ANNUAL MEMBERSHP MEETING

Get the latest scoop on renovation plans….vote for next year’s officers and trustees….congratulate the volunteer award winners….meet the upcoming artists who received Alpay Awards this year, all by attending the Palos Verdes Art Center’s 2009 Annual Membership Meeting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 26 at the Art Center.
            Stay after and enjoy an Italian dinner catered by The Appetizer. Dinner is $15, and reservations are REQUIRED. Make yours by calling 310-541-2479 no later than Monday, June 22.

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CELEBRATE CHEFS V: THE EPICUREAN JOURNEY CONTINUES

Celebrate fantastic South Bay chefs at three gourmet dining extravaganzas sponsored by The Associates, a Palos Verdes Art Center support group. The dinners will be held at three spectacular Palos Verdes homes the evenings of July 18 and 25 and August 1. Proceeds benefit the Art Center’s on-going visual arts education, exhibition and community outreach programs. Tickets are $135 each, and space is limited. For reservations, call Sharon Holman, (310) 375-6917. Sharon Ryan is chairing this year’s event.

The Great Gatsby
On Saturday, July 18, dress up in your summer whites for an elegant Hamptons-style lawn party reminiscent of the 1920s. In the five-acre Rolling Hills gardens and vineyards of Carole and Norman LaCaze, there will be mint juleps, croquet, classic automobiles from Shirley and Dick Boberg and hot jazz by Mike Walker Trio. Additional music will be provided by two sensational young singers: 11-year-old Morgan Irish and 16-year-old Alison Kaufman.

The ever-popular Christine Brown, chef/owner Restaurant Christine in Torrance and recognized by Los Angeles Magazine as a top female chef, has developed a sumptuous feast filled with delicacies from lobster, truffle cheese and duck confit through filet mignon medallions and wild salmon to brioche French toast and grey sea salt crème caramel.

Saturday Night Fever
On Saturday July 25, dance the night away at the relaxed country ranch of Stephanie Culver and Victor George in Rolling Hills. Enjoy the extensive green lawns and the stable that has been converted into an artist’s studio and children’s playroom. Watch artists Isabel Acosta, Doug Castleman, Don Crocker, Cynthia Joyce, Kathy Stinis and Jody Wiggins create work that will be for sale at the end of the evening.

Humphrey Lansiquot, chef partner of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in El Segundo, has created a delicious repast including jumbo shrimp, mini smoked crab and salmon cakes, chicken satay, bacon-wrapped Cajun medallions, seared ahi, a chocolate fountain fondue, chocolate truffles and vanilla crème brulee.

Dancing with the Stars
On Saturday, August 1, explore walking paths, marble fountains and exotic landscaping of Nandini and Deepak Chopra’s two-acre Palos Verdes Estates estate with its sprawling Tuscan-Style villa. Husband and wife dancers Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunshaya, who own a dance studio in Hermosa Beach, will show off their latest moves. Jonathan danced with singer Belinda Carlisle in the latest season of Dancing with the Stars.

Nominated as a “Rising Star” by the James Beard Foundation, Enrico Glaudo, owner and chef of Frascati Risorante in Rolling Hills Estates, is a native Italian and attended the Culinary Institute in Cerres. His Italian-themed menu includes mini pizzas and quiches, smoked salmon tartar, roasted beet and mozzarella caprese salads, pumpkin cannelloni, pork medallions, pancetta-wrapped salmon and mini-pastries.

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2009 ALPAY AWARD RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

In all, nine art students—selected from a record 77 applicants—received a total of $10,000 plus a class from the Beverly G. Alpay memorial Education Fund for in the Visual Arts. This raises the 12-year grant program total to $110,070. The awards will be presented Friday, June 26 during the annual meeting.

Shaden Mousa, a ceramic artist working toward her MFA at Cal State, Long Beach, topped this year’s list with a $2,500 award. Mousa, who received her undergraduate degree from Cal State, Chico, has been drawn to the whimsy of composite creatures since childhood. Similarly, her work is stylistically reminiscent of both American craft and Egyptian art, a melding of the two cultures she straddles.

Three other Cal State, Long Beach MFA candidates also received Alpay Awards.  Emily Quest, who paints California plein air scenes in oil on canvas, and Michael Walsh, who combines mathematics and art in his steel and bronze sculptures, each received $2,000 awards. Claudia Morales-McCain, whose paintings experiment with abstract visual language, received $500.

Jessica Lah, a Cal State, Long Beach junior who spent the spring semester at the Guangzhou Academy of Art in China, was awarded $1,000.

Three 2009 high school graduates who will be majoring in the visual arts in college this fall received awards. Kaori Funahashi, Palos Verdes High, is a photographer and plans to attend Chapman University. She received $1,000. Receiving $500 each were Danbee Ha, West Torrance, who plans to attend the University of Southern California, and Julien Nguyen, Mira Costa, who will pursue his painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. He also received an Alpay youth award in 2008.

Alexander Woody, a sophomore at Redondo Union, was given an Art Center class to help him pursue his digital art.

Members of the selection committee were Dr. O. Allen Alpay, fund creator; Art Center Chairman Don Crocker; Art Center Trustee Maude Landon; Art Center President Allen Lay; Art Center faculty member Frank Minuto; artist Jan Napolitan, and Bob Yassin, Art Center chief executive officer.

The Alpay Memorial Education Endowment was created by the Art Center’s Board of Directors and Dr. Alpay in memory of his wife Beverly. A long-time patron of the arts, she served as board president and also as executive director.

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ART-RAGEOUS SUMMER ART CAMP

There’s two types of camp this summer at the Palos Verdes Art Center. Our popular Art-rageous camp for children age 5-11 will run for Monday-Friday for five weeks, July 13, 20 & 27 and August 3 & 10. Morning (9 a.m.–noon), afternoon (1–4 p.m.) and all day (9 a.m.–4 p.m.; bring your lunch) programs are available. For each week, half-day programs are $200 (members $170) and full-day, $270 (members $240).

And for older youth, new this year are four weeks of Digital Art Camp. Depending on the week, participants will work on Photoshop, Flash Animation or Filmmaking I & II. Sessions run from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, the weeks of July 14, 21 & 28 and August 4. The price per week is $230 (members $200).

View the complete camp schedule on the classes pages of this website or call Angela Hoffman, education coordinator, 310-541-2479. Please note, there is NO Early Bird Discount on camps.

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MALAGA COVE LAWN SHOWS SET

Meet the artists at this year’s Malaga Cove Lawn Art Shows while searching for the perfect painting, photograph, ceramic vase or necklace.

The Palos Verdes Art Center’s eight artists groups sponsor these weekend shows at Malaga Cove Plaza, Palos Verdes Dr. West, between Via Corta and Via Chico, Palos Verdes Estates. Each show is open from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The 2009 dates are:

April 18 & 19
May 16 & 17
June 20 & 21
July 18 & 19
August 15 & 16
September 19 & 20

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IMAGINATIVE CHILDREN’S BIRTHDAY PARTIES AVAILABLE

Pirates, princesses, artists or fairies are only a few of the fantastic children’s birthday parties now available at the Palos Verdes Art Center. 

Each three-hour party includes age-appropriate art projects, fantasy play in colorful costumes with an artist-painted mural to set the stage, face painting, treasure hunts, balloons and food and beverages. All of this is led by artist and party coordinator Ami Albea and her enthusiastic costumed assistants.

The price is $475 for 10 children ($425 for Art Center members) and $25 for each additional child. For complete information, visit www.pvartcenterparties.org or call 310-541-2479 ext. 314.

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