(Above: The Bumble Boutique at 233 W. Fifth Ave. is a new stop on downtown Eugene’s First Friday ArtWalk. For September, it features fabric collage embroidery by artist Hannah Austin.)

By Randi Bjornstad

Downtown Eugene’s First Friday ArtWalk on Sept. 1, 2023, marks the ninth year that the city has celebrated Fiesta Cultural, recognizing the importance, vibrance, and contribution of the art, culture, and heritage of the city’s Latino/a/x/e community.

For those who are unfamiliar with those designations, the term Latinx originated as a gender-neutral representation of the traditional male and female word forms in Spanish. Latine came later and includes not only traditional male-female gender neutrality but also those who identify as nonbinary, gender fluid, genderqueer, bigender, agender (gender free), and gender nonconforming.

How to pronounce the words seems flexible and varies from source to source, ranging from LAH-tee-NEKs to lah-TEE-neks to lah-tee-neks in the case of Latinx, and lah-TEE-neh or simply lah-TEEN in the case of Latine. It seems that there’s little right or wrong involved, just the expression of inclusion.

All that said, there will be plenty of ways to celebrate Fiesta Cultural from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. in downtown Eugene, starting at the Farmers Market Pavilion at 85 E. 8th Ave., where there will be dance performances by by Salseros Dance Company, Azúcar, and Ballet Folklórico Colibrí, live music by Dina y los Rumberos, Grupo Latitudes, and DJ LatinX Sound, salsa and rachata dance lessons, activities for children, food and beverages, and a multicultural artists’ marketplace.

From there, the usual plethora of arts-related and arts-supporting locations will be open for the evening, as shown in the monthly ArtWalk Guide available at the Farmers Market Pavilion.

Here’s an alphabetical list of the stops, which will be open from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., unless otherwise indicated:

Allies LLC (200 E. 11th Ave., Suite 130) — Grand opening at the new location with a collaborative exhibit showcasing work by clients of Allies.

Art with Alejandro (5th Street Public Market, 2nd floor, 246 E. 5th Ave., Suite 224) — Vibrant world of diverse paintings by proprietor Alejandro Sarmiento, often in progress on the spot, plus mystical creatures and figures by Paisley Mae.

ArtCity Studios on Broadway (160 E. Broadway, basement level) — Block prints inspired by Latin American culture, created on location by members of Eugene Printmakers from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., using a variety of presses.

Beaudet Gallery at 5th St. Makers Row (590 Pearl St., Suite 106) — 6 p.m., talk by owner Charles Beaudet about the process of design, from customer consultation to fabrication to long-term care and repair of custom-made jewelry.

Books With Pictures Eugene (99 W. Broadway, Space C) — Green Sword Art, featuring drawings, papercuts, and pixel art from Books With Pictures Eugene manager Finlay Louden.

Alexis Tadeo’s art is on display at the Broadway Commerce Center

Broadway Commerce Center (44 W. Broadway) — RealEyez Ink, an exhibition of stylistic airbrush portraits and scenes on paper, canvas, and fabric by Alexis Tadeo.

Bumble Boutique (233 W. 5th Ave.) — New on the ArtWalk, with vintage clothing, handmade jewelry, and local artwork and featuring fabric collage embroidery using inherited and secondhand fabric scraps by artist Hannah Austin, specializing in landscapes inspired by vistas of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Epic Seconds (30 E. 11th Ave.) — Wearables by Helen Liu, clothing made with secondhand wool, salvaged spalted wood, homegrown indigo dye, hand-spun yarn, and waste Starbucks plastic bags. Also on display, Getting Along, a series of oil-on-canvas paintings by DiDi Davidovich about the push and the pull of living harmoniously in relation to plant life and other objects in concert with ground and weather.

Eugene Public Library (100 W. 10th Ave., Newspapers and Magazines Room, 2nd floor) — Momentary Emotions, paintings by active local artist Uyen-thi Nguyen, with music from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. by the SamaZama Duo (Masumi Timson on koto and Joseph Harchanko on cello), mixing traditional and contemporary Japanese music with tango, jazz, blues, and western classical music.

Flux Crystals (280 W. Broadway) — Portals and the Oracle, work by Gloria Udosenata that explores the relationship between the natural world and the Divine. Plus live, experimental ambientmusic by Vele.

FUSE Jewelry Collective (112 E. 13th Ave.) — A place for jewelry designers and aficionados to learn, shop, create, and connect., featuring the FUSE showroom, live music by cellist Ben Hamilton, metalsmithing demonstrations by Una Barrett and studio tours of the FUSE classroom, plus a raffle drawing for a free metalsmithing class.

J. Scott Cellars on 5th Tasting Room (207 E. 5th Ave., Suite 105) — Impressionist landscape paintings of the American West by Jenifer Billman/Mann, using the impasto technique with palette knives plus Carolyn Quinn’s exhibit, The Practice of Discovery, abstract paintings that express energetic fields guided by intuition, dreams, and channeling.

Karin Clarke at the Gordon (590 Pearl St., Suite 105) — A changing inventory of large and small paintings, prints, photography, cards, and mixed-media works by Northwest artists such as Heather Jacks, Robert Schlegel, Rick Bartow, and Bets Cole.

Karin Clarke Gallery (760 Willamette St.) — A group show featuring the winners of last year’s Eugene Biennial, including sculpture, paintings, mixed media, and printmaking works by Ron Conrad, Doug Davidovich, Kitty Kingston, Tom Miller, Danuta Muszynska, Marjorie Taylor, Jud Turner, Libby Wadsworth, and Michael Whitenack.

The New Zone Gallery (110 E. 11th Ave.) — Zone4All, the biannual non-juried open show featuring work by hundreds of artists from the region, in a variety of styles, techniques, and mediums; open through Sept. 28.

Starlight Lounge (830 Olive St.) — Digital art by Nyx Veliz, inspired by their upbringing as a third culture kid and as a member of the lgbtq community.

Windowfront Exhibition (99 W. 10th Ave., south windows) –Showing Diversity Project, a photography installation by Japanese-born Kenji Shimizu celebrating diversity from an immigrant’s point of view via portraits of people of many cultural backgrounds rendered in the style of Renaissance paintings.

Special Event

#instaballet (Capitello Wines, 540 Charnelton St.) — The audience helps #instaballet create a new dance in real-time by suggesting movements to be performed by local, professional dancers. No dance experience necessary, all ages welcome. Stop by between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. to help; the final dance will be performed at 8 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, by providing high-quality arts experiences, engaging people of all ages in arts education, and encouraging artistic endeavors.

 

(Below: Hanging Out is one of artist Marjorie Taylor’s creations on display at the Karin Clarke Gallery through Oct 14. The show, titled Eugene Biennial Award Winners: One Year Later, features work by the award-winners of the 2022 Eugene Biennial exhibit.)