(Above: Art by Emily Proudfoot has been selected to complement the music of Chamber Music Amici for its 2022-23 season.)

Edited by Randi Bjornstad

Here’s the news from Chamber Music Amici and the Emerald Art Center:

Chamber Music Amici and the Emerald Art Center honor the winner of the 2022-
2023 Chamber Music Amici Art Commission with a reception and musical celebration that also opens a February exhibit of the winner’s commissioned work, as well as other pieces.

This year’s winner is Eugene-based artist Emily Proudfoot, who also is principal
landscape architect with the City of Eugene Parks and Open Space Division and project manager for the Downtown Riverfront Park Project. Her art often features landscapes and nature themes, in mediums that include acrylic ink, markers, pens and collage.

“Many very talented artists applied for this commission,” Loi Heldt, Chamber Music Amici’s executive director, said. “What caught my eye about Emily’s work is that it offers movement and nature all in one package. The colors she uses are vibrant and varied.”

In creating the art she submitted to the Chamber Music Amici competition, Proudfoot attended  the group’s concerts, letting the music influence her.

“With chamber music you have only a few instruments, but the melody gets picked up and carried by the instruments in this weaving fashion,” Proudfoot said. “Here it is on the piano, and then on the violin, and so on — it is what makes chamber music so interesting to listen to. You hear that repetition, but it is created in this new way.”

The rhyming and composition of the music became the inspiration for her imagery.

“I picked out images and line types that captured that melody — the sweeping or staccato sound — and from there, I made drawings that were evocative of the pieces I was hearing on stage,” Proudfoot said. “The pieces have a lot of movement, a watercolor fluidity to them.”

This year’s selection method is a change from the previous 12 seasons of selecting art to represent Chamber Music Amici’s performances. Previously, the contest was open to Lane County residents, with submissions falling in three categories. The winners’ art appeared on promotional materials for one season.

This year, the contest was open to all Oregon residents, with the selection of only one who would create three original works to be used in marketing the 2022-23 season.

“When we began in 2009, we asked local artists to submit their work as a great way to support the talent in our community while at the same time having beautiful art to advertise our concerts,” Heldt said. “We chose to do a commission this year to allow us to offer a bigger prize to one artist and have work that would be similar in content for the season.”

A gallery of work by previous years’ winners can be seen online at chambermusicamici.org/amici-art-contest/.

Proudfoot’s art — both the newly commissioned pieces as well as other work — will be on display during an opening reception at the Emerald Art Center during downtown Springfield’s Second Friday Art Walk, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 500 Main St., with refreshments as allowed by COVID protocols, and music performed by young classical and Chamber Music Amici musicians.

Tickets will be available for purchase to Chamber Music Amici’s performances of the Clarinet Trio Series II 20th-Century Concert, scheduled for

Chamber Music Amici Events

Opening reception for commissioned artwork: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11, at the Emerald Art Center, 500 Main St., Springfield, during the Second Friday Art Walk

Clarinet Trio Series II — 20th Century Concert

When: 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 13, and 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 14, at the Wildish Community Theater at 630 Main St. in downtown Springfield; pre-show talks begin 45 minutes before performances;

Where: Wildish Community Theater, 630 Main St., Springfield

Program: Features guest artist Wonkak Kim and includes Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano by Aram Khachaturian; Trio for Cello, Clarinet, and Piano by Nino Rota; and Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano by Gian Carlo Menotti

Tickets: $28-$40, $5 for students

Information: 541-953-9204 or chambermusicamici.org (Chamber Music Amici); 541-868-0689 or wildishtheater.com (Wildish Community Theater)