Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 29, 2014

SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2014 SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2014 
SECTION B 


Walking Sierra Madre……The Social Side by Deanne C. Davis 

THE TALENTED SAIGH SISTERS 


“The beauty one can 
find in Art is one of 
the pitifully few real 
and lastingproducts of human 
endeavor.” 
Paul Getty 

“The artist’s world is 
limitless. It can be 
found anywhere, far 
from where he lives,
or a few feet away. 
It is always on his 
doorstep.” 
Paul Strand 

I met two delightful 


and awesomelytalented young artists this week, Ariana and 
Alexia Saigh, spending an hour or so with them 
at their home, an elegant 1913 Craftsman style, 
high in the hills above Altadena, built by James 
McFadden. James was an interesting guy who, 
around 1888, changed the isolated marshy lagoon, 
lower bay Orange County area by building a 
wharf that extended from the shallow bay of the 
peninsula to deeper water where large steamers 
could dock, creating what is now our Newport 
Beach-Balboa Island areas. I was treated to a 
tour of this magnificent place, which has been on 
several home tours and is currently beautifully 
decorated for Easter. The walls are filled with 
framed prints of Ariana’s and Alexia’s work and 
each is of a quality far beyond the years of these 
girls. 

But I digress!! We’re talking about young artists 
today, not fabulous homes! Ariana, an 8th Grader 
at the Gooden School right here in Sierra Madre, 
has made a permanent mark on the Gooden 
landscape, creating “The Nativity,” an oil painting, 
which was the 2012 Gooden School Community 
Christmas Card. She also painted “The Good Life 
At The Gooden School,” an original acrylic which 
is the 2013-2014 Year Book Cover, featuring 
various Gooden activities, with a background of 
Wistaria; and she did it in just four days! Ariana 
is also the LA County Fair 2013 Sweepstakes 
Winner of the Teen 1 Division, America’s Kids 
Art Contest with her, “Distractions at Luncheon 
of the Boating Party,” her take on Renoir’s 
“Luncheon of the Boating Party,” which depicts a 
group of Renoir’s friends relaxing on a balcony at 
the Maison Fournaise along the Seine in Chatou, 
France. Ariana’s version has guests playing with 
their phones, wearing earbuds and drinking Coke 
instead of wine. They are also dining on McD’s 


and Pizza Hut instead of fruit. Her “Bridge to 
Beauty” a 2010 Sweepstakes Winner, painted 
when she was just ten, is a piece that could 
have been painted at the Huntington Library 
Gardens and the feel for color is extraordinary 
in this one. But there are so many more! 
Alexia is a 6th grader at St. Mark’s School andshe will be at Gooden School next year. Her 
painting, “Reading Brings Imagination to Life” wasthe 2013 Sweepstakes & Theme Award Winner atthe Los Angeles County Fair in the America’s Kids 
Art Contest, Pre-Teen Category and will be theface of the Pasadena Humane Society’s “Barks &
Books” program, a reading enrichment program 
for children ages 5 to 12 designed to make reading 
fun, boost confidence and encourage respectful,
humane treatment for all animals. Copies of thisparticular painting can be seen at the Altadena 
and Pasadena Hastings Ranch Libraries. Alexia 
has been winning Sweepstakes prizes at the Los 
Angeles County Fair since she was six, startingwith “Tropical Parrot” in 2009, “Daisy Dog” in2010 (Special Judges Award), and “California’sBest,” an original oil still life featuring lemons,
cherries, and an artichoke! Her self-portrait, “AReflection of Me” a look back at herself at age 4,
painted at age 8, is a poignantly beautiful piece.
Alexia’s “The Altadena Town & Country Club” 
acrylic landscape was selected by the Jury for the2013-2014 California Artist Club Exhibition. 

Winning these L.A. County Fair Sweepstakes 
prizes is really quite something, by the way. In 
2012, there were 7,600 entrants. In 2013, 8,469 
kids submitted something. There are only 5 ArtSweepstakes, one per age category (non-physicallychallenged) out of all these thousands of entries.
For Alexia and Ariana to be winners year afteryear says a lot about their work. 


These girls are so talented and such lovely young 
women, well-spoken, gracious, modest and 
involved in many other activities in addition to 
art. They are excellent students, bringing homemostly A’s, musicians (piano and violin), andUSTA team tennis players. Ariana and Alexia 
are also team competitors with their church, St.
Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church, in GreekDancing. This is an enormous competition with99 church groups coming together each February,
competing from places as far flung as Hawaii,
Alaska, Washington and Florida to name just afew. St. Anthony’s was the big winner this year,
with both girls’ teams taking 1st prizes in Dance,
Costume and Choral, yes, they are also singing inGreek! 

