Welcome to the Picnic

Local fiber optics company Ants On A Melon lights up festivals across the country

With all the hoopla of Eugene Celebration and Kaleidoscope Music Festival this past weekend, you probably laid eyes on a whole slew of inexplicable sights. And if you saw a giant glowing jellyfish bouncing around Mount Pisgah, don’t fret — you weren’t having a crazy trip; those dancing tentacles were just the far-out fiber optic artwork of local company Ants On A Melon.  Continue reading 

Arts Hound

All over the world anarchists, activists, rebellious teens and, of course, hipsters wear T-shirts emblazoned with the two-tone image of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara sporting a steely stare beneath a beret. It is said to be one of the most duplicated images in the world, right up there with the Mona Lisa. Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Stroll Downtown Springfield’s Second Friday Art Walk (5 to 8 pm) and see the abstract paintings of Connie Avery at City Hall, the expressionist works of Amber Stock at Hearts for Hospice and the fine Chinese Brush technique of Sandi Grubbs at the Emerald Art Center — Grubbs spent eight years in China where she studied both the spontaneous and Gongbi style of brushwork.   Continue reading 

Arts Hound

They’re ready for their close-up: Wife-and-husband team Tracy and Rob Sydor have long been snapping stunning photos of live shows like Primus and Beats Antique, EW covers and high fashion images around Eugene. Now they have opened a studio for their companies Digital Latte Photography and Eugene Commercial Photography. Nosh on Sammitch or sip a Ninkasi brew while bouncing to the beats of DJ Mr. Rose at the studio grand opening 7 pm Friday, Aug. 9 (1000 S. Bertelsen, Unit 2, Eugene).   Continue reading 

The Great Tablecloth

A shrine opens at FOOD for Lane County’s Dining Room downtown

Imagine this: A loved one passes but there’s no funeral where you can honor her memory, no loving obituary to read in the paper, no gravestone to lay flowers upon. In some cases, any traces that she existed at all have been wiped clean. “A lot of homeless people lose their identity and then they pass away,” says Josie McCarthy, the manager for FOOD for Lane County’s Family Dinner Program at the Dining Room on 8th. “There’s not a big celebration of them, of their life.”  Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Hit up the Whit for Last Friday Artwalk. Catch the impressionist studies of Lester Maurer at Sam Bond’s, the glass “goddess” sculptures (and glass demos) of Jessica Boggs at Cornerstone Glass and the starry, starry night skies of local painter Amber Allen at Ninkasi. Curtains Up! The Very Little Theatre closes its 84th season with the July 26 opening of The Cripple of Inishmaan, which explores what happens to small-island life off the coast of Ireland when Hollywood comes knocking. Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Black lights? Check. Clowns? Check. Burlesque? Check. Good times? Check! Trudy Debauchery brings The Ultraviolets Black Light Burlesque all the way from Hawaii to Sam Bond’s. This is a silly and sexy day-glo show not to be missed 9:30 pm Thursday, July 18.   Dot Dotson’s is hosting a gallery opening reception for photographer Ben Ficklin 5 to 6 pm Friday, July 19. In his work, Ficklin only uses film but manipulates it to look like a photography-painting hybrid, reminiscent of Portland photography darling Olivia Bee. Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Cruise to downtown Springfield for Second Friday Art Walk (5 to 8 pm) and head straight to the Springfield Museum for The Cruz exhibit, showcasing the beauty of the automobile in honor of the 15th Annual Springfield Cruz car show. One piece focuses on the story of the late Eugene Hot Rodder Eric Sanders, who passed away in 2008, and whose friends subsequently spread his ashes across the Bonneville Salt Flats from a 1953 Studebaker. Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Red, wine and blue! Art and the Vineyard (and Maude Kerns) turns 30! There aren’t many other events in the area that can rival the sheer scope of art at Alton Baker Park, July 4-6, with over 85 artist booths. Don’t miss the delicate koi fish watercolors of Susan Elle, the mystical photographic landscapes of Jack Kelly and the brilliantly whimsical illustrations of Erika Beyer. Continue reading