The Art of Shopping : Craftsmen Exhibit Holiday Wares at Laguna Festival
Instead of shoving her way through crowded malls for the usual Christmas gift items this year, Kelly Turnbull decided to get her grandparents something only she could give--her face.
Turnbull, 11, sat motionless on a canvas chair Saturday at the Sawdust Festival’s Fourth Annual Winter Fantasy as a crowd watched artist Ann Curtis lay wet plaster across the child’s face.
For $20, the Laguna Beach girl had a facial imprint made by Curtis, one of more than 150 local and out-of-state artists selling handmade items and conducting demonstrations.
The winter version of the summer Sawdust Festival, held at a three-acre eucalyptus grove along Laguna Canyon Road, gives shoppers an outdoor Christmas shopping experience that spotlights the arts, organizers said. It also features numerous activities to keep children happy, including a wintry playground with real snow delivered fresh every morning.
“This is not like any other festival or fair you’ve ever seen,” said Theresa Marino, a spokeswoman for the festival, a nonprofit Laguna Beach artist’s organization named for the sawdust that covers the ground. “Instead of going to the mall, you can support the artists. It’s a nice alternative. People can just come here and enjoy themselves.”
Aside from the art exhibits, there were also many booths where participants could make something for free.
In front of a dozen onlookers, Jessie Bartels, a 20-year-old ceramics student at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, helped KenthiaPhillips, 12, fashion a vase from a glob of clay.
“I’m probably going to buy some paints, paint it and give it to one of my friends as a gift,” said Phillips of Fallbrook.
Holiday shopping was the goal for many festival-goers. But in keeping with a nationwide trend, many at the festival Saturday appeared to be browsing, not buying. Even those enraptured by the variety of art said they were looking for practical gifts at bargain prices.
Jeri Berger, 38, of Placentia has already spent hundreds of dollars on Christmas presents this year, but “almost everybody I know is spending more,” she said, watching Turnbull wipe plaster off her face. “Things are looking up. More people have jobs.”
Berger said she came to the festival because she enjoys looking at “the unusual.”
“Here, we’re just thinking of artsy gifts, but I like the art to be useful,” said Carl Nelson, 63, a civil engineer from Newport Beach, as his wife wandered toward a display of handmade 14K gold jewelry set with Australian opals.
Alice Peterson, an artist from Santa Cruz, didn’t characterize her apple dolls as practical, but they did get a lot of response from passersby. The dolls, decked out in traditional Victorian dress, all had dried golden delicious apples as heads.
“I use my fingers to shape their faces. It’s about a 10-day process,” Peterson said. “Some of them get little white beads as teeth. I also spray them with clear plastic spray at the end.”
Peterson said she hadn’t sold many of the dolls priced from $66 to $75, but the $12 dried-apple ornaments were selling at a fast clip.
Despite the slow sales on the dolls, Peterson said she does not intend to lower her prices. “It takes a lot of time to make and each one is unique,” she said.
The Sawdust Festival’s fourth annual Winter Fantasy continues from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, and next weekend at 935 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Admission is $3. Children 12 and younger are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.