Briefly

-- Paul Clinton

To help shoulder the cost of restoring the historic cottages at

Crystal Cove, Joan Irvine Smith has proposed an annual painting contest

and fund-raiser.

Smith said she is in the process of organizing the event, scheduled

for June, which would bring painters from the plein air movement to

Crystal Cove.

The painters will compete for about $10,000 in prize money, Smith

said.

Once the contest is completed, the paintings would be sold to raise

funds to restore the aging cottages.

Built between 1921 and 1940, the cottages were placed on the National

Register of Historic Places in 1979 as one of the few remaining examples

of “vernacular architecture” along the state coastline.

Smith has enlisted the help of the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painters

Assn., known locally as LAPAPA, to put on the event. The contest would be

one of the first activities organized by the Crystal Cove Conservancy, a

nonprofit group Smith and others founded last month.

Smith said she broached the idea at a Friday meeting with State Parks

Director Rusty Areias, adding that many of the painters in the movement

have used the cove as a setting in their work.

“We talked about that,” Smith said. “They painted in Crystal Cove for

years.”

Stearns said he could not confirm that the item was discussed.