What a ball

Barbara Diamond

Fantasy met art Saturday night to celebrate the 85th anniversary of

the Laguna Art Museum.

“We are especially proud to present the Masquerade Ball, which is

a tribute to the tradition of art in the community of Laguna Beach,”

museum director Bolton Colburn said.

Many of the fantastic costumes worn to the ball and the masks

created by artists for a silent auction were works of art themselves.

Tim Dey, whom many people know from his performances in

“Lagunatics,” used the pages of the Los Angeles Times to make the

antebellum costumes he and partner Jim Nussbaum wore. Even their wigs

were made of shredded and curled newsprint. So was the parasol Dey

twirled as he batted 3-inch long fake eyelashes.

“I made the costumes about seven years ago,” Dey said. “The paper

wasn’t treated, and I just stuck them in boxes.”

Amazingly, the costumes were in near-perfect condition. He did

need to redo the bodice of the hoop-skirted, tasseled dress he wore.

“My movement is restricted a bit, and I am worn,” top-hatted

Nussbaum said.

Jean-Beau Lee, who travels the world shooting carnavales and

masquerades, photographed Dey and Nussbaum arriving at the museum.

Lee, who wore a costume with silk cape and pantaloons hand-painted

by Nussbaum after the fashion of Joan Miro, has proposed holding a

spring festival to the Arts Commission for the consideration of the

City Council.

Photographer Don Romero spent a week pinning between 700 and 800

35-millimeter slides to a shirt. Lori Romero draped grapes in her

hair and around her hips, a wine goddess. Carole Chickering’s

silvery-green, Fortuni-pleated dress and feathered headband paid

homage to Charles Spencer Erte.

The museum provided masks for the guests. Local artists created

masks to help raise funds for the museum.

“The Festival of Arts was certainly well represented among the

artists,” said costumed and masked Sharbie Higuchi, Festival of Arts

public relations and marketing director.

Entertainment included dance music by the Extreme Fantasy, with a

guest appearance by John Heussenstamm and a performance by the Bodies

of Light Dancers.

More than 250 people attended the event, which honored Janet

Cartwright, June and Art Fong, Marshy and Ray Nernacki, the Jahraus

Family, Jack Kenefick, Carole Reynolds Vern, and Cherry Spitaleri and

Patsy Tartaglia as outstanding contributors to the museum.

The event raised $20,000, said museum Treasurer Kathy Conway, who

wore a “Kiss Me Kate” costume.

About 60 people attended a pre-ball dinner at the home of Betsy

and Gary Jenkins. The dinner was catered by Mark’s Restaurant, set to

close at the end of May.

“The food was delicious and exquisitely served,” school board

member Betsy Jenkins said.

St. Regis Hotel General Manager Ulrich Krauer and director of

Public Relations Heidi Jung were among the guests. The museum’s very

successful Art for AIDS fund-raiser was held at the hotel this year

and will be held there next year. No hotel in Laguna has a large

enough ballroom to accommodate the 600-plus guests expected, Conway

said.

Bonnie MacMillan chaired the ball, assisted by Conway, Mark and

Juli Bruggemann, Sabra Lande, Jean Lawson, Michael McKenna, Doug

Reilly, David Tardiff and Carole Zavala.

The museum is the direct heir of the Laguna Beach Art Assn.,

founded in the 1918 in the Glenneyre Street studio of plein-air

painter Edgar Payne. For more information, call 494-8971.