Laguna Beach Festival of ArtsThe last time I attended this art show was in 2001. I recall most of the art being too high end for my taste, nothing really appealed to me that much. So when GZ suggested we should go this year, I had some trepidation, but decided to go on the basis that things change and maybe this year I would be more interested.
Pictured at left is the delightful Tivoli Terrace restaurant where we ate dinner. I had a most wonderful shrimp entree... yum yum. Early bird special from 4-5pm (which we missed by minutes). I felt like I was back in Italy. Highly recommended, but a little pricey.
The festival runs from July 1st - August 31st. We picked Friday, July 20, and started with the Sawdust Arts and Crafts Festival down the street from the main event, which was okay, but could have been missed.
As soon as we entered the Festival of Arts I knew I was in for a treat. Exhibit after exhibit proved to be worthy of my attention. I could have taken many pieces home with me (except for the price tags, of course.) For this blog I picked five artists that I especially liked. However, there were more I could have chosen. I should also say there were many I didn't particularly care for, but on balance I felt this show had definitely improved since my last visit.
The following are in alphabetical order.
Marlo Bartels. Functional sculpture. Whimsical, magical ceramic mosaics. Absolutely charming and definitely my cuppa tea.
David P. Cooke. I almost left him off my list when I discovered he didn't have a website. Aaaagh, in this day and age how could a visual artist not have a web presence???? However, you can see one of his paintings listed on the Festival of Arts site here. I liked his bold images with dark undertones. These are not pretty pictures but have a sense of grinding real life. I often associate music with art and in this case I could hear a Tom Waits CD playing in the background of my mind.
W. Bradley Elsberry. I'm not usually a fan of landscapes, especially photographic/realistic ones. But I have to make an exception in this case. His paintings are almost surrealistic in their realism (you have to see them in person to understand what I'm saying). The painting that particularly attracted my attention was the one on his homepage, and it is huge. My only gripe about the gallery on his website is that the dimensions of the pieces are not listed and the images cannot be enlarged.
Molly Hutchings. Her website isn't terribly professional-looking but her artwork is amazing. I can't believe these are actually paintings and not collages. As I love Japanese Washi paper, how could I not love these?
Michael Situ. His painting of the Casino building at Avalon on Catalina Island caught my eye. This subject is a cliche, but the way he has dealt with it gives it a fresh look. Click on Paintings, then on #23. See how he has used the pier in shadow in the foreground to lead your eye to the Casino building in the background. Perfect!
Yachiyo Beck. Exquisite renditions of "still lifes" with wonderfully textured backgrounds. I'm attracted to architecture and these paintings are designed with an architectural quality which reminds me of the wall decorations at Pompeii.
We stayed for the Pageant of the Masters which you have to see to believe. It is incredible and worth seeing once. But as this was my second time in six year... and third over a lifetime... not something I need to do ever again.
(All photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)
No comments:
Post a Comment