Cereal and the City: New York pop artist Michael Albert is coming through Eugene with his traveling exhibition, including workshops, 1:30 to 4 pm Tuesday, Aug. 2, at the Hult Center plaza; FREE. Albert is perhaps best known for his cubist cereal box collages, or cerealisim, and his knack for using junk, from junk mail to old business labels to the Frosted Flakes box that started it all. Workshop activities include “an artist meet and greet, a display of Albert’s creations, a collage workshop for kids and adults where everyone will have the opportunity to create artwork from cereal boxes and cardboard packaging of iconic brands, a Sir Real Coloring project and his famous poster giveaway and signing.”  

You’ve come a long way, blue: The cool color was a late bloomer in the pigment world, arriving later in the art scene than reds, oranges, yellows and browns (notice how blue is absent in ancient cave paintings). The New York Times summed it up in a 2012 exposé on the color: “Whatever its origin, the blue pigment remained rare and expensive until the dawn of the industrial age, which probably explains blue’s longstanding association with royalty and divinity, and possibly why it is a widely favored color today.” 

But a team of chemists led by Dr. Mas Subramanian at Oregon State University is pushing blue to the forefront with an accidental discovery of a new pigment after mixing manganese oxide with other chemicals and heating those suckers up to nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The color, which OSU has deemed YInMn blue (for its chemical structure), is fade resistant — a great boon for artists — and has been pitched as a way to keep buildings cool, as it reflects heat from the sun. The Shepherd Color Company has exclusive licensing rights over the new color and word is it will be on the market soon. For more info, visit bit.ly/2aIrlBT.

Portland’s bilingual Teatro Milagro (Miracle Theater) will bring the show on the road with a performance of Mijita Fridita 5:30 pm Thursday, Aug. 4, at the Hult Center plaza; FREE. Written by Ajai Terrazas Tripathi and directed by Dañel Malán, the play takes place during the Mexican revolution and is filtered through the imagination of a young girl bedridden with polio.