Article and photos by Barbara Kerr
The Laguna Beach Festival of Arts was created to lift depression. Literally. It was established in 1932 during some of the darkest days of the Great Depression. Ninety years later, this vibrant event has been named one of the top art festivals in the nation, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year.
As it celebrates its 90th anniversary, the Festival of Arts is set in a beautiful open-air gallery. More than 100 Orange County artists display their work in a juried fine art show featuring a variety of mediums and showcasing artwork styles from paintings and glass to ceramics and photography and more.
Some of the artists
Participating in the Festival of Arts for the fifth year, Greg Boratyn is a landscape photographer based in Southern California. Inspired by “unique locations of the world rarely seen or photographed,” Boratyn says he looks for “places that have no marks of human interaction or man-made objects in them. My primary goal is to capture the beauty of the place as created by nature, and nature alone.”
In his 2022 exhibit, photographer Ron Azevedo showcased images from Ukraine, including photos taken in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Azevedo has said, “My work aims to tell the hidden stories of inaccessible places and uncover the haunting beauty of what might have been.” After last visiting Ukraine five years ago, his plans to go back have been delayed by the pandemic and by war. But he vows to return.
A Junior Art Exhibit has been a highlight of the festival since 1947. The featured artwork is selected by art authorities from thousands of submissions representing schools throughout Orange County. Works by more than 200 students (K-12) are on display in the Junior Art Gallery.
Pageant magic
As it celebrates its 90th anniversary, the Festival of Arts is also presenting the much-loved Pageant of the Masters, described as the festival’s “crowning jewel and arguably one of the most unique productions in the entire world.” For 90 minutes, audiences enjoy recreations of classical and contemporary works of art with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces.
The theme of the 2022 Pageant of the Masters is “Wonderful World.” It’s described as “a love letter to our common humanity, and the countless ways in which artists have asked the eternal question: ‘Why are we here?’
If you go
The 2022 Festival of the Arts and the Pageant of the Masters will run through September 2. You can learn more here for planning your visit to see art come to life in countless ways: celebrating our shared humanity and the beautiful world all around us.
Barbara Kerr is a freelance communication specialist with a passion for writing about people, the arts and special events. Inducted into the Dayton (Ohio) Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame, she is a past chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows.
