In The Arts

Pageant of the Masters casting call

The 2010 Pageant of the Masters is looking for people who can stand very still for 90 seconds.

Men, women and children are needed to volunteer for summer’s show, “Eat, Drink and Be Merry.” People of all sizes and ages are needed to be cast members in the presentation of tableaux vivants or “living pictures.”

Casting call will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 9, 2 to 5 p.m. Jan. 10, and 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Festival of Arts grounds, 650 Laguna Canyon Road.

The performances will run nightly at 8:30 from July 7 to Aug. 31.

During the casting call, prospective volunteers will be measured and photographed, and meet the behind-the-scenes Pageant staff. No theater experience is necessary.

“It takes over 500 volunteers, both onstage and behind-the-scenes, to put on the Pageant,” Pageant Director Diane Challis Davy said. “We wouldn’t have a show without our volunteers. They have so much fun backstage, volunteers return year after year to participate.”

Pageant volunteers are also needed for positions in the wardrobe, make-up and headdress departments, as well as cast area coordinators and refreshment servers, among other positions.

Students can earn credit toward community service requirements. Ticket are on sale for $15 to $100. Tickets can be purchased at (800) 487-3378 or www.LagunaFestivalofArts.org. For more information, call (949) 494-3663.

Festival posters at Wells Fargo

A retrospective of Festival of Arts annual posters from the past 25 years is on display at Wells Fargo Bank through Jan. 11.

“While organizing and installing the Festival of Arts Poster exhibit I was impressed with the uniqueness that each of the participating artists expressed through the artwork they created,” Exhibit Curator Pat Sparkuhl said.

Included are the 1996 poster “Casa La Vita e Bella” by Caroline Zimmermann, the 1993 poster by Eugene Kaspin called “Moss Point Beach” and the 2009 poster “Crystal Cove Surf” by Todd Kenyon. Other posters include reproductions of paintings by Hal Akins, Edmund Ashby, Ken Auster, Sandra Jones Campbell, Agnes Copeland, Jack Dudley, Marci Lyster, Jacobus, Michael Jacques, Mark Jacobucci, Eugene Kaspin, Mark Kerckhoff, Roger Kuntz, Todd Kenyon and Caroline Zimmermann. There are also Pageant of the Masters posters from the 2005 “On the Road” designed by Brenda Bredvik and 2007 “Young at Heart” featuring N. C. Wyeth’s “The Giant.”

The poster exhibit is on the third floor at 260 Ocean Ave. The building is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Sawyer photos at City Hall

A photo exhibit titled “Stillman F. Sawyer: Silver Images from Nature” is on loan from the Festival of Arts and on exhibit at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Ave., through March 18.

Sawyer was a life-member of the festival and exhibited his work there for many years, according to City Manager Ken Frank’s Dec. 4 Friday Update to City Staff.

Cultural arts funding applications out

The city’s Business Improvement District Cultural Arts Funding applications are now available at www.lagunabeachcity.net, Frank said.

The funding is available for arts organizations with programming in Laguna Beach. The deadline to submit the application is Feb. 5, with funding available July 1.

Arin hosts ‘Drawing Board’ show

Arin Contemporary Art will host a reception for the artists in “Back to the Drawing Board: A New Look at Contemporary Drawing” from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 7, during First Thursdays Art Walk.

Artists include: Alexis Amann, BAST, Joe Biel, Jim Dingilian, Allyson Hollingsworth, Joan Linder, Ruth Marten, Patrick Nickell, Rune Olsen, Holli Schorno and Su-en Wong. The show will be on display until Jan. 22 at the gallery, 352 N. Coast Hwy.

“Back To The Drawing Board” journeys back to preliminary basics, throwing out convention and challenging the viewer’s preconceived limits of drawing, according to gallerist Naomi Arin, who will present a gallery talk on beginning collecting from 5:30 to 6 p.m.

The exhibition explores alternative processes, extending drawing into the third dimension, highlighted in Rune Olsen’s masking tape sculptures, Allyson Hollingsworth’s floating resin piece and Alexis Amann’s disjointed body paintings draped from the ceiling.

The show’s more traditional drawings are unconventional, including Joe Biel’s graphite and watercolor on paper; Su-en Wong’s whimsical pencil drawings; Patrick Nickell’s climbing graphite vines; and Ruth Marten’s ink drawings on found print.

For more information call (949) 715- 4554350 or visit www.arincontemporary.com.