LCAD | OC Art Blog

Enchanted Expression: The Art of Cody Jimenez

Oct 26, 2020 | 0 Comments

Have you ever had a moment where you felt connected to an animal? Where you looked deep into its eyes and felt a sort of mutual understanding? Like, you exist with them and not just near them? Have you ever felt an internal pull toward a special crystal or rock formation? Has the color of a fire or a sunset reached into your soul and just stopped you dead in your tracks for a moment? Artist Cody Jimenez has the uncanny ability of catching those moments, among other extraordinary instances and...

OC Artist Abigail Albano-Payton Sheds Light on Social and Personal Issues

Jul 27, 2020 | 1 Comment

The world has come to a standstill. In the wake of COVID-19, people find themselves spending more time with themselves than they ever have before. It is a prime opportunity for the creation of art. Enter Abigail Albano-Payton, a 21-year-old artist from Laguna Beach via Dallas who has dedicated her quarantine to researching new ways to hone her artistic craft. She has dedicated herself, specifically, to learning how to paint black, indigenous and people of color; a methodology that she feels...

Famed OC Illustrator Larissa Marantz helps Show LCAD the Path to redemption

Jul 13, 2020 | 1 Comment

On the first day of June, while the entire country was still heartbroken and mourning the cruel torture and murder of George Floyd in the hands of police, Larissa Marantz, a multitalented published book illustrator, cartoonist, gallery artist, educator, and owner of OC Art Studios, was hit by yet another institutional betrayal, this time coming from Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD), the school she has taught at for years: Artwork by Larissa Marantz “The moment I heard about the LCAD...

Sureya Davis: An Artist Pursuing Her Own Path

Jul 6, 2020 | 0 Comments

While most cling to the familiar, artist Sureya Davis strives for the unknown. Davis is an African American Orange County-based artist who was originally born in Staten Island, New York, but would ultimately move to Southern California to pursue her career in art. “I knew going into this profession as a woman of color, it would not be simple, but my drive to create is stronger than my fear of failure.” Study of Vanna, Sureya Davis, Oil on canvas board. When asked what the driving force...

A Closer Look: Perplexing the Figure in Santa Ana

Mar 31, 2015 | 0 Comments

Based in the abstraction of the human form, "Figurative Perplexities" at the Q Art Salon in Santa Ana takes a different look at the classic fine art subject, through the lens of six very different artists. Jason Shawn Alexander, Shay Bredimus, Alex Krigbaum, Cecilia Paredes and Orion Fischer join Dan Catalano in the exhibit, tranforming the space of the Q into a kind of cathedral, in worship of the human form. Each room is precisely arranged and glows like smaller altars to the figurative...

Iberian Travelogue

Mar 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

An exhibit of Iberian Peninsula-inspired paintings by Laguna College of Art + Design students and faculty opens this week at the LCAD Space at Forest & Ocean Gallery in Laguna Beach. “The Majesty of Spain and Portugal” shows the artistic response of participants in last summer’s LCAD summer abroad tour in Madrid, Toledo, Salamanca, Porto and Lisbon. The artists are Amy Bergener, Aaron Brown, Gabriel Castro, Andrea Clarke, Lani Emanuel (whose oil painting Sorolla’s Steps is shown above),...

The OC Art Blog was created in 2004 as a way to build community and promote the marginalized but dynamic Orange County art scene.

Daisy Chain Fields Sets Bigger ‘Expectations’

Sep 6, 2026

By Maggie Luy Paper decor fluttered overhead as baby doll dresses and flower crowns filled the crowd. Women-owned vendors lined the walkways as festivalgoers moved through the sunlight, surrounded by bursts of color and music. That vibrant atmosphere captured...

The Tipping Point: Einar and Jamex de la Torre at the Laguna Art Museum

Aug 26, 2026

By Mason Fujikawa The Tipping Point is a two-story installation at the Laguna Art Museum by Einar and Jamex de la Torre. The de la Torre brothers, glassblowers by trade, are prolific mixed-media artists who have exhibited internationally for over thirty years. Born in...

42nd Irvine Annual Takes a Closer Look

Aug 10, 2026

By Maggie Luy Take another step and lean in. Ordinary objects reveal deeper stories than they first appear to hold. From delicate threads woven into a portrait to bold images capturing moments of social change, the 42nd Irvine Annual transforms familiar...

Nothing But Net: From Hoop Dreams to Art Scenes at Great Park Gallery

Jul 14, 2026

By Maggie Luy Where does the game end, and the art begin? A basketball court is usually defined by rules and competition. In “GAME! Basketball and Contemporary Art,” that definition expands as the court becomes a surface for design and intervention. The...

The Machine in the Studio: OC Artists and Gallerists Reckon with AI

Jun 12, 2026

By Chris Hoff There’s a particular kind of vertigo that comes with watching a technology arrive faster than the culture can metabolize it. Photographers felt it in the 1840s. Painters felt it again when Photoshop showed up. Now it’s AI’s turn, and the stakes feel...