Pit Perfect Avo Fest Artwork

A Westmont art professor has the toast-worthy talent the California Avocado Festival judges wanted. They unveiled Scott Anderson’s playful illustration — an avocado sunbathing on the beach — at the Carpinteria Farmers Market. Available now, limited-edition posters and T-shirts featuring his design will also be sold at the 39th annual celebration, Peace, Love & Guacamole, Oct. 3-5.

An accomplished local illustrator and graphic designer who began teaching at Westmont in 1999, Anderson has deep roots in Carpinteria. He and his wife lived in Franciscan Village from 2002 to 2007 and often attended the festival on warm fall afternoons. “It captures the small-town spirit of Carp so well,” he says. “Being a former resident made it special to become the poster artist,” he says.

His design draws on childhood memories of visiting his grandfather on Ash Avenue and spending long, sunny days at Carpinteria State Beach. “For me, Carp is synonymous with the beach,” Anderson says. “So it seemed the logical solution for the poster — let’s depict an avocado soaking up the sun on the beach.”

His poster also appears in “Lines of Inquiry: Westmont Art Faculty Exhibition Fall 2025,” on display at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art through Nov. 1. The exhibit highlights Anderson’s creative process for posters designed for Westmont’s music and theater departments, showing an array of sketches, preliminary drawings and framed prints of the digitally painted finals.

Anderson’s clients include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, and MAD Magazine, among others. This December, the annual 100 Grand exhibition at Sullivan Goss will feature one of his paintings.