The craft of fine art

Young Chang

It’s the topic of a long-standing discussion in museums, the

distinction between craft and fine art. The former is typically thought

to be functional, the latter more for admiring.

At the Orange County Museum of Art, the two sides will combine this

weekend with the Wells Fargo Pacific Craft Show.

The pieces for the show are “functional, but it’s unusual fine art

that’s functional for the home,” said Jane Heber, artist and liaison

chair.

Brian Langston, museum spokesperson, agrees. Gesturing to the wildly

imaginative and, for now, disarrayed displays of crafts, he said it’s

undeniable -- these crafts are art.

More than 60 locally, nationally or internationally prominent artists

will show and sell their works in the five major craft mediums -- glass,

metal, fiber, ceramic and wood -- today and Sunday at the Orange County

Museum of Art.

“We want people to see the possibilities,” Heber said. “Not just in

the Newport hub, but in Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo... We want people to

see handmade beautiful pieces in their homes.”

The artists are as diverse as their mediums.

Sculptor Guy Ferrer lives and works in Paris but is returning to the

show because his sculptures sold so well last year.

Jewelry artist Linda Bergman of Corona del Mar will be selling 400

pieces she made, mostly with pearls from the South Sea and Tahitian

islands. Her cheapest pearl-stranded bracelet sells for $49; the most

expensive can run for up to $15,000.

Bergman’s jewels -- semiprecious stones and pearls stranded on a

single chain or layered and tangled into a modern choker -- will be laid

out on bamboo surfaces for passersby to freely touch.

“Once people pick it up is when they fall in love with it,” she said.

Pam Deily, a Laguna Beach glass artist, also has some playful-looking

pieces. Her glass cupcakes are sprinkled and smothered in glass frosting.

Some of her bombes, or little French cakes, are shaped into teapots.

Lynn and Ken Mattson’s teapots would fit well not only in people’s

kitchens, but on a mantle piece. Made with countless particles that are

all found objects -- from old gargoyles to broken rice bowls -- each

teapot tells a story.

One, titled “Ojiisan,” tells the tale of a Japanese grandfather

baby-sitting his daughters’ children. Another, titled “La Belle et la

Bete,” is about a beast who proposes to a beautiful girl every night. The

prince inside the beast is visible when you open the teapot lid. He

dangles.

“I like the shape,” said Lynn Mattson, who gets most her ideas from

stories. “There is something about a teapot that is comforting and

playful.”

FYI:

* WHAT: The Wells Fargo Pacific Craft Show

* WHEN: Today and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for

members, $10 for nonmembers.

* WHERE: Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport

Beach

* CALL: (949) 759-1122, Ext. 206