Summer is for art lovers

Cindy Frazier

It’s all a matter of taste.

The city’s three major art festivals open this week, turning

Laguna Beach into a destination for art lovers and truly providing

“something for everybody” in the realm of art.

Summer art festivals have been a Laguna tradition since the Great

Depression in the 1930s. Over the years, the three festivals have

engaged in a friendly competition as they vie for the admiring eyes--

and dollars -- of the public.

The shows keep their doors open seven days a week -- with some

exceptions -- until Sept. 4, all within walking distance of each

other on Laguna Canyon Road.

Two festivals that open Friday -- Sawdust Art Festival and

Art-A-Fair -- have been around for 39 years.

Festival of Arts -- the city’s oldest and original art festival --

will open its doors to the public on Sunday, then will close Monday

for the Independence Day holiday, and reopen Tuesday.

“Established in 1932, the Festival of Arts is the longest-running

art show in Laguna Beach,” said Sharbie Higuchi, Festival of Arts

spokeswoman.

“It was created to lift the spirits of the community during the

Depression and as a means for artists to sell their artwork during

difficult times. Over seven decades later, the Festival of Arts has

matured into a world-renowned cultural institution.”

The “other” festivals each cropped up during the protest years of

the mid-1960s -- as an alternative venue for artists who felt shut

out of the Festival of Arts by policies that limited the type of

artists permitted to exhibit.

The Sawdust and Art-A-Fair each answered a need of various artists

who wanted to be part of the summer Laguna art scene.

Sawdust started out in a vacant lot on Coast Highway -- using

sawdust to keep the dust down on hot summer days.

“In 1966, the year it all began, the Sawdust Art Festival was

viewed as the renegade offshoot from the local art establishment,

though the heart of the matter was aimed at providing a venue for all

artists without a stringent jury system to preclude those with

‘out-there’ art,” according to Sawdust organizers.

Despite its humble beginnings, organizers report the Sawdust was

recently named the “Best in the West” for art shows by a readership

poll through AmericanStyle Magazine, which covers arts and crafts.

New this year at Sawdust is a “Concentration”-style puzzler game

show, “Art on Stage,” in which contestants try to figure out how to

put an original work of art back together. The contest will be staged

every Saturday from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Organizers of the Art-A-Fair call their festival “the ultimate

destination for lovers of art to visit this summer. Nestled in a

colorful garden setting in romantic Laguna Canyon, the festival is an

enjoyable place to spend a summer day in the historic art community

of Laguna Beach.”

The arts festival organizers have apparently decided that fine art

cannot be properly enjoyed without fine food, fine music and fine

wine.

While Art-A-Fair organizers boast of the quality of their food --

and “the best Margaritas in Southern California” -- provided by the

gourmet cooks at Tivoli, Too restaurant located on the fair grounds,

the fact is that the original Tivoli restaurant is located on the

grounds of the Festival of Arts.

The festivals have all branched out to offer more than artwork

sitting on tables or hanging on walls -- workshops, demonstrations

and even cooking classes can be enjoyed for the price of admission.

This year, Festival of Arts is holding “special events” during the

season, including Wildlife Art Day (July 16), Hawaiian Cultural Day

(July 30), “Surf’s Up” (August 6) and Asian Arts Day (August 20).

But it’s the artists themselves who are the backbone of the three

arts festivals, and each of the festivals has a somewhat different

slant on the arts -- and the kind of artists who exhibit and sell

their creations.

Art-A-Fair and Festival of the Arts are juried, meaning that

artists must apply and be accepted to the shows.

The Festival of the Arts reserves its booth spots for artists who

live in coastal Orange County -- from Costa Mesa to the north and to

Dana Point on the south.

Art-A-Fair accepts all artists, and each year exhibits several

from foreign countries, allowing the festival organizers to bill it

as “Laguna’s only internationally juried art show.”

Artists at the Art-A-Fair also work at sales booths, and a

percentage of art sales goes to the fair itself, according to

spokesman Floyd O’Neil.

The Sawdust Art Festival limits its artists to those who live in

Laguna Beach, and a lottery system determines who gets a coveted spot

on the grounds.

It pays to live in Laguna during festival time.

Residents are given free admission any time to the Festival of

Arts, while Sawdust has a “resident” day on the first Friday of the

month, giving free admission for those with I.D. showing a local

address.

At Art-A-Fair and Festival of Arts, those who buy a ticket have

also paid for a season pass to the show.

Those who buy a ticket to the Pageant of the Masters -- the

performance art wing of the Festival of Arts -- have also purchased a

season pass to the Festival of Arts.