Dreaming in Color
When it comes to indie rap, few MCs boast the candid storytelling of Brother Ali. Continue reading
Arts: Page 314
Of Legends and Locals
The new classical music season, from Beethoven to the blues, is here
Just as the arrival of shorter, cooler days signal autumn, the arrival of some big names, at least in the little world of classical music, tells us that the 2014-15 classical music season is underway. The Sept. 28 Eugene Symphony concert featuring the legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman playing Beethoven’s majestic Violin Concerto offers a chance to see one of the last of the really big-name classical soloists (there’s Yo Yo Ma and not many others left) who can fill up a venue as cavernous as the Hult Center on reputation alone. Continue reading
The Making of a Quagmire
Steve Lyons’ play The Ghosts of Tonkin, about Wayne Morse and Vietnam, hits Eugene for one-night engagement
The Ghosts of Tonkin, a dramatic work about the Vietnam War by Bellingham, Washington-based playwright Steve Lyons, will show Sunday, Sept. 28, at Wildish Theatre. Lyon’s play is a behind-closed-doors investigation of the political maneuvering that led to the conflict, focusing on such historical figures as Robert McNamara, Barry Goldwater, Lyndon Johnson and Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, one of only two U.S. senators to vote against the war. I’ll start by playing devil’s advocate. Why do we need another dramatic work about Vietnam? Continue reading
Borrowed Art
The Jordan Schnitzer’s Masterworks on Loan program brings iconic works to Eugene
One recent sunny day, my family enjoyed one of our regular trips to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the UO campus. It didn’t take long to find some nifty stuff, including a 1981 Basquiat, a 1972 Miró and, be still my heart, a 1963 Giacometti. This isn’t New York City. This is Eugene! And yet here were representative pieces from some of the world’s most beloved artists, on display thanks to the museum’s Masterworks on Loan program, which exhibits art borrowed from private collections. Continue reading
Arts Hound
Come one, come all: Due to the absence of the Eugene Celebration this year, The New Zone Gallery has rescheduled its popular non-juried Salon du Peuple exhibit to kick off during First Friday ArtWalk Oct. 3. Artists can submit 2D and 3D works noon to 6 pm Saturday, Sept. 27, at the gallery (164 W. Broadway). Continue reading
Photos: Mad Decent Block Party Eugene at Cuthbert Amphitheater [9.20.14]
State of the Arts
In 2013, EW debuted ArtsHound, our first-ever special issue devoted solely to the visual arts. In my letter last year, I outlined an ongoing problem I’d seen in Eugene and Springfield — artphobia. Oh how far we’ve come: Art walks are bustling and sprouting up all over the city, local arts orgs and schools have received hundreds of thousands in grant funds and new murals seem to pop up every week. Continue reading
Dark Angel
Tracy Sydor focuses on helping abuse survivors through photography
The Stag Queen emerges from the icy blue abyss. Sword in hand, she hovers over a huddled little girl. Bruised and beaten, scared and forgotten, no one will ever be able to lay a finger on her again. The queen has returned for answers, for retribution, and will forever guard this child in the recesses of one woman’s mind. Continue reading
The Clay Conundrum
The intersection of pottery and sustainability
Julie Reisner, a ceramic artist from Eugene, says her first “big shock” moment came in the early ’80s when a special clay she liked was no longer available because the mineral was depleted. “I thought, ‘Uh oh, these things are finite,’” she says. “This is like cutting down old growth.” Continue reading
The Art of Nostalgia
Allison Hyde tries to capture the ephemeral before it’s too late
At first glance, someone simply piled junk in a corner: burned furniture, broken picture frames, shattered glass — debris from a house fire or human detritus stumbled upon in an abandoned home. Upon closer inspection, there’s method in the flow of objects; the process of devastation and decay is rendered in stark and arresting three dimensions and symmetry among the chaos. This is “Mourning the Ephemeral,” a 2011 installation from Eugene artist and UO MFA printmaking graduate Allison Hyde. Continue reading