Laguna College

Laguna College of Art & Design will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, and the college is already abuzz about its many accomplishments and plans for an even brighter future. During a well-attended President's Circle breakfast on Sept. 29 at the Hotel Laguna, college President Dennis Powers outlined some impressive achievements. The college is in the "top three" nationally for its figurative and representational drawing and painting program, Powers said. Moreover, the college is boasting what may be its largest student population ever — 426 full-time students.

Artist Greg Spalenka has joined the Laguna College of Art & Design as the new professor of fantasy art. Classes began Monday. The course is an advanced and comprehensive study of fantasy art as it relates to the entertainment and print media fields, Jennifer Daniels, media relations manager for the college, said. ?Science fiction and fantasy art will be studied and its context through historic and contemporary periods. Students will conceptualize, design and produce fantastic and fictional content using a variety of drawing and painting methods.

Three key players in the evolution of the Laguna College of Art & Design were honored recently at the 45th anniversary gala of the founding and flowering of the art school. Special recognition was given at the festive black-tie event to David Young , 94, Roger Armstrong , Nancy Lawrence and Jonathan Burke , representing the many contributors to the success of the school over the years. Young, 94, only recently retired from the board of the Festival of Arts, which joined with the then-Laguna Beach Art Assn.

It was showtime for artist Colleen Police and her classmates, as they exhibited their work at local galleries during the December First Thursdays Art Walk. Police joined other seniors from the Laguna College of Art & Design in a unique mentoring program, now in its sixth year, that pairs students with gallerists to teach them about the business of art. Police said program leader Robin Fuld has equipped her students to go into the art world with confidence. The program, which dovetails with the skills students learn in Fuld’s class, allows students to learn about everything from framing to business forms firsthand.

Many art students are gearing up for their first professional gallery show, through the benefit of a one-of-a-kind mentoring program. Fourteen senior fine arts majors from the Laguna College of Art & Design's professional studies course will exhibit their work at 14 galleries during the December First Thursdays Art Walk, held from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 7. The professional studies class is taught by Robin Fuld, a 22-year art-business veteran, currently...

For Laguna College of Art and Design senior Mallory Rose, dreams of pursuing her passion for drawing and painting became a reality unexpectedly, when she received a generous donation from a high school classmate’s family to attend art school. “Their daughter, Amy, was killed in a car accident on her way home from a portfolio day at an art college she planned to attend in the fall,” Rose said. “Since she no could no longer fulfill her dream of going to art school, her family wanted to honor her memory by helping someone else live out that dream.

The December installment of the First Thursdays Art Walk will mark a milestone for Robin Fuld, a professor at the Laguna College of Art & Design and its career services director. Thursday's Art Walk will be the 10th anniversary of a mentorship that she fostered between LCAD and Laguna Beach art galleries. A decade ago, Fuld ran an art gallery in Laguna Beach and was chatting with Jeannie Denholm, then an LCAD faculty member, about the lack of a formal relationship between Laguna's plethora of galleries and the local campus that trained future artists.

After two weeks of pressure to restore a beloved mural painted by Laguna College of Art & Design students and faculty, the Laguna Canyon Winery has announced it is raising funds to replace the public art. This could mean "goodbye" to what remains, a plain gray wall on Laguna Canyon Road. The winery has called the situation a misunderstanding. They believed the mural, said to be the largest in Orange County, was on private property. Property owner Steve Henry said previously that their lease agreement noted the dual ownership of the mural by Henry, the city and the college.

Nestled in the canyon and hidden amid hills within walking distance of the ocean, the Laguna College of Art & Design has beaconed artists to its campus for 50 years. With LCAD marking its milestone this year, faculty and graduates reflected on how the college has grown since its establishment in 1961. LCAD's new president, Jonathan Burke, came to the school 31 years ago, when it was just starting on the road to accreditation, he said. Now it has regional and national accreditation validating its liberal arts and art courses.

Drivers on Laguna Canyon Road may have noticed that an Orange County landmark is missing. The Laguna College of Art & Design mural that donned the side of the Laguna Canyon Winery is now a plain gray wall. The mural was painted over by the winery owner who apparently did not realize its significance. The mural was one of six in the city designed and painted by LCAD students in 2003. It was the largest mural by the college and in Orange County, mural instructor Mia Tavonatti said.

