Cultural Arts Association Brings 42nd Fine Arts Festival

The Loma Linda Cultural Arts Association (LLCAA) invites Inland Empire art lovers to the 42nd annual Fine Arts Festival, concurrently celebrated at the Loma Linda Civic Center and the Loma Linda University Drayson Center through June 1. Artist and educator Donna Morin, who lives in Loma Linda and formerly taught at San Bernardino Valley College, served as juror for the event. According to Sharan Bennett, JD, president of LLCAA, the exhibits display a wide variety of art fashioned by local artists, and span a wide variety from traditional oil paintings to self-portraiture created using computer graphics. “In the featured artworks,” Bennett notes, “desert scenes glow more like dreams than photos, a giant acrylic dragonfly wings its way toward Mount Fuji, and a drift of flowers expresses the delicacy that only water media can produce.” Edward Saenz’ splendid oil painting, “Marlene Dietrich by My Pool,” hanging in the Civic Center, won 1st prize in the paintings category this year. At Drayson Center, Leroy Leggit took 1st prize in the alternative art division with an astonishing photo, “Moonlight on the Wave.” Despite the title, it depicts a Southwestern landscape instead of a seascape. Doug Dybowski, vice-president and exhibits chair of LLCAA, won an honorable mention for “Poppies and Calla Lilies,” an oil painting at the Civic Center location. Dybowski lauds his hero, German Expressionist painter Emil Nolde, for courage and an artistic passion that could not be defeated. “During World War II, the Nazis placed Nolde under house arrest for art that they considered ‘degenerate,’” he explains, noting that Nolde painted anyway. Dybowski re-interprets Nolde’s watercolors in oil, his preferred instrument a palette knife. The Loma Linda Cultural Art Association will host a reception and awards ceremony Sunday, May 31, at 2:00 p.m. in Drayson Center. Art lovers are invited to visit the exhibit and watch a painting demonstration by noted fine artist and instructor Karen Werner, as well as meet the artists on that date. “We’re excited,” Bennett reports, “not only for those who won awards, but also for all our members whose creative self-expression has gladdened the hearts of those who view it. Each work has its own unique story to tell!” Loma Linda Civic Center is located at 25541 Barton Road in Loma Linda. Loma Linda University Drayson Center is located at 25040 Stewart Street, also in Loma Linda. For more information about the 42nd annual Fine Art Festival or the Loma Linda Cultural Arts Association, contact Sharan Bennett at 909-796-7041.