For the Young at Art

Wyatt Mills likes to surf, play hockey and strum his electric guitar, but his heroes are not athletes or rock stars. “I like Monet,” says the 10-year-old Malibu resident, adding with conviction that he has no desire to surf or play music for a living.

“I think I might want to be a painter,” he says.

Perched in front of an easel in a recent art class at O’Neill’s Fine Art Studio in Malibu, Wyatt is jammin’ on a new painting he hopes to complete in time for this weekend’s 30th annual Malibu Arts Festival & Food Fair on the grounds of Malibu City Hall.

Wyatt will join more than 50 youngsters from the O’Neill studio, exhibiting their work alongside about 200 professional artists--and actress Jane Seymour. (The Malibu resident will display her watercolors and sign autographs from noon to 3 p.m. both days.)

The festival is a 30-year tradition in Malibu, whose scenery certainly inspires its share of artists. But it’s a misconception to think that learning to draw and paint is limited to a talented few, says Virginia O’Neill. O’Neill is the proprietor of the art studio and a member of the selection committee for the Malibu Art Festival and Food Fair.

“Kids love to learn to draw,” O’Neill says. Her experience has shown her, she says, that the greatest lesson they learn is “that if you work at something and stick with it, you can become very good at it.”

The festival began as a small local event in 1971. Now it draws artists from all over the West as well as craftspeople and entertainment.

The food fair features some of Malibu’s favorite eateries, including Duke’s and Wolfgang Puck’s Granita.

But the festival maintains a community feel. You can still get hot dogs and shaved ice, and a Malibu High School band is among the 10 groups slated to perform over the weekend. The local Optimist Club will serve pancake breakfasts from 8 to 11 a.m. both days. Tickets are $4.

A Nice Little Town With Spectacular View

Outsiders often associate Malibu with “the beautiful people,” celebrities and the rich and famous. For the seaside residents, however, it’s a small town of 12,500 people, with Little League games and a sense that “everyone knows everybody,” says Catherine Garcia, executive director of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce. The festival is the chamber’s biggest fund-raiser of the year.

“It’s a strange dichotomy,” Garcia says. “It’s just a nice little town”--with a multimillion-dollar view. The festival offers an opportunity for nonresidents to take a drive up the coast and see firsthand how the 27 miles of rolling hills, rocky cliffs and crashing surf have inspired painters, potters and photographers--as well as the local children.

Quality of the Art Gets Better Every Year

For Janine Waldbaum, a tile artist and owner of Malibu Tile Works, this is an especially exciting year, because she and her 10-year-old daughter, Hannah, will exhibit at the festival. An oil painting Hannah did at the O’Neill studio will hang in the children’s booth.

Hannah and her brother Colin, 14, will also help out in their mother’s booth, where she will display her tile art.

“It’s a fun family event for us,” Waldbaum says. “Hannah is really excited.”

Children gained greater prominence at the festival in 1995, when O’Neill’s Fine Art Studio opened down the street from City Hall. A month later they put the children’s art on exhibit at the festival.

O’Neill’s 31-year-old daughter, Katie, teaches most of the children, ages 5 to 16. Katie O’Neill disagrees with the notion that kids these days have short attention spans.

“We’ve had 6-or 7-year-olds for four weeks in a row stare at a cup and paint it,” she says. “They love the discipline and they get the most satisfaction out of drawing something and then it looks like what it’s supposed to be.”

For the kids, the Malibu Art Festival is “kind of the culmination of the year,” Katie O’Neill says. “They can bring their favorite piece of artwork. Every year the quality of work gets better and better.”

“It’s fun to go find your stuff, because it’s in the festival with all the professionals,” says Julia Wick, 12, as she struggles to get the shadow just right on the blue teapot painting she’s created for the festival.

In past years, some festival-goers have even offered to buy some of the kids’ art. The parents say no, Virginia O’Neill says, because “that’s not what this is about.” Her daughter encourages visitors to go by the children’s booth, though, insisting they’ll be surprised.

“It’s a very impressive group of kids.”

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Malibu Art Festival and Food Fair, Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pancake breakfast, 8 to 11 a.m. $4. Admission, free; parking, $2. Malibu City Hall, Civic Center Way. (310) 456-9025, https://www.malibu.org.