Embrace your inner Santa Claus at this rebel arts festival in Orange County
The Sawdust Art Festival began in the mid-1960s as a reaction — or “rebellion,” as one participating artist called it — to Laguna Beach’s high-profile arts festival, home of the longtime living icon known as The Masters. Today, it’s professionally run, a place to hang out and drink and dine as much as it is to explore handcrafted art.
And in the winter, her hippie edge is arguably softened a bit more. That’s when Santa Claus moves in for five weekends throughout November and December.
Children search for a gingerbread house in Sawdust Winter Fantasy.
Millie Johnson, 5, and Gunner Johnson, 9, fifth-generation Laguna Beach residents, sit on Santa’s lap.
But no matter, if Sawdust isn’t the glittering miniature it once was, it’s still home to everything from centerpiece art. More charming: Stepping into Sawdust is like a theme park into a world of winding walkways covered in wood chips, where artists’ booths are set up as little cottages and every turn is full of surprises – sydelic ceramic mushrooms around one edge, a waterfall and a concert stage around the other.
Sawdust is full of artist surprises, and never more so than during its Winter Imagination event, which closes on December 21. Christmas lights come on, a community tree beckons to be decorated and a marionette handler walks the grounds. Artist Boots emphasizes small, gift-ready items—think ornaments, colorful candy dishes, mini-plates designed for wine bottles—but Sawdust’s Winter Fantasy stops short of going full holiday celebration, as it’s still an arts-driven event where one can join a pop-up ceramics class and join a paint session around St.
“The Thief is an experience,” says festival director Jay Grant, noting that even today it feels different than the concrete foundations of the nearby arts festival. “You walk out the front door and you’ve got sidewalks. You’ve got a village. You’ve got waterfalls. You’ve got three stages, and you’ve got demonstrations. There’s a thrill to see artists making art.”
And if one is shy about bringing out their inner artist, they can hang out in the dining area with a spiced wine.
The winter edition of Sawdust began in 1991, though the team had been talking about it since the ’70s, says Grant, who has been involved with the festival for 52 years, first as sales manager but occasionally as a participating artist selling ceramics and wind chimes. As for why the holiday event took about two decades to get off the ground, let police officers be “canyon hippies” and say, “We took it one year at a time.” It’s moved over the years—there were Stealth Walkers for a bit, and the Sawdust Historical Site notes that there was once a mascot in “Jelph,” part jester, part elf.
Petty the dog looks on as his owners, Eric and Natasha Blah, not pictured, buy art from artist Tim Haney.
Jeff didn’t stick around long, and when asked why there isn’t an official mascot today, Grant laughed. “We have enough characters here in the artists themselves,” he says. “We don’t need to hire any characters. They’re some of the best and funniest ex-hippies.”
Muffin Spencer-Devlin may not be an ex-hippie, but she is an ex-pro golfer, once a celebrity on tour. Today, she is a Laguna Beach resident and full-time glass artist, experimenting with her work with dashes of color in her creations. I met Spencer-Devlin while her little glass angel with multicolored hearts covered her eyes.
Glasswork began as a passion project, but then became a second career for Spencer-Devlin. “I wish it was a hobby,” he says with a laugh. “I had to make a living somehow. I didn’t save all the money I earned, but I was really good at spending it.”
She has participated in Sawdust since the mid-2000s, and worked as a glass artist before selling her work around 2009. This event is a haven, he says.
“I felt like I found my skin, the people I listened to. Every time I had a chance in those days, I talked to someone, and there were all kinds of people who did that, so it was an education for me,” he says.
1. Shams Sukuk, a found object artist, displays his work. 2. Gabe Sullivan is a fine art photographer and director. 3. Michelle Burt, an impressionist artist based in Laguna Beach, stands at her booth. 4. Artist Lupe Blanton creates ceramic garden art.
Folkloric and whimsical ceramic artist Lilia Vanier has been exhibiting at the Sawdust Winter Festival for 22 years. Sawdust’s main summer event only allows Laguna Beach residents to own a boat, but in the winter, the festival is open to other cities. Vanier, based in La Crescenta, found it well-received, making Sawdust Winter Fantasy the most successful show the artist has ever presented.
“The people who go there are very loyal,” says Vanier, who also teaches in the creative arts group at Sierra Madre. “Every year people come to see me and say, ‘What are you doing this time? I have customers in Laguna who have 40 to 50 of my pieces. This festival is very important. These are the people who get what I do.'”
Sawdust is on the verge of turning 60, which will see it return to Laguna Beach next summer. It continues to evolve.
When asked how the festival has changed over the past two decades, Vanier says, “The Thief was kind of a rebellion from Pageant, which was the first. It’s very high-end and classic.” “Sawdust is very slick. When I started, there were a lot of artists who were hippies. They were entertaining, selling surfing clothes. You know, hippies on the beach. Not many anymore – a few.”
David Zhang holds his grandson Huang, 5, while visiting Santa.
A concern among many artists was the cost of living in Laguna Beach, which Grant wonders how to engage young artists when they can’t afford to live within the city limits. As Sawdust heads into its sixth decade, Grant acknowledged they may need to relax some rules for the summer fair, such as allowing non-Laguna residents to submit.
“There are all kinds of ideas,” he says of recruiting young artists.
But no major changes are on the docket for next season yet. Even after all these decades, marijuana takes a year at a time.
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