In The Arts

Laguna Art Museum launches five exhibitions

Laguna Art Museum will hold an opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday in honor of its upcoming exhibitions: John Paul Jones; E. Roscoe Shrader; Sean Duffy: “Searcher�; “Masterstrokes: Selections from Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. Signature Members�; and Megan Hart Jones: “A Tribute.�

Guests will have a chance to meet and mingle with museum members, artists and collectors while enjoying food, a cash bar and the opportunity to view the exhibitions before they open to the public.

Tickets are $20 pre-sale; $25 at the door.

For tickets and more information about each exhibit or to buy museum membership, visit https://www.lagunaartmuseum.org.

Philip Womack at 225 Forest

Hurley will host its First Thursday Art Walk Opening Reception featuring works by local artist Philip Womack from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday at its retail store at 225 Forest Ave.

An emerging artist rooted in Southern California aesthetic and tradition, Womack is a painter and illustrator who developed a love for art history at Ryman Arts, a classical art program for high school students. He has been able to combine this formal training with a natural eye for his surroundings, as the Laguna College of Art and Design graduate continues to inspire with his interpretations of local coast and canyon scenes.

The artist will donate 20% of his sales to Ryman Arts, a Southern California-based scholarship program that provides free courses to high school students geared toward readying them for a career in the arts. As a high school student, Womack attended courses there and cites this experience as a turning point for his commitment to a life in the arts.

The event will be catered by Goko Cafe and will also feature a musical performance by Make Moon.

Richard MacDonald to exhibit at Dawson Cole

Sculptor Richard MacDonald will feature his “Recent Works� from 8 to 10 p.m. Nov. 6 and noon to 3 p.m. Nov. 7 at Dawson Cole Fine Art, 326 Glenneyre St.

MacDonald’s artistic process is one that involves exploration using many different mediums, so each finished sculpture may be accompanied by a series of drawings, paintings and maquettes, which are smaller scaled models, cast in bronze, that together trace the full story of the artist’s inspiration.

Working from live models in studio sessions of intense focus, the artist captures the spontaneity of the unplanned moment, while touching on the themes of a lifetime of creative vision.

At the event, he will unveil the larger than life-size Leap of Faith in bronze, a major work that deals with the idea of releasing the human spirit.

Other new works included in this show relate to the artist’s ongoing development of a major monument to classical ballet for the Royal Ballet School of London, with the romance and beauty of dance as their inspiration.

For more information, call (888) 972-5543 or visit https://www.dawsoncolefineart.com.

Author of “Honolulu� says Aloha to Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach Books, 1200 S. Coast Hwy., will present Alan Brennert, author of “Honolulu� at 5 p.m. Nov. 7, where he will discuss and sign copies of his book.

Honored as the 2010 One City, One Book selection by La Canada-Flintridge, “Honolulu� is the richly-imagined story of Jin, a young “picture bride� who leaves her native Korea — where girls are so little valued that she is known as Regret — and journeys to Hawaii in 1914 in search of a better life.

Instead of the prosperous young husband and the chance of an education she has been promised, Jin is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his disappointments out on her, forcing her to make her own way in a strange land.

Struggling to build a business with the help of her fellow picture brides, she finds both opportunity and prejudice, but ultimately transforms herself from a naïve young girl into a resourceful woman. Prospering along with her adopted city, which is fast growing from a small territorial capital to the great multicultural city it is today, Jin can never forget the people she left behind in Korea, and returns one last time to make her peace with her former life.

The book was also named one of the Washington Post’s “Best Books of 2009,� and an Elle’s Lettres 2009 Reader’s “Pick of the Year.�

For more information about the event, call (949) 494- 4779.

Cuerdas Del Mar to perform at LCAD

Laguna Beach Live! will present violin and guitar duo Cuerdas Del Mar from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Laguna College of Art and Design as part of its First Sundays series.

The versatile duo comprised of Bill Jones on classical guitar and Diana Turner on violin, performs a wide variety of music genres from classical, Irish, folk, gypsy and Jazz.

Having performed at several prestigious functions throughout San Diego, they continue to expand their repertoire and build on a 15-year foundation of musical training and performance experience.

The concert is in Studio 8 at the Art College, 2222 Laguna Canyon Road, a few miles from main beach. There is ample and complimentary parking. The Art Gallery will open at 2 p.m.

For more information, visit https://www.lagunabeachlive.org.