LBAA announces 2026 Art Star nominees ahead of 20th annual award celebration
By JILL HECHT
Courtesy of Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association
An artist shares the story behind his artwork at the SoCal Sister Cities 2025 Young Artists Expo at Laguna Art Museum, a project nominated for an Art Star Award
The Art Star Awards committee and Laguna Beach Arts Alliance announced this year’s finalists for the 2026 Art Star Awards, honoring achievements in art, collaboration and support for the creative community.
The prestigious awards highlight outstanding achievements and contributions in the arts in Laguna Beach. Award categories are Best Arts Program, Arts Patron of the Year, Outstanding Arts Collaboration and Artist of the Year.
Presentation of a special award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts is also on this year’s program. The award event and celebration are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on April 23 at the Festival of Arts grounds.
Among the nominees for Outstanding Arts Collaboration is the SoCal Sister Cities’ 2025 Young Artists Expo. The project brought 17 young artists from Japan to Laguna Beach in a spirit of cultural exchange and international friendship.
Also nominated for Outstanding Arts Collaboration is LOCA Arts Education’s Rooted in Community Mosaic at South Laguna Community Garden Park. The public art project mobilized artists and the broader community to create a tile mural everyone can enjoy.
The Holiday Concert presented by Laguna Community Concert Band and LagunaTunes Community Chorus is the third nominee in the arts collaboration category.
Courtesy of Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association
Students from Japan visited Sawdust Festival’s Winter Fantasy during their stay in Laguna Beach for the SoCal Sister Cities Young Artists Expo, a project nominated for an Art Star Award for Outstanding Arts Collaboration
Anthony Al-Jamie, who serves as president of the Southern California Chapter of Sister Cities International, said the 2025 California Young Artists Expo showcased work chosen from among 1,776 art submissions from high school and college students around the world.
For the exhibition in Laguna Beach, 17 expo finalists from high schools and colleges in Japan traveled to Orange County in November for an exchange of cultures and international friendship.
They joined a Laguna Beach High School student and Laguna College of Art + Design student to show their work at Laguna Art Museum in November. The same artwork was showcased the previous month at the United Nations University in Tokyo.
Al-Jamie said the project gave students a platform to exhibit their work internationally, “and experience how art can connect communities across borders.”
Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association hosted the group of students and their chaperones from Fuji Five Lakes Resort Cities, Japan.
They attended a special presentation of the Young Artists Expo at Laguna Art Museum and heard the artists’ stories and cultural influences on the works. Laguna Beach student artists at the expo included Shane DiMaggio of Laguna Beach High School and Oscar Rogowski of Laguna College of Art + Design.
Later in the day, Sawdust Art Festival connected the visiting students to local artists during a visit to the Winter Fantasy art festival. Then, LagunaTunes Community Chorus performed for the visitors. Afterward, artist Eva Evans hosted a dinner for the students.
Al-Jamie said working together, the partner organizations created opportunities that none could have achieved alone
Courtesy of LOCA Arts Education
Volunteers work on mosaic tiles for LOCA Art Education’s Community Mosaic at South Laguna Community Garden Park, a project nominated for an Art Star Award
The next Art Star nominee in this category brought together local artists, organizations and neighbors to create a colorful mural inspired by the garden’s environment.
LOCA Art Education’s Community Mosaic at South Laguna Community Garden Park is titled, Rooted in Community. The project included a series of free public workshops where volunteers crafted seven unique plaques.
Laguna Beach Artist Mike Tauber was the designer on the project and led the workshops.
“It’s really a beautiful little park,” Tauber said. Before the project, amid the flowers and butterflies at South Laguna Community Garden Park, was a bare block wall. “The wall was blank. It looked naked back there,” he said.
In spring 2025, more than 100 volunteers showed up to change that, decorating tiles in workshops held at the park, at Susi Q Community Center and at Laguna Canyon Art Studios during Open Studios Weekend.
The tiles are crafted with images of bugs, sunbursts, garden tools, fruit and vegetables, faces and phrases. Another 20 people submitted entries to a “Name That Plaque” contest, with winners chosen by a team from Third Street Writers.
Tauber credits the volunteers, partner organizations and LOCA associates Susan Brown, Billiejo Lee, Paul Luevano and Suzie Harrison. He said the goal was for the community to work hands-on to make art that benefits everyone.
“It gives (volunteers) a sense of ownership and inclusion toward the art they helped create,” Tauber said, “and more appreciation of public art everywhere.”
The tiles are in cutout shapes mounted on cement board panels and fixed to the wall. The mosaics are made from reclaimed leftovers and glazes donated by the estate of artist Michele Taylor, who exhibited for many years at the Sawdust Festival before her death in 2018.
“She loved to do public art projects, and was all about community,” Tauber said. The turtle at Bluebird Park is one of Taylor’s works. “Her legacy is brought forward in this.”
The mural project was funded by grants to LOCA from the city of Laguna Beach and local lodging establishments, Festival of the Arts Foundation and private donations. Additional support came from South Laguna Community Garden Park and their board of directors, including board member Barbara Granger.
Courtesy of LOCA Arts Education
Colorful tiles in part of the mosaic mural at South Laguna Community Garden Park, the result of a project nominated for an Art Star Award for Outstanding Arts Collaboration
The Arts Star Awards event on April 23 is sponsored by the Festival of Arts.
Award winners in each category receive one-of-a-kind sculptures created by local artist and celebrity Louis Longi. The sculptures known locally as “Louies” are created specifically for the Art Star Awards with no molds or editions.
The evening celebration will feature KXFM’s Rockin’ Red Carpet, live music by Laguna JaZz with vocalist Ginger Hatfield, Master of Ceremonies Roxana Ward, demonstrations by artists from the Sawdust Festival and Laguna College of Art + Design, a gallery walk featuring pieces by local artists, and special guest performances by Opera Laguna, No Square Theater and Laguna Dance.
Hors d’oeuvres and dessert by Starfish and a prosecco and wine bar sponsored by the Sawdust Festival are also on offer.
Tickets to the event are $150 each until March 31 and $175 starting April 1. Table assignments are based on when payment is received, and the best seats generally go to early purchasers.
Nominees for this year’s awards include:
Outstanding Arts Collaboration
Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association – SoCal Sister Cities 2025 California Young Artists Expo
Laguna Community Concert Band & LagunaTunes Community Chorus – Holiday Concert
LOCA Arts Education – Rooted in Community Mosaic at South Laguna Community Garden Park
Best Arts Program
Coast Film & Music Festival – Jack Johnson and The Moonshine Conspiracy Concert
KXFM 104.7 – 2025 Programming
Sawdust Art Festival – Sawdust Art Education Program
Artist of the Year
Arnold Geis & Oriana Geis-Falla
Eric Henderson
Tom Lamb
Arts Patron of the Year
The Quilter Family
Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Steve & Beth Wood
Tickets are available by clicking here. If purchasing online, event organizers ask consideration for paying via Zelle to help reduce transaction fees.
