OC showcases its finest

One time, Mike Kershnar stuck one of his drawings on the wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York to say he had a piece of his work displayed at the museum. A drawing of a black and white paper flower seemed to be growing from the wall of the building.

Another time, the Laguna Beach resident purchased an entire painting simply for the frame, covering the canvass in a new work. Kershnar, whose work is all about combining nature in an urban setting, presented his work as part of Made in OC, a residents only art show in the courtyard of the Lab shopping center this weekend.

A handful of local Orange County artists presented all types of work from organic, recycled clothing, to glass-blown wearable art. Artists, like Kershnar, brought themselves to the crowd, hoping to be seen by potential art enthusiasts.

Focusing on aboriginal styles tangled with 1980s skateboarding fashion, Kershnar uses predator versus prey themes most often in his work to express himself in an environmentally urban tone.

“I was going through a period of drought, so I looked around the natural world,” Kershnar said. “I was born and raised in Orange County, but the places here that are always my favorite are the natural ones.”

In the canyons and trails behind his home, Kershnar found characters representing his inner struggles scurrying and soaring all around him.

“God doesn’t let his creatures starve,” Kershnar said.

These metaphors and life lessons play themselves out in his work, many pieces expressing a relationship between predator and prey.

“I usually see myself as the predator, but sometimes I have to accept that I am the prey,” Kershnar said.

Like the reused canvass, Kershnar finds many objects to recover in his art, including skateboards and discarded metal street signs.

Although not using the same materials, many of the artists at the Lab on Sunday presented work showing that recycling does not have to be something we do with our trash alone.

Andrea Dominguez makes her masterpieces from dried out gourds, carving, painting or sculpting the dried fruit shells into works of art.

“When it’s done, it will go back to earth,” Dominguez said.

Her first inspirations came from Dia de los Muertos skulls, a theme tied in with the autumn season that she has always enjoyed.

“I soak them overnight, open them up and clean them out,” Dominguez told a couple admiring her work. “I woodburn for detail or use leather stain to add color.”

Lab shoppers were impressed with what they saw. Megan Moyer came specifically for the art, hoping to support local artists who have a harder time getting their work out because of high prices for rental spaces.

“There’s a whole bunch of creative people in the OC that tend to get drowned out by the mall scene,” Moyer said.

Moyer, who lives in Vermont but grew up in Westminster, was disappointed by the difficulty she found in locating art shows while out visiting her family.

The art scene is suppressed locally, she said.

“You’ve gotta look hard in Orange County,” Moyer said. “It takes a lot of money to rent out here. When you’re working on your own, you can’t do that.”

Events like Made in OC give people a chance to get in touch with local artists, Moyer said.