In The Arts

Foundation awards $109,000

The Festivals of Arts Foundation has awarded grants to 19 nonprofits in the Laguna Beach area totaling $109,000.

The recipients are: ART4KIDS INC.; Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach; Festival of Arts; Gallimaufry Performing Arts; Laguna Beach High School art program, ceramics, dance department, Music Boosters, performing arts and Performing Arts Boosters; Laguna Beach Seniors; Laguna Beach College of Art & Design; Laguna Community Concert Band; Laguna Dance Festival; Laguna Outreach for Community Arts; LagunaTunes Inc.; No Square Theatre; the Laguna Playhouse; and Top of the World PTA.

“The Festival of Arts Foundation is dedicated to supporting the arts in the Laguna Beach community. As the giving arm of the Festival of Arts, the foundation continues to provide funding that promotes arts education and appreciation for all ages,” said Festival of Arts Foundation President Scott Moore.

Established in 1989, the foundation provides funding for the arts in and about Laguna Beach in perpetuity. Since its inception, the nonprofit has contributed $1.2 million in grants to the community.

Thornberg show at Diana Ferrone

Scott Thornberg, artist and lead vocalist for acousticGROOVE, will feature his abstract art and play live acoustic music from 7 to 9 tonight at Diana Ferrone Gallery, 1999 S. Coast Hwy., as part of the 2010 Spring Kickoff.

Thornberg’s sets will feature original work and classic favorites. As a songwriter, his work has been performed by acts opening up for headliners such as Meredith Brooks, Poison and the GoGos.

“My goals are simple, yet so needed in this day and age,” Thornberg said. “Art and music promote youthfulness, vitality, love, kindness and always a good time.”

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Artwork from “FortyFeet Deep,” a collision of art, music and simple-minded deep thinkers will be on display through May 15.

The gallery is open from noon to 6 p.m., by appointment, Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit www.dianaferrone.com.

A fusion of science and art at Susi Q

Mission Hospital and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art will present “The Art of Imaging,” Thursday through June 10 at the Susi Q Senior Center, 380 Third St.

The exhibit will feature artwork inspired by medical diagnostic images such as X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and 3-D and 4-D imaging.

The works are inspired by the same images that are captured by the same medical equipment that saves lives every day, highlighting the hospital’s commitment to advanced medical care.

The exhibit is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Classical guitarist Sunday at college

Laguna Beach Live! will present guitarist Alexander Sack in a free chamber music concert from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Laguna College of Art & Design, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road.

The concert will conclude the “First Sundays” series until October.

Sack is a fine arts guitarist who is a two-time winner of the Randy Rhoads Memorial Award and recipient of the Andres Segovia Award for classical guitar performance. He has utilized the electric guitar as a solo instrument, and refined it for music from classical to blues and contemporary compositions.

For more information, call (949) 715-9713 or visit www.lagunabeachlive.org.

Paintout Monday at Crystal Cove

The Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. will host a paintout with Greg LaRock from 8 a.m. to noon Monday at Crystal Cove State Park, where he will critique and paint for onlookers.

To participate, take the shuttle or path from the Los Trancos lot, and meet at the tidepools near the “Beaches” cottage. For more information about the artist, visit www.greglarock.com. For more information about LPAPA, visit www.lpapa.org.

LPAPA’s 2010 Skills Scholarship application is open through May 30. For information, e-mail info@lpapa.org.

Chapman photos up at Hurley

Photographer and community activist Faye Chapman will display her collection, “Faces of the Shadows,” from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. during First Thursday Art Walk at Hurley, 225 Forest Ave.

The exhibit, which features dozens of Southern California’s homeless, sheds light on our community’s ever-present problem of providing food and shelter to those most in need.

Chapman has documented the homeless for more than a decade. After experiencing hardship in her own life, she gravitated toward individuals “living in the shadows” as her photography developed.

This project began in Venice Beach, when a homeless woman came into her viewfinder.

“I couldn’t help but wondering: Doesn’t someone “” anyone “” care about her?” Chapman said.

That moment sparked a yearlong mission to “humanize” the people who are ignored far too often. She traveled up and down Southern California, from skid row to San Diego, compiling a collection of images, and she turned it into a book.

As chairwoman of the Laguna Relief and Resource Center, Chapman is active in trying to make a difference in her subjects’ lives. Sixty percent of all her photography sales benefit the center.

Marc B performs at museum

Laguna Art Museum will host a free concert by local musician Marc B. at 7 p.m. Thursday, the last of its OsCene 2010 concert series.

Marc B.’s “Sublime-on-Marley” style represents the laid-back environment of the California coast.

Recently named as a nominee for Best Surf Artist at the 2009 Orange County Music Awards, he stands alongside other nominees the Offspring, Matt Costa and the Vandals.

He has played with the White Buffalo, Matt Costa and the Dirty Heads in such beachside locales as the U.S. Open of Surfing, the Boost Mobile Pro and the ASR Tradeshow.

Admission is free, with $5 wine and beer after 6 p.m., and the opportunity to view the current exhibit until 9 p.m. The same evening, the museum will also host a sale of lightly or never read art books, for as much as 50% off, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. to benefit the Museum Library.

Fore more information, visit www.lagunaartmuseum.org.

Tapscott photos at Demossa Gallery

The Demossa Gallery, 1294-D S. Coast Hwy., will exhibit the recent works of photographer James Tapscott from Thursday through May 29.

Tapscott’s photographs explore the link between matter and energy, a fusion of subjective and objective reality, and the effect our perception has on the world around us.

His works are essentially non-objective, functioning more like a conduit between the observer and the environment.

By using simple, elegant forms and light, he attempts to create a balance between displaying evidence of ritualistic artistic process and purely natural phenomena.

For more information, call (949) 715-9229 or e-mail art@demossagallery.com.