Dedicated to the arts

Artist and arts benefactor Iris Adam died Saturday at Saddleback Hospital from respiratory complications while recovering from a broken hip she sustained in a fall Jan. 10. She was 91.

“Iris was an artist, sister, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and always a friend of the artists and our community,” said longtime family friend Richard “Scooter” Brewer, president of the Art-A-Fair Board of Directors. “She will be deeply missed, but through her accomplishments, her presence will be with us always.”

Artists, friends and admirers are invited to share memories and photographs at a celebration of Iris’ life and her contributions to the arts and philanthropies at 6 tonight at Tivoli Too. Refreshments and beverages will be served.

Tivoli Too is at the back of Art-A-Fair on land owned by Iris and her husband of 50 years, the late Vetold J. Adam, and a partner since 1987, bought to ensure a home for the festival.

“She signed the deed the same day my father died,” said daughter Coral Bodnar the Adams’ only child. “I don’t foresee any changes right now.”

A memorial service will be at noon Saturday at Pacific View Memorial Park Chapel in Corona del Mar, followed by a reception at 3 p.m. in Laguna Woods at the Clubhouse One Art Gallery. For more information, e-mail Brewer at mbplusrb@cox.net.

Iris and Vetold, more often known as V.J or “Doc,” were living in Huntington Beach when she first exhibited at Art-A-Fair, Bodnar said. They moved to Laguna in 1977 because she thought she also wanted to exhibit in the Sawdust Festival which has a residency requirement, unlike Art-A-Fair.

“As I remember it, she applied for both but then decided two shows were too much,” Bodnar said.

She was also accepted at the Festival of Arts, according to story written by Leslie Cunningham in 2007, but opted for Art-A-Fair, which she served so wholeheartedly as an exhibitor and board member.

However, she didn’t confine her art activities to the festival

She was a founding member of Laguna Outreach for Community Arts — LOCA — and served on the city Arts Commission for 14 years.

“She was amazing, totally dedicated to the preservation of the city’s holiday palette program,” commission Chairwoman Pat Kollenda said.

Iris Adam diligently chaired the program for the commission.

“She was small and delicate, but she was strong,” said Realtor and arts patron Bobbi Cox, who served on the commission with Iris Adam. “She’d get back in that shed [storage for the palettes] checking them out. She was interested in preserving and conserving all art in Laguna, not just the palettes.”

However, the distinctive artist-designed palettes that decorate streets at the holidays are her legacy to Laguna, Bodnar said.