Latest news with #PageantoftheMasters
Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Hilbert Museum partners with Pageant of the Masters to tell a story of California art
When Diane Challis Davy, director of the Pageant of the Masters, was first invited to tour the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange last year, she was struck by the many images she knew would be a fit for Laguna Beach's famed living picture show. Mark Hilbert, who co-founded the museum with his late wife Janet, walked Challis Davy through the museum personally and sent her home with art books to look through. She came across a painting in one of those books that she knew had to be included in the Pageant. 'Mark gave me some of his beautiful books and I took them home and right away, I knew that 'Monday at the Crab Cooker' was perfect for a Pageant tableau,' said Challis Davy. The work by local artist Bradford J. Salamon depicted three men having dinner at the iconic Newport Beach restaurant. Challis Davy knew the scene inside the popular seafood eatery fit well with the 2025 Pageant of the Masters theme, 'Gold Coast: Treasures of California,' which is intended to be a tour of some of the most notable works of art on view at California's coastal museums. Unbeknownst to Challis Davy, she had just selected a piece that documents the beginnings of the Hilbert Museum itself. 'I chose it before Bradford told me he is [one of the men] in the picture, Mr. Hilbert is painted in the picture and Gordon McClelland is in the picture,' said Challis Davy. On Monday nights the three art lovers would get together over a fish dinner and discuss the idea of opening a museum that could display the collection amassed by Mark Hilbert and his late wife, Janet. 'We would just get together and talk about art until we were deaf,' Hilbert said. The meeting of the minds was the first imagining of the Hilbert Museum as it stands today and Salamon said he recognized history was being made. 'I felt privileged to be watching the soup being made with Mark and Gordon and the idea of a museum,' said Salamon. 'As we kept going every Monday and talking, I realized I was really dealing with people who could pull this off, I was dealing with a visionary who is going to do this; and I thought I should document it.' Salamon joined Challis Davy, Hilbert and Hilbert Museum director Mary Platt on the evening of June 4 in a panel discussion at the museum discussing the painting and other works selected from the Hilbert Collection that will be featured in this year's pageant. The Pageant of the Masters has been a tradition at Laguna Beach's Festival of Arts since 1932, when a few living pictures were presented as the 'Spirit of the Masters Pageant.' 'It grew over the years,' said Challis Davy. 'Thanks to a fellow by the name of Roy Ropp, who was a builder in town and a painter. He is considered the father of the pageant because he gave us our name, Pageant of the Masters.' Ropp used his expertise to add painted backdrops on a larger stage and incorporated music and narration in the show. He is also responsible for introducing 'The Last Supper,' as the finale, a tradition that continues today. Each year the show follows at theme, such as last year's 'À La Mode: The Art of Fashion,' which put the spotlight on popular styles of dress in various periods. Challis Davy works closely with her team to find the right works of art to present that best represent the theme. 'Proportion of overall canvas to figure is very important to us and how the figures are aligned,' said Challis Davy. 'We are going to take this two dimensional painting and we are going to turn it back into 3D, so it's all about the proportions.' Challis Davy said she also keeps an eye out for works with meaningful narratives, something the Hilbert Museum prides itself on. 'We specialize in what we call California narrative art, which is art that tells a story, ' Platt said of the Hilbert. 'You can also call it representational art or figurative art. It certainly has people in it, or the work of people. You might see a boat, or a pier or ranch or road.' In addition to 'Monday at the Crab Cooker,' the pageant has also selected Phil Dike's 'Afternoon at Diver's Cove,' Lee Blair's 'Mary by the Sea,' and another of Salamon's oil works, 'Seal Beach Nighthawks,' which depicts a cold night at a seaside corn dog shack. The Millard Sheets mosaic 'Pleasures Along the Beach,' which is the crown jewel of the expanded Hilbert Museum and was relocated from a Home Savings & Loan building in Santa Monica, will also be featured in the pageant along with a third Salamon painting, commissioned by the pageant. Since the segment on Salamon will include the Crab Cooker and the corn dog stand, Davy was hoping to include a third work that depicted a restaurant or bar. 'I thought there is got to be a third one and I look and looked and I couldn't find one that was suitable for our stage, so I thought 'OK, let's take a leap of faith and let's commission an artwork' and that painting is now in the Festival of Arts' permanent collection.' Salamon was given a choice of painting the landmark Sandpiper lounge in Laguna Beach — affectionately called the 'Dirty Bird' by locals — the Swallows Inn or the Marine Room Tavern on Ocean Avenue in Downtown Laguna Beach. The artist went with the Marine Room, painting a scene of patrons at the bar and in front of the fireplace. 'I put different little Easter eggs in there regarding art history; on the far left there is 'Folies-Bergère' by Monet, there is Winslow Homer's 'Breezing Up,' which they have done at the pageant for many years,' Salamon pointed during the panel discussion. There is also a small cat peeking out from behind a bar stool, a reference to the 'McSorley's Cats' by John Sloan, and a balloon dog on one patron's hat, a nod to Jeff Koons. 'These were all little things that I thought would be fun to put in,' Salamon said. Mark Hilbert will also get in on the fun this summer, joining the cast of volunteers at the pageant on 'Hilbert Museum Night at the Pageant' on July 9 to play himself in the 'Monday at the Crab Cooker' painting. 'We are not going to ask him to shave for this but he will have to be subjected to the make up application process,' Davy said. The 2025 Pageant of the Masters opens July 5 and recipients of the Hilbert Museum e-newsletter will receive a 20% ticket discount. For more information on the 2025 Festival of the Arts and Pageant of the Masters, visit For details on the Hilbert Museum exhibitions and the five works selected from the Hilbert Museum collection go to
