The Sawdust Winter Fantasy opens this weekend with 180 artists and makers, live music and holiday-themed classes and demonstrations. Visitors will also enjoy daily visits with Santa, carolers, a petting zoo, a marionette show, falling snow, and thousands of lights and decorations, providing photo ops galore.
Tickets are $4-$8, or a season pass is $12, and can be purchased at sawdustartfestival.org. Tickets can also be purchased online for the Saturday, Dec. 14, Breakfast with Santa benefiting the Laguna Beach Firefighters Association. Active military and veterans and three members of their family enjoy free admission.
Get a photo with Santa, dine at seven outdoor cafes, and shop locally made art on Nov. 23, 24, 29 & 30; Dec. 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 20, 21 & 22.
Seuss Exhibition on Display
A collection of artwork by Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, will be on display through Dec. 31 at the Narrative Gallery, 333 S. Coast Highway. The exhibit will showcase works from The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection and also highlights a celebration of “The Grinch.” Visitors may view and acquire works from Dr. Seuss’s best-known children’s books, as well as The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss, a collection based on decades of artwork, which Dr. Seuss created for his own pleasure.
Geisel said he wrote “The Grinch” to see if he could “rediscover something about Christmas that obviously [he’d] lost,” a statement from the gallery said. He would later say of “The Grinch”—“It’s not how you start out that counts. It’s what you are at the finish.”
Each estate-authorized limited edition piece has been adapted and reproduced from Theodor Seuss Geisel’s original drawings, paintings, or sculptures and bears a posthumously printed or engraved Dr. Seuss signature, identifying the work as an authorized limited edition commissioned by the Dr. Seuss estate. More information is available by contacting [email protected].
Local Artists Extend Invitation to Studio Sale
Join glass fusion artists Maggie Spencer and Sian Poeschl, and Troy Poeschl—a mixed media artist, sculptor and photographer—for their annual studio clear out and sale, featuring original works of art handmade in Laguna Canyon. The sale takes place on Nov. 30 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the artists’ studio, 2707 Laguna Canyon Road, and will feature a “gone a little wrong” table of goodies starting at $8. Guests will also get a preview of newly created works for the 2020 season. All three artists have exhibited at the Sawdust Art Festival. Contact Maggie at 714-264-5617 for more information.
Tickets on Sale for Holiday Musical
Tickets are now on sale for a new holiday musical by No Square Theatre’s youth education director, Ella Wyatt, who describes the show as, “‘A Christmas Carol’ but with SnapChat.” “You’re a Mean One, Courtney Finch”—directed by Wyatt with music direction by Susan Geiser—will run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Dec. 13-15. Tickets are $12-$35 and can be purchased at nosquare.org. No Square Theatre is located at 384 Legion Street in Laguna Beach.
Alliance Announces 2020 ‘Art Star Awards’
Tickets are now on sale for the 14th Annual Art Star Awards, hosted by the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance, to be held on Sunday, April 5, at Seven Degrees, 891 Laguna Canyon Road.
The award ceremony recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions to the arts in Laguna Beach. The categories are: Best Arts Program, Individual Arts Patron of the Year, Corporate Arts Patron of the Year, Outstanding Arts Collaboration, Arts Leadership, Artist of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. A special award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts is also presented.
The category winners are given one-of-a-kind sculptures created by local artist Louis Longi. The “Louies,” as they are called, are created specifically for the Art Star Awards with no molds or editions.
In addition to the awards, the Laguna Beach Company will make a grant to an artist to develop and present an innovative arts project or program that advances recognition of Laguna Beach as a vibrant arts community.
Tickets are $100 and can be purchased at lagunabeacharts.org.
Champagne, Shopping in Support of Laguna Dance Festival
Nuance Home and Lifestyle boutique will host a private shopping event in support of Laguna Dance Festival on Dec. 3 from 5-8 p.m. Guests are invited to meet the organization’s founder and artistic director Jodie Gates and mingle over sparkling wine and refreshments. Nuance owner-designer Lisa McDennon will donate 20 percent of the event’s sales to Laguna Dance Festival.
McDennon and boutique manager, Lara Lanfried, have curated a large selection of home accessories, tabletop, holiday gifts and jewelry. McDennon’s award-winning lighting fixture designs will also be on display. Nuance is located at 1200 S. Coast Highway, Suite 103 A, in the Old Pottery Place complex.
Gates has been producing the Laguna Dance Festival with world-class dance companies for 15 years, as well as master dance classes, free public performances and demonstrations, and a week-long summer dance intensive. She also currently serves as vice dean and director of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Laguna Dance Festival’smission is to present world-class dance performances, increase public appreciation for the art, and provide quality dance education.
For more information, visit lagunadancefestival.org or call Nuance at 949-494-8833.
