Contemporary Art

Sin City will descend on Laguna Beach next month when Laguna Art Museum debuts its new show, “Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland,” on March 9. The exhibit premiered at the Las Vegas Museum of Art, where it was attended by Laguna Art Museum Director Bolton Colburn. “It’s a spectacular show,” he said. “We saw some advance information prior to the opening, and we thought it would be a nice fit for Laguna Art Museum.

Belland suspended over New York Missy Belland, who won Yahoo!'s Ultimate Connection Contest, has traveled to New York to meet with contest creator Ivanka Trump and several marketing gurus. Belland sells fairies and assorted gifts at the Sawdust Art Festival. The trip included a "power lunch" suspended over New York Harbor, and thousands of dollars of prize money to be used in marketing her new Website. Photographer follows Van Gogh Last spring, photographer Emanuel Dale traveled through France, visiting the places where Vincent Van Gogh painted, lived and died.

This year was a pretty good one at the galleries in Laguna Beach. On any given stroll about the town, or First Thursday's Art Walk, you could always find something interesting, something moving or thought-provoking or both, so a few highlights from the last year seem to be in order. Highest praise goes to the Laguna Art Museum for two provocative and risk-taking shows from the past year. Top on the list is "Oscene: Contemporary Art and Culture in OC," which is still up through Jan. 21. This amazing exhibit really showed why it's possible for Laguna Beach to thrive as a home for so many galleries.

Take a cross-section of works of art in any given period and you'd see a much greater amount of diversity than you might have believed. What lives and what dies in art is a matter of contemporary taste. An artist we now consider "immortal" could fall out of favor — and off the museum walls — tomorrow. So it's a real challenge to try to see through the fog of the common into something really interesting, something that speaks beyond today. But wait a minute. That attitude is so passé.

From kitschy, pop-culture takes on Bob's Big Boy to arresting mannerist portraits, there's something for everybody at Laguna Art Museum's "OsCene II: Contemporary Art and Culture in O.C." Featuring the talents of a first-time curator, the show opens on Saturday, Oct. 29, and runs through Jan. 21, 2007. An opening reception will be held Saturday night, and panel discussions and other events will be held periodically throughout the run of the exhibition. "I'm very proud of this show," said Jacqueline Bunge, guest curator.

At December Art Walk, galleries will show works by students from Laguna College of Art and Design.In what will be a first for many, 18 senior art students at the Laguna College of Art and Design will have works exhibited and for sale at the First Thursdays Art Walk on Dec. 1. The student art will be displayed alongside that of artists who have been selling their work for years, during the city's monthly open house for the art community, which...

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. ( Denotes galleries that participate in the First Thursday Art Walk.) The next Art Walk will be on Oct. 6. LAGUNA ART MUSEUM Janet Blake, Laguna Art Museum curator of collections, will conduct a lecture at 1 p.m. Sunday on the current exhibition, "California Art from the Permanent Collection, Part I, The Beginning, 1832-1925."

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 p.m. Information: http://www.firstthursdaysartwalk.com or (949) 683-6871. ( Denotes galleries that participate in the First Thursday Art Walk.) The next Art Walk will be on Aug. 4. LAGUNA ART MUSEUM Fifty of the finest plein air painters nationwide have been selected to participate in The 7th annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational, July 10 through July 17 with a gala dinner and collectors preview at Laguna Art Museum on July 16. The annual event is hosted by Laguna Art Museum and The Laguna Plein Air Painters Association.