Great artdoors

Laguna Beach has evolved from art colony to al fresco art museum.

There are 61 pieces of public art in the city ? and 41 of them will be highlighted during the first Public Art Tour, from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The event is free.

Trolleys will pick up art-lovers at the Festival of Arts grounds, 650 Laguna Canyon Rd., and take them on an hour-long journey around the city, from north to south Laguna and back, with docents pointing out the art along the way.

“Several Arts Commissioners had been on public art tours, and thought that one day it would be nice to do in Laguna, once there were enough pieces,” Sian Poeschl, the city’s cultural arts manager, said.

“We are now at the point where we have a substantial number of pieces for a one-hour tour.”

Much of the city’s public art is relatively new: Since 2000, 39 pieces ? more than half the total ? have been added to the collection.

Arts Commissioner Pat Kollenda says she went on her first public art tour four years ago in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I thought, this is a natural for Laguna,” Kollenda said. “They [Scottsdale] only had 10 pieces, and many were by the same artist. We’ve got a lot of diversity.”

Ever since Kollenda presented the idea to the Arts Commission, the idea of a public art tour has been simmering on the back burner. A year ago, planning started in earnest for the inaugural event.

Kollenda thinks that visitors and vacationers alike would enjoy tours of public art, and that such tours could be regularly offered, perhaps as part of a public art weekend.

“We thought we’d start with one afternoon and hope it gets bigger,” she said.

Arts Commission chairman Mike Tauber said he was “overwhelmed” by a public art display he recently viewed in Millennium Park in Chicago.

“Because public art is owned by the public, we feel a sense of ownership, and people speak about it more freely than they would in a museum or private home,” Tauber said.

Artworks come to be in public places through various means: Donations, loans, or through the city’s 1986 Art in Public Places ordinance, which requires developers of large commercial or multi-residential developments to spend 1% of the total cost of the project on public art.

The city’s oldest public artwork is “Boy and Dog,” a 1935 sculpture by Ruth Peabody, an early Laguna artist, on Cliff Drive across from the Laguna Art Museum. The bronze sculpture combines a charming water feature ? the kneeling boy is giving water to the dog ? with a drinking fountain.

The city’s most expensive piece of public art ? a $260,000 tile mural ? was installed in a publicly viewable area at the Montage Resort & Spa.

Montage and the nearby Treasure Island Park have six public artworks, only a few of which will be visible from the tour trolleys.

Even Ruby’s Restaurant on Coast Highway has public art: The four 1950s classic cars parked in front are actually a work of art, not merely “carhop” decoration for the diner-style restaurant.

“The Shopper,” by Andrew Myers ? a bronze miniature of a woman carrying shopping bags ? greets pedestrians, many of whom are similarly engaged, in the busy retail area of Ocean Avenue and Beach Street downtown.

“Public art brings great joy to the viewer,” Kollenda said. “It makes you think.”

One of the sculptures in the public arena is noted for having inspired a public response in a time of crisis.

“Deer Warrior,” by Cheryl Eckstrom, was donated to the city in 2000, from a collection of 20 “Warriors Against Angst” temporarily placed at Moulton Meadows Park. The Deer Warrior was installed at Jahraus Park on Cliff Drive, and at the time, Eckstrom called the warrior a protector, “helping us confront a painful past and the freedom to face a fearless future.”

After September 11, 2001, in a spontaneous reaction to the terrorist attacks, people began to decorate the ghostly, spear-carrying sculpture with messages of sympathy and patriotic symbols of America ? apparently seeking to invoke the same sense of protection that Eckstrom had originally intended.

Eckstrom, who has a number of public art pieces, said she was touched by the outpouring.

“It’s heartwarming. Those are the kinds of things that make your art worthwhile,” she said. “Something comes back to you. It’s an extra gift.”

Glassblower John Barber said the responses to his glass wall, “Eternal Sunset,” at the Montage Resort & Spa, have been some of the most memorable of his 35-year career as an artist.

The three-foot-tall, 27-foot-long artwork is made from an ancient technique called pate de verre, or “paste of glass,” which has been discovered in Egyptian archeological digs dating to 1250 B.C.

Barber had been fascinated by the technique for years, and, to build the wall, he had to have a special oven built. It took three months of casting to create the 16 panels that make up the wall, depicting the view of Catalina Island from Laguna Beach.

“I’ve been blowing glass for 35 years, table-top glass for homes,” Barber said. “The day after this piece was installed, I was getting calls. Some people said they were sitting in their homes overlooking the Montage, drinking wine out of my goblets and looking at my art. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”

During the Art Tour, mock-ups and posters of public artworks that aren’t on the tour will be displayed, and artists who made some of the public works will be on hand to discuss their creations.

A reception will follow from 5 to 6 p.m., with food and entertainment.

Information: (949) 497-0722.

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