Art & Nature
Art & Nature Festival brings art and the community together in celebration of our history and future.
Creative Science
The event serves a number of purposes: to provide a festival of art and ideas for the community; to inspire artists; to find and develop connections between art and science; to raise awareness of environmental issues; and to celebrate Laguna Beach as a center for the appreciation of art and nature.
The theme of Art & Nature speaks particularly to the identity of Laguna Beach, which for over a hundred years has fostered art, the love of nature, and environmental awareness.
In 1929, when the Laguna Beach Art Association built a gallery to show and sell their work, they chose a commanding location on the coastline, close to the natural wonders they loved to paint. The present museum occupies the same site. There could be no more appropriate venue in which to explore the art-nature connection.
14th Annual Art + Nature: A Flag Walk for Our Future by Kim Manfredi
Celebration Week: November 5–9, 2026
This year, Art + Nature heads outside. Painter Kim Manfredi lines a 0.7-mile accessible path from Main Beach through Heisler Park with hand-painted, hand-gilded flags. They stand in four groups of four, one each for dawn, day, dusk and night, set at descending heights inspired by stacked surfboards.
Walk it on your own any day from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It’s free, and maps are on site. Each group of flags marks a stopping point, a place to notice how the light and air shift along the shore.
Celebration Week highlights
- Artist-led walking tours with Kim Manfredi: daily, November 5–9, 10–11 a.m. Free; meet at Laguna Art Museum.
- Artist talk, A Flag Walk for Our Future: Thursday, November 5, 6–7 p.m. Free; advance registration suggested.
- Free Museum Admission Day: Saturday, November 7, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
- Art + Nature Block Party: Saturday, November 7, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. on the Main Beach cobblestones. Free.
- Keynote with seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones: Saturday, November 7, 6–7 p.m. at Laguna Art Museum. $35 members, $40 non-members.
Featured Exhibition: Kim Manfredi: View with a Grain of Sand
Inside the museum, Manfredi’s paintings turn natural phenomena into abstraction. View with a Grain of Sand runs October 3, 2026 through January 18, 2027.
Her work moves between abstraction and representation, shaped by art history, climate and place. See the exhibition free during First Thursdays Art Walk on November 5, from 5 to 6 p.m., then stay for her artist talk.
Walk the Flags with the Artist
Each morning of Celebration Week, Manfredi leads a free hour-long walk along the route, from 10 to 11 a.m. Meet at Laguna Art Museum; no reservation needed.
Look closely and you’ll find abstract signs for air, water, leaf, web, cloud, glint and light. The project is about the shared agreements, like trails and protections, that shape how we move through open space. Stay on the path and leave the bluff plants as you find them.
Art + Nature Block Party
On Saturday, November 7, the Main Beach cobblestones turn into a free open-air studio from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Expect hands-on artmaking for all ages, temporary mark-making, a viewfinder project, a DJ and complimentary food. Laguna Art Museum is free that day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., just a short walk up from the beach.
For the full Art + Nature schedule, registration and tickets, visit Laguna Art Museum.
