Art at large

Two art exhibits have opened at Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Laguna.

Photographs by Stillman F. Sawyer and a mixed-media show by Gary Simpson are currently on view. Black-and-white wilderness photographs by Sawyer, a 10-year-plus Festival of Arts exhibitor who was mentored by Ansel Adams, will be exhibited through Sept. 22 on the third floor of the building.

The Sawyer exhibit, “Silver Images from Nature,” is part of an ongoing series of shows sponsored by the Festival of Arts at the gallery. Sawyer’s gelatin silver prints will be shown alongside some of his large-format photographic equipment.

The nonprofit Community Art Project is presenting Simpson’s mixed-media show, “Commonground 191,” through Nov. 9 in the “Banking on Art” space on the building’s second floor.

The show features earth and pigments that symbolically link the peoples of the earth, and is curated by Pat Sparkuhl. Sparkuhl describes the show as helping the viewer to understand the process that Simpson is going through with creating such a large work.

An artist’s reception for Simpson will be scheduled in October. Banking on Art is located at Wells Fargo, 260 Ocean Ave. The exhibit is free and open to the public during business hours, Monday -- Friday, 9 a.m. -- 6 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. -- 1 p.m. Community Art Project is a nonprofit Laguna Beach-based organization dedicated to placing art in the public view.