Friday Crisis Communication Workshop The Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce presents its Business Breakfast Series #2, a "Crisis Communication Workshop," from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Aliso Creek Inn, 31106 S. Coast Hwy. The workshop will talk about how to deal with intense media scrutiny in a crisis. Tickets are $15 for members, $25 for non-members. RSVP to (949) 494-1018 or karen.lagunabeachchamber@gmail.com . Laguna Beach Garden Club Nursery owner and horticulturist Robin Parer will speak at the next Laguna Beach Garden Club meeting, which begins at 9:30 a.m. in Tankersley Hall at Laguna Presbyterian Church, 415 Forest Ave. For more information, visit http://www.lagunabeachgardenclub.org.

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.

Laguna Art Museum 307 Cliff Drive (949) 494-8971 http://www.lagunaartmuseum.org Open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and Fridays through Sundays; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays; and closed Wednesdays. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for seniors, students and active military. Children younger than 12 are admitted for free. The museum is closed on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's days. Current shows: Until May 20: Works from the collection representing artists who worked in California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is on view in the upstairs gallery.

In his red BMX outfit, helmet and matching Vans shoes, Ben Fong rode into the crowded classroom on his bike and popped a wheelie in front of the three visiting Nike executives. Fong, a senior at the Laguna College of Art & Design, on Thursday morning was acting the role of BMX biker Jimmie Johnson. He was part of a team of four graphic design LCAD students pitching the "Nike Track It" phone app concept to the executives who had flown in from Nike's corporate headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. Simply explained, the concept presented by the team of Fong, Matt Dawson, Charlene Chand and Chay Land was a data-tracking device built into the bike, which transmits data to a mobile phone to show how a BMX biker performs on a particular circuit.

Steven Dicterow on Sunday kicked off his fourth official run for City Council. [Seven-degrees] owner Mark Orgill hosted the kick-off event, which drew an enthusiastic crowd of an estimated 250 supporters, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), to cheer Dicterow's decision to run for a fourth term and his strategy for winning. "No candidate will outwork me," said Dicterow, an attorney. "I am already going door-to-door. But I also know I need your help. " Cribbing from Abraham Lincoln, Dicterow said, "Without your help, I cannot win. With your help, I cannot lose.

Just say no to underage drinking The Boys & Girls Clubs of Laguna Beach, in conjunction with the South Orange County Coalition, will participate in a community alcohol prevention activity called Sticker Shock at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The event — in which youth will visit off-sale alcohol outlets (retailers that sell alcohol for consumption outside of their stores) and place prevention message stickers on alcohol multi-packs — aims to remind buyers that it is illegal to provide alcohol to anyone younger than 21, according to a news release.

Bob Whalen is looking to move up from advising the City Council as a planning commissioner to making decisions as a member of the City Council. Whalen kicked off his campaign for a City Council seat on Sunday at the home of Dr. Gary and Betsy Jenkins. Almost 60 invited guests attended. "People always ask, 'why you are running?'" said Whalen. "I have three reasons. "First and most significant, Anne Johnson and Elizabeth Pearson, said they wouldn't stop calling until I did. " Planning Commissioner Johnson and Councilwoman Pearson are both on Whalen's campaign committee, along with Councilman Kelly Boyd, Planning Commissioner Linda Dietrich and former chairman of the Design Review Task Force Matt Lawson.

More than 1,000 pounds of clay is being tossed across a Costa Mesa artist's studio against a wooden amalgamation of nails and wire, eventually taking the shape of a woman's figure. Alrik Yuill, 33, is busy sculpting his latest piece, "In Bloom: The Girl and the Music. " On Saturday, the Costa Mesa native and Laguna College of Art + Design graduate will be showing the "in progress" state of his piece at his studio on Placentia Avenue. Much like his work, Yuill stands out. His denim jacket is spray painted with the words "space" and "time" on the back.

Laguna College of Art & Design has a new library, a new exhibit, two new curriculum tracks and 23 new students to start the New Year. "Enrollment for the spring semester is 440 full-time students from 23 states and 18 countries," LCAD President Jonathan Burke told the City Council at the Jan. 24 meeting. The semester started Jan. 16. Entertainment Illustration is being offered in the illustration major, which focuses on storyboarding, visual development for live-action television, film and animation, environmental design for performance venues and theme parks, and digital matte painting for live-action film and animation.