Editor,
Thank you to the Laguna Beach City Council for a consensus over the March 15 meeting and the Cultural Facilities Matching Grant Program.
Councilman Kelly Boyd and Mayor Pro Tem Toni Iseman acknowledged that plein air painting is indeed a valuable historic tradition with continuing importance to the Laguna arts community by offering the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA) a funding opportunity.
The Laguna Art Museum was founded and built by Laguna’s early California plein air painters. It was the beautiful landscape and clear light that inspired artists to come to Laguna to paint, also to form an art colony here in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The original museum gallery exhibited their works during this era as well as during the resurgence of plein air painting brought about by LPAPA in 1999.
When the museum discontinued its partnership to host the venue in 2013, they created a true crisis in LPAPA’s funding, creating stress on the organization to continue their annual event that supports Laguna’s plein air painting tradition.
As we look back, it has been landscape artists such as William Wendt, Joseph Kleitsch, Edgar Payne, Frank Cuprien and Anna Hills and their creations that continually give back to our community by inspiring the preservation of our natural open spaces by painting and documenting history of Laguna and its breathtaking landscapes.
With the financial support of our community, LPAPA will be able to focus on their mission to preserve our culture by teaching and inspiring future generations, giving back to our community as they continue to do with their recent Plein Air Program, reaching over 2,000 children in local schools. In the past LPAPA has worked with organizations such as Laguna Canyon Foundation and Crystal Cove Alliance by creating images educating and inspiring the general public to work together to save our natural resources.
Fortunately, LPAPA was able to become aware of this grant matching opportunity at the last moment and voice its need to the City Council on March 15. In a moment of irony, the Cultural Facilities Improvement Matching Grant Program was graciously extended to include a valuable art organization that lost its historic exhibition space completely.
Thank you City Council for recognizing and supporting the tradition of plein air painting in Laguna Beach.
Meriam Braselle, Laguna Beach
Thank you for submitting this article, it cannot be expressed enough what a inspiring group of people the original Laguna Art Association members were to the community and pivotal to the formation of the City of Laguna Beach. They knew back then what a treasure we have in ecological and biological diversity, that they made it a point to encourage and support the preservation of our natural resources .
It is every member and association of our community’s responsibility to carry on the traditions in their support of our local environment.
This is why it is important for them to support the local organizations that we have empowered to protect the natural ecological belts (of ocean and land) that surround the city.
Education is key an tantamount to this support.
Without official recognition through study and publication of our unique setting we have insufficient evidence that it ever has existed.
In light of the reaffirmation of the original founders intent we should ourselves reconfirm our beliefs in their vision by continuing support of educational doctrines and studies and invite a local higher level education institution the ability to do so.