Laguna Beach brings back summer art banner competition

Laguna Beach is seeking artistic designs again for its banner competition.

The contest is run by the Laguna Beach Arts Commission, with winners seeing their work displayed throughout town during the summer months.

Eligibility for the competition is restricted to Orange County residents of at least 18 years of age. City employees, council members, board members and commissioners in Laguna Beach are not eligible.

Artists are asked to submit a color design, drawn to scale at 4 inches by 16 inches. The creatives should not sign their submitted design. A professional resume is also requested, along with three images that demonstrate ability to execute large-scale projects.

Applications must be completed and submitted along with designs to the Cultural Arts Department at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave., by 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 4. Alternatively, they may be submitted to public art coordinator Karen Wood at kwood@lagunabeachcity.net.

An honorarium of $4,000 will be awarded for the selected banners, and they could be displayed for up to seven years, depending on condition.

Jeffrey Skarvan, who first entered the contest in 2014 and has had three banners selected by the city, said they have been displayed on lampposts along South Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me,” Skarvan said. “I didn’t anticipate how cool it would be to put my stuff out in the public eye and have that many eyeballs on it. Being in a gallery, or even a commercial type of space, you’re not going to get as many eyeballs as that.

“It’s cool to hear some of the feedback. It’s really fun. The design selection, there’s a lot of different styles that are selected, everything from much more graphical types of representations to ones that are more painterly. They kind of vary it every year, so everyone’s got a shot.”

Laguna Beach photo contest winners honored

The winners of the city’s photo contest, which was themed “Through the Lens of Laguna Beach,” were honored on Tuesday at the Laguna Beach City Council meeting.

Mitch Ridder earned the top honor for his picture of the Third Street hill, including the colorful stairs that provide pedestrian access, the planted median and the vehicular traffic descending it.

Additional honorees included Keli Daniels, Christopher Allwine and Gemma Totten. The contest saw 45 participants submit a total of 122 photos.

Mary Hurlbut, a local photographer often seen around Laguna Beach, said she was honored to serve as the judge for the contest. She said she felt the contest needed two categories with work being submitted by professionals and recreational photographers alike.

“It just had all the elements,” Hurlbut said of Ridder’s winning submission. “It had the public art stairs. All locals love that hill. It’s part of our culture. The [Volkswagen going downhill], that’s that beachy, hippie vibe. It just said, ‘Laguna Beach,’ to me.”