Suzie Harrison”Color It Orange” has been nurturing...

Suzie Harrison

“Color It Orange” has been nurturing the imagination and creativity

of children for 29 years through its annual juried student art

exhibit.

The exhibit is held at the Laguna College of Art and Design, which

also sponsors the event, and is Orange County’s most extensive art

exhibition by children.

This year, it will have an opening reception and scholarship award

ceremony on March 23, with the exhibit on display through April 2.

Event coordinator Nancy Lawrence, a Laguna Beach resident, said

the group Designing Women started the exhibit in conjunction with the

college. Students usually become involved through teachers or

classes, she said.

“The most common instance is the teacher becoming aware of the art

show through the district liaison Art Exchange,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence estimated that there are about 50 Laguna Beach students

who get into the exhibit. Out of about 4,500 entries, only 600 are

chosen. This year, she said, a lot of the art from the district is

three-dimensional.

“There are different pieces since there’s no theme. [We] just want

students to make art,” Lawrence said. “It ranges from utilitarian

vases to fantasy. We have some creative teaching -- some are doing

paper dragons.”

Toni Flores and Angela Irish co-teach fifth grade at Top of the

World Elementary School. During a social studies course, their

students were learning about comparative religions and the beliefs of

the Native Americans. As part of the project, the students made

spirit sticks.

“We had them try to think about what spirit would be important to

these early natives, and what would be good to duplicate,” Flores

said.

Helen Kramer, 11, made a stick symbolizing the spirit of a fire.

Each of the student’s pieces had intricate details that would help

depict the image they imagined.

“My uncle -- his house just burned down -- he said it looked like

strings of fire coming down from the roof,” Helen said. “I just took

that, what he said, and did this.”

Lawrence said the exhibit proved to be good luck for the college.

“It was the ‘Color It Orange’ exhibit that saved the college

during the ’93 fire,” Lawrence said. “When the firemen were being

deployed by the freeway -- they said that there isn’t anything

between here and Laguna Beach. One of the firemen said, ‘Oh yes,

there is. My daughter had a piece in their “Color It Orange”

exhibit.’”

Gerry Artman, 11, said that she did a spider because she thought

it would be cool to do a spider with the webs coming down and because

she could make it really colorful.

“It means a lot to be chosen, because I love art a lot,” Jerry

said. “It’s kind of cool to have art picked to go into the exhibit.”

Lawrence said one of the purposes of “Color It Orange” was to

inspire youths to use their creative talents and to enrich their

lives.

“We have second generation ‘Color It Orange’ exhibitors. Someone

will say, ‘Oh, my daughter is in it, and I was,’” Lawrence said.

There are different judges for the work, depending on his or her

field of expertise. Ceramics artist Monica Dunham teaches at the

Festival of Arts during the summer. The entries are judged by grade

level. “From the entries, around 20% receive an honorable mention. If

it’s exceptional,” Lawrence said. “With the exception of 11th grade,

the college gives 10 scholarships to high school students for a class

designed specifically for these students.”

People are more receptive after being opened up to art -- to

seeing artistic ability in other people.

“For children who come to the show, it’s a valuable experience,

thinking, ‘Gee, I could do that,’ and we encourage them to try,”

Lawrence said.

The spirit of the wind is what Sam Kaplan, 10, constructed, because he feels the wind is important to the Native Americans for

the harvest.

“The wind blows pollen, which grows flowers. It helps

environmentally,” Sam said. “Also in the hunt, so arrows can go far.

I did something special to make sound, because if you listen closely

you can hear the wind.”

The opening reception is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Laguna

College of Art and Design, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road. For information,

call 376-6000.