Laguna Beach Statue, Treasure Island Beach Art

Laguna Beach--Statue at the Treasure Island beach at Montage Resort in Laguna Beach shows a figure looking up to the sky.

The art piece overlooking Treasure Island Beach adjacent to the Montage Resort property is similar to a decades-old piece, Dancing Lady, in Huntington Beach at the Central Library.

In most California beach cities you'd be delighted to see any art at the beach at all. When you see it, you always keep your fingers crossed that it's going to offer some value in terms of context, content and lasting value. Laguna Beach is the only California city that has invested on a massive scale in the public arts program. With over 20 beaches strewn throughout neighborhoods and coves, you'll not find artwork at most. But on the more public beaches with parking spaces, there often will be not one, but several public art installations ranging in a variety of themes and subjects.

Laguna Beach is not only home to beaches, but to the arts. When you combine the elements of water, earth and sky, and add sculptures made to survive the outdoors, the results generally enhance the environment appreciably.  Perhaps that is why Europeans find Laguna Beach so appealing.  Southern Californians also love it for weekend getaways, and the great California getaway or escape is also best experienced in places such as Laguna where the dining, galleries and hotels all cater to an audience that has an education and appreciates the finer things.

Not cheap, the artists and art represented in Laguna Beach is often trend-setting. But when you visit, be it an hour or day, the beautiful public art is out there for you, the visitor to enjoy.  When you think of Laguna Beach, think beaches and art.