Minds and souls of Surf City

Jenny Marder

A pencil sketch of a face with arched eyebrows and mocking eyes is

mounted above a photograph of a sultry woman in a pink sweater.

On the floor sits a black and white nature scene beside a

florescent, childlike drawing.

“It is the ultimate mix,” said Steve Schmidt, who placed the

pieces for the Huntington Beach Art Center’s community exhibit

“Centered on the Center.”

The act of arranging more than 300 pieces of varied and sundry

artwork, in a way that’s pleasing to the eye, is like herding cats

for Schmidt.

He tries to sort by type, keeping still-life paintings together,

portraits together and a sculpture garden in the backroom. He breaks

the pieces down into categories and then subcategories. He plays with

associations.

“If it makes people think, then it’s cool,” said Schmidt, an

artist himself.

But regardless of how everything’s organized, Schmidt said, one

thing is inevitable: “It’s going to get chaotic,” he said.

Thousands are expected to attend the exhibit opening Saturday at

the Huntington Beach Art Center, Schmidt said. The exhibition will

feature about 325 works including paintings, sketches, engravings,

two- and three-dimensional wall pieces and sculptures. This will mark

the event’s ninth year at the art center.

Artists, mostly Surf City residents, formed a line that snaked

around the building on the submission date. Nothing was turned away.

Each year, Darlene DeAngelo, the center’s curator of exhibitions,

selects one or two artists from the pool to be featured at a solo

exhibit the next November.

“It’s a real educational experience,” DeAngelo said. “Not just for

the general public, but also for the artists. They challenge

themselves by putting pieces in.”

In a city like Huntington Beach, the ocean tends to serve as a

muse for many artists.

“There are always a lot of works in this particular show that tend

to focus on the ocean,” DeAngelo said. “It’s what they see. Artists

in Southern California are affected by the ocean and by the light in

Southern California.”

Religious artwork arrived en masse this year and will cover almost

an entire wall. A painting that features a Starbucks cup is placed in

the center.

“That could be some people’s religion,” Schmidt said.

For Schmidt and DeAngelo, it’s the contemporary pieces that catch

and hold their attention -- the pieces that tend to be more abstract,

that push artistic boundaries.

“We look at a lot of work and start to develop a taste for pieces

with a little more meat in them,” Schmidt said.

One of their favorites is a fuzzy pink unicorn head mounted on

fake wooden contact paper over wood. The piece is encaged by a wooden

frame covered in chicken wire. When a small red button is pushed, the

unicorn sings a song. “I’m a magical unicorn,” it sings, in a

lilting, slightly chilling melody.

Schmidt and DeAngelo listen and laugh. They can’t wait to meet the

artist.

“We tend to like the weird stuff,” DeAngelo said.

The opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at

the Huntington Beach Art Center, at 538 Main St., at the corner of

Acacia Avenue and Main Street. Admission is free. For more

information, call (714) 374-1650.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.