Founders Harbored Visions of Art

Four of the original 13 founders of the Newport Harbor Art Museum were honored by the Museum Council last week at a sit-down luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach.

Luncheon guests, who included council President Nora Lehman, applauded the vision of Kay Farwell and Jane Lawson of Newport Beach, Dorothe Curtis of Molokai, Hawaii, and Flo Stoddard of Corona del Mar during a meal that included ginger-laced carrot soup, chicken breast stuffed with spinach and fresh berries.

The council’s primary fund-raising efforts are centered on its consignment shop at 333 E. 17th St. in Costa Mesa. There, antique treasures including furniture, crystal, silver and heirloom art objects are sold.

Council members meet monthly to enjoy artistic adventures. Included on this year’s agenda are trips to the Los Angeles Museum of Art for “The Golden Age of Danish Painting” and a tour of the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at MOCA in L.A.

After the luncheon, Sandy Wessel of Tiffany & Co. at South Coast Plaza spoke to the council about table settings. “It’s important to have a theme,” Wessel said. “A focus for your party helps everything fall into place.”

Also among guests: Joan Beall, president of the museum’s board of trustees; Sandy Beigel, (sharing snapshots of her adorable triplets); Pat Cox; E.G. Chamberlin; Shirley Geldert; Nancy Gurley; Sue Morgan; Peggy Speiss; Ellen Stapp, and Alison Baker Frenzel.

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Interfaith Shelter Show: Linda Schulein knew how to get the attention of the lively, well-heeled crowd at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach on Friday.

She told it like it was: “Though we are at the beautiful Four Seasons,” she said from the podium, “try to imagine for a moment that you are a homeless mother living in a motel with your family this week.

“Where will your child go to school? . . . How will you pay for school supplies?

“Now imagine that you are that child. And you don’t have new clothes or new shoes . . . “

You could have heard a pin drop when Schulein--founder of the FOCIS support group of the Orange County Interfaith Shelter--addressed the crowd. She continued: “The children at our shelter are the lucky ones . . . each child has his or her own tutor and started school with a new backpack filled with school supplies.”

The $50- per-person luncheon and Calvin Klein fashion show raised about $22,000 for the Costa Mesa family shelter that last year provided 28,000 bed nights and 73,000 meals to more than 2,000 homeless in Orange County.

“In seven years we have gone from a 30-year-old building with a one-bedroom apartment to a four-bedroom facility that can house four families,” said Schulein--outgoing shelter board president--during lunch. (Diana Hensley is new board president.)

Of FOCIS (Friends of the Orange County Interfaith Shelter), she said: “Really, we do know how to spell. The emphasis here is on friends .”

Also among guests: Lois Jacobs, FOCIS president; event co-chairwomen Sharon McKinnon and Linda Lyle; and Ricci Zukerman (owner of Worldview Travel of Costa Mesa, donor of a silent auction Hawaii trip that resulted in a $1,250 donation).

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Center of Fashion: The fashions of Florida designer Peggy Jennings will highlight the Center of Fashion on Oct. 1 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Two shows--at 1:30 and 8 p.m.--will feature the cutting edge in fall and winter fashions when the guilds of the center stage their annual fashion-as-theater extravaganza.

Tickets range from $10 to $75 and may be obtained by calling the center box office or TicketMaster. Fashion Island Newport Beach and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa are co-sponsoring the production.

Cindy Boragno and Sue Feldman are co-chairwomen.