Jerry Mcgrath

Two Orange County artists have set out on a mission of sorts, a campaign of pictures and words designed to help counter what they feel is a pervasive atmosphere of ignorance, fear and hysteria shrouding the AIDS epidemic. Mary-Linn Hughes and Jerry McGrath have assembled a traveling exhibit of photographic portraits of county residents who have AIDS or have tested positive for HIV.

Two Orange County artists have set out on a mission of sorts, a campaign of pictures and words designed to help counter what they feel is a pervasive atmosphere of ignorance, fear and hysteria shrouding the AIDS epidemic. Mary-Linn Hughes and Jerry McGrath have assembled a traveling exhibit of photographic portraits of county residents who have AIDS or have tested positive for HIV.

Until recently, Jerry McGrath's photographs had been primarily concerned with color theory and obtuse allusions to early 20th-Century art history. Combining household items and geometric shapes with natural elements such as grass and leaves, McGrath created monochromatic still lifes that fused the organic properties of his materials with such idealistic abstract philosophies as Constructivism or Suprematism.

The Newport Harbor Art Museum has announced its spring class offerings for children and adults. To register for any of the following classes, call the museum's education department at (714) 759-1122 (except where noted). * "Fun with Photography," for children ages 6 to 10, will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, May 7, 9, 14 and 16, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. The class includes experimentation with Polaroid film and the creation of photomontages.

It comes as a surprise to many fledgling shutterbugs that there is more to taking a picture than sheer technical ability. And those who have humbly worshiped at the Ansel Adams shrine tend to be both charmed and bewildered to learn of the wildly different approaches of contemporary art photography. But students can't learn these things in a vacuum. They need frequent access to photography exhibitions that will enlarge their horizons.

A woman in a pink sweater, wearing matching beaded earrings, looks out from a photograph that could be a Christmas portrait. Instead, the photo has a sharper edge. It, along with other portraits on display, is of people who have in some way been affected by AIDS. The photo exhibit at the Orange Coast College Art Gallery is entitled "This Is Our Yard" and represents people with HIV virus and AIDS, as well as people who have lost loved ones to the disease or who work with AIDS patients.

A wide array of activities is planned here to observe the fourth annual Day Without Art, an international event intended to underscore the vast destruction AIDS has wrought in the art world. * Pavilion Amphitheater at The Lakes, Anton Boulevard and the Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. An outdoor presentation from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

From a lighthearted musical revue to an exhibit of artwork by both amateurs and professionals, an array of countywide activities is planned for the fourth annual A Day Without Art, Tuesday's international event designed to underscore the vast destruction AIDS has wrought in the art world.

A coalition of artists, restaurateurs, fashion designers and musicians is launching a campaign to focus attention on the ravages that AIDS has inflicted in Orange County. The numbers are sobering: An estimated 12,000 Orange County men, women and children have tested HIV-positive. Nearly 2,500 of those have developed AIDS symptoms, and teen-agers and women between the ages of 25 to 44 now represent those who are at greatest risk for infection, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.