IN THE ARTS

Pastel artists juried show at Esther Wells

For the second year, the Esther Wells Collection will host the United Society of Pastel Artists third annual Membership Juried Show. An opening reception is planned for 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the gallery, 1390 S. Coast Hwy.

Twenty-six member artists have had work juried into the exhibition, adjudicated by Robin Hall. Awards for landscape, still life and figure will be awarded during the opening reception.

Along with the 26 juried artists, guest artist Sally Strand will also have work on display. Still life, landscape and figure are the subjects to be seen in a variety of styles, all done in one of the oldest art mediums known “” pastel.

Pastels have been traced back to the 16th century. Pure, dry pigment, such as that used in fine paints, are rolled into sticks to be used by drawing across a rough-surfaced paper. The layering and blending of the colors creates richness, depth and dimension to the image.

The exhibition runs till Dec. 13, and all works are available for sale.

The Esther Wells Collection gallery hours are from about 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. For more information, call (949) 494-2497 or visit www.estherwellscollection.

First Sundays hosts Presidio Brass

Laguna Beach Live! will present Presidio Brass in a free chamber music concert from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at Laguna College of Art & Design.

Hailing from San Diego, Presidio Brass is a new force in American brass chamber music. The quintet will play classical and holiday selections.

Since fall 2007, Presidio has appeared nationally, presenting formal recitals as well as educational outreach programs throughout the United States. Members of the ensemble have been seen with major symphony orchestras, including the London and Los Angeles philharmonics and can be heard on soundtracks ranging from video games to major motion pictures.

First Sundays is a collaboration of Laguna College of Art & Design and Laguna Beach Live!, providing an afternoon of music and art at the college, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road. The College Art Gallery opens at 2 p.m. with the exhibit “Magic & Merchandise: The Art of Collectibles.”

The concert is made possible by a grant from the lodging establishments and the city of Laguna Beach, and donations from the audience.

Winners of juried exhibition at city hall

The winners of the Laguna Beach City Hall annual juried art exhibition were announced Nov. 6 by Mayor Jane Egly. The exhibition was adjudicated by Perin Mahler, chairman of the MFA program at the Laguna College of Art and Design, who selected three winners from 147 submissions.

The winners are: first place ($1,000) Cliff Wassmann; second place ($500) Josie Weber; and third place ($250) Scott Settle. The exhibition can be seen from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday through Nov. 26 at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.

College offers figure, portrait workshop

The artistic public is invited to attend a special Figure and Portrait Workshop led by Charles Hu and Sean Cheetham. The workshop will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 6 and 7 at Laguna College of Art & Design, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road.

Hu will lead an intensive one-day course in analytical figure drawing Dec. 6. The course will cover figure proportion and three-dimensional volumetric construction of the entire human figure. The instructor will be drawing and lecturing from a live model. Hu currently exhibits at Wendt Gallery in Laguna Beach. In addition, he teaches drawing and painting at several schools in Los Angeles that include Art Center, Gnomon, and will teach at Laguna College in 2009.

Cheetham will lead the workshop Dec. 7. The course will consist of a morning lecture and demonstration followed in the afternoon by painting from a live model under his guidance. Topics covered will be palette layout, value, color mixing and proportions of the head. Cheetham has exhibited his work in the National Portrait Gallery in London and Scotland, Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery in Pasadena and Long Beach Museum of Art. He has also been featured in American Artist’s Workshop magazine.

The cost is $300, with a $150 nonrefundable deposit required to reserve a seat. For enrollment and additional information, call (949) 376-6000 ext. 240.

‘Christmas Catechism’ comes in December

Laguna Playhouse will bring back the hit comedy “Sister’s Christmas Catechism” from Dec. 15 to 24.

In this holiday-themed sequel to “Late Nite Catechism,” Sister tackles the question what happened to the Magi’s gold? Sister engages her audience to help solve the mystery through a forensic examination of the nativity scene as she hunts under the manger and over camel humps in her quest for clues.

Written (and often performed) by Maripat Donovan, the “Late Nite” series of plays have become theatrical staples at venues around the country.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. every evening, with 2 p.m. matinees Dec. 20 and 22.

Tickets are $40 to $55. To order tickets, call the box office at (949) 497-2787, ext. 1, log on to www.lagunaplayhouse. com, or visit the Laguna Playhouse box office at 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach.

Heir’s ‘Violet Unity’ project opens Nov. 24

Artists Peggy Ann Jones and Grant Hier, who is chairman of Laguna College’s Liberal Arts program, have created the second incarnation of their collaborative art installation, “Violet Unity: The Veil Project.” The installation opens with a reception from noon to 1 p.m. Nov. 24 at the Kruglak Gallery at Mira Costa College in Oceanside, and runs until Dec. 4.

“Violet Unity” is a multimedia experience, the seed of which was Jones’ 2005 Veil Project. Ghostly veil sculptures evoke or imply a presence beyond the forms themselves, and when they move with the breeze created by a viewer walking past, seem almost alive. To these sculptures Hier added text, single words cut from various white fabric, either hung on thread strung along the gallery walls or sewn to the panels.

“What you have are shifting perceptions of reality and awareness, as you see the shadow of the word, not the word. Is the fabric-word or its shadow the thing,” Heir said.

Subtle violet light tinges the top of each veil and a minimalist sonic landscape, composed by Hier in 7/8 time, floats from the darkness above.

“Seven can be seen as connected to the infinite,” Hier said. “Divide numbers by 7 and you’ll see the same sequence, 1-4-2-8-5-7, repeating to infinity.” He used this sequence to compose a musical score to augment the visual experience of Violet Unity.

There are seven fabric words hung in the installation. The musical score is composed in a 7/8 time signature at 77 beats per minute. In one corner of the gallery, a giant sheet of hand-made Japanese washi paper is suspended, to which Hier added seven “arrow tips” of paint and seven holes. A book containing additional photography and text further alludes to the associative and subjective nature of words and symbols.

The Kruglak Gallery is on the campus of MiraCosta College, 1 Barnard Drive, Oceanside.