Laguna Art Museum

The Laguna Art Museum director announced Monday that he is stepping down May 13. Bolton Colburn started as a curator in 1987 and assumed the role of director after the Newport Harbor Art Museum and Laguna Art Museum merged in 1997. "I love Laguna Art Museum, its mission, and the community, but it is time for someone else to take the lead and for me to pursue other opportunities in the art world," Colburn said in a news statement. I wish the museum every good fortune and prosperity.

Ruth Osgood Salyer Born on Feb. 20, 1920, Laguna Beach resident Ruth Osgood died April 26. Ms. Osgood was a nationally known artist. In 1964, she was the president of the Laguna Beach Art Assn., which later became the Laguna Art Museum. She helped create the Art Institute of Southern California, now called the Laguna College of Art and Design. She was also involved with the Laguna Playhouse. She was vice president during the change from the "old Playhouse" on Ocean Avenue to the "new Playhouse" in the Canyon.

The Laguna Beach Library and Laguna Art Museum will celebrate the power of art this month as part of the annual Orange County Imagination Celebration. This year’s festival will feature more than 100 events throughout the county; closer to home, the library will hold a free storytelling night and the museum will offer hands-on art workshops. At the library’s Flights of Fantasy, 7 p.m. April 22, storyteller Lorrie Oshatz will interpret folk tales and fables, weaving comedy and theater into literature.

Billabong will host an exhibition of Wolfgang Bloch’s work at Laguna Art Museum on Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, in conjunction with Chronicle's release of a book on his life and art. The book follows the life-path of Wolfgang’s unique childhood in Ecuador, his move to America, his art education, the winding journey through California culture, the surf industry and, eventually, his return back into the world of art. ...

The Laguna Art Museum's director of marketing and public relations for the past six years, Stuart Byer, has announced his resignation. Byer, who worked part-time for the museum, gave notice in early December to ensure that the institution had enough time to find a suitable replacement. He chose a Feb. 15 end date in order to complete his work on the museum's upcoming Feb. 10 art auction. "It's been a tremendously rewarding experience; one that I'll always value," Byer said.

Laguna Art Museum has revamped its annual auction into a curated, specialized tour de force. "Art Auction = Stimulus," featuring works by new and established California artists, will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Feb. 10. A preview of the exhibition will be on view at the museum from Feb. 5 through 9; images of the pieces are also available on the museum's Web site, www.lagunaartmuseum.org. "We've created a whole new auction this year," Museum Director Bolton Colburn said.

Clyde is a former quality control engineer for Boeing. When he began attending Alzheimer’s Family Services Center, he regularly participated in art class, creating wonderful pencil sketches; once painting a beautiful seascape. As his dementia progressed, he stopped joining art class, becoming more and more isolated. Thanks to Laura and Louis M. Rohl, Clyde and many other participants at AFSC were treated to an outing including, lunch and a tour of the Laguna Art Museum exhibition of William Wendt.

AIDS was decimating the arts when Hollywood and television celebrities came to Laguna in the early 2000s to help raise funds for the Laguna Art Museum and AIDS Services Foundation. Michael Jackson escorted Elizabeth Taylor to the first Art for AIDS fundraiser Feb. 9, 2002 at the museum. Dr. Arnie Klein, Jackson?s dermatologist and friend of ASF founder Al Roberts, had arranged for Jackson, Taylor, Penny Marshall and Merv Griffin to attend. Taylor was one of the most outspoken celebrities helping to raise awareness of AIDS.

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.

On April 22nd, 2012 the world lost another true original. Patricia Tartaglia, or Big Patsy as she was known by her friends, brought her own unique brand of wisdom and wit to the organizations she supported and the lives she touched during her 95 years on earth. Patsy's story began in Los Angeles in 1917. She was born on March 6th and spent much of her youth developing her passion for literature and the arts. She was an accomplished student and after being courted by several universities, she eventually graduated from the University of Southern California with Honors.

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.

You never know what sticks with kids. It could be some random, unintentional comment — perhaps made in anger — that later you hear repeated not only word for word but with your own intonation, making you feel like the worst parent in the world. Then there is the orchestrated teaching, where you put a lot of thought and energy into it, only never to hear of it again. Last weekend's gun lesson was somewhere in the middle. I took my boys to the Victor Hugo Zayas exhibit at the Laguna Art Museum, which ends April 29. They thought it was pretty cool, sort of. You have to remember, they are 15, 13 and 10, raised on every type of virtual gun known to mankind.

Between May 2011 and January 2012, Robert Hayden III wore four hats at the Laguna Art Museum. During that seven-month stretch before Malcolm Warner settled in at LAM's helm, Hayden served as its interim director, its interim director of development and head of the search committee for a new executive director. While he juggled those challenges, Hayden said he continued in his normal role of presiding over the museum's Board of Trustees. And he even managed to moonlight in the evenings in his regular job as chief financial officer for his family-run firm, Placentia-based Industrial Metal Finishing Inc. All that work culminated in his being honored with the Arts Leadership award at Sunday's Art Star Awards in Laguna Beach, presented by the Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts and hosted by [seven-degrees]

Starting Sunday, Laguna Art Museum visitors will pay $5 less for tickets across the board. The unveiling of the museum's spring 2012 exhibitions then will officially coincide with a revamped ticketing and hours of operation policy instituted by Malcolm Warner, who took over Jan. 3 as LAM's new executive director. LAM will charge $7 for general admission, and instead of operating from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, the museum will close to the public on Wednesdays. LAM will keep those same hours on weekend days as well as on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Guns from the streets of Los Angeles are taking new life in "Mi Obra," a series of sculptures by Victor Hugo Zayas going on display at the Laguna Art Museum this weekend. Several years ago, the painter and sculptor was teaching drawing and painting to underserved children in South Central L.A. for the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena when he met Charlie Beck, the future chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. The two became friends and Beck informed Zayas about the LAPD's Gun Buyback Program, where people can drop off their weapons to the department with no questions asked.

It was supposed to be about the art, but it was also about the party. The Laguna Art Museum's Art Auction fundraiser Saturday was a self-described "art lounge" that set a new bar for art shindigs. Think David Guetta meets David Hockney. Leatherette couches, dance music, fancy cocktails, killer outfits - do it weekly and there would be no reason to drive to West Hollywood. "I think this last auction was the most festive it's ever been," said Los Angeles-based artist Theodore Svenningsen.