In The Arts
Art on the beach Sunday
Laguna Outreach for Community Arts is hosting Watercolors on the Beach on Sunday.
Held on Treasure Island Beach, artist September McGee will lead the beginner class. Participants will also get to tour the beach’s tide pools and learn about ocean preservation.
To register for the class, e-mail locaarts@yahoo.com or call (949) 363-4700.
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Mia Moore at Laguna Presbyterian
Mia Moore, a familiar face at the Festival of the Arts and other local art venues, will showcase her work at Laguna Presbyterian Church on Sunday.
The piece, “Grace Lifts Me Over Mountains,” was just installed in the Sanctuary. Docents will lead a tour of the new piece of artwork following the 10 a.m. worship service, along with the artist.
The painting uses paper, acrylic paint, stain and gold leaf, applied on a canvas. The antique documents were found during Moore’s travels and include scraps of a 17th century bible, a prayer book and an illuminated manuscript.
The church, which is a historic Spanish colonial revival, had allocated funds for art work.
Laguna Presbyterian Church is at 415 Forest Ave.
— Compiled by Joanna Clay
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Local’s photo winner in Missouri
Laguna Beach resident Scott Gaw has won the “Picture Missouri” photo contest, according to a news release.
The Missouri Division of Tourism selected 20 finalists to be posted online and voted on by viewers. Two of Gaw’s photos were selected as finalists with “Amish Afternoon” winning the popular vote and selected as the overall winner.
Born in Missouri, Scott has spent the last 20 years in Laguna Beach and is working as director of Worldwide Sales & Marketing for the Best Western Plus Laguna Brisas Spa Hotel, 1600 S. Coast Hwy.
“Working with Best Western has allowed me to travel across the globe but there is something special about the simple lifestyle of the Amish people,” Gaw said in a statement. “Growing up next to one of their communities is a memory which keeps me grounded to what is really important in life. Living in the peaceful solitude of Laguna Beach and traveling abroad immersing myself in the local cultures has only deepened those feelings. Meeting people from all over the world has only increased my insight further enabling me to express myself through photography and other mediums.”
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College displays two Rodin groups
Laguna College of Art & Design, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road, will exhibit “Rodin’s Figures” from July 11 to Sept. 23, according to a news release.
The exhibit features 14 figure sculptures by French artist Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), including a 10¿piece display of the lost wax casting process of Rodin’s “Sorrow.”
The exhibition has been organized and made possible by the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. Iris and B. Gerald Cantor owned about 750 large and small Rodin sculptures. The foundation has allowed LCAD to exhibit two loan groups: “Figures,” consisting of 13 bronze figures varying in height from 14 to 36 inches, and “Lost Wax Casting Process,” the casting process pieces from “Sorrow.”
These two groups were selected to complement LCAD’s figurative emphasis in the drawing and painting major and sculpture, according to the release.
At the height of Rodin’s career he was regarded as the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo, the release stated. His genius was an ability to liberate both his subject matter and style from nineteenth-century academic conventions and communicate the vitality of the human spirit by a bold, impressionistic, light-catching modeling technique often using non-traditional and provocative subject matter.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and by appointment. Admission and parking are free.
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Jazz series is back
Laguna Beach Live! is pleased to announce the lineup for Jazz Wednesdays, a cabaret-style concert series. The live music begins at 6 p.m. Wednesdays in the Rose Garden of Hotel Laguna, 425 S. Coast Hwy.
The dynamic Latin Jazz Syndicate, featuring Bijon Watson on trumpet, kicks off the series, followed by Rickey Woodard Quintet on June 22, Yve Evans & Company on July 6, Kristin Korb Trio on July 20, Club Django on Aug. 3, Joey Sellers and Eric Dries Quartet on Aug. 17, Sal Cracchiolo & Melanie Jackson Quartet, and finishing the 2011 Summer Series is Luther Hughes and the Cannonball/Coltrane Project on Sept. 7.
A $10 cover charge and a special menu of food and beverages is available. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. and reservations are accepted for groups of eight or more by calling (949) 715-9713 or e-mailing info@lagunabeachlive.org.
—Jamie Rowe