Festival of Arts Docent Tour - Laguna Beach

In conjunction with Laguna Beach’s world-renowned Pageant of the Masters, the Pageant’s Festival of Arts Art Show is a rich exhibit of local and national artists, which includes demonstrations, art workshops, daily art tours, live music and more.  

For me, it all came together when I discovered that the Festival of Arts offers FREE Docent Tours of all the artwork, Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m., and on every weekday but Monday, again from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. On Saturday, there’s one art tour at 4:00 p.m.

What a great idea and what a great way to see the Festival of Arts! So, I gathered up a posse of friends and we all headed down for our free tour.

We met up with a lovely lady, Sydelle, at the Information Booth, and she was off and trotting in seconds with her brood waddling behind her. In one short hour, she showed us around to about 75% of the booths, offering tidbit stories; information on medium and original artist style; and all sorts of interesting facts and factoids about the artists that you’d rarely learn, even in talking to the artist personally.

Seriously, where else could you possibly learn that . . .

  • Raymond Caruso, the scrimshaw artist, only carves from naturally shed walrus tusk
  • Jeweler Gretchen Shields eschewed traditional jewel display boxes to house her big, bold jewelry in MUCH more interesting fashion
  • Noriho Uriu is known as the “suicide artist” because …
  • Shelley Rapp Evans has carried the centuries-old tradition of “Spirit Keepers” into her popular work …
  • Rick Graves devised his own camera to preserve the images he finds …
  • Ceramic renown Marlo Bartels knew he wanted to be in ceramics while still in high school, so he traced ceramics back to its origination and took off for the Middle East to live there, exploring every facet and factory he could find …
  • Popular artist  Ken Auster uses his hands and fingertips to paint everything he produces except …
  • John Taylor produces his magnificent 3-dimensional ships from tiny pieces of refuse he finds …
  • Rose Hammer taught herself how to make exquisite baskets out of nothing but pine needles …

This was a fun, engaging tour at the Festival of Arts. I respect and admire anyone who can bring the story of original artwork to life, and Sydelle did a really fabulous job. No doubt, every volunteer docent at the Festival of Arts does the same.

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