Cristopher Cichocki to headline Laguna Art Museum’s Art & Nature next week

The arts and the environment are deeply embedded within the fabric of Laguna Beach, so events involving both are frequent occurrences.

In a matter of days, the clock will strike midnight on spooky season, and the attention of the town will turn from themed creations like the Pageant of the Monsters to a venue closer to the coast.

Laguna Art Museum will be bringing back Art & Nature, an annual celebration of the cross-section between the arts and science, as well as a gathering to raise environmental awareness, from Nov. 2 through 5.

Now in its 11th year, the showcase included an outdoor exhibit in Kelly Berg’s “Pyramidion,” as well as Rebeca Mendez’s video installation in “The Sea Around Us” last year.

As Berg’s pyramid sculptures did, this year’s featured exhibit will hit the sand. Cristopher Cichocki, an artist from the Coachella Valley, will serve as the headliner in ushering in a new decade of Art & Nature with “Rising Inversion,” which visitors will be able to view along Main Beach in front of the Inn at Laguna Beach.

Art & Nature will get underway next Thursday with a talk led by Cichocki, who is known as a multidisciplinary artist. Attendees of the evening’s festivities will then join the artist at Main Beach for the debut of “Rising Inversion,” which will incorporate the natural elements of light and water in a phosphorescent display.

It will be a full day of programming on Saturday, Nov. 4, beginning with a beach cleanup with Surfrider Foundation South Orange County at 8 a.m.

There will be an art workshop focused on environmental stewardship called “Drawing for the Planet” at 9:30 a.m. The two-hour session is free for children age 12 and under. It is $20 for museum members and $30 for nonmembers.

The day will continue with a reception at 4:30 p.m., with author and naturalist Lyanda Lynn Haupt serving as the keynote speaker. An audiovisual performance of “Circular Dimensions — Rising Inversion” will be followed by an after party.

A family festival will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5, at the museum and the cobblestones at Main Beach.

Two additional exhibits — Luciana Abait’s “Escape — Route” and Andre Woodward’s “Burghers of Cali: A Ballad of Redwood Spirits” — will also be on view at the museum beginning Nov. 2 into next year.