A bubbly display

Young Chang

Fair staff members clustered around an intriguing piece of art

Friday and guessed that they were looking at a car.

It had to be a miniature car, they reasoned, because the work was

rectangular, painted yellow and with a black center. There were no

wheels, and no doors either. But seeing as the maker of this

soap-turned-sculpture was in the 3 to 7 age range, it seemed

forgivable that he could have overlooked car-specific features.

And then Austin LaBarber, the 6-year-old artist himself, appeared.

“It’s a camera,” he said.

“A camera!”

“Of course it’s a camera!”

“There’s a hole in the back!”

The adults gushed. They understood, suddenly, that the black

center was the lens and that the black hole in the back was the view

finder.

The young artist just stared with a face that seemed to

communicate, “was it ever anything else?”

Austin’s soap sculpture camera won first place at the Orange

County Fair’s Soap Sculpture Contest for kids on Friday.

Actually, a lot of pieces placed first, and the ones that didn’t

got division honors, best-of-show awards and even a theme award.

“Everyone was judged on their own individual merit,” said Kathleen

Smith, one of the Youth Building employees.

Tommie Ivy, who also works in the Youth Building, added that fair

staff members give out as many awards as they want every year. When

contestants are few, everybody wins at least a little something for

their efforts.

“Because this isn’t serious,” she said. “It’s just something fun

for the kids to do.”

The rule is that any child who brings in a soap sculpture between

noon and 2 p.m. on the contest day gets in free. Sometimes hundreds

of children bring in their work. Sometimes just a fraction of that

do.

This year’s contestants numbered closer to 10.

A butterfly soap sculpture by Kayla Porter won the best-in-show

award. The child had painted a rectangular bar of soap black. She had

attached satin wings to both of the long edges and attached antennas

too. The body of the butterfly was ridged with three silver glitter

strips.

Also represented were a cell phone, a television, an Easter egg

(nestled in a strawberry basket and fake miniature canaries) and a

simple one with just a smiley face painted on it.

Austin used fabric paint to color his soap-camera yellow and

black. His grandmother Debbie Porter said she gets out “all the junk

in the craftsroom” and lets her grandchildren get creative.

Kim Aguirre, youth program coordinator, said the craft helps kids

use their imagination.

“They get excited because a regular bar of soap can turn into

anything,” she said.

* YOUNG CHANG is the features and arts and entertainment writer.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at

young.chang@latimes.com.