Museum gala tops off Plein Air Painting Invitational

BARBARA DIAMOND

A gala dinner and collectors preview sale Saturday night at the

Laguna Art Museum concluded the weeklong Plein Air Painting

Invitational.

More than 400 people attended the gala, where artists were honored

and works of art were displayed and sold before the public sale on

Sunday. What once might have been a closer-than-cozy crowd fit

comfortably into the remodeled Steele Gallery, where the hole in the

center of the room has been covered to add space.

The event grossed $190,000, with proceeds split between the Plein

Air Painters Assn., the painters and the museum’s educational

programs. The lower level of the museum will be converted into a

learning center under the direction of Ann Camp, education curator.

Awards were presented at the gala in four categories. Artists and

patrons made the choices. Laguna Beach painter John Cosby, a past

winner and past association president, was the artists’ choice in the

Quick Draw competition, and Jacobus Baas, also of Laguna Beach, was

the people’s choice.

Quick Draw Paintout participants were allowed two hours at each of

two sites: Monarch Beach at sunset on July 12 and Heisler Park the

Friday morning before Saturday’s festivities.

Ray Roberts was the overall Artists Choice winner, an award he

shared last year.

Calvin Liang of Corona was Overall People’s Choice winner. Alison

and Kim McCormick of Newport Beach purchased Liang’s “Rocky Coast.”

Other buyers included Lisa and Athens Group Vice President of

Development John Mansour and Rick Silver.

The gala was chaired by Laguna Beach residents Jim Rogers and Ken

Auster, Festival of Arts exhibitor and former invitational winner.

Their committee included Teresa Marino, a founder of the Laguna Beach

Community Concert Band; Jan Fulton; Marnie Wall, museum events

coordinator; Patti Oshlund and Joyce Pekala-Bak.

Rogers and Auster joined museum Director Bolton Colburn to present

the awards and thank the committee and event sponsors: Coast

magazine; Comerica Private Banking; Cottage Restaurant, which hosted

a dinner for the artists on July 16; Plein Air Magazine; Redfern

Gallery on South Coast Highway, which specializes in plein air

paintings; St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa, which has forged

an alliance with the museum for fundraising events; and Young’s

Market.

Sundried Tomato catered the dinner. Rick Lang photographed the

event.

Guests included Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson; Arts Commissioners

Mike Tauber, Pat Kollenda, with husband, Jim, and Nancy Beverage,

with husband Gary, president of the North Laguna Community Assn.;

museum treasurer Cathy Conway, escorted by husband Mike; Matt and

Mary Lawson, co-chairs of the museum’s Advisory Committee; Gene and

museum board member Johanna Felder and Stuart Byer, museum director

of marketing and public relations.

Also, hotelier Claes Anderson, Hobie and Tuvalo owner Mark

Christy, Irvine Museum Director Jean Stern, Judith and Keith Swayne,

Festival of Arts Marketing Director Sharbie Higuchi and gallery owner

Ray Redfern.

Works by the 50 painters in the invitational were displayed from

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the museum. Any of the pieces not snapped

up at the gala were for sale. The exhibition was taken down to make

way for the installation of “100 Artists See God,” which opens this

weekend.

Summer museum hours from Aug. 1 to Sept. 5 are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday through Thursday, until 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 9

p.m. on the first Thursday of each month for the Laguna Beach Art

Walk. The museum is closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New

Year’s Day.

General admission is $7; students with identification and seniors

65 or older are $5; children under 12, accompanied by an adult, and

museum members are free.

The museum is at 307 Cliff Drive, just north of Main Beach. For

more information, call (949) 497-8971.

THANK YOU

Brothers Eric and Shawn Borg have donated two patrol-ready

bicycles to the city’s “Cop on the Corner” program, which increases

the visibility of officers and considerably increases their

maneuverability on congested Downtown streets.

The Borgs had met the city’s bicycle officer on his patrol. They

were impressed and approached the police department to see if a

donation would be accepted.

There is a precedent. The program has historically been supported

by donations from local business owners, but it has been five years,

and the bicycles were showing a great deal of wear.

The City Council on Tuesday accepted the donation of two $825 Trek

Manitou black, elite, police-ready bicycles from the Borgs, owners of

Laguna Beach Financial on South Coast Highway.

SITTING PRETTY

The City Council also approved the Arts Commission’s selection of

a bench for the Bus Depot on Broadway, designed to reflect the canyon

setting and architecture of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Laguna Beach artists Jorg Dubin, David Cooke and Jeff Peterson

created “Canyon View,” which consists of six seating areas and a bus

shelter, replacing those already on the site.

They will be paid $65,000 for their winning entry in the annual

Artist Designed Bench competition, funded by the Business Improvement

District’s self-imposed levy on hotels. Another $1,000 will be

provided for installation of a bronze plaque and miscellaneous costs.

The benches will be constructed of reinforced concrete with cedar

seats, some with backrests. The shelter will take advantage of

existing concrete pillars, combined with a roof of stainless steel

and mahogany and back panel, in the shape of a tree.

A cloud and sunburst panel at the peak of the front of the shelter

provides the elements of a lasting “canyon view” of the sky, the

artists said.

Caltrans and the city Planning Commission had to approve the

project. The commission gave it five thumbs up.

* 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 (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.