‘Serious Chair’: It’s More Than a Seat

A chair is a chair is a chair. Right? Not necessarily so. At least not for those whose appreciation goes beyond the simply utilitarian. Read on.

The chair as a serious piece of art will be explored at the UCLA Art Council’s Symposium on Contemporary Chair Design on Oct. 20 in the Dickson Art Center’s auditorium on campus. The symposium is being held in conjunction with “A Serious Chair,” the exhibition now on display in the Frederick Wight Gallery. It’s going to be an experience, believe us.

That afternoon curator and crafts coordinator Eudorah Moore will moderate a panel consisting of artists Larry Bell and Peter Shire, craftsman Sam Malouf (the recent recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship) and Don Chadwick, designer of the Equa Chair, the “Serious Chair” of the exhibition title. Right after the panel finishes saying what it has to say everyone will adjourn to an artists’ reception and refreshments.

Mrs. Michael A. Cornwell is UCLA Art Council Program and Lectureship chairman and co-hosting the reception are Mrs. Charles Speroni, Protor Stafford and Mrs. Walter Richman. Linda Brownridge is the Art Council’s president.

Tuesday afternoon, the county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the appointment of Sandra Ausman as the county’s chief of protocol. Mrs. Ausman succeeds Margaret Paterson Carr, the county’s first protocol chief, who recently retired after two years on the job to go back to a more private life.

Margaret Carr is a hard act to follow. But Sandy Ausman is exceptionally well qualified for the job. She arrived here from Chicago in 1977 and immediately plunged into volunteer work where she made her mark in record time. “She’s done more in the time she’s been here than those of us who were born in Los Angeles,” Yolanda Sanchez of the supervisors’ office said with admiration. Sandy is married to Sheldon Ausman, managing partner of the L.A. office of Arthur Anderson, the international accounting firm. They have one daughter, who is married and lives in Mexico City and has three children.

This won’t be Sandy’s first involvement with the county. During last year’s Olympic Games she served on the executive committee of the L.A. County Host Committee. At the Music Center she is on the boards of the Performing Arts Council and the Amazing Blue Ribbon, is co-chairman for the upcoming Mercado (June 6-8) and assistant chairman of the Blue Ribbon’s Children’s Festival in May. She is also on the boards of the Joffrey Ballet, the Downtown Women’s Center and the Aman Folk Ensemble. Amazing, isn’t she!

It was “show and tell” time the other day when Les Dames de Champagne held their first meeting of the season at the spectacular home of member Kathy Kilroy. President Toni Webb and board members Ruth Le Sage, Sue Villicana, Harriet Luckman and Wanda Henderson had total recall when it came to reciting highlights of their activities during the last 12 months: the “Grand Great Britain” party at Bullocks Wilshire; the funding for KCET Children’s Programming; the “Carnivale at Colorado Place”; a benefit for Santa Monica Hospital and St. John’s Hospital Children’s Clinic and Research and a “Happy Birthday USA” for Para los Ninos at the William Ahmanson ranch. Kathy Offenhauser ran quickly through another venture, “Coffee & Roles,” a trio of meetings between Les Dames and experts in creative fields at Neiman-Marcus to raise money for busing inner-city children to the beach. For the luncheon meeting Kathy Kilroy and hospitality chairman Liliane Ravel raided the sculpture garden for sprays of bougainvillea to match the linen tablecloths. Kay Okrand was responsible for the Cajun menu, which ended with sinfully rich chocolate desserts. Raymond Berney provided a mini piano concert (neighbor Dorothy Crowell considerately

canceled her tree trimmers for the day) and the special guests were John Houlton, Great Britain’s vice consul, and Larry Knudsen, executive vice president, Independent Colleges of Southern California.

Ann-Marie Villicana, president of L.A.’s newest do-good group, The Young Californians, introduced members Marc Saleh, Mark Geraty, Jiva Mody, Annette Contreras and Brad Yates. And Twelfth Night ’86 chairman Kathy Wills announced the date--Jan. 6--for the next Bal Masque. Registering the date in their date books were Ady Underwood, Pat Moller, Victoria Bolker, Kitty Bernharth, Dale Snodgrass, Claudia Mirkin, Merle Kingsley and Van Venneri. More Les Dames paying attention--Betty Vincent, Maggie Louis, Toni Greene, Peggie Bales, Marie Hodgson, Diane von Welanetz, Mildred O’Green, Marie Humphreys, Bea Nassour, Marion Malouf, Rosemary Westmyer, Carol King, Amanda McIntyre, Norma Coyle and Elise Pasetta.

The Love Beat: The marriage last month of Stuart Ketchum, the real estate investor/developer, and independent film producer Carrie Craig is being roundly celebrated by their friends. Ketchum, a member of the board of governors of the Music Center’s Performing Arts Council, is currently developing the Stuart M. Ketchum-Central City YMCA in downtown Los Angeles. Next month the newlyweds plan a trip to Italy to review a model of the Gidon Graetz sculpture that has been commissioned for a space adjoining the new Y. Mrs. Ketchum has received awards at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals and many Clios (the commercial advertising film equivalent of the Emmys), two of which are in the Clio Classics all-time Hall of Fame. Coming up soon on the Ketchums’ social calendar are parties hosted by friends Betty and Vance Stickell and Nancy Call Dowey.

Red Letter Days: Friday, when Mrs. Warren A. Williamson and Mrs. H. Bradley Jones co-host Leonard Pennario’s piano concert in the new Murphy Recital Hall on the Loyola Marymount University campus. The guest list for the musical event includes Dr. Charles Clifford, Senegalese Consul Joseph Bolker and his wife Victoria, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Snodgrass, and Douglas Smith, vice president of Johnson & Higgins, which is underwriting the evening, and Mrs. Smith.

Oct. 17, for the reception and black-tie dinner at the County Museum of Art honoring the Duke and Duchess of Kent here to help J. C. Penney launch its “Best of Britain” promotion. Hosting the event are J. C. Penney President and Mrs. David F. Miller and British Consul General and Mrs. Donald F. Ballentyne. During the reception the formally dressed guests will have a chance to cruise around “Collection for a King: Old Master Paintings From the Dulwich Picture Gallery,” an exhibition made possible by a grant from J. C. Penney.

Oct. 17, for the special benefit presentation of “India: A Festival of Science” hosted by the Muses of the California Museum of Science and Industry.

P.S. That was Arla Brown who was incorrectly identified last week in the Laguna Beach party that re-created the Cocoanut Grove.