Partying Artists Put on ‘Probation’ by Laguna Festival

On the closing day of the Festival of Arts last summer, artist Jorg Dubin flipped on “Jailhouse Rock,” lit the charcoal near his booth and held an “Elvis Presley Memorial Barbecue.”

Dubin had removed most of his artwork from the booth except the centerpiece: an Elvis Presley shrine, complete with candles, an offerings plate and a kneeling pad.

But the artist’s “tongue in cheek” activities that day landed him in trouble with the festival’s board of directors. In January, Dubin said, the board asked him to not participate in this summer’s show, saying he broke the rules by partying on the grounds and by removing his artworks before the festival concluded.

Then the board rescinded that decision and placed Dubin on probation for three years. Five other artists who attended the Elvis party received probation periods of one year.

Dubin believes the board’s action was intended to discourage displays such as the Elvis shrine.

“I just feel the festival isn’t a place that wants that kind of artwork,” Dubin said. “They want things that don’t create controversy.”

So Dubin and the other five artists, who have been dubbed the “Festival Six,” have hired a lawyer to represent them in further discussions with the board.

“I felt they had totally overreacted,” Dubin said of the board. “Some people took (the final day’s events) kind of seriously.”

The festival board is declining comment on the situation, spokeswoman Sally Reeve said. But one board member, who emphasized that he was not speaking for the board, said the probation was imposed because of the artists’ behavior, not the artworks.

“We don’t make judgments on the art that appears in the festival,” board member David Young said. “I think they built a molehill into a mountain, that’s all.”

Jeff LeFevre, one of the five artists placed on probation, remains puzzled about the entire situation.

“We were just six out of about 50 to 70 other people” celebrating that day, LeFevre said. “My theory was, we were the first six there at the beginning of the day. . . . It’s really quite a mystery.”

Attorney Eva-Marie Boyd was hired by Dubin, LeFevre and artists Randy Bader, Chris Hoy, Scott Moore and David Sabaroff.

Dubin said he will sit out this summer’s festival. Boyd said the artists want their probation lifted or want a more specific explanation of what it means to be on probation. Letters to the artists cited “flagrant violation of ground rules” including having alcohol and a radio at the booth as the reason for probation, she said, but the conditions of probation were not specified.

“They were hoping for a more egalitarian approach,” Boyd said of the artists.

Young said that if the artists want to know what probation means, they should “go look it up in the dictionary.”

“It means they are going to be watched fairly carefully so that it doesn’t happen again,” Young said.