(Above: Doc’s Pad Taphouse features colorful abstract paintings by Chelsea Beaudrie.)

Here’s the scoop from the Lane Arts Council:

The Lane Arts Council’s Downtown Eugene First Friday ArtWalk returns from the pandemic on Aug. 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., just in time to kick off Visual Arts Week, a celebration of the visual arts that encourages experimentation, creativity, and dialogue.

Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis will open the ArtWalk at the Park Street Blocks at 5:30 p.m., which will include the premiere of Jorah LaFleur’s new spoken word piece on the theme of EMERGENCE.

“The performance invites reflection on how it feels to come out of our COVID-cocoons and to celebrate the importance of the arts in expressing what we’ve been through, and what we will choose to carry forward,” LaFleur said in introducing her piece.

Then, at 6 p.m., UP UP UP Inc. presents the Crane Truck Circus Show.

Guides and maps will be available in the Park Street Blocks for self-guided tours of participating galleries and other art venues.

As always, the First Friday ArtWalk is free. The sponsor for this month’s walk is Summit Bank. The ArtWalk is a project of the Lane Arts Council.

Places to visit on the ArtWalk

ArtCity Studios on Broadway (160 E. Broadway) — Take in David Placencia’s  of Wheelhaus Arts classes and studio as well as workspaces of Sandra Honda, Emma Lynn, Sabrena Laing, Terry Holloway of Fuzzy Beuys, Darryl Evans, Maggie Morrisette, Erika Propst, Jarrell Blake, Eugene Printmakers, and Charly Swing.

Anti-Aesthetic (245 W. 8th Ave.) — “Architecture of Dreams,” a group exhibition that draws on surrealism as a mode of artmaking in response to everyday life, features work by Wendy Heldmann, Mary Evans, Jill R Baker, Tallmadge Doyle, Leah Howell, Vicki Krohn Amorose, and Noelle Herceg.

Bennett Vineyards & Wine Company (199 E. 5th Ave., #11) — A group of local artists have come together for the collaborative show “How We Grow Our Food.” The show uses art to educate the public about how food is grown by depicting the food in its natural state (attached to the tree, vine, or bush); ends Aug. 15.

Broadway Commerce Center (44 W. Broadway)  —Paintings by Larry Hurst in conjunction with the OSLP Arts & Culture Program create a world on canvas of  lush, colorful landscapes and dreamscapes; ends Aug. 30.

Doc’s Pad Taphouse (710 Willamette St.) — A display of Chelsea Beaudrie’s abstract paintings make use of vibrant colors and textures on canvas; plus live music by the acoustical vocal duo of Joe Hughes and Kara Strickland.

ECO Sleep Solutions and Gallery (25 E. 8th Ave.) — Lybi Thomas’ background is in architecture, but she also creates via painting and felting in her pandemic-inspired Sketchbook Series, reflecting on the importance of a person’s face using the medium of felted wool.

Art by Erik Johnson at Epic Seconds

Epic Seconds (30 E. 11th Ave.) — Intimate and Expansive, work by Erik Johnson combines short and long observation with on-site or in-studio process, sometimes relying on memory, other times referring back to long-ago sketched notes.

Karin Clarke Gallery (760 Willamette St.) — Eugene Biennial Award Winners: One Year Later features work by Zoe Cohen, Tallmadge Doyle, Heather Jacks, Margot Lovinger, Satoko Motouji, Christopher St John, Andrea Schwartz-Feit, and Marjorie Taylor, the eight Eugene artists who were the award-winners of the juried Eugene Biennial in 2020; ends Aug. 21.

Karin Clarke at the Gordon (590 Pearl St., Suite 105) — Karin Clarke Gallery’s second location features an ever-rotating selection of lesser seen works by the region’s most accomplished artists, including Margaret Coe, Mark Clarke (1935-2016), Bets Cole, Erik Sandgren, and Adam Grosowsky, as well as work from this year’s Mayor’s Art Show.

The Lincoln Gallery (309 W. 4th Ave.) — With its mission of connecting scrap with fine art, MECCA challenges artists to make inspiring, thought-provoking, and creative works of art out of a mystery box of materials for the Object Afterlife Art Challenge, blending artistic discovery and conservation and raising questions about what actually is waste; ends Sept. 10.

