Arts: Page 329

The Healing Arts

Eugene’s Tibet Week uses the arts to spread a message of peace

Visual Arts
Monks from Drepung Loseling monastery perform sacred music sacred dance June 13.

“Looking at the world today, there is tremendous uncertainty in our lives,” says Venerable Jigme Rinpoche, founder and director at the Palmo Center for Peace and Education. “We’re confronted with difficulty, crisis and challenges. We urgently need the vision and courage to find ways to handle these difficulties, both individually and globally, with deeper acceptance, insight and compassion.”  That’s where the arts come into play.  Continue reading →

Arts Hound

Visual Arts

New Zone Gallery is never one to shy away from tough subject matter. Exhibiting 3D work by North Eugene High School sophomores, New Zone presents Strength and Resistance: Art of the Holocaust June 9-28 with an opening reception 4 to 6 pm Friday, June 13.    EW sat in on a soiree hosted by The Gallery at the Watershed at Noisette Pastry Kitchen May 28, where gallery owner Amy Isler Gibson unveiled the Watershed Arts Foundation, a new nonprofit devoted to local contemporary arts education.    Continue reading →

Alder Street Album Art – Magnifique

Music

Local rock-grass band Alder Street is hosting their CD release party Friday, June 6, for the new album Americannibal (read story on Alder Street here). Take a look at the album art when you get a chance because the front jacket of the CD was created by well known French illustrator Olivier Bonhomme. Bonhomme often illustrates political cartoons for Le Monde, perhaps the mostly widely read newspaper in France. Continue reading →

A Bright Future

Film

Days of Future Past opens in a dark future, a world devastated by war. A ragtag band of mutants, led by Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan), puts up a decent fight against the Sentinels, but they have zero hope of victory against the shape-shifting, mutant-hunting robots. In a last-ditch effort, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) sends the consciousness of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back into his ’70s self. Continue reading →

Don’t Pigeonhole John

Music
Photo by Piper Ferguson

When hard-pressed to describe Pigeon John’s sound, I choose “soul-rap” — living somewhere between early Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder (hard to listen to and not smile) and uplifting indie West Coast hip hop. When I say uplifting, I don’t mean that John Dunkin (his given name) is an average “conscious” rapper spewing bumper-sticker aphorisms; Pigeon John is far from milquetoast. Following the long tradition of blues, soul and R&B singers before him, Dunkin’s gritty rhymes help you dance your troubles away.  Continue reading →

Anyone Can Be A Poodle

Music

It’s tough to convey unbridled enthusiasm via email, but Trevor Straub of Pookie and The Poodlez (of Oakland, Calif.) comes close: “Yeah, I can do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” Straub responds to my email interview request.  “I’m Pookie and my band’s The Poodlez,” Straub continues. “The Poodlez are always changing, anyone can be a Poodle!”   What’s behind the band’s distinctive name?  Continue reading →

Evolutionary Theater

The Very Little Theater puts its own spin on Inherit the Wind

Theater
Bill Campbell, Jessi Cotter, Steve Mandell and Chris Pinto. Photo credit: Rich Scheeland

According to the National Survey of High School Biology Teachers, 13 percent of American high school bio teachers explicitly teach creationism in the classroom. Sixty percent give evolution very little class time and 17 percent don’t even touch the subject at all, wanting to avoid the whole controversy. These statistics speak to the state of radical religious interference with education, which gives a ’50s play new relevance in the 21st century. Continue reading →

Arts Hound

Visual Arts

There are certain artists whose work is like a fingerprint, a signature; their art — in style, technique and content — is unmistakably theirs. Locally, we are lucky to have lots of these artists: Shanna Trumbly, Amy Crehore, Jud Turner, John Jay Cruson, Analee Fuentes and too many others to list here. Continue reading →