opinion in the mirror • february 6 –...

A10 OPINION in the MIRROR • WWW.SMMIRROR.COM FEBRUARY 6 – 12, 2015

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Medicine & Arts: Richard Willis, Daniela Schweitzer, Lou D’Elia

SUSAN CLOKE

MIRROR COLUMNIST

The “Joy of Being Read To,” “Turning thePage,”and “Shhhh”are the titles of three of thesculptures on display at the Essentia showroomand art gallery at 2430 Main Street in SantaMonica.

Whimsical and witty, romantic and philo-sophical,the sculptures are displayed in the win-dows capturing the attention of passers-by andbringing them into Essentia.

The sculptures are the work of longtimeOcean Park neighborhood dentist, Dick Willis.From the late 1970s on,Willis, who lived in theOcean Park neighborhood with his wife Cecileand sons Aaron and Joe, walked every day tohis Main Street dental office.

The Willis’ still live in Ocean Park,their sonsare grown. The dental practice was sold andWillis is now an artist.

The once bare white walls of the Essentiashowroom display paintings that burst withcolor and energy, landscapes of place and emo-tion.Images of dancers,workers,people talking,show us life in Central and South America andare the work of Daniela Schweitzer who is aClinical Geneticist at Children’s Hospital in LosAngeles and an artist.

For several years Lou D’Elia and his part-ner, architect Mike Salazar, walked by theEssentia showroom on Main Street and won-dered about the large and bare space with mat-tresses on display.They never saw anyone in theshowroom.

It was D’Elia’s background in art and hisappreciation for other artists that drew him into

the Essentia showroom on a day when he saypeople inside. It was a moment of serendipity.D’Elia met the owner, a Canadian with only afew showrooms in the U.S., and they talked art.

D’Elia told the owner,“It’s a gorgeous storeand it looks like a gallery space. If you wouldagree to my putting up art shows here I think itwould be good for the artists and bring morepeople into the store.”

D’Elia, the third medical person in thisstory, is a neuropsychologist who was formerlyon the faculty at the Geffen School of Medicineat UCLA and is continuing his work now as aconsultant to neurologists assisting in assessingthe cognitive functioning capabilities of theirpatients. He is also an assemblage artist. “Get-ting older,”said D’Elia,who will be 64 in March,“I want to go more fully into being an artist.”

Willis, Schweitzer, and D’Elia also share aninterest and a curiosity about the larger world,afocus on their own community and a commit-ment to family and friends.

Dick and Cecile Willis took an around theworld trip in 1971 and 1972, experiencing thebeauty of the Taj Mahal,the extreme poverty ofIndia,a visit to a then very peaceful Afghanistanand to a modern Iran.They saw ancient art andSufis and whirling dervishes and went to shopsin caves.

Willis said they felt welcome everywherethey went. But they came back to Ocean Parkto live.

Lou D’Elia,born and raised in Ocean Park,is a history buff.He is the custodian of the estateof Pancho Barnes and the archivist of the Pan-cho Barnes papers,he and Salazar are the own-ers and preservationists of an Ocean Park

Cultural Landmark house, and a classic car afi-cionado who organizes a third Tuesdays classiccar night as part of Food Truck Tuesdays inOcean Park.

Daniela Schweitzer, born in Argentina, hasstudied art since she was a child. She studiedmedicine in Argentina. As part of her studiesshe came to UCLA for a residency and met theman who would become her husband, TomRothenbucher, on the Big Blue Bus.

Moving to the U.S. meant redoing all hermedical certifications.While she was meeting allthe requirements for practicing medicine in theU.S.she also volunteered on art programs at herdaughter Natasha’s school and supported art inthe community.

Being an artist reemerged as a central focusin her life only about three years ago. Inspiredby the landscape of the ocean and by Natasha’sstudy of dance Schweitzer joined an artists’group and began painting again.

Getting older seems to the commondenominator to a boom of art making and com-munity building in Santa Monica. Or maybejust a continuum of the high energy of SantaMonica with its amazing history of art andartists, creativity and leadership.

Three different patterns of life, but allinformed by curiosity and generosity. Thesethree people, like so many Santa Monicans,have used their gifts to create meaning in theirown lives and to be builders of our shared com-munity.

Contact Susan Clokesusan@smmirror.com

H o m e t o w n H e r o e s

“The Joy of Being Read To”by Richard Willis

“Shhhh” by

Richard Willis

“Turning the Page” by Richard Willis

“Conversation at the Beach”by Daniela Schweitzer

“Fast Milonga in the Street”by Daniela Schweitzer

“Worker Carrying Buckets”by Daniela Schweitzer