EUGENE, Ore.—What are these belly dancers doing in the parking lot? I kid you not. This very entertaining event kicked off the July segment of Eugene, Oregon’s monthly offering, known as the First Friday Art Walk.
This month hosted by Debbie Williamson-Smith, the vivacious Communications Manager of the noted Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the mini-tour of interested folks met outside Studio Mantra where several attractive dance members of Fusion Friendly, who merge belly dancing with tango , performed some tantalizing numbers before we all entered the studio to look at the art over a glass of wine.
In addition to live models incorporating HairArt with makeup, fashion, fabric and paint, art lined the walls. My favorites were photographs of lovely young women who had smeared their faces or bodies with their foodstuff of choice. Next to me stood the mother of a model who’d utilized whipped cream as a kind of hat, replete with cherry. The astonished mother murmured: “But she never touches dairy.”
Another winner pictured a serious young woman who’d neatly lined up slices of American cheese to cover her chest, almost like armor.
Time to move on. The Jacobs Gallery, an adjunct of the noted Hult Center, presented a terrific show featuring sculptor Virginia Wolf, painter JoAnn Chartier and photographer David Wilson. I particularly liked Wolf’s sensuous pieces, for which she had chosen unique and in some cases unusually colored slabs of marble. I remember one of varying shades of intense red to pink.
Chartier, dealing with Oregon-based somewhat abstract landscapes, chooses to paint in acrylic, because, she says, “One can work quickly.”
David Wilson’s photographs, mostly landscapes, are crystal clear down to the minutest leaf. This lovely show runs through Aug. 20.
The Art Annex showcases Lynn Peterson’s “Coming Home – Paintings of Oregon,” from the sweeping, dramatic skies of the Willamette Valley to the Central Oregon high desert,as well as views of the coast and forests—in short, a panoramic “take” on Oregon’s magnificent and varied scenery.
Studio West and the Eugene Grid Project presented The E5 Grid, photography intended to systematically explore the Eugene and Springfield metro area, for which Blake Andrews divided a map into 60 equal squares encompassing various Eugene neighborhoods. Blake and a half-dozen other photographers participated in the project. Live glass-blowing demos also took place here. In fact, one could study glassblowing at Studio West.
Last on tonight’s tour was The Woodpecker’s Muse Art Gallery, featuring “A Wee Bit Woozy,” work by Mary Oleri designed to “draw the viewer in in a non-threatening way to the strangenesses in the painting,” Oleri stated in a brochure passed out at the event.
In addition, various other galleries and venues stayed open to display their wares. It was both fun and educational, and a great way to spend a balmy summer evening.
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