IN THE ARTS

Endangered Planet program gets grant

The day of Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 29, 2005, brings many memories back to the Endangered Planet Foundation because it was the first fundraising activity the foundation organized, according to Charles Michael Murray, founder of the organization.

“The effort has now come full circle, with Laguna Beach’s international-environmental organization stepping up to the plate once again to partner with the Art Miles Mural Project and Crescent City Art Project to continue the recovery and healing efforts in Southeastern Louisiana,” Murray said.

The Art Miles Mural Project and Endangered Planet Foundation of Laguna Beach are partners in the Environmental Mural Mile and have extended their “community outreach” efforts to team up with the Crescent City Art Project located in New Orleans, to help transform the drab and mundane FEMA trailer schoolroom environments that still exist, realize the power of “healing through art.”

In a letter addressed to the foundation, Starbucks announced an award of $255,000 to create murals that will be provided to New Orleans schools, mosaic benches and a photo exhibit. The majority of the grant is for materials.

The Crescent City Arts Project will create more than 1,000 canvas panels with Starbucks employees who will participate in the mural painting during their Starbucks Convention and Service Day training in New Orleans on Oct. 29. Images of the murals will be photographed and utilized for the Pyramid in 2008 as part of the Art Miles Mural Project Environmental Mural Mile.

College offers game art workshop

The artistic public is invited to attend a special Concept Design Workshop led by top instructors from the Concept Design Academy in Pasadena. The workshop will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 27-28 on the campus of Laguna College of Art & Design, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road. The cost is $230, and includes food and beverages both days. For enrollment and additional information, call (818) 669-4657.

The intensive, two-day workshop will encompass a variety of topics from fundamentals of figure drawing, creature design, prop design, to designing color and lighting environments. This is an opportunity for aspiring artists to explore the intricacies of the gaming and animation industries, and for beginners and professionals alike to network, share their techniques and hone their creative skills to the next level.

Laguna College and Concept Design Academy are teaming up for this special event, bringing some of the Academy’s top instructors to Laguna Beach. Faculty from the Academy will include Kevin Chen, Carlo Arellano, Darren Quach and Mike Hernandez. Concept Design Academy is a Los Angeles-based design school offering semester programs and monthly special workshops featuring top professionals in the film, game and animation industries.

To learn more visit www.conceptdesignacad .com

Big Phat Band coming Oct. 11

Laguna Beach Live! is bringing Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, or simply The Big Phat Band, to Laguna Beach at 8 p.m. Oct. 11. The Big Phat Band is a two-time Grammy-nominated 18-piece jazz ensemble that personifies the best of the big band tradition with a contemporary and original sound.

While using a similar instrumentation to the traditional big bands of the 1930s and ‘40s, the Big Phat Band has a highly modern-day sound, highlighted by driving rhythms and extreme virtuosity. Goodwin composes most, and arranges all of the group’s performance pieces, as well as playing piano and occasionally tenor saxophone.

Celebrating the release of its new CD “Act Your Age,” The Big Phat Band will perform in the Artists’ Theatre, 625 Park Ave. Tickets are $25 to $30 for adults, and $10 for students 21 years and younger, and may be purchased at www.lagunabeachlive.org. For more information, call (949) 715-9713.

College sculptor returns from China

Ray Persinger, director of the sculpture department at the Laguna College of Art and Design, recently returned from a seven-week residency on the campus of Sias International University in Henan Province, People’s Republic of China.

Dimensions of Marble, a Vermont organization formed to promote the contributions of the Vermont marble industry, sent Persinger with a delegation of sculptors selected to create works of art on the campus of the first solely owned American University in China. Persinger was one of five mid-career artists selected to participate. The Sias International University Foundation is headquartered in Pasadena.

During their residencies in China, the artists worked with teams of Sias students and employees from local quarries and foundries to create works of public art that will be dedicated during the university’s 10th anniversary in May.

The cultural exchange program was designed in response to a request from Sias Founder Shawn Chen, to Sias Foundation Trustee Judith Luther Wilder, to identify sculptors who would create work specifically for the university’s 2009 monthlong anniversary celebration.

Persinger, who works in bronze, will complete his piece in 2009 as part of Phase II of the international sculpture program.

Sawdust presents Autumn Art classes

The Sawdust Art Festival is sponsoring “Autumn Art,” a hands-on art experience conducted over several weekends in September and October. Join several Sawdust artists from various media as they conduct one-on-one instruction in their own discipline on the Sawdust grounds. Classes include:

?Glass Blowing with Loren Chapman: Each student will create two pieces of blown glass from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $225 class fee includes all materials.

?Oil Painting with Charleine Guy: Beginner through advanced students. Each student will take home an original scenic oil painting each day. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4 and 5. $175 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Glass Blowing with Michael Panetta: Each student will create his or her own piece of glass art. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 13 and 14. $225 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Ceramic Class with Robert Jones: Introduction to the potter’s wheel emphasizing wheelwork and throwing skills. Cylinders, bowls and handles will be made, along with decoration and glazing. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 13 and 14. $175 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Multi-mixed-media Playtime with Cherril Doty & Suzette Rosenthal: Students can begin an art journal, produce artist trading cards, and learn collage techniques, textural substrates, image transfer techniques, and many more possibilities. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 13 and 14, and Oct. 4 and 5. $175 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Glass Blowing with Christopher Jeffries: Learn the basic skills involved to work with glass. No previous glass experience is necessary. Each student will create a finished glass piece. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 20 and 21. $225 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Glass Blowing with Jason McQuaid: This hands-on workshop will include one day of creating paperweights and one day of blowing glass vessels (vase, bowl or cup). Students will keep their finished ground work. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 27 and 28. $225 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Getting Wired with James Koch: Three-dimensional drawing and wiring workshop. Students are encouraged to bring their own found objects from home to incorporate into personalized wire sculptures. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5. $175 class fee includes all materials needed.

?Oil Painting with John Eagle: Learn the basic steps of creating a successful landscape painting from Laguna Beach. Each student will complete a painting each day to take home. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5. $175 class fee includes all materials needed.

To register, call Jennifer Tye at (949) 497-0515, or e-mail jtye@sawdustartfestival. org.

All classes are at the Sawdust Art Festival, 935 Laguna Canyon Road. For more information, visit www.sawdustartfestival. org.

Holiday palette competition set

Artists who live, work or exhibit in Laguna Beach are invited to submit proposals by Oct. 3 for palettes to be placed on lampposts around Laguna Beach during the holiday season. Winning artists are provided with a 4-by-3-foot wooden palette on which to paint original artwork, and get a $500 honorarium.

Proposals must be submitted to the Cultural Arts Department, 505 Forest Ave.

Entries will be accepted from Laguna Beach residents, 18 years and older. Artists must satisfy one of the following requirements: have a studio in Laguna Beach; exhibit at a Laguna Beach gallery; be a student at Laguna College of Art and Design; or exhibit at the Art-a-Fair Festival, Festival of Arts or Sawdust Art Festival. Proof will be required.

A maximum of two palette design submissions must be to the scale of 8 1/2 -by-11-inches in color within the border of a palette outline in a horizontal orientation. The palette indent must be integral to the design. All judging will be done anonymously; do not sign the front of your submitted design.

The seven members of the Arts Commission will judge the designs based on creativity and appropriateness. The commission reserves the right to make selections for this project from the Arts Directory if insufficient applications are received, or to terminate the project at any time.