Foreign romantic comedy to screen
The Laguna Beach Film Society will present the Uruguayan romantic comedy “Gigante,” a Berlin Film Festival award winner, at 7 p.m. Nov. 19 at the South Coast Cinema.
The film explores what happens when Jara, a supermarket security guard who spends his night shift monitoring the surveillance cameras in his building, catches sight of a cleaning woman, Julia, and becomes mesmerized by her as she works and then begins to watch her even after work.
Tickets are $15 at the door, or for $20 for the screening and reception. The event is free for members. A reception is at 6 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Bank Community Room. For information, e-mail JoAnne Story at jstory@lagunaartmuseum.org.
Plein art assn. names new members
The Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. recently juried eight members into its top Signature status. Joining 26 other Signature members are: Daniel Aldana, Michael Situ, Carolyn Hesse-Low, Jim Wodark, Jennifer McChristian, Ronaldo Macedo, Greg LaRock and Kathleen Dunphy.
Their works were submitted to and judged by Jean Stern, director of the Irvine Museum; Saim Caglayan, association president; Jeff Horn, association vice president; and Signature member Ray Roberts.
Signature members are carefully selected after demonstrating the highest level of proficiency representing the plein air style. Loosely translated, “plein air” is a French term that means to paint outdoors, usually on location. Signature members are expected to mentor and provide workshops for the general artist membership.
Laguna has always enjoyed a rich artistic history. In 1996, Saim Caglayan invited a group of local landscape painters to form the Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. Original Signature members included Caglayan, Ken Auster, Jacobus Bass, Cynthia Britain and John Cosby. Their intent was to link the strong plein air movement of the early California painters to today’s painters in order to create a national bond.
Today, the nonprofit organization represents hundreds of painters throughout the country. Membership is open to artists, students and patrons of the arts.
For more information, visit lpapa.org, or send an e-mail to info@lpapa.org.
Curators to lead museum tour
The Laguna Art Museum curatorial team will lead a personalized tour of the new exhibition, “Collecting California: Selections from the Laguna Art Museum,” at 1 p.m. Sunday at 307 Cliff Drive.
