Art Institute

Two new faces on LCAD board The Laguna College of Art & Design's board of trustees has elected two new members, Suzanne Chonette and Nancy Bushnell, officials announced this week. Chonette graduated with a bachelor's in 1990 from the Art Institute of Southern California, which later became LCAD, and she is a pastel and oil painter now showing at the Desert Art Center in Palm Springs, according to a news release from LCAD . She also has been involved in important functions with organizations such as the American Heart Assn., the Guilds of the Performing Arts Center, Bowers Museum, Children's Hospital of Orange County and the Assistance League of Santa Ana, the release noted.

FRIDAY The Marine Room will present live music from The Strangers from 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., June 7 and 8 at 214 Ocean Ave. Information: (949) 494-3027. SATURDAY The Laguna Beach Community Band will keep spirits alive at the Relay for Life event from noon to 1 p.m., June 8 at Laguna Beach High School, 625 Park Ave. Information: (949) 494-2216. Web: www.lagunacommunityconcertband.org Collector's Choice. The Art Institute of Southern California will hold the 13th annual Collector's Choice fund-raiser.

Suzie Harrison The art in the main exhibition area is indicative of the time of year it is. The walls are graced with creativity, skill, sweat, time, years of study and all the hard work that the students have put in to get to this point. The senior exhibit is one of the final projects for the Art Institute of Southern California graduates. The walls elucidate a picture of success. Forty-three graduates will be moving the tassel from the left to the right of their mortarboard.

Sherwood Kiraly Summer is arts festival time, when we're reminded that Laguna Beach, even more than a beach town, and even more than a TV series now out in DVD, has been an arts colony for as long as anyone can remember. It's the time of year when I particularly wish my mother were here. For many years she was the secretary to the head of the department of pathology at Billings Hospital at the University of Chicago. She got that job in the '40s and held it until retirement, because that was what children of the Depression tended to do. But at heart she was a painter.

Suzie Harrison Andrew Myers might not be a name everyone in Laguna Beach knows, but with the unveiling of the 25-year-old's sculpture on Dec. 2 at the corner of Beach Street and Ocean Avenue, he'll be gaining an audience. Myers won a city public art competition in May for his piece called "The Shopper." "I've always wanted to do a public sculpture," Myers said. "It's a big honor to have a permanent piece in the city for everyone to see." Myers chose to create a sculpture of a woman shopping because it pertains to the Laguna Beach lifestyle.

Thurston dedicating talent show to McMurrays Thurston Middle School students are dedicating their annual talent show to William McMurray, who is suffering from a brain tumor called brain stem glioma. William's parents, Sabrina and Michael McMurray, are owners of the Penguin Cafe, and William would have entered Thurston this year. Tickets are $10 and available at the Artists Theatre box office before the show. A Facebook page has been set up to support William, http://www.facebook.com/WilliamAidenMcMurrayMemoriesPage . * Locals given honor of Eagle Scout Thirteen Laguna Beach youth were given the highest Boys Scout honor, that of Eagle Scouts by the Orange County Boys Scouts of America.

The Art Institute of Southern California will be holding its 13th annual Collector's Choice fund-raiser from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, an event that benefits the institute's students and programs. "We've raised about $20,000 in the past," said Institute President Alan Barkley. "The money goes to scholarships and generally supporting the programs." The fund-raiser with a preview of artwork in Ettinger Gallery will be followed by a wine and dinner buffet, entertainment and a silent auction.

Here is some sweet news. The Planning Commission last month approved a new bakery and take-out restaurant in the Food Village on Broadway Street. Gateau et Cuisine will specialize in European-style cakes, tarts, custom wedding cakes, cookies, drinks, breakfast items, salads, soups and artisan breads. "I am super excited," said owner and local Judy Haron, who has targeted Feb. 1 as the grand opening of what she calls a "bistro bakery. " Haron, who has an associate of arts degree in fashion design and a bachelor's of fine arts in textile design, most recently attended the Art Institute of California - Orange County in Santa Ana, where she received a diploma in baking and pastry arts.

