We've got issues.
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
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
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
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
Starbucks, Broadway & Pearl Quirky Characters Continue reading
Eugene may no longer be deemed the world’s greatest city of the arts and outdoors (in 2010, the city tagline shifted to “a great city for the arts and outdoors”), but more than ever our town is gilded with murals, sculptures, mosaics and other public art, which can mostly be enjoyed en plein air. EW reached out to local leaders in arts and culture and asked them to pick one must-see piece in the city. Continue reading
Bay-Area singer-songwriter Sean Hayes released his last album, Before We Turned to Dust, in 2012. Dust is an engaging collection of indie folk and soul — cooler than skinny-dipping off the Northern California coast. Since then, Hayes tells EW via email, he’s left San Francisco, had another baby and began work on Dust’s follow-up. Continue reading
Many are saying that Mad Decent Block Party is going to be the biggest, bestest music event of the (end of) summer. Tickets have been sold out for some time for this all-star, all-boy “block party” boasting some of the leading names in a scene all the cool kids are talking about: EDM (electronic dance music). Continue reading
For sisters Leah and Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia, there was no “aha” moment when they realized they could sing. They simply grew up doing it. “Our family was very musical and our mother used to sing harmony notes into our ears so we would begin hearing the many layers of sound organically,” Chloe Smith says. “She also had a fantastic women’s singing group meet at the house once a week for years for simply the joy of singing in harmony, and Leah and I sat in with them as late teenagers to try out our own voices.” Continue reading
Whatever you might think Fly Moon Royalty sounds like because of their odd-couple image, ignore it. This duo surprises with frenetic soulful performances; they get down like it’s 1953 — before TV was in most American living rooms. “Back in the day you could have an ugly motherfucker singing like an angel on the radio, not needing to look like a movie star,” says Mike Sylvester, producer and MC for the Seattle duo. Adra Boo fills out the act with upbeat vocals. Continue reading