Los Angeles Times
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pageant of the Masters casting call to provide rare look at rehearsal
Those hoping to land a part in the latest installment of the Pageant of the Masters likely believed their chance had come and gone, but an additional open casting call has been scheduled in March. The Pageant of the Masters, a long-running show that casts its volunteers as living pictures of the artwork they are sent out on stage to portray, is held annually during the summer inside the Irvine Bowl. 'Gold Coast: Treasures of California,' this year's production, will be staged from July 5 to Aug. 29. This time around, the Pageant of the Masters is especially in need of individuals under 5 feet tall and men exceeding 6 feet in height for sculptural roles. The additional casting event will take place on Thursday, March 13, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Forum Theater on the Festival of Arts premises. For many in the audience, a view from a seat inside the amphitheater is as close as they will get to the tableaux vivants. Next month's casting call, however, will provide a behind the scenes look at a rehearsal, Pageant officials said. 'The energy at our January event was incredible, and we're thrilled to welcome even more volunteers in March,' Pageant Director Diane Challis Davy said in a statement. 'This is a rare opportunity to step into the world of living pictures and experience the magic of the Pageant firsthand. 'It's also a chance for local residents, especially those in South Orange County, to get a behind-the-scenes look at our backstage process and even watch a private rehearsal for the upcoming summer show.' Hundreds of volunteers showed up to be measured from head to toe and photographed during a three-day casting event in January. Apart from the desired measurements to best duplicate the featured artwork, the Pageant is always looking for volunteers with an ability to stand still for 90 seconds — the approximate length of a scene in the show. Backstage roles are also available in the costume, headpiece and makeup departments.
Los Angeles Times
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Laguna Beach's Sawdust Festival: A deep dive into the coastal fair
In Orange County, Laguna Beach is no short of populus, where Californians take to the crystal blue waters of Table Rock or 1000 Steps with their sunscreen and flip-flops, in between swimming, playing at the basketball courts or grabbing food at the local cafes. However, amongst the sandy trails and towering palm trees is a vivid, storied art and culture scene: a large piece of Laguna that is celebrated each summer and winter during the city's biannual Sawdust Festival. Formed from a dream of artistic unity in one of the most diverse art centers in southern California, the Sawdust Festival had one goal: to showcase the Picassos of the west coast. Alongside its counterparts — the Pageant of the Masters which opened their doors in 1932, and the Art-a-Fair that followed suit in 1966 — the Sawdust Festival was (and still is) a celebration of years of allowing artists to paint their own stories, to connect and create with others who follow the same stroke of expressive genius. 'It was a chance to be a part of an art movement, and Laguna Beach afforded us that.' stated Tracey Moscaritolo, a Boston-native painter who joined the festival in 1969. For her, early childhood was spent drawing by herself, without a creative community, she said. But after being stationed in El Toro during her days as a Marine, Moscaritolo moved to Laguna Beach, took art classes using the money from her G.I. bills, and joined a group of artists that fostered a rewarding art career. 'It's kind of like a family,' Moscaritolo said. 'A lot of us have been here for a long time, and we support each other in many ways.' Now, 55 years after 69', she has been painting and selling vibrant acrylic landscapes after exploring the world of metal sculpting and discovering her love of color. 'Someone said of my work that it reminded them of a place remembered, but not yet visited. And some of the artwork that I have is from my memory.' Moved by Laguna and the wonderful artists that accompany it, Tracey Moscaritolo also aided in continuing this unwritten tradition of inspiration. Catherine Reade, a friend of Moscaritolo, started out designing jewelry and seeking others to bring the vision to life; that was, until the painter motivated her to learn the craft herself. Reade then transformed into the maker, she said, spending her evenings at an open studio at Orange Coast College with artists who had a diverse range of experience. 'It was so nice to not be working in a formal setting, but to put on my jeans and my sweats and pound metals with hammers,' Reade said. 'It was just so invigorating and empowering. It just captured my heart.' Reade has been showcasing her jewelry at the Sawdust Festival for 24 years, using sheet, wire, and wax castings to create her pieces. As a custom designer, Reade states,'I'm constantly problem-solving new pieces; I'm not just locked into one thing over and over again.' Starting with mostly potters and ceramists, the Sawdust Festival has since never been short of such. After a vacation one summer where she found herself in a painting class, ceramic artist Elena Madureri found herself completely enthralled with the medium. 'I fell in love and said, 'this is what I want,'' she said. Madureri's earth-tone pieces often include carvings of women, which she includes as an ode to her home country Venezuela. In an age where the word 'community' is in most cases spoken in a digital context, and AI. has changed the world of art as we know it, it's difficult to remember what it meant to make something; to not just see, but feel culture. The Sawdust Festival is a reminder of what it meant to be a community, what it meant to be in an art house like Laguna Beach: an ever-evolving canvas by the coast. Sawdust's annual Summer Festival begins June 27. Related
