Apr 1

Apr 1 Smile Mountain TWO

We do what we want

We're extending our SMILE MOUNTAIN issue into Spring. There's just too much that we want to cover that we didn't have time to get to because aghhhhhhhhh.

JOEL FOX AND JENNIFER JORDAN DAY OF SMILE MOUNTAIN

"A LEGEND IN MY MIND"

Cassandra's Spring feature is on Ojai-born digital artist Joel Fox. See his body of non-fungible work, procrastination as art, and really cool SPIDER WEB photos.

Warning, this story contains not safe for work guinea pigs!

“JJ EVERY DAY”

JENNIFER JORDAN DAY JUMPS IN & GETS STUFF DONE IN OJAI. She’s the newest member of the board of the Ojai Valley Museum, she participates yearly in Ojai’s 4th of July parade, and she’s helping to put together the new (and improved?) Ojai Film Society’s outdoor screening line-up (we didn’t even get to that, but more coming in Summer). Jordan Day has been in Ojai since 2015, volunteering here and there and hosting rad crafting parties. We dive deep on a fun friend and frequent Vortex contributor.

THE TAFT RESIDENCY

Taft has its second residency under its belt and the culminating show opened with a big party Saturday, June 4th. We celebrated with Jaide Whitman and the Taft Gardens family, guests including this season's muses Joel Fox & Jennifer Jordan Day, and VORTEX contributors Cassandra C. Jones, Andra Belknap, and Marc Alt.

ARTISTS JANE MULFINGER & STEPHANIE WASHBURN OBSERVE A CHANGING CLIMATE

Read Shared Studio, Shared Objective by Andra Belknap. Photos by Marc Alt.

"EWW...DO THAT AT HOME"

We're all a little gross sometimes. Read Office Etiquette & Existential Dread by Charlotte Ward. Its companion piece never arrived, but we expect it to be “worth saving,” so look for it in Summer. You see, Lynda was a very important influence on Charlotte, Joel, and a lot of Ojai.