A watercolor class is about to begin. Students line up their canvases to participate in one of the many art classes offered at this year’s Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach.
Perched on a bench nearby, Varsha Patel is sculpting a small, intricate owl from clay.
“It’s going to be a yarn holder,” she says.
Asked about other clay pieces, she demurs. “I’m really a printmaker. This is just a hobby,” she says, pointing to her booth filled with colorful prints.
The much anticipated annual Festival of Arts offers the works of more than 120 artists in mediums ranging from drawing and painting to photography and printmaking, ceramics, glassworks and jewelry to handmade furniture and engaging multimedia pieces. It’s no exaggeration to say that in the array of inventively arranged booths, there is something for everyone, and with a variety of prices to match.
Now in its 93rd year, the venerable event shows no sign of aging as it features festival veterans like photographers Robert Hansen and Rick Graves, landscape painter Michael Situ and wood/mixed media sculptor Troy Poeschl.
Glass artist Sian Poeschl, a longtime Sawdust Festival exhibitor, started to show at the Festival of Arts just last year. This time around, her work has evolved into fused pieces that evoke eye-catching woven tapestries (Booths 114 and 115).
Also back are Fred Stodder’s sleek teapots and vessels, and Paula Collins’ hyper-realistic ceramic portraits of people in all their amusingly wacky varieties (Booths 60 and 107, respectively).
There are 16 newcomers to the festival this year, among them painters James Hendershott, multimedia artist Adriana Wrzesniewski and photographer Gabriel Sullivan.
Wrzesniewski introduces a Ukrainian folk art – finely painted eggs that, while meant for Easter, have become symbols for several Slavic/Eastern European cultures (Booth 20).
Sullivan’s photographs keep us closer to home with their depictions of surf culture, including the near ubiquitous VW bus (Booth 18).
Hendershott has trained his eye on the urban vistas of Long Beach, making paintings like the monochromatic but dramatic view of a railroad yard titled “Long Beach Industrial Soul” (Booth 26).
“This is my first time at the festival and I feel so happy that I made it in,” he said. “I hope to be here for many years to come.”
Abstract painting tends to be eclipsed here by naturalist, figurative and realist paintings, which made the canvases of Christopher Paul Scardino noteworthy.
Scardino, a graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design, said he eventually tired of figures, seeking other forms of expression.
“Today, when I paint, if it starts to look like something, I veer in the opposite direction,” he said.
Among photographers, Peter Levshin offers a first, assuring viewers via a small sign that his work was not created with any input from artificial intelligence.
Thus assured, viewers can regard his black and white photograph “Samba Trees” as a worthy example of the Australian-born travel photographer’s talent (Booth 118).
Among the festival regulars, Graves’ panoramic images still intrigue (Booth 99), and collectors of Hansen’s color and black and white photos documenting the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico will enjoy his return from sabbatical. His black and white close-ups of crows set against mythical backgrounds and depictions of religious worshipers have not lost their combined earthly and spiritual appeal (Booth 120).
Photographer Mitch Ridder trains his eye on the beauty of Laguna Beach in subtle ways, paying special attention to light and weather conditions that can change familiar vistas dramatically (Booth 14).
This year, he added a sense of humor to his booth by taping a banana to a wall with duct tape. A banana? The fruit references one of the oddities, speak idiocies, of the current art market: A banana taped to a wall sold at Sotheby’s for $6.2 million only to wind up eaten.
Looking at Ray Brown’s exquisitely detailed charcoal drawing of a group of bighorn sheep (“Hall of the Mountain King”), it’s easy to first mistake it for a photograph.
“I take photographs and then do sketches of what’s evocative and what I’ve seen,” he said, adding that a sketch can take anywhere from one day to five months (Booth 116).
Painter Carol Heiman-Greene shows a similar close attention to detail.
“I paint in the style of the old masters, applying very fine but also thick layers of oil paint,” she said. “Sometimes I cheat a little with a palette knife.”
In her depictions of still lifes, animals and birds, one discerns a photographer’s mastery of light.
“I love old Flemish still lifes, and sometimes I paint animals and create still lifes around them,” she said (Booth 77).
Susan Hoehn stands out at the show because her paintings also have a part in the Pageant of the Masters as tableaux vivants (living pictures) this year.
“I enjoy going to museums and also watching other people look at art,” she said.
Thus, her work depicts museumgoers reacting to what they are looking at (Booth 104).
Not to be missed is the Young Artist Show featuring works by Orange County students ranging from kindergartners to high schoolers. Works by the littlest ones are heartwarming and sometimes amusing, while those by middle- to high-schoolers show an amazing amount of talent and skill.
Besides spotlighting beautiful art, the Festival of Arts offers other feasts for the senses: chocolate and wine tastings accompanied by smooth jazz, food and beverages to sample, and a variety of music, including soul and tribute bands to be enjoyed on the main stage.
Festival of Arts
Where: 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach
When: Through Aug. 29
Cost: $10-$15 general, $7-$11 students and seniors, $5 for children 6-12, free for children 5 and younger, military and FoA members
Information: 800-487-3378, foapom.com