Sawdust celebration complete with memories

OUR LAGUNA

Sawdust Festival officials celebrated the opening of the 37th annual

show with an intimate party on June 7th at Healy House on the

grounds.

“I am overwhelmed that I was invited,” said former Arts

Commissioner Iris Adam, an Art-a-Fair exhibitor. “I think they feel

that I am part of them. I feel that way. I am in the Studio Walk

every year.”

The guest list included board members, the press, local arts and

culture supporters and exhibitors.

“This is the V.I.P. party, hosted by the board,” said Dennis

Junka, who arranged the floral centerpieces on the laden buffet

tables.

Junka, Ket Youngstead and Lynne Powell served on the party

committee. La Sirena, Zinc Cafe, baker Viktor Benes, Laguna Culinary

Arts, Dr. Chocolat, Heidelburg Bakery and Pappous Mediterranean

Grill, one of the restaurants on the grounds during Festival Season,

provided a sumptuous buffet.

Greg Thorne drew a lot of eyes -- at least the ones with mascara

-- when he showed up at the laden tables in a traditional Scottish

kilt, complete with dirk.

“It’s the Seaforth plaid,” said Thorne, tall, with shoulder-length

blond hair, in the Fabio-style.

He did not volunteer what he wore beneath the kilt. Below the

kilt, he wore patterned, knee-high stockings that he called divided

hose, purchased in Edinburgh.

Thorne, a resident of Laguna Beach, has been a Sawdust exhibitor

of 11 years.

Guests at the party included City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman and

son Josh; City Treasurer Laura Parisi; Pageant of the Masters

Director Diane Challis-Davy; Festival of Arts marketing and publicity

director Sharbie Higuchi; Laguna Art Museum spokesman Stuart Byer;

city Arts Coordinator Sian Poeschl; and newly re-appointed Arts

Commissioners Nancy Beverage, Pat Kollenda and Dora Wexall.

And: jeweler Tim Hayes, Judy Pettigrew, and former Arts

Commissioners Carole Reynolds and Carol Reynolds, mother of jeweler

Patti Jo Kiraly, an exhibitor for 11 years.

Also: newly appointed Planning Commissioner Linda Dietrich and her

husband Bob, a member of the Festival of Arts Board of Directors;

Friends of the Library Bookstore volunteer Janet Pressman; and Martha

Lydick, president of the Library Friends and the Laguna Beach

Taxpayers Assn.

The party was the second opening celebration for the 2003

festival, coinciding with the public opening. A couple of days

earlier, the grounds were packed with guests invited by the

exhibitors.

“This party is like hometown night,” said Steve McIntosh, known to

some as “Buck Naked,” leader of the Chapped Cheeks band. “You see

people you haven’t seen in 20 years.”

McIntosh headed straight for Scott Moore’s booth. Moore was a

member of the band, which has been on hiatus for a while, what with a

McIntosh toddler and Moore’s participation in the Festival of Arts

Great Rebellion of 2000.

Moore has been a Sawdust exhibitor for 22 years.

“I go back to 1979, but I missed a couple of shows so I can’t

count them as consecutive,” said Moore, who also exhibits at the

Festival of Arts.

The Sawdust, too, is a child of rebellion. It began in 1966 as a

protest by artists who objected to the jury method of acceptance into

the Festival of Arts, held on a vacant lot. The name comes from the

Sawdust scattered to keep dust off of the paintings.

This year 120,000 pounds of sawdust were purchased to spread on

the paths of the grounds at 935 Laguna Canyon, purchased in 1968 from

the Funk Family.

Early Laguna settler George Rogers planted the 21 eucalyptus trees

that shade the grounds. Fifteen other species of trees grow on the

grounds.

Photographer John Atkinson was one of the original Sawdust

exhibitors. He and his wife, Arlyth, both 76, watched a generation of

children grow up at the festival.

“My daughter, Allison, worked for Jim Fyhrie, who handcrafts

Dulcimers and he taught her how to play,” said Arlyth Atkinson, who

exhibits original crocheted designs. “Our sons Andy and Kelly

assisted their dad in the dark room.

“The children were exposed to such a creative community. It’s been

an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life.”

Beth Leeds first exhibited at the festival in 1972.

“I grew up here,” said her son, Clay, who started booth-sitting in

1968. “I have never paid to get in. Everybody knew me.”

Laguna Beach High School ceramics teacher Bill Darnall has been

exhibiting in the show for 30 years.

“He had barely reached puberty when he started,” said Ron

Rodecker, a former Laguna Beach Unified School District art teacher

who has been a Sawdust exhibitor since 1982.

Rodecker created the critically acclaimed children’s Public TV

show “Dragon Tales.” The show has been nominated for an Emmy for the

third time, maybe the charm needed to win.

“We are the Susan Lucci of children’s programming,” Rodecker said.

He has the 1996 original drawing for “Cassie” and her evolution

displayed in his booth. New this year: Rodecker’s tongue-in-cheek

takes on great art, which included a pig as “Odalisque,” “The Duchess

of Alba” a la dragon, and “Whistler’s Mother” with a friend.

The show has 195 exhibitors this year. Complementing the veteran

exhibitors are newcomers Keith Anderson, Stan Berney, Richard

Blanton, Joan Corman, Bruce Hampton, Kristin Harrell, David Kluver,

Linda Kreidler, Brenda Jane Nelson, Diann Ocean, Edward Olen, Mary

Oudeman, Stormy Panosian, Kenneth Rosenberg, Jan Satttler, Michael

Scott, Thomas Silcox, Nita Skaggs, Melba Slavin, Ron Slavin, Rachel

Uchizono, Sue Winner and Patricia Wylie.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call 494-4321 or fax 494-8979.