First Friday Artwalk Review

It was a beautiful night for walking around downtown Eugene. I met my friend, Heather, at Perugrino's Wine bar and we headed out to check out the artwalk. I've always done my own walk on First Friday. I usually research what shows are opening and decide which ones I want to check out. This time we decided to do the actual tour guided by Heather's friend, Janas. Janas started by telling us that tonight's theme is about "process". She asked us to think about the process the artist goes through when working on these pieces.

We Started at the New Zone Gallery which tends to be one of the last galleries to be on my list of must-sees. A new director was announced last night and it was actually someone I used to work with at my current job. Maybe, as a result, this gallery had a bit more to offer than it has in the past. The main focus was on a photographer named Deb Ingrebretsen. Her exibit was called "Light Plays" and they were really beautiful photos. She pointed out that often her favorite photos happen when she is playing around and not being as serious. That resonated with me as I tend to like those accidental, not so perfect photos myself.

One of my complaints about the artwalk last night were the amount of Holiday crafts for sale in a lot of the galleries. I don't have a problem with people selling their handmade items. I know how hard it is to try to make a living off of your artwork. So this is not really a criticism. Its my own personal pet peeve. I found the displays of trinkets, jewelry, scarves, hats and various other items to be distracting when trying to focus on the art. As an artist being represented on this walk I would have probably felt a bit cheated from this system.

Okay, now my rant is over. Onto the next stop which was DIVA (Downtown Intiative for the Visual Arts). This was DIVA's last artwalk at this site. They are moving onto a new site in the coming months. I'm a bit disappointed as I think this is a great site but I don't get to make these decisions. Several boardmembers of DIVA spoke last night and it was interesting to finally see some of these behind-the-scenes people. The show that stood out the most to me at DIVA was by an artist named Jason Knapp. Charcoal drawings and wood sculptures that were amazing.

At this point we sort of lost the tour. They move on fast from gallery to gallery and Heather and I would get caught up in looking at the work and forget we were doing the tour.  The 3rd stop was at The Oregon Art Alliance. This space was so packed with work there was very little breathing room. It was another site where a lot of crafts were displayed for purchase and I felt myself getting a bit irritated. The artist of note on this stop was Cara Lee Clark.

We spent some time trying to find the next stop which was Studio West. Studio West is a glass blowing studio.  This was a very small space with a lot of people packed in. There was a glass working demonstration going on at that point. We decided we could skip this one and headed over to the final stop.

The Woodpecker's Muse was the final stop on the tour. Its a new gallery located on West Broadway in an older bungalow-style house. Once again it was very crowded but this particular crowd was very interesting. The featured artist was a young woman by the name of Sarah Refvem. Her show was titled "Lovely Ladies". She was absolutely adorable with her long red hair and unique clothing. She talked a little bit about her work in a confident, yet unpretentious voice. She said that her influences were Balthus and Francis Bacon. She also like the play of light through glasswork and converted that idea into paintings. I found her work fresh, exciting and promising. I'm looking forward to following her career as it takes off.

Well, that concludes my wordy review. I hope you didn't all fall asleep. All 3 of you that follow my blog. I'm feeling very positive about the art scene in Eugene. In spite of the economy being ugly right now it seems people are more inspired than ever. Its great to see people out supporting the arts and I hope it continues.

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