Hands on at the Sawdust

Suzie Harrison

An accomplished artist, Laguna Beach resident Frank Major decided to

go to the Sawdust Art Festival and try his skill working with clay.

At the potter’s wheel, under the apt instruction of Patrick Sauls,

Frank worked hands-on with his instructor to create the vase he

imagined.

It was a day of art classes for the young artist of 6 years. He

enjoyed the sand craft as well, while talking about his art

endeavors.

No stranger to the Laguna Beach art scene, Frank won first place,

in the kindergarten to third grade category, at the student art

competition at City Hall last month. Next year Frank will remain in

the same category, as he just finished kindergarten.

Frank came to the Sawdust through a suggestion by a friend who did

last year and told him all about the different classes. While

creating his clay piece, Frank learned where to put the pressure for

different shapes, the placement and how hard and long to press the

wet clay.

Fellow artist Fionna Fahey, 5, was talking about her piece.

“I decided to do the heart and teddy bears because I just thought

it in my mind,” Fionna said. “I picked the colors in my mind, I

picked black, pink, red, magenta and turquoise.”

Frank’s favorite discipline is drawing and wants to be an

animator.

“I want to go to college in the canyon,” Frank said.

Sharing his completed sand art at the children’s art booth, Frank

showed his hamster piece.

“It’s a hamster,” Frank said. “I decided to do it because I have a

hamster and I like rodents.”

He explained the steps involved in sand art.

“First you peel off the big sticker part and put the sand stuff on

it,” Frank said. “To get the image of his rodent character, he drew

it first and next it was cut out. He picked a vibrant mix of colors

for the background, which gave off a mostly purplish hue with a hint

of red.

“My hamster has light brown and white spots on the hamster,” Frank

said.

He was pointing to the light brown and white likeness of his pet

as seen on his artwork.

“I like art, drawing it,” Frank said. “I want to be an [animator]

because I am an artist. I like to draw hamsters and aliens so I can

be on movies and stuff.”

Sponge Bob Square Pants is his favorite cartoon because he’s

funny.

Artist and art teacher Joan Corman has been teaching Frank art.

“I usually do pomegranates and I do all kinds of stuff,” Frank

said. “If you’re painting someone and the background is dark and the

clothes are dark, they would blend in together and that’s not good.”

He put his hands together forming a circle and held them up,

illustrating the problem and said the head would just stay there.

“It would look just like a flying head,” Frank said.

Another piece Frank has worked on is a crab.

“I drew it and painted it,” Frank said. “I took a picture and then

drew it. Sometimes you think it in your mind like you want to do it.”

Monkeys are another project Frank enjoyed creating.

“My teacher pulled this picture out and talked about him and how I

would do the monkey,” Frank said. “I did two round ears, a round face

and then you shape his body.”

His monkey was brown, he said, because that’s the color monkeys

are.

Kianna Fahey, 6, enjoys doing art at the Sawdust. She explained

that she has been an artist since age four and also participates in

art classes.

“We come up here every year,” Kianna said. “Every time we come, I

always look forward to it and have a lot of fun.”

The Sawdust Art Festival has many different art activities for

children. It’s at 935 Laguna Canyon Road. For information, call

494-3030.