IN THE WINGS

Jennifer K Mahal

I did my part for the country this week. I bought a piece of art as a

Christmas gift for a friend who lives locally. I also flew cross-country

to visit my mom in St. Petersberg, Fla.

In Tampa airport, watching the National Guardsmen walk the halls while

I waited for Delta flight 1193 to bring me back home, my mind kept

cycling through the semi-opposing dictums being brought forth in common

culture -- buy stuff and build community.

By buying the handmade piece from a small gallery in St. Petersberg, I

figure that I did both. Though the artist wasn’t on hand, the gallery

manager was one I had seen on several occasions. We chatted for quite a

while, making connections. Building community.

Which leads me to a local event at which one can both help the economy

and create community by talking with artists -- the Artistic License Fair

in Costa Mesa.

Held under the trees of Estancia Park today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,

the fair will bring together more than 50 artists from across Orange and

Riverside counties. Among the local artisans will be Joanna Craft,

Barbara Kincaid, Marian Sander and Teresa Patterson, all of Costa Mesa,

and Francie Hansen of Newport Beach.

The artists who participate are chosen by jury and about 10 new people

are invited to join each year. The theme for the fair is “Touching

Reality.”

“We feel that there’s a lot of comfort in the fact that things are

handmade, things of beauty,” said Nancy Gary Ward, who has organized

Artistic License for the past seven years.

“I think given all that’s happened in this last little while, a lot of

people feel the world is unreal,” she said. “I think that getting out

there and meeting people and seeing art in a natural setting brings us

back to a reality.”

Once things were made by hand. Now, with machines that do everything

from heat up our prepackaged meals to create the plastic and metal

utensils we use to eat, Ward feels that we’ve lost touch with the hand

and its importance.

“The hand used to be the way we most directly engaged with our world

and learned from it,” the weaver said in the theme statement for the

fair. “We used to count the goodness of a person and measure beauty by

what a person did with their hands. But things are changing.”

The fair gives people a chance to talk with those who use their hands

to create things of beauty. A number of weavers participate in the event,

in part because the fair started 35 years ago as the Denwar Crafts Fair

-- and Denwar was a weaving studio.

“There are very few weavers left,” said Ward, a Corona resident who

will be displaying her work.

What will be plentiful at the fair is fellowship and camaraderie, both

among the artists and among the patrons who frequent it every year.

“I think they really pick up on how much we enjoy one another’s

company,” Ward said.

Between the company and the merchandise -- which ranges in price from

$2 to $300 -- it seems like an excellent place to both buy stuff and

build community. And get that Christmas list crossed off early.

* * *

Do you know a local artist, writer, painter, singer, filmmaker, etc.,

who deserves to get noticed? Send your nominee to In The Wings, Daily

Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627, by fax to (949) 646-4170 or

by e-mail to o7 [email protected]

* JENNIFER K MAHAL is features editor of the Daily Pilot.

FYI

WHAT: Artistic License Fair

WHERE: Estancia Park, 1900 Adams Ave., Costa Mesa

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today

COST: Free

CALL: (909) 371-6507