Thurston dedicating talent show to McMurrays Thurston Middle School students are dedicating their annual talent show to William McMurray, who is suffering from a brain tumor called brain stem glioma. William's parents, Sabrina and Michael McMurray, are owners of the Penguin Cafe, and William would have entered Thurston this year. Tickets are $10 and available at the Artists Theatre box office before the show. A Facebook page has been set up to support William, http://www.facebook.com/WilliamAidenMcMurrayMemoriesPage . * Locals given honor of Eagle Scout Thirteen Laguna Beach youth were given the highest Boys Scout honor, that of Eagle Scouts by the Orange County Boys Scouts of America.

Here is some sweet news. The Planning Commission last month approved a new bakery and take-out restaurant in the Food Village on Broadway Street. Gateau et Cuisine will specialize in European-style cakes, tarts, custom wedding cakes, cookies, drinks, breakfast items, salads, soups and artisan breads. "I am super excited," said owner and local Judy Haron, who has targeted Feb. 1 as the grand opening of what she calls a "bistro bakery. " Haron, who has an associate of arts degree in fashion design and a bachelor's of fine arts in textile design, most recently attended the Art Institute of California - Orange County in Santa Ana, where she received a diploma in baking and pastry arts.

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.

Collectors Council taking art trip to Windy City The deadline to sign up for an art-filled, group package trip to Chicago in September with the Laguna Art Museum's Contemporary Collectors Council is July 15. LAM Executive Director Malcolm Warner will accompany members of the council to Chicago, where they will visit art institutions and attend EXPO CHICAGO , an exposition of modern and contemporary art and design set from Sept....

Even though spring has just arrived, color is everywhere in Hortense Miller's garden. The enormous coral tree is blooming orange in the driveway, the blue wisteria is wistfully fragrant, the Belle of Portugal climbing rose and camellias are delicately pink. Hortense ? whose eyes are pale blue ? has tended the garden around the Modern house she built overlooking Boat Canyon for almost a half-century. "I like the easiest kind of plants, a garden that grows by itself," she said.

Sherwood Kiraly Summer is arts festival time, when we're reminded that Laguna Beach, even more than a beach town, and even more than a TV series now out in DVD, has been an arts colony for as long as anyone can remember. It's the time of year when I particularly wish my mother were here. For many years she was the secretary to the head of the department of pathology at Billings Hospital at the University of Chicago. She got that job in the '40s and held it until retirement, because that was what children of the Depression tended to do. But at heart she was a painter.

Suzie Harrison Andrew Myers might not be a name everyone in Laguna Beach knows, but with the unveiling of the 25-year-old's sculpture on Dec. 2 at the corner of Beach Street and Ocean Avenue, he'll be gaining an audience. Myers won a city public art competition in May for his piece called "The Shopper." "I've always wanted to do a public sculpture," Myers said. "It's a big honor to have a permanent piece in the city for everyone to see." Myers chose to create a sculpture of a woman shopping because it pertains to the Laguna Beach lifestyle.

Send DATEBOOK items to the Laguna Beach Coastline-Pilot, 384 Forest Avenue, No. 22, Laguna Beach, California 92652; fax to 494-8979; call 494-4321 or e-mail o7 coastlinepilot@latimes.com. f7 Submissions must be received two weeks before publication. A complete listing may be found at o7 http://www.latimes.com/tcn/coastline/.f7 FRIDAY Laguna Playhouse The Laguna Playhouse will present Neil LaBute's play, "The Shape of Things." Directed by executive director, Richard Stein the play centers on the ever-changing relationship between an audacious art major and the shy young man who falls in love with her. The play will run through June 30 at 606 Laguna Canyon Road.

The Art Institute of Southern California will be holding its 13th annual Collector's Choice fund-raiser from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, an event that benefits the institute's students and programs. "We've raised about $20,000 in the past," said Institute President Alan Barkley. "The money goes to scholarships and generally supporting the programs." The fund-raiser with a preview of artwork in Ettinger Gallery will be followed by a wine and dinner buffet, entertainment and a silent auction.