Festival auxiliary shows pieces from collection

The Festival of Arts has opened an exhibit of 11 art pieces from its permanent collection at its new satellite gallery in Laguna Beach.

“Selections from the Collection: The Water Show” features mostly watercolor paintings of marine or coastal scenery, including works by Laguna painters Scott Moore and Scott Albert, which were painted during past editions of Laguna’s famous summer arts festival and made their way into the festival’s permanent collection.

The show at foaSOUTH gallery is the second exhibition of paintings from the festival’s collection being displayed in the art space on South Coast Highway, since it opened in November 2010. The gallery is housed in a yogurt shop and natural foods cafe, Active Culture, whose owner has partnered with the festival in allowing it to display pieces from the collection in a side room.

Marking its 80th anniversary since it first opened as a summertime art festival in the wake of the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, over the years the permanent collection has grown to about 4,000 pieces that are stored off-site, said Martin Betz, director of exhibits, educational programming and the permanent collection at the Festival of Arts.

“We’re a little more like a museum now that we have a collection,” he said.

The pieces on display till June 5 include Moore’s “Fish & Lobster,” Albert’s “Cold Front,” “Bowman” by Hal Akins, “Swimmers at Long Beach” by William S. Daniel, “Behind Victor Hugo 1920” by Conway Griffith, “Mist” by Huang Chun-Pi, “Chinese Junk” by Arthur Beaumont, “Grain of Salt” by Edmund Ashby, “Evening at Lucia” by Scott Anthony, “Oyster Baskets” by R.A. Benson and an untitled vase by Fred Stodder.

Active Culture, at 1006 S. Coast Hwy., is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

—Imran Vittachi