Art-A-Fair is the International Laguna Art Festival
The Laguna art festival known as [Art-A-Fair] describes itself as "The Finer Arts Festival." It is also the most international art event in this tony beach town. This festival closed August 28, 2011 and will reopen toward the end of June in 2012.
In a town hosting many other festivals, hundreds of galleries and thousands of artists in residence, Art-A-Fair has major competition for the numerous tourists who flock here each summer. Yet the festival (featuring about 125 artists) displays a more diverse collection of art and artifacts than can be found in any other Laguna art festival. People whose works are often too unusual, out of the box or produced/created out of the area (the other two festivals in town show only Orange County, CA artists) were here.
Chinese Mineral Paints
Pan Da Qiang from Wuzhou, China depicts mountains, water, flowers and animals, using watercolor and ink paints made from Chinese minerals on xuan, or paper made from wood fiber. The Singapore Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art own his works.
Marie Priest, formerly from England, now in Orange County, CA, creates Frond Art, magnificent heads and busts of lions, tigers, bears, leopards, zebras, wolves and many other exotic animals, painted onto palm fronds that are found on the ground. Ralph Burch from San Diego creates enchanting 40's retro pin-ups of icons as Betty Paige. Judith Bear from Los Angeles County with her [Art To Wear] company, creates hand dyed, embellished and manipulated fabrics, then sews them into a variety of gowns, jackets, vests, accessories and more.
Pièce de Résistance
Then there is the jewelry, the pièce de résistance of this Laguna art festival. The magnificent, often exotic costume jewelry, made from metals, stones, glass and fabrics, are as elegant as ornaments in expensive jewelry boutiques in downtown Laguna. But the pieces here are so affordable, earrings for $15.00 to a few hundred, pendants for $80.00 and up.
A few (among many) of the jewelers there were Victor & Edith Dworak, Mary Fassel-Plascencia, Jill Jacobs, Merilou Jenkins and Gretchen Schields.
See also Sawdust Festival page, another Laguna art festival down the street. Art-A-Fair and the Sawdust, both offshoots of the Festival of Arts, are the same age, 45 years, but have different artistic and exhibiting concepts.
