Sawdust Art Festival auction fills need

The Sawdust Art Festival will hold a live auction to benefit local artists and organizations on Saturday.

The Artists Benevolence Fund Art Auction, held at 2 p.m. on the festival’s Main Entertainment Deck, will be followed by the Project Skimboard 2 portion of the auction, beginning at 5 p.m.

The Benevolence Fund is an entirely separate entity from the Sawdust Festival. As such, grants from the Fund are not limited to Sawdust exhibitors.

“You just have to be a Laguna Beach artist,” said Rebecca Meekma, community and media relations manager of the festival.

Funds have historically been granted to alleviate major crises, such as severe health issues or natural disasters. Nearly $100,000 has been distributed to date; two artists, one a Sawdust exhibitor, were given grants last year due to the Bluebird Canyon landslide.

“Since artists are self-employed, they often don’t have health insurance,” Meekma said. The Fund can then benefit those with mounting hospital bills due to long illnesses or cancer.

The recipients remain anonymous, unless they choose to announce their circumstances.

“I pay a lot of money for medical insurance; when I do well, I like to be generous,” said Donita Lloyd, an exhibitor and board member who donates every year.

The Benevolence Fund has been in existence for more than 15 years.

“It started out as the Artists Emergency Relief Fund,” said jeweler Mike Heintz, who has been involved in the Festival since 1973 and chaired the Fund for several years.

The Benevolence Fund takes donations, but the majority of its earnings come from the auctions held during the Sawdust’s summer and winter events.

The auction was originally held two weeks before the close of the Sawdust summer season, but this year it was moved to the middle.

“Why not try something new?” asked current chairman and fund trustee Scott Moore.

All price ranges and media are represented at the event, Meekma said; some artists donate prints, while others donate original works. This gives children and adult collectors alike the opportunity to come home with something.

“It’s a real family affair,” she said.

Maggie Spencer, a 13-year veteran of the Sawdust, has donated works to the auction since she first began exhibiting. She originally worked with copper foil and leading on handcrafted wooden pieces, but learned how to fuse glass three months ago, and is now hooked.

“This is totally freeing,” she said, pointing out her fused-glass pieces. She has already chosen which item she will donate to the auction.

“I picked this one because of ‘hope,’” Spencer said, holding up a bright yellow glass piece with the word prominently featured on it. She explained that artists in need of the fund are also in need of hope.

James Koch donated a found-object rattlesnake sculpture in his signature style, composed from a rusty chain.

Sawdust exhibitors Betty Haight and Kathy Jones collaborated on a donated mixed-media piece with more than 30 people, including Sawdust artists Stephanie Cunningham, Michael Hallinan, Linda Pirri, Christie Repasy, Linda Swanson, Sue Thompson and Sue Winner.

Also on auction will be the works created by Sawdust artists as part of Project Skimboard 2.

Since their opening exhibit at Seven Degrees gallery, the skimboards have been on display in participating artists’ booths, and silent auction bids have been accepted since June 1.

“We get more comments about the skimboard than anything else,” Lloyd said of her booth.

Sherry Bullard’s piece was recently up to $1,400, and Siân Poeschl’s dichroic glass skimboard was up to $1,550. Others were in the $300-$500 range.

Funds raised in the Project Skimboard auction will go toward the Sawdust’s art education program and the Surfrider Foundation’s Laguna Beach chapter for ocean water testing.

Rick Wilson, chairman of Surfrider’s Laguna Beach chapter, has already bid on Mike Kelly’s original photographic skimboard of a curling ocean wave. His wife also bid on one.

“I think it’s a great project,” Wilson said. “I think it’s another example of the artistic community in Laguna Beach stepping up and helping nonprofits, both educational and environmental; we’re certainly very appreciative of them doing that.”