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.
