WHITEAKER ART HITS STRIDE IN WALK ON WILDER SIDE.Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard When Scott Boyes Boyes is a chain of department stores in the UK. William Boyes founded the firm in 1881 and his sons, grandsons and great-grandchildren have carried on the business. It is still family owned today and has grown from one small shop in Scarborough, North Yorkshire to a chain of 33 moved into an abandoned fire station on First Avenue, he saw it as the perfect artist's studio/residence. The idea to turn it into a homegrown home·grown adj. 1. Raised or grown at home. 2. Originating in or characteristic of a locality: "Rock is homegrown music in the United States, evolved from blues and country and Tin Pan Alley" gallery came later. And the idea to become a stop on the Whiteaker Last Friday Art Walk, that was a no-brainer. "(Last Friday) just needed to happen," says Boyes, 37, a multimedia artist, whose Firehouse Studio will be showing works by several local female artists at Friday's event. "There was a vacuum. People need places to work and show their work." Taking a cue cue, n a stimulus that determines or may prompt the nature of a person's response. cue Psychology Any sensory stimulus that evokes a learned patterned response. See Conditioning. from Portland, where a Last Thursday Art Walk serves as an alternative to the more mainstream First Thursday, Eugene artists in the Whiteaker neighborhood have been hosting their own answer to the First Friday First Friday is a city-wide public event that occurs on the first Friday of every month. The events may take on many purposes, including art gallery openings and social networking. Art Walk since October. The program, which started with five venues, now includes 15 stops. It features edgier works by underrepresented un·der·rep·re·sent·ed adj. Insufficiently or inadequately represented: the underrepresented minority groups, ignored by the government. artists in an array of different art spaces, including studios, private residences, retail shops and restaurants. "It's gained so much momentum," says Elizabeth Kreutzer kreu·zer or kreut·zer n. Any of several small coins of low value formerly used in Austria and Germany. [German, from Middle High German kriuzer, from kriuze, , organizer of the Jawbreaker jaw·break·er n. 1. A very hard candy. 2. Slang A word that is difficult to pronounce. 3. A machine that crushes rock or ore. art space at 415 Monroe St. "This (neighborhood) really is where there are incredible artists and musicians. It's more underground because we don't have the money and the same social dynamic as downtown." Sterling Wallach, a painter, metal sculptor and member of the Possum Place collective that helped get Last Friday off the ground, says the event grew out of the success of homegrown venues such as the Jawbreaker (aka the Jawbreaker Window Gallery), which has been hosting window displays in the winter and performance events in the summer since 1997. "I think it's something that has been going on for a long time. We just called it something," Wallach says. "I think it appeals to a real cross-section of people, and, of course, Eugene is full of creative people. ... What we're finding is that there are a lot of people who have a lot of talent." Wallach says one goal of Last Friday is to help creative types network and recognize each other as artists. Younger artists, outsider Outsider often refers to one identified as on the periphery of social norms, one living or working apart from mainstream society, or one observing a group from the outside, as used in:
"It's recognizing the artist in all of us," Wallach says. "I personally believe that we're all artists in our own right. We have creativity to contribute. Whether it's writing or music or art or dance. It's all good stuff." Karin Clarke, owner of the Karin Clarke Gallery on Willamette Street, is supportive of the new Art Walk, even though her more mainstream gallery participates in the First Friday Art Walk. "There's a lot of artists in Eugene, and there's not enough venues, so anytime I hear of a gallery opening (I get excited)." she says. "I think it's neat that they're taking the initiative." Wallach, the Possum Place artist, says Last Friday already has helped artists sell their works, sparked creativity and inspired new artists to start working. Kreutzer, the Jawbreaker organizer, believes that the event will continue to flourish, particularly as the weather warms. She hopes to take Last Friday to the streets and sidewalks and to host bands and parades. Kiki Metzler, a painter whose private studio is a featured stop on the tour, believes that Last Friday provides a way to broaden the definition of an artist. "Our society and our culture is set up in a certain way so that art is either exclusive and put on display, heightened and (put on a pedestal On a Pedestal is an EP by the Swedish band Adhesive, released in 1998. Track listing
LAST FRIDAY ART WALK What: An alternative Art Walk in the Whiteaker neighborhood When: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday Maps: Last Friday maps are available at Sam Bond's Garage, Colette, Monroe Street Cafe, Infinity infinity, in mathematics, that which is not finite. A sequence of numbers, a1, a2, a3, … , is said to "approach infinity" if the numbers eventually become arbitrarily large, i.e. Mercantile Relating to trade or commerce; commercial; having to do with the business of buying and selling; relating to merchants. A mercantile agency is an individual or company in the business of collecting data about the financial status, ability, and credit of individuals and Pizza Research Institute More info: Call 683-0626 or go to www.lastfridayartwalk.org CAPTION(S): Scott Boyes works on a new painting Wednesday at his Firehouse Studio on West First Avenue in Eugene. Boyes will open his studio and gallery this week in a show as part of the neighbor- hood's Last Friday Art Walk. Thomas Boyd Thomas Boyd may be
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion