Operatic Debut
Eugene actress and arts administrator Kari Welch takes charge of Eugene Opera
Kari Boldon Welch is the first to admit she’s a newcomer to the colorful world of opera. “I don’t know a ton about opera,” she … Continue reading
Bob Keefer
Bob Keefer is Eugene Weekly's arts editor. He was a news and arts writer for The Register-Guard for 30 years before coming to EW.
Author: Bob Keefer
Drawing Themselves Straight
The son of Oregon’s late Indigenous artist Rick Bartow begins to walk in his father’s footsteps with a gallery show in Newport
One night in late 2016, Booker Bartow — best known in those days, if at all, as a skateboard videographer and hip-hop DJ performing as … Continue reading
Beauty in Basalt
A small exhibit of landscape photos at the Schnitzer Museum is worth visiting campus to see
One of the least known — but most influential — photographers ever to work in Oregon is the late Terry Toedtemeier. Trained as a scientist … Continue reading
Murder in Black and White
The latest, creepy, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley has been made into a movie twice, the more recent attempt, in 1999, featuring Matt Damon in … Continue reading
Back to Black (and White)
Photography at Oregon’s show at Maude Kerns Art Center revels in a return to monochrome
Having been banished to artistic obsolescence for the past few decades, black and white photography is enjoying a renaissance in the art world, from the … Continue reading
When Art Mattered
Six big-name sculptors came to Eugene in 1974, and some of their art still lingers
In 1974, the late Jan Zach, an internationally known sculptor teaching at the University of Oregon, pulled off a big idea. Gathering $145,000 in grant … Continue reading
The Secret Temple of EWEB
Let’s give College Hill Reservoir the splendid musical sendoff it deserves before it falls victim to progress
The eeriest and most resonant public space in all of Eugene, if not in all of Oregon, is about to be demolished before more than … Continue reading
Ballet Score Takes Flight
Eugene Ballet’s Peter Pan will be performed to an original score by Portland composer Kenji Bunch. It’s the biggest piece he’s ever worked on.
Eight years ago, Eugene Ballet created an entirely new ballet from scratch. The Snow Queen, which was performed in April 2017, featured original choreography by … Continue reading
Undoing the Curse
Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens the Scottish play — and begins to heal
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival seems to have been under a terrible curse since 2011, when a structural beam supporting the Angus Bowmer Theatre mysteriously snapped … Continue reading
Trumpstone
Donald Trump moves to Eugene, where he bought the Crapstone complex and plans to take over the University of Oregon Athletic Department
Faced with hundreds of millions of dollars in civil penalties and the collapse of his real estate empire, former president Donald Trump is moving his … Continue reading