Mayor’s Art Show (Maurie Jacobs Community Room at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts and Karin Clarke at the Gordon at 590 Pearl St) — The Mayor’s Art Show celebrates local artists and recognizes their commitment to enriching their communities through visual arts.  Featured artists: Andrea Ros, Andréa Daly, Barry Pennington, Carmen Bayley, Carolyn Quinn, Chandra Williams-Lamp, Cherisse Pacheco, Debra Mae Jacques, Dianne Cunningham, Eleanor Soleil, Eva Emter, Heather Halpern, Janine Etherington, John Holdway, Jud Turner, Julie Anderson, Karen Russo, Karin Clarke, Kathy Tiger, Kum Ja Lee, Kyzen Pemberton, Linda Devenow, Lisa Yu, Liza Burns, Margaret Godfrey, Mei-ling Lee, Melanie Hamilton, Niraja Lorenz, Paul Hurt, Rick Simpson, Sandi Bonn, Sarah Ciampa, Spence Fisher, Susan Detroy, William Rutherford, and Xinyu Shi.

Mosaic Fair Trade Collection (28 E Broadway) — Book-signing and photography by local author Lucas Spiegel, sharing his round-the-world travel memoir, The Weight of Empathy. Also, handmade Fair Trade jewelry, furniture, homewares, unique gifts, clothing, and accessories from all around the world.

Julie Williams’ retrospective show, Layer Upon Layer: Then and Now is featured at The New Zone Gallery

The New Zone Gallery (110 E 11th Ave) — “Salon des Refuses,” an exhibition of art refused by the Mayor’s Art Show, includes All We Need is Love, intuitive-impressionistic watercolors for healing by Kaya Singer; and Layer Upon Layer: Then and Now, a personal retrospective of textured/layered artwork in fabric, assemblage, and collage by Julie Williams. Music by Priyo/Gypsy Moon.

Oregon Art Supply (1020 Pearl St) — Two Artists’ Work: Sprung from Necessity shows work by 12-year-old Elias Hildebrand (digital iPad drawings) and Emily Looman (sketchbook art), two artists living in the same household; open until 7 p.m.

Starlight Lounge (830 Olive St) — Divine Creation, acrylic, oil, and watercolor paintings by Oksana Kotok, centering around female empowerment through nudity and radical self-acceptance, and the natural balance of world and self. Instagram: @rainbownerves.

White Lotus Gallery (767 Willamette St) — From the Stave to the Dowel: Asian Hanging Scrolls; ends Sept. 18.

Windowfront Exhibitions (Eugene Public Library at 100 W. 10th Ave.; 856 Willamette St.; and 833 Willamette St.) — Downtown Eugene storefronts become galleries and spaces displaying recent work by the Lane Arts Council’s Artist 2020 Grant recipients Uyen-Thi Nguyen, Kate Harnedy, Kathleen Caprario, and Jorah LaFleur, plus Reimagining Monuments, an installation headed by Malik Lovette that challenged young artists to identify the people and events in their lives and determine how to best represent them in public spaces.

Additional events on August 6th:

• Artists Working Live! (West Park Street Block and Gordon Alley) — Painter Patti McNutt, illustrator Page Biersdorff, weaver Patricia Montoya Donohue, and puppet maker Hannah Stone will be working live during the ArtWalk.

• #instaballet (Capitello Wines, 540 Charnelton) — Help #instaballet make a new dance in real-time by suggesting new moves for the dancers to perform. This event features professional dancers, live music, and group choreography. No dance experience necessary, all ages welcome. The final piece will be presented at 8 p.m.

• Resonance Building: Collective Healing + Arts (840 Lawrence St) — Participate in a social art experiment as we transition from isolation back to social integration! At this informal public gathering, guests will receive a complementary Golden Message Postcard, which contains an embedded video meditation and message of loving kindness intended to amplify the giver’s hand-written note. 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

• UP UP UP Inc.’s Crane Truck Circus Show — (East Park Street Block at E. 8th Avenue and West Park Street) — This show is chock full of acrobats, live music, illusions, the world’s largest wedgie, an opera virtuoso, a 99-year-old flying piano, a human ceiling fan, and many other circus feats to leave your jaws dropped, your heart strings plucked, and your belly aching with laughter. Suitable for all-ages and mostly word-free. Starts at 6 p.m.

About Lane Arts Council
Lane Arts Council is a nonprofit organization that works to cultivate strong and creative arts communities throughout Lane County. They provide high-quality arts experiences, engaging people of all ages in arts education and encouraging artistic endeavors.

Mountain Lushness, ink on paper by Zhang Jianyang, at the White Lotus Gallery