NEIGHBORS : Lighter Side of Art : Instructor Ron Walker takes a humorous approach in his course to help simplify modern works.

Artist Ron Walker can’t help chuckling over modern art.

“It’s hard not to be humorous with it,” he said. “When you have the number of strange things that are done under the name of art, it would be very difficult to be real somber about the whole thing.”

Given that sentiment, it’s hardly surprising that a six-session course he is teaching on the subject, through the Ventura Department of Parks and Recreation, is called “A Humorous Approach to Modern Art.”

Walker’s goal is to simplify modern art for the layperson. “I think most people either look at modern art as being a big farce, or they’re kind of scared of it,” he said.

And how does he plan to change popular opinion? Walker said he will talk about the major concepts and movements of modern art through the years and the ideas behind them. “I can’t say they’ll come into the class maybe hating modern art and leave it loving it. I don’t think that’s a realistic expectation,” he said. “But I would like them to understand how these things developed and have more of an appreciation for it.”

Walker used as an example of modern art, an outhouse toilet seat that will be up for auction late next month. The commode was painted at a 1954 party by artists Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. Experts say the work of art could go for as much as $200,000.

“Personally, I think it ought to be addressed with some humor,” Walker said. For information on the course, call 658-4726.

Norimasa Tomita is not an employee of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce--but when it comes to promoting the city, he might as well be.

The 27-year-old resident of Shizuoka, Japan, first visited Ventura 10 years ago as part of a student exchange program, staying with Keith and Carla Kraetsch and their sons Darin and Daryl.

Tomita enjoyed his yearlong stay in Ventura so much that he recommends it to others in his capacity as travel agent at the Kintetsu International travel company.

About two weeks ago he accompanied a group of Japanese businessmen on a tour of the Victorian Retirement Home on Ralston Street. “This is the third tour he has brought to Ventura,” Darin Kraetsch said. “He’s so proud of his foreign hometown.” Past tours have included visits to schools, correctional facilities and pieces of real estate.

Tomita also made a return trip on personal business last December. “He came back and announced his engagement,” Kraetsch said. He said Tomita was married at the Victorian Rose Historical Wedding Chapel on Main Street on Christmas Eve.

Staff, students, and alumni of Ojai’s Monica Ros School will pay tribute to the facility’s founder and namesake at a memorial ceremony Friday.

Ros, who died last November at the age of 90, began teaching out of her home in the early 1940s. In 1942 she relocated the school, for children ages 3-9, to its current address on McNell Road.

Tomorrow’s program will include a student art display, a visit by the Old-Time Fiddlers ensemble, and a tree-planting ceremony courtesy of alumni.