Since 1973, the artist-owned Cove Gallery in Laguna Beach has attracted fine art lovers with its diverse works of art. Recently, the Cove Gallery has teamed up with Laguna Beach High School to generate an innovative new program that provides Laguna Beach High School’s young artists with the unique and special experience to showcase their artwork in a Laguna Beach gallery.

The program began on Nov. 2, the first Thursday’s Art Walk, and the first two artists selected by the school were seniors Sophia Diaz-Anderson and Zander Raymond. Both Diaz-Anderson and Raymond are Laguna Beach based artists who attend Laguna Beach High School. These two will exhibit their work at the gallery and learn about how a gallery works from top to bottom.

“It’s been an amazing experience being able to show my work to the general public and to see my art alongside the work of so many talented others. This experience taught me a lot about what it’s really like to be featured in a gallery and got me thinking about the future,” said Raymond.

Diaz-Anderson and Raymond both had the opportunity to showcase their unique artistic styles by picking three of their favorite works to be featured at the gallery for the month of November, and then three more pieces for the month of December.

LBHS art teacher Bridget Beaudry-Porter regularly seeks ways for her students to showcase their talents.

“We’re very excited to work with Cove Gallery on this unique opportunity. It gives our emerging young artists first-hand experience of gallery life, and great exposure of their work. Zander and Sophia, the first students to be involved in this innovative program, are both students in Advanced Placement Studio Art 2D Design and Drawing and have shown great promise as artists of the future,” said Beaudry-Porter.

At the end of December, the Cove Gallery will select two more young artists from LBHS to feature for the months of January through February.

“I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to be featured in the gallery. The whole experience was very rewarding and I learned how to properly frame, price, title, and verbally explain my works.” said LBHS senior and featured artist Sophia Diaz-Anderson.

The Cove Gallery in Laguna Beach is located at 1550 South Coast Highway, just steps away from the Surf & Sand. You can view the Artists of the Month work in the window, and relax while you view spectacular original art and even meet the local Laguna artists. The gallery is open every day from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. except on Tuesdays, so stop by and see your classmates’ artwork!