Avran Art + Design opens a solo exhibition of artworks by artist James C. Leonard, from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, 540 S. Coast Highway.
Leonard’s inventive layering process results in heavy impasto, or textured surfaces with a glossy, wet shine.
CAP Opens Portraiture Exhibit
Community Art Project opens a new exhibit, Portraiture, at the upstairs gallery in Wells Fargo Bank, 260 Ocean Ave.
The juried show features Elizabeth McGhee, Ellen Rose and Bruce Vanderwilt, local artists with well-established backgrounds.
The free exhibit runs through April 15.
Former Gallerist Defines Emerging Artists
Former Laguna Beach gallerist Diane Nelson will speak about finding and nurturing emerging talent and struggling mid career artists at 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
Over 22 artists attended the exhibit opening for “Into Her Own: Diane Nelson, Four Decades in the Art World,” which examines her influence on the Orange County art scene as she retires from a long and celebrated career. The exhibit is on view at Doyle Arts Pavilion through April 9.
Between 1975 and 2002, Nelson ran three gallery spaces in Laguna Beach that lured the local art community. Modernist architect Mark Singer designed and built her third and most impressive gallery to her specifications. Singer’s use of concrete, rock, glass, and exposed steel re-defined the town’s residential architecture, but Nelson was one of the first to commission a commercial building. The outcome at 435 Ocean Ave. is currently occupied by the Peter Blake Gallery.
