ART AND ABOUT: Exhibit links life and death

Laguna College of Art & Design put on a stunner of a show last weekend, in a most unlikely place.

“Capturing the Force of Stillness,” an alumni exhibition and sale, was in Fairhaven Memorial Park’s Greek Revival mausoleum, constructed in 1916 of marble and granite.

As we drove the long, winding paths of Fairhaven, Santa Ana, near the Tustin border, I was a tad apprehensive about seeing an art show there; I had just said goodbye to a childhood friend at the park last month.

But upon entering the mausoleum, I saw the college did indeed respect the space.

As Curator Regina Jacobson said in her introduction to the show, “Some may think this is an unusual partnership, an art college with a memorial park, but perhaps it is the most natural and elegant pairing for the celebration of life “” displaying representational and figurative artwork within this edifice that honors the very life that artists seek to portray.”

Pieces were arrayed in side hallways of the mausoleum; a photographic series on beauty was shown in the space’s central chapel area. A more modern take on Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina lent an ethereal air to the reception, which was lit by candlelight.

The show featured several husband-wife pairings, possibly due to the high likelihood of falling in love with a college classmate; sketches and paintings by Julio Reyes joined his wife Candice Bohannon’s equine oil paintings, while Adam and Amanda Harrison displayed adjacent watercolors.

Works like Tess-Marie White’s oil paintings, which are embellished with copper leaf, subtly glowed in the room. Other works ranged from pastel to sculpture to gypsum cement and oil paint.

Sergio Rebia’s “Nailed to the Wall,” 84 x 48, hung on its own in a niche; the large-scale painting seemed perfectly natural in the space, and surprised many viewers.

Following the reception, I waved toward my friend’s columbarium.

It was nice to have the opportunity to visit her again; I don’t know when I would have been there otherwise.

But I’m sure the creative, vibrant Danielle would have been pleased to share her new home with such a resonant show.