Laguna Art Museum marks a dozen years of merging art with nature

The calendar has flipped to November, and at Laguna Art Museum, that means it is time to have conversations centered around the intersection between art and the natural world.

For a dozen years, the museum has done just that, inviting artists who have made not only Laguna Beach’s coastline their subject but elements such as wind, light and sound.

“It just made a lot of sense 12 years ago when it started because the museum is only a few steps from the most beautiful beach in Orange County,” Ryan Tuffnell, the marketing coordinator for the museum, said of the Art and Nature program. “It just makes sense to celebrate that with artwork. As it’s evolved, I think one of the best things is it provides a platform for the commissioned artists to say what they want in relation to the environment, and their work can interact with it and kind of speak for itself in that way.”

Tuffnell said the evolution of the program has provided for a transition to a narrative-based approach, which he said has invited artist-led conversations about environmental issues.

Opening weekend will be highlighted by an upcycled couture fashion show, which is scheduled to take place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday. The sustainable runway show will feature student designers from local colleges, including UC Irvine, Chapman University, Santa Ana College and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

“What they’re doing is they’re working with the leaders from a few [partnering] nonprofit organizations, and they’re representing those organizations through their fashion design, which is a sustainable clothing design,” Tuffnell said. “The runway show is inside the museum.”

The featured outdoor exhibit will be Christian Sampson’s “Ocean Ions,” which includes a collaboration with Volta Collective, a Los Angeles-based dance theater company directed by Mamie Green.

Lens-shaped acrylic pieces will be installed throughout Heisler Park and Main Beach. A special half-hour performance involving the dance collective will take place at Main Beach on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. The performance will also feature costumes painted by artist Ariel Dill.

“The Volta Collective has choreographed, in collaboration with Christian, a really beautiful representation of ‘Ocean Ions,’” Tuffnell added. “It kind of is more of an extension of the installation that will be on view from Nov. 7 through Nov 11. It’s like a special activation performance, where you’re not just looking at the sculptures, but now they’re interacting with the dancers and they’re moving.

“Once you see these pieces, you’ll realize that each time anything moves, whether it’s something behind them, or the sun, the light changes, the color changes, everything kind of changes about it. That’s even more amplified when the dancers begin interacting with them.”

Fred Tomaselli and Jay DeFeo will have exhibitions at the museum during the event.

For a complete schedule of Art and Nature at Laguna Art Museum, visit lagunaartmuseum.org/art-nature.