Art Post Filled by County Fair Officials

Artist Dan Stephens has been named visual director for the 1998 Orange County Fair.

Stephens, who has been the fair’s visual arts department assistant supervisor for the last two years, succeeds Karen Schnell, who is pursuing other projects, fair officials said.

The 47-year-old Santa Ana resident works as a fine-arts department technician and assistant gallery director at Cypress College.

He said he’s excited by the much bigger space at the Orange County Fairgrounds & Exposition Center.

“I love doing this because the fair’s gallery is just so big,” he said. “The college has an 8,000-square-foot gallery, which is small and intimate, but the fair’s is 22,000 square feet. Now that is a challenge--having that kind of variety and space.”

The 1998 fair is slated for July 10-26 at the fairgrounds.