Festival of Arts Permanent Art Collection

Protecting Cultural Heritage

The Festival of Arts is an art institution dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting artwork significant to the Festival’s and Laguna Beach’s rich cultural history. The Festival of Arts Permanent Art Collection is housed at foaNorth and includes over 1,000 works. In 1991, the Collection was significantly enhanced by the donation of the Lorna Mills – Great American Bank Collection of early California artworks. In 2004, the entire photographic collection of exhibitor Stillman Sawyer was given, as a bequest, by the Sawyer Trust to the Collection along with curatorial funds to support this donation and seed funding for the Stillman F. Sawyer Photographic Learning Center. The Collection continues to grow, with artwork acquired through purchases, bequests and donations.

Selected works from the Permanent Art Collection are presented in themed exhibits at foaSOUTH and loaned out to museums and institutions for specific exhibitions that advance cultural history and understanding. Works from the collection are also viewable through the Festival’s virtual gallery featuring works from the book, Selections from the Festival of Arts Permanent Art Collection which is available to purchase through the online store.