Today's meeting started with a surprise announcement by Paul Butler! He had two 2nd level Paul Harris pins for two amazing members of our club - Bill and Suzanne Sutton!
Then we had Lizz Lang present a wonderful story about how she got inspired with art and to help people and business with the art of installing art pieces from their life. Lizz's mom was very instrumental in inspiring her with art. Lizz’s Mom (Norma Benjamin) began the Cedros Design District back in 1980! The Belly Up Tavern owner, David Hodges (now deceased) agreed to rent out his quonset huts to artists and artisans as her Mom promised him “this is a great area for an art community” - and we now know it to be that & more!! Her Mom is still kicking at 90 and lives with Lizz & Raul in Escondido.
Lizz started a framing studio in San Diego on Morena Blvd. to transform and re-install art and later sold that shop in 1986 to a new owner, who still runs it at the same location. She then moved to LA and got married to a laser artist and got more involved in art installations. One of her scariest story was when they were doing an installation at a Beverly HIlls home. The home owner wanted to install a full size pic of his wife and the installer accidentally drilled through the picture and it happened to be right where his wife's belly button was :-(. The owner got so mad that he drew his gun from his holster and started yelling to get Lizz out of his home. Later Lizz managed to come back with her mother and fix the picture and completed the installation.
She later met Raul and that was instant love and they got married and moved back to San Diego in 1991,. They did many art installations in Japan, Portugal, Dubai, etc. They also had 6 opportunities at Super Bowl half-times. At Super-Bowl they get just 7 minutes to setup the stage with all the props and electronics. They also had the great opportunity to meet with celebrities, such as, Phil Nickelson, Tony Gwyn, Junior Seau, etc.
Her favorite job was the art installation at Tony Gwyn's home. Apparently Tony just gave her all the trophies, awards, memorabilias, etc. and told Lizz to just set it up in the best way she can imagine. It took Lizz an entire week to arrange it all over his home. Needless to say, he was thrilled after the work. Their biggest success story is that they have recently been selected as a primary vendor by Ethan Allen for art installations. They have started working with 5 Ethan Allen stores helping their clients with all the art installations. Their tag line is "Show up and do a good job!"
===========