Whats-Happening: Page 445

Bambi’s Secret

Tyrus, screening at the DisOrient Film Festival, looks at the revolutionary artist behind the iconic film who transcended Disney’s racism and disenfranchisement

Film
Artist Tyrus Wong at work

Still very much with us, the 105-year-old Chinese-born painter Tyrus Wong is quite possibly the most influential American artist you’ve never heard of — until now, that is. As the sole inspiration for the expressionistic animated style of Disney’s Bambi (more on that in a moment), Wong’s elegant and economical style, a melding of traditional Asiatic ink-and-brush painting and Western modernist influences, has literally suffused American culture, from dishware and Hollywood to Hallmark cards and museums everywhere. Continue reading →

Folk It Up

Eugene Concert Choir packs a full day of Latin American Folk into the Hult

Music
Gaspar Colón

After opening its season pulling from classic Christmas fare (A Christmas Story) and pop-oriented crowd pleasers (the Burt Bacharach songbook), the Eugene Concert Choir will step out of the box a bit with two performances this Saturday, April 30: Latin American Folk For Kids at 11 am and Cantata Criolla at 8 pm, both held in the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall.  Each show takes advantage of the considerable talents of visiting vocalists Idwer Alvarez and Gaspar Colón, renowned operatic singers in their native Venezuela and, increasingly, around the world.  Continue reading →

All the World’s a Stage Kiss

University Theatre takes on playwright Sarah Ruhl's love letter to the theater

Theater
Anna Klos, Clare McDonald, Conner Criswell and TJ Lagrow in Stage Kiss

Way back when, the late, great American writer Kurt Vonnegut published a short story — “Who Am I This Time?” — about a pair of community theater actors who, awkward in so-called real life, fall in love through the character they play on stage. In Vonnegut’s sure hands, the conceit is melancholy and sweet, a concession to the fraught slapstick of authentic emotional connection. Continue reading →

Walk the Walk

Two public art projects are coming to the Whiteaker

Visual Arts

On a stretch of wall overlooking a gravel lot in the Whiteaker, grimy layers of graffiti and tags have built up, offering non-sequitors like “You glad football is almost over?” and “RIP Crisco.”  By July, that wall will be a community mural. The Whit neighborhood, long known for its offbeat artistic chops, is about to get a whole lot artsier. Two projects are taking shape: The 2016 CarPark Mural Project and the Whiteaker Art Walk.  Continue reading →

(sub)Urban Projections: Too slick and scattered

Arts

The annual (sub)Urban Projections multimedia fest, which began last night at the Hult Center, has grown into an event that the community seems to get more excited for every year, and rightfully so. The event is singular in this city; it’s an arts adventure with unexpected tech oddities, collaborations and innovations around every corner and up every staircase. Continue reading →

Weed for Life

Local cannabis growers keep an eye on healthy, sustainable practices

Cannabis

When it comes to weed, a clutch of competing cannabis mythologies seems to guide our collective imagination, each one containing seeds of truth and shakes of misinformation and ignorance. One of the more subtle myths surrounding cannabis goes something like this: “Dude, it’s all good. Weed is a product of the earth, God-given, and we are meant simply to grow it, smoke it and enjoy. Unlike alcohol, weed never hurt anybody. It’s just a plant, for goodness sake.” Continue reading →