B.W. COOK -- The Crowd

An overflow crowd of more than 600 guests arrived at the Orange County

Museum of Art last Thursday to celebrate the opening night of the Pacific

Craft Show.

“This is the second most important fund-raiser of the year,” said

museum spokesman Brian Langston, who was on hand to welcome the arriving

crush. “Next to our incredible Art of Dining, this show and sale is very

important to the museum.”

Langston helped organizers of the craft show raise more than $160,000

at the weekend-long event, which closed Sunday afternoon.

“More than 1,000 people attended the exhibition on both Saturday and

Sunday,” added Langston, who expressed confidence in the undertaking’s

success.

The event, sponsored by Wells Fargo, honored artist Howard Ben Tre and

attracted a showing of some 50 artisans from all over the western United

States.

Displays ranged from handmade jewelry to coffee tables. One in

particular, a brushed metal sculpted base table with a glass top made by

Laddie John Dill, sold for $7,000. It was among the larger ticket items

in the show.

Many pieces of art sold in the hundreds of dollars, not thousands. The

net effect, however, was a win for the museum and for the exhibiting

craft artists, who made new friends and customers in Orange County.

That evening, at the first of the donor receptions, the cocktail

gathering was catered by Mark’s of Laguna with a special vodka martini

bar presented by Ketel One. Sampling the grav lax (marinated salmon) and

tasting the grilled New Zealand mini-lamb chops in the sunset crowd were

such art lovers as Molly and Leon Lyon, Pat and Carl Neisser, Madeline

and Len Zuckerman, Pat and Alan Rypinski, Niki and Jim Wood, Janice and

Roger Johnson, Elizabeth and Walter Hansen, Gael Lauritzen, Carole and

Randy Johnson, Lois and Stanley Isenberg, Linda Irvine Smith, Twyla and

Charles Martin, Elyse and Bruce Miller, Walter and Jean Lachman, Donna

Phelps, and Ygal and Shiela Sonenshine.

Patrons roaming the exhibition halls of the museum, sampling the

cuisine and deciding on their purchases, were also tempted by a display

of limited edition plates.

Plates by two artists in particular, Anna Silver and Ed Moses, were

created to commemorate the show. Each year, the museum solicits artists

to create plates, which have become collectible and desirable.

And they really are plates, or rather platters to serve your next

artistic meal on. Priced at less than $200, the two plates went fast.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.