Visual Arts Week celebrates the visual arts and provides a platform for experimentation, creativity and dialogue from Aug. 7-15. This year’s offerings include a variety of virtual and in-person experiences to engage people at all levels.
Now in its third year, Visual Arts Week is a partnership between the City of Eugene Cultural Services, Lane Arts Council and Maude Kerns Art Center.
Visual Arts Week Highlights
Gallery Exhibitions
Visit downtown and online galleries to enjoy the diverse and beautiful creations of our community’s artists with the Mayor’s Art Show, Salon des Refusés and Eugene Biennial.
The Mayor’s Art Show, presented by City of Eugene Cultural Services, celebrates local artists, art production and champions the visual arts. Those not selected by the jury for the Mayor’s Art Show have the opportunity to participate in the Salon des Refusés at New Zone Gallery. The Mayor’s Art Show is available for viewing and voting online beginning Aug. 7, and selected works are also viewable in person in a series of downtown storefront satellite installations.
Karin Clark Gallery hosts the Eugene Biennial in its downtown gallery and online. The juried show, including 30 regional artists, is held every other year. Biennials have been popular cornerstones of arts communities since the Venice Biennial was first held in 1895.
Storefront Art Installations
Whether on foot, by car or by bike, there’s opportunity for everyone to enjoy storefront art installations throughout downtown Eugene. Installations include “Black is Beautiful” created by the Eugene BIPOC Artist Collective for the 2020 Juneteenth; David Walker’s wooden wearable art that has been featured in competitions and exhibitions around the world; and digital dance projections, a collaboration between DanceAbility International and Harmonic Laboratory.
Virtual Studio Tours
Take an in-depth look at 17 local artists and studio spaces in action through Lane Arts Council’s virtual studio tours, photos, demos and artist talks. Visual Arts Week Studio Tours are generously sponsored by Summit Bank.
Arts Workshops
Maude Kerns Art Center offers online and in-person educational workshops with seasoned artists including drawing, watercolors, mosaics and more.
Create-Your-Own-Sculpture Treasure Hunts
Earthbound Moon invites the artist in everyone to join in a collaboration with five artists on Create-Your-Own-Sculpture Treasure Hunts. Posters for the Treasure Hunts are displayed in the windows of the Downtown Eugene Public Library and are available online at DIYSculpture.com. Opportunities include collaborating on a musical composition, a work of sculptural poetry or a spellbinding mandala.
BRIDGE Exhibitions: Reflection Space Eugene
Reflection Space Eugene is a series of five exhibitions that invites solidarity, inclusivity and generosity as we acknowledge, reflect and process events and experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. These exhibitions invite citizens, workers and artists to contribute their timely reflections.
First Friday ArtWeek
Lane Arts Council’s First Friday ArtWalk traditionally kicks off Visual Arts Week with an evening of gallery-hopping, but this year the ArtWalk extends through the entire week to prevent crowding in venues.
Lane Arts Council and ArtCity Eugene host Open Air Studios and Plein Air Painters in the Park Blocks with the support of the City of Eugene Cultural Services Downtown Program Fund. Stop by to watch artists working on the spot and observe the many stages of a work-in-progress.
Other ArtWeek experiences include the Eugene Postcard Project at Oregon Art Supply, acrylics at Starlight Lounge and MECCA’s Object Afterlife at the Lincoln Gallery.
Art is shared interaction, cultural exchange, and a powerful connector between people regardless of ethnicity, religion, age or socio-economic status.
Come celebrate the visual arts with through Aug. 15 at eugene-or.gov/VAW.