Art History

Cooper paintings on display at Wells Fargo Community Art Projects is presenting an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Gene Cooper. The series, “Artist’s Spaces,” will be on display through April 3 at the 2nd Floor Gallery, Wells Fargo Bank Building, 260 Ocean Ave. Cooper, a Laguna Beach resident, has had extensive experience in teaching, as a professor of modern French, American and Japanese art history. Retired in 2003, he has focused on painting on a daily basis.

Art history class includes field trips A new class in art history will be offered this fall through Laguna Beach Senior Services and Irvine Valley College Emeritus Institute. The course will include numerous field trips to local museums, art galleries and artist studios. Discussion topics will include the artist today, trends of art, art styles, art history, exhibits, the jury process, the psychology of art, artist lifestyles and the circle of individuals that assist artists including framers, printers, artist's representatives, appraisers and conservators.

College names interim president Helene Garrison has been appointed interim president of Laguna College of Art and Design, effective August 2004. President Alan Barkley is leaving Laguna Beach at the end of August to be the dean of Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Connecticut. Garrison is one of the founding faculty at the college. She has designed academic programs and directed the local Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges accreditation report.

Suzie Harrison The Laguna Art Museum's new exhibit is perfect for the season. Artists from the beginning of the surf culture to now have captured their love of the sport in a variety of mediums. Some of their work will appear in Surf Culture: The Art history of Surfing through Oct. 6. "It may be the most comprehensive look at surfing ever. It's not just an exhibit, it is a whole series of events that are happening the entire summer to the last day," said Stuart Byer public relations director.

Send DATEBOOK items to the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; fax to 494-8979; call 494-4321 or e-mail coastlinepilot@ latimes.com. Submissions must be received two weeks before publication. TODAY SURF CULTURE REDUX The Laguna Art Museum will present a reconfigured exhibit of the most well attended show in the museum's history, "Surf Culture -- The Art History of Surfing." The exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday through Oct. 2 at the Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive.

ART WALK Join more than 40 galleries throughout Laguna Beach on Thursday for a festive cultural evening from 6 to 9 p.m. Free shuttle service starts from the Laguna Art Museum at 6:15 and runs until 9. Information: www.firstthursdaysartwalk.com or (949) 683-6871. The next Art Walk will be Oct. 6. First Thursday's Art Walk and CaDance Festival present two performances that combine art and dance: Francisco Gella and Miho Morinoue perform improvisational movement and music at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. in the garden at Richard MacDonald Gallery/Dawson Cole Fine Art, 326 Glenneyre St. Beth Bartholomew, Lynn Barre and Francisco Gella perform with video projection of a 23-minute dance film, "Kamera 1/Kamera 2," directed by Talal Al-Muhanna, at 8 p.m. at Contemporary Chinese Fine Art, 1099 S. Coast Highway.

I had Playboy. My boys have Laguna Beach art. It's OK. It relieves me of my fatherly duties, which, let's face it, are sometimes painfully awkward. Besides, my boys cringe whenever I play dad anyway. Like Saturday night and the opening of the Pageant of the Masters. They hate it when I don't tell them where we are going. When I say it's a "surprise," they know it's going to be "some stupid art thing. " "But it will have naked women," I said, trying to find parking. They mumbled something from the back seat, then chuckled.

Suzie Harrison Surrounded by a society that often makes art class the first to go in public education, Laguna Beach High students not only have instruction available, they have a bonus hands-on program through Laguna Outreach Community Arts. Professional artists like Hedy Buzan-Williamson visit the school for eight-days of intensive lessons on a variety of methods. The program is in conjunction with the students' regular curriculum overseen by Art Department Chair Peter Tiner.

I had Playboy. My boys have Laguna Beach art. It's OK. It relieves me of my fatherly duties, which, let's face it, are sometimes painfully awkward. Besides, my boys cringe whenever I play dad anyway. Like Saturday night and the opening of the Pageant of the Masters. They hate it when I don't tell them where we are going. When I say it's a "surprise," they know it's going to be "some stupid art thing. " "But it will have naked women," I said, trying to find parking. They mumbled something from the back seat, then chuckled.

LAM names deputy head Ed Fosmire will step into his new role as deputy director of the Laguna Art Museum on May 29, officials announced. Fosmire will leave his job as executive director of the Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA), a title he held for two years, to fill LAM's No. 2 slot, where he will mainly be in charge of development. It will also entail raising money for the museum through corporate and individual gifts, grants and memberships. Before going to Oceanside he held number jobs at museums in Los Angeles and Orange counties: director of development at Cal State Long Beach; director of development and marketing at the Long Beach Museum of Art; and grants director for Long Beach's Art Council.

Art history class includes field trips A new class in art history will be offered this fall through Laguna Beach Senior Services and Irvine Valley College Emeritus Institute. The course will include numerous field trips to local museums, art galleries and artist studios. Discussion topics will include the artist today, trends of art, art styles, art history, exhibits, the jury process, the psychology of art, artist lifestyles and the circle of individuals that assist artists including framers, printers, artist's representatives, appraisers and conservators.

M ary Fegraus has been the heart and soul of the Laguna Canyon Foundation since it was incorporated in 1991. But in 2006 she told the board she was ready to retire. However, she wasn't ready to turn over the reins to just any old who. It took months, but Fegraus couldn't be happier with the choice of Meg Jones to succeed her. "I have known her since she was in nursery school," Fegraus said. "It is very comforting knowing her parents — our kids grew up together — and our families have the same values.

Students learn about great artists during year-long program.Eager to take in a presentation on the Postimpressionist painter Edgar Degas, some 55 second-graders at Top of the World Elementary School sat on the auditorium floor in front of pictures of horses and ballerinas. Degas is one of six artists the students will study this year as part of the PTA-sponsored Art Masters Program. The program is designed to offer a visual art complement to lessons in history, social studies and language arts, PTA organizer Kathleen Fay said.

For people who've always dreamed of appearing in tableaux vivant, Pageant of the Masters offers the opportunity of a lifetime. The Pageant of the Masters is looking for men, women and children to volunteer for next summer's show. People of all sizes and ages are needed to be cast members in the presentation of tableaux vivant (living pictures) staged nightly during the summer at the Irvine Bowl. Prospective volunteers will be measured and photographed and meet the pageant staff.

ART WALK Join more than 40 galleries throughout Laguna Beach on Thursday for a festive cultural evening from 6 to 9 p.m. Free shuttle service starts from the Laguna Art Museum at 6:15 and runs until 9. Information: www.firstthursdaysartwalk.com or (949) 683-6871. The next Art Walk will be Oct. 6. First Thursday's Art Walk and CaDance Festival present two performances that combine art and dance: Francisco Gella and Miho Morinoue perform improvisational movement and music at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. in the garden at Richard MacDonald Gallery/Dawson Cole Fine Art, 326 Glenneyre St. Beth Bartholomew, Lynn Barre and Francisco Gella perform with video projection of a 23-minute dance film, "Kamera 1/Kamera 2," directed by Talal Al-Muhanna, at 8 p.m. at Contemporary Chinese Fine Art, 1099 S. Coast Highway.