 |
  |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
|
Visual Arts: Theater: Outdoors: Morsels:
Andrade
Paintings at Jacobs, Walsh installation at DIVA
Disposition of Age," at the Jacobs Gallery through May 29, showcases Grants Pass artist Virginia Andrade's recent abstract paintings. Her desire to come to terms with society's attitude toward age and the invisibility of older people, women especially, led the artist to experiment with new forms and materials. Andrade's paintings have a pronounced, seductive, tactile quality. She uses an unusual combination of layered powder pigments and gouache and manipulates the colors directly with her hands. "There's no separation between body and medium," she said. "The whole process is quite intuitive." The paintings are all earth tones: ochres, sienna, blue-grey and green, muted reds and pinks — colors of the Southwest, the desert. They retain an appropriately powdery quality despite the gouache. She investigates the effects of time on the surface of rocks, walls, earth, skin. Her pigments evoke the colored dust of crumbling stone, fine residues accumulating on the surface of boulders, traces of lichen. Ink lines drawn in a gesture add further markings, and the paper contributes a granular texture and buckles slightly, like old parchment or tanned animal skin retaining some life does. Another effect of time is wear, tear and erosion. Andrade subjects the surface of her paintings to "scratching, scraping, rubbing and scoring," yet beauty, softness and a sense of serenity result. This "beauty in how things age" is what Andrade wants to convey — how "color fades and softens, lines blur." She wants us to acquire "a new awareness of, and sensitivity to, the mysteries of aging." Into the abstract palimpsests she creates, one may read the creased surface of a boulder (First Impressions 1) or that of old, cracked walls with their successive layers of paint peeling off, shreds of posters still glued here and there, traces of graffiti marks, plaster falling off in places (Life Force, Pulp Friction, Life Force, Somerset). Or one may envision a desert landscape viewed from the sky (Soul Mates 1, First Impressions 2). The paintings are often horizontally or vertically divided by arbitrary lines evoking the subjective lines that separate internal and external perceptions of reality. Yet relationships are born, bonds are created, links are made. She represents this simultaneous process by mysterious abstract characters that appear on the surfaces — circular marks or shapes viewers may variously construe as pebbles, eggs or cells. They huddle together (Spoke the Walrus 6, Lean on Me), squat like boulders on either side of a dry riverbed (Soul Mates 1), rise like bubbles (Paradigm Shift 1, Soul Mates 5), perch together over an horizontal line like so many Humpty Dumpties on a wall (Lean on Me, Grounded), peek on either sides of window-panes (Bi-Partisan), mate (Soul Mates 4), play balance games (Spoke the Walrus 3) and in general engage in all manners of social behaviors (The Egg and I, Soul Mates 3). Andrade views them mostly as eggs, symbols of the new fertility she experiences now. "The eggs are still there waiting to be born and come to life, but now I'm producing ideas," she said. "This is about a renewed feeling of fertility, a rebirth, reinventing myself by accepting my age." "End of the Line: Fragments of the Material Age," Mike E. Walsh's site-specific installation at DIVA through June 26, indicates the artist's formal range yet is consistent with his interest in history and an archaeological approach to human artifacts. Walsh selected 252 cards from The Oregonian file on the Eugene Library's defunct card catalog for his installation. On opening day, I observed viewers as they stepped into Walsh's room — first, expressions of surprise and delight, followed by playful exploration. The cards, hung low from the ceiling with mono-filament in an otherwise empty room, form six groups of six-tiered rows of six cards each, with a dozen small piles of shredded cards on the floor beneath. Like pale butterflies or leaves hovering in mid-air, the cards transform the space and impart an impression of lightness. It's a catchy mood. Pathways encourage you to walk around and immerse yourself. Move, and the cards come alive. Blow, and they flutter about you. Walsh describes the installation as an act of mourning, "infused with nostalgia and reverence [that] laments not just the passing of the card catalogue, but the spirit and sense of our own history that vanished with it, as we forgo slower, more scenic routes, the green valleys, for the sterile speed of cyberspace." It is not just filing systems that become obsolete, but the very items filed away. By choosing the catalogue of a newspaper, Walsh reminds us how short-lived, quickly obsolete and easily forgotten news stories are. Walsh's work is rich in conceptual ramifications, with a spareness of means and delicacy of touch that brings us to reflection through seduction.
Much
Matchmaking
For the majority of us, everyday life is an amalgamation of drama, misperceptions, simple pleasures and the mundane. Recognizing this, Shakespeare (and later, writers of shows such as "Seinfeld") tapped into these seemingly unimportant events as a way to appeal to and entertain an audience. And entertain is precisely what the University Theatre does in its production of Much Ado About Nothing. For those unfamiliar with Shakespeare's comedy, here it is in brief: Three friends return to Messina following a victorious war. Claudio is promptly smitten with Hero, the governor's captivating daughter. Benedick, a confirmed bachelor, and Hero's sharp-tongued cousin, Beatrice, volley verbal jabs at one another in a merry war of the sexes. Once Claudio and Hero get together, they participate in a jolly game of matchmaking to try to bring Beatrice and Benedick together. Meanwhile, Don John, Don Pedro's spiteful brother, conspires to ruin Claudio and Hero's happiness by enlisting his minions to taint Hero's reputation. Believing the lies, Claudio shuns Hero at the altar. More schemes are hatched, fools and villains unmasked, misunderstandings mended, and disclosure in the end revealing, yes, it's all been much ado about nothing. Playing Claudio and Hero are Jay Hash and Juliet Strong. Hash is noble as both the lovesick suitor and the betrayed lover. Likewise, Strong is delightfully enchanting and coy. While both put in strong performances interacting with each another, they really shine with other members of the cast, particularly in the highly comedic scenes. While the main plot evolves around obstacles to the union of Claudio and Hero, the play's sub-plot between the battling Beatrice and Benedick is much more interesting and entertaining by comparison. Together, Sarah Griner and Chris Hirsh play the dynamic duo in their respective roles as the spunky and assertive Beatrice and the cocky, confirmed bachelor, Benedick. Griner proves her versatility by revealing both Beatrice's soft, vulnerable side, as well as her proclivity for launching saucy riposte. Conversely, Chris Hirsh was born to play Shakespeare. Like a dashing Errol Flynn, Hirsch puts in a standout performance, easily winning over the audience with his quirky mannerisms and comedic athleticism. Also putting in fine performances were Steve Weihmeier as Leonato, Andrew Beck as Don Pedro, Alexander Dupre as the villainous Don John, and Brandon Finch, who is an awesome singer. Using a simple, no frills set, the production crew makes great use of light and shadow to express night and day and different locales. Although the production doesn't strive for authenticity — incorporating Spanish dances such as the Flamenco and Tango into choreographed energetic dance scenes, and the use of brightly colored, non-Shakespearean period costumes — it all seems to work. Much Ado runs through May 23.
Mary's
Peak
Except for the ubiquitous clearcuts, the Coast Range is an almost uniform carpet of dense Douglas fir and hemlock forests, clinging to the sides of steep ravines and the tops of narrow ridges. The Cascades have got their share of fir forests, too, but also alpine forests, glaciers, lakes, meadows and more. The Coast Range imitates the Cascades on Mary's Peak, that large block-like mountain that looms over Corvallis to the west. The mountain, which is the tallest point in the Coast Range, is just a little more than an hour from Eugene. You can drive almost to the top of the mountain. To get to the upper trailhead and a short half-mile walk to the summit, take Hwy. 99 north from Eugene for approximately 35 miles. At the outskirts of Corvallis, take Hwy. 20 west, then stay to the left onto Hwy 34 for approximately 9 miles. Turn right onