Hillcrest Fine Arts Festival to Feature Woodcarver’s Work

More than 200 artists will display their works at the 26th annual Hillcrest Festival of Fine Arts beginning Friday.

In recent years, the show at the Hillcrest Congregational Church in Puente Hills has attracted up to 20,000 people for the three-day event. The festival runs through Sunday and admission is free.

Sam Maloof, 69, is the festival’s featured artist this year. A woodcarver, Maloof specializes in building furniture. He has been described as a “Hemingway in hardwood” and President Ronald Reagan uses one of Maloof’s rocking chairs in the White House. Former president Jimmy Carter and actor Anthony Quinn own Maloof rockers, which sell for as much as $8,000 each. A 6-by-18 conference table with a trestle base runs about $35,000, while a Maloof baby cradle can cost $5,000.

Maloof, born in Chino, now lives at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains near San Bernardino. He began working with wood in 1948 and has been the subject of two short films about his craft.

The festival’s wide range of artwork--including oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings, sculpture, ceramics, photography, jewelry and weaving will be shown at a series of galleries around the churchyard. Besides exhibiting their works, some artists will demonstrate their skills. Most of the artwork will be on sale.

The festival will be 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The church is at 2000 West Road.

Food will be available at the festival and several musical groups will perform. Between 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday the Southern California Early Music Consort will perform a variety of Renaissance arrangements, while at 10 a.m. on Sunday several choirs, including Hillcrest Congregational’s, will perform the Lord Nelson Mass by Franz Joseph Haydn.