Among the dense Sunday crowd of passengers waiting to board an outbound trolley at the Sawdust Art Festival, a woman cradled a bubble-wrapped package roughly the size of a tiny mummy.
Michelle Sokol was ready to return to her home in Buena Park where she looked forward to finding a special place for her latest Sawdust treasure, a sleek glass vase by Marcus Thesing.
“I collect Marcus’ work, I have several by now,” she said.
Thesing’s booth featuring sleek modernist and more earthy hued vessels, assorted paperweights and new works he describes as “wave boxes,” comprises one of the highlights at this year’s Sawdust. He is one of roughly 19 artists working in highly diverse permutations of glass making, offering a wide selection from delicate goblets, to glass assemblage to sleek modernist or nature inspired vessels. Thesing, it turns out, is a former apprentice/employee of John Barber, a veteran fellow Sawdust exhibitor.
“I have also been at the Festival of Arts for nine years and have a studio in the canyon,” he said. Thesing’s booth (427) adjoins that of his wife Sarvi Hosseini, a jewelry maker working in silver and stones. Visitors might also meet Devin, their lively four-year-old who already has an eye for interesting shapes in the sawdust floor.
Those curious to see how some of it is done can check out the glass blowing booth for demonstrations. There is also a ceramic center that’s hands-on. Visitors get instructions at the potter’s wheel and can take their unfired creation home for free. For an extra $10, one can keep a fired and glazed one.
Close by, Paulette Auster, a 15-year exhibitor, has tucked her brushes and easel into a tiny space (430) where she was last seen working on a painting of a contented looking bovine.
Many will recognize her as the widow of the late Ken Auster, a respected plein-air and studio painter and moving force on the Laguna Beach art scene.
“After helping Ken, I now focus on my own work,” she said. “From Ken I learned that one could actually make a profit from being an artist.”
The daughter of a painter and ceramicist, she graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. “I have found a second family at the Sawdust and look forward to every summer,” she said.
Several artists give the Sawdust an Euro flair: German-born Helga Yaillen designs wearable art from hand-pressed felt, and Austrian native Ulrike Scheuchl is a photographer.
Then there is Nikolai Erngren, originally from Sweden, whose whimsical creations sometimes invite “what is it?” questions.
“I finally decided to make clocks because everyone understands them,” he said. “And yes they are all cuckoo clocks, cuckoo that is,” he quipped.
For a change of pace, he shows a scene of Paris where all the houses are skewed in different directions and some pieces showing characters that he said live in his head and are eager to come out.
Visitors will find him sawing and painting his wooden creations right in his booth (424), the one with the bright red platform shoes at the entrance, but only until the end of this summer. Erngren is moving to Asheville, North Carolina.
Danish-born Annette Doreng-Stearns (321) has made a name for herself as a painter, sculptor and jewelry maker.
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“The pieces I like the most feature some kind of storytelling, there has to be an emotional connection behind them. Sometimes people find their own stories behind the ones I tell through my pieces,” she said.
She revealed that stories are a natural outgrowth of her early life as the daughter of parents who traveled with a circus.
“Dad was a magician and mom his assistant,” she said. “Art was something we always wanted to do, but I first became an architect because I knew I had to make a living.”
Six years at the Sawdust now, she also teaches jewelry making classes and is a member of its board of directors.
“I love being here, it’s such a great opportunity for artists. Every summer is a reunion for all of us.”
Sawdust Art Festival, 935 Laguna Canyon Rd.
Tickets: Adult $9, Seniors (65+) $7, children (6-12) $4, under 5 free.
Through Aug. 28 Friday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
sawdustartfestival.org / (949) 494-3030
Correction
The front page photo and two others that accompanied an article in the print edition on the Sawdust Festival in the Aug. 12 edition should have been credited to Marilynn Young.
