Laguna Beach locals line up for first look at Sawdust Art Festival’s summer show

Laguna Beach’s art festival season arrived with much anticipation Tuesday, as the town turned out in droves for Preview Night at the Sawdust Art Festival.

Half an hour after the grounds opened under the setting sun, the line to get in had pushed back to the neighboring Art-A-Fair and threatened to overtake the Village Entrance.

Once inside, those turning up for locals night got what they were seeking, a transport into another world. A flying saucer with lights flashing in three different sections below a crescent moon — a creation of festival artist Kirk Milette — might have signaled that was the case for those who were unaware.

A giant flying saucer scene greets visitors at the entrance of the Sawdust Art Festival on Tuesday in Laguna Beach.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“We welcomed over 2,300 people onto our grounds [Tuesday] night,� Tom Hartmann, general manager of the Sawdust Art Festival, said. “The atmosphere was simply buzzing with community members eager to celebrate the vibrancy of art and music in our grove.�

The Sawdust Art Festival opens to the public on Friday, which is also opening day for Art-A-Fair. The first day of the Festival of Arts Fine Art Show is July 5, with opening night for the Pageant of the Masters coming on July 7.

Now in its 57th year, the current show at the Sawdust Art Festival has 168 total artists and makers walking the grounds, with 14 of them showing at the festival for the first time.

Glass artist Marcus Thesing shows guests a piece during the Sawdust Art Festival’s locals preview night on Tuesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Dylan Arthur Howard, 28, a Chicago native who moved to Laguna Beach two years ago, is among the newcomers. His booth sported an assortment of mirrors and tables made from locally sourced materials, specifically wood.

So when a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around, it does make a sound, as far as Howard is concerned. He said his work is inspired by his childhood, one that was spent mostly outside turning over rocks and building treehouses.

“They’re really supposed to be portals … like a reminder of where we come from, which is nature,� Howard said of his work. “Not us, specifically, but our ancestors, we all at one point lived amongst nature, and so I’m trying to create furniture that brings that back into our daily lives.�

Tile artist and exhibitor Jesse Bartels laughs with guests during the Sawdust Art Festival’s locals preview night on Tuesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Howard added that with enough creativity, a piece of waste can be turned “into something to be cherished.�

“Other woodworkers can do the same thing, wherever they live,� Howard said. “Woodworking is one of the few industries where we can get away with really utilizing waste material in a big way. Whether you’re from Southern California, or you’re from Chicago, or New York, anyone can do what I’m doing. You just have to be willing to put in the effort and make that network of people, so that we’re no longer sourcing exotic woods from other continents.�

Lovisa Kjerrgren, 36, is also showing her work at the Sawdust Art Festival for the first time. The Swedish transplant recently created an art banner for the city along South Coast Highway. One of the walls in her booth displayed more than a dozen framed illustrations of cacti.

Longtime exhibitor and local Doug Miller smiles at guests over his table of toys at the Sawdust Art Festival on Tuesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

A landscape architect by trade, Kjerrgren’s background is reflected in her work.

“When you stop literally wherever you’re standing and you look closer at what’s at your feet, you’re going to see a different kind of intricacy of nature that is also beautiful,� Kjerrgren said. “Everything, it’s either growing or it’s disintegrating somehow and becoming something else. There’s a cycle in life and in the landscapes around us that I find fascinating.�

Kyle Caris, a 2009 graduate of Laguna Beach High, is back at the Sawdust Art Festival after leaving town to further his education at the Kansas City Art Institute. He also studied ceramics at Orange Coast College.

A ceramic mask made by artist Robert Jones hangs on his booth during the Sawdust Art Festival’s locals preview night.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

In a unique twist to his pottery, Caris included sand around the edges of plates, tying in his time spent working in restaurants with a life spent on the water. Caris has had an abundance of time in the water, as a swimmer and water polo player, a surfer, a sailor, and as a lifeguard for the city.

Caris mused that his work aimed to recreate the naturally occurring sculptures that result in the aftermath of shipwrecks, combining the natural with the manufactured.

“It’s crazy how much of your history comes into play in all of your work, whether you’re consciously thinking about it or not,� Caris said. “I will say when I went to Kansas City Art Institute, that was one thing I was really thinking about.�

Guests gather around artist Shane Dunlap’s booth of carved wooden creations at the Sawdust Art Festival on Tuesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)