There are art lessons on a continuing basis atKid’s Art in Pasadena where the curriculum starts 
with crayons and 4-year olds, and works its waythrough markers, watercolors, acrylics and oils,
in addition to technique. The girls are currentlyinvolved in collages which involve paintings, in 
Alexia’s case, of popsicles, cookies and other sweetgoodies. Ariana’s collage will feature Marilyn 
Monroe, a retro TV dinner, old music records and 
a stylish convertible. 

I came away wanting all their art. And, best news 
ever, it’s available! Stop in at Leonora Moss inKersting Court and take a look at the card rack 
in the back where the girls’ greeting cards are on 

Celebrate the hour 
TONIGHT! 
Join millions of people across 
the world - switch lights off for 
an hour or join an event on 
29 March at 8:30 pm to raise 
awareness for the planet. 
For more information go to: 
www.earthhour.org 
FRIENDS ANNOUNCE ART FAIR 



This Year’s Art Fair is being 
held in Memorial Park, 222 
W Sierra Madre Blvd in 
Sierra Madre, on Saturday, 
May 3, from 9:30am to 
6:00pm and Sunday, May 4, 
from 9:30am to 5:00pm. Stop 
by Beverly’s booth to see and 
purchase her lovely creations. 
Proceeds from the Art Fair 
benefit the resources and 
programs of the Sierra Madre 
Library. 

For more information about 
the Art Fair, you may call the 
library at 626 355-7186 or visit 
the Friends’ website at www. 
sierramadrelibraryfriends. 
org. 

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display. Webster’s Stationers, on Fair Oaks inAltadena, in addition to carrying the entire cardline, can also order you an 11 x 14 print of the 
girls’ work which you can frame. Or, if you’reordering flowers at Jacob Maarse on Green St.
in Pasadena, they, too, have had the good tasteto add the Saigh sisters entire card line. Visitingsomeone at Huntington Hospital? Their gift shopcarries the girls’ cards, too. 

How did all this begin, you ask? Here’s the story:
Ariana was three, dressed in a pristine whitedress, to go to her baby sister’s christening. Their 
mom was getting baby Alexia ready, gone for just 
minutes, and Miss Ariana found her way to thefingerpaints and used the most available canvas:
herself! The girls mother, Mara Suchy, showed 
me pictures of Ariana covered in paint from her 
eyes on down through the dress. Talent will out! 
Art lessons started quite quickly after that.
These girls are amazing! Hunt down their work 
and take some of those cards home, go order aprint. You’ll end up with a treasure! Trust me! 
“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”
Vincent van Gogh

 “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter.” 

 Is available on Amazon.com and at the following 
link: https://www.createspace.com/4561071It’s humor, family, recipes, poetry….and it will make 
you laugh!
Guaranteed! I should know, I wrote it! 

FEATURED ARTIST 

The Friends of the Sierra Madre Library are proud to 
announce that Beverly Jones is the featured artist for the 
52nd annual Art Fair. Beverly’s wow-inspiring designs, 
meticulous craftsmanship and attention to detail made her 
the obvious choice as the first jeweler to be given this honor. 

Beverly stepped from documentary filmmaking into jewelry 
fabrication and discovered the calming effect of the tactile 
world of beads as the perfect antidote to the complex digital, 
electronic world of filmmaking. A bead led to silver and 
fire which led to enamel and now to leather and fabric. Her 
pieces may combine a precious gem with a found object or 
a natural oddity such as a sliver pendant with a meteorite 
and a ruby or a ruby and a piece of petrified armadillo hide. 
Beverly feels that her comfortably wearable jewelry appeals 
to women who love color and surprises, who know trends 
but don’t necessarily follow them, and who will break a 
fashion rule if it pleases them. A selection of her jewelry 
may be seen at www.beverlyjones.com. 

Jewelry Designs by Beverly Jones 
100 Artists, Children’s Activities 
Live Entertainment, Food Trucks 
Wine and Beer Garden 
Free Admission • Sierra Madre Memorial Park 
52nd Annual 
Sierra Madre Art Fair 
222 West Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, California 
For event information: 626.355.7186 or www.sierramadrelibraryfriends.org 
Benefits Sierra Madre Public Library 
Saturday, May 3 - 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 
Sunday, May 4 - 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
Enamel Earrings 
Wild & Tame Necklace 
Leather Cuff Bracelet Photos by George Post