces — spent the final decade of his prolific life in the employ of France’s Henry V, where he was the court architect and painter. He also coordinated all the pageantry of the court, the jousting tournaments, the royal weddings, the births, funerals and everything in between. In essence, he was a party planner.

All that work from his glorious mind enjoyed by a relatively small group of people, for a short period of time.

Here’s a sample description from Walter Isaacson’s superb biography: “As he had for his previous patrons, Leonardo designed and staged pageants for King Francis. In May 1518, for example, there were celebrations at Amboise to mark the baptism of the king’s son and the marriage of his niece. The preparations included the construction of an arch topped by a salamander and an ermine, symbolizing the rapprochement between France and Italy. The piazza was transformed into a theatrical fortress with fake artillery ‘firing air-inflated balls with great blasting and smoking effects,’ according to a dispatch from one diplomat. ‘These balls, falling on the piazza, bounced all over to everyone’s delight and without any damage.’ From another description: ‘The courtyard was entirely covered with sky-blue sheets with golden-hued stars to look like the sky.’” Wish I could have been there to see that.

It reminds me of Ojai, where art and artists are central to our identity, as evidenced by the Ojai Studio Artists Tour the second weekend of October, and the Film Festival the first week of November. We open our community’s doors to the public with great fanfare, then quietly go back to doing what we do best; creating lasting works of art.

The Ojai Quarterly has none of those pretensions; we exist somewhere between the ephemeral and the not-quite. But during the time this issue is out and about, we urge you to check it out. Peter Strauss, for example, is more proud of his Ojai garden than his storied acting career, as you’ll learn from Robin Gerber’s lyrical feature. Elaine Unzicker’s metal lace creations are making a splash outside Ojai’s artistic pond. Another well-known artist, Gerd Koch, has returned to Ojai, another survivor of the Thomas Fire. Speaking of food as art, Ilona Saari shows us the literal devotion to the culinary arts of Ojai cooks/authors and Sarah Howery Hart interviews Food Harmonics’ Gabrielle Chesneau. The intrepid Bennett Barthelemy soars high in his latest adventure. Kit Stolz examines Philip K. Dick, the esteemed sci-fi author, and his relationship to Ojai. It’s all in here. Come check it out.