OUR LAGUNA:Sawdust, up close and personal

The Sawdust Art Festival invitation-only preview is always a jolly affair and it was no different this year.

Exhibitors sent invitations to friends and customers to “Come out and play” at the 41st annual party and it seemed like most of them accepted.

“We each got about 20 invitations, good for two people,” board member Dennis Junka said.

With about 200 artists exhibiting this year, all locally connected, a whopping big crowd was guaranteed.

Veteran exhibitor Patti Jo Kiraly, for instance, is the daughter of Carol Reynolds, a founder of the Laguna Concert Band and the American Assn. of University Women’s annual Women of Distinction Award Dinner; the wife of Sherwood Kiraly, author of four books, one of which is currently being filmed; and mother of Katie, who graduated from Laguna Beach High School this month, with kudos demonstrated by the scholarships she received.

Kiraly said she showed restraint in extending invitations to the opening, which she hand delivers, rather than mails.

“I only offer them to people who have expressed an interest in coming,” Kiraly said.

Vera Martinez, who was invited by jewelers Marla Burns and Georgette Cerrutti, brought along her friend, Alice James, a former Lagunan.

“I attended the first three festivals,” James said. “I wouldn’t have recognized it. But this is wonderful.”

Jewelers Nikki Grant and Irene Suess have been in the show since 1968 and have never missed a year. Sculptor Dion Wright and ceramist Mark Blumenfeld have each missed only one show since 1968. The late Roger Armstrong also was an exhibitor that year.

Ceramist Sally Wilde wasn’t too far behind.

“This is my 36th summer,” Wilde said.

Ceramics was a second career for her. She was a musician and music teacher, then she taught and created art

“The very first piece I sold at the festival was a really ugly yellow vase with a moon on the side,” Wilde said. “That was in my yuppie period.”

Wilde is among the mentors this year to Sawdust Festival scholarship winners.

“We gave six scholarships and they have been given a booth and each has an artist mentor,” said Rebecca Meekma, festival community and media relations manager. “There is a big difference between being a student, and exhibiting and selling art.”

The pairing include Wilde and Spencer Wu, who worked at the festival ceramics booth for three years while still a Laguna Beach High School student; painter/sculpture Betty Haight and student Juli Reed; Kiraly and Jane Sasso; Karen Petty and Nicole Williams, whose father owns Aviation Art on South Coast Highway, Hedy Buzan, herself a Festival of Arts Scholarship winner as a Laguna Beach High School student, and Amanda Winner, whose parents, Mark and Sue Ann, are both Sawdust exhibitors; and Ryan Gourley and Rodney Nelson.

Gourley is the brother of Roark Gourley, remembered by many as the creator of the “Fork You” exhibit, which became a cause celebre when the city forced him to remove the un-permitted sculptured wooden forks from the hillside behind the city employee parking lot.

“Since Ryan was little he has made things out of stuff he found,” mom Betty Gourley said.

His booth, as well as his art, reflects his ability to give a new twist to old objects. Bottle caps stud frames, table legs and a stained glass remnant adorn the roof top of the booth, a mirror turns out to be a window.

“Everything is recycled,” mom said. “Be sure to look for the waterfall at the back of the booth.”

Kelly Akin recycles photographs into paintings and the painting into prints of celebrities, many of them notable sports figures such as Jackie Robinson and Andre Agassi. But perhaps the most endearing is a painting of his son, walking on some railroad tracks.

“It is from a photo I took in Montana,” Akins said.

Diane Valentino, who shares the Rags and Bags booth with Eleanor Henry, also recycles.

“My purses and pillows are all made from found fabrics,” Valentino said.

Festival President Larry Gill recycled himself.

“When I was about 37 or 38, I had a disastrous business experience and I thought I am so humiliated I’ll just become an artist,” Gill said.

His sculptures include the fountain at Tuvalo on Forest Avenue and the waves that bracket the entry to the avenue at South Coast Highway.

Gill was first in the show in 1977. He dropped out in 1979 and didn’t return until 1995.

The theme of the 41st Sawdust is “Up Close and Personal.” The idea is to showcase the artists as well as the art.

“This year the spotlight is shining on the people who make this amazing art show,” Meekma said.

Portraits of 21 festival participants featured in the “Up close and Personal” advertising campaign for the show were exhibited with examples of the art at seven degrees from June 4 through June 25. The portraits may be seen at the “Up Close and Personal” Exhibit in Booth 213 throughout the festival season.

Folks got close up, if not personal, to mixed media artist Melissa Belland, known as Missy, when she collected 23,000 votes in Yahoo’s contest for small business owners. It was a fantasy come true, but so is her booth, where she displays little fairy images, some free-standing and some framed.

There is much to see and more to enjoy, including daily entertainment, art demonstrations and the ambience that sets the Sawdust apart.

Preview guests and art collectors Wayne Peterson and Terry Smith already have plans to return.

“There is so much here that it is overwhelming,” Smith said. “But I have my eye on a Jan Sattler piece.”

The Sawdust opens to the public today. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., except July 4, when the doors close at 6 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors 65+, $3 for children 12 and under, and free for children under five. A season pass is $13.

For more information, visit www.SawdustArtFestival.org or call (949) 494-3030.