Improvising a Life: A Series of Fortunate Events We can’t say that he’s kept a low profile at Sunstone, having led us in sometimes roaring and often soulful song for all but one of the past twenty-six symposiums. We’ve managed brief glimpses into his intellectual and spiritual life through various panelist and respondent stints, including his 1996 “Pillars of My Faith” address. We got a sense of the wide variety of his passions and interests in the short “Sunstone Gallery” feature in the January 2002 Sunstone. But what do we really know about Ardean Watts? Friends, it’s time for the full load! Join us for a delightful tour of a colorful, musical, and extraordinarily joyful life. After proper cajoling, this maestro has graciously agreed to take up the baton (we mean remote control) and conduct us on a pictoral, personally narrated and properly soundtracked trip through events and people, ideas and loves that animate this most animated of lives. Ardean will lead us through everything from beginnings and mission to Utah symphony, opera, and arts, environmental, and peace activism; from university teaching to church service and his own form of “course correction”; from family and friends to birding and mushrooms, including travels on four continents. And, as anyone who knows Ardean might expect, the touch will be light and the emphasis, irreverent! There can be no better way to close your experience at this symposium exploring Mormonism and artistic culture than joining with the Sunstone community in celebrating our great friend Ardean and the series of fortunate events that have shaped this wonderful, vibrant soul.

Ardean Watts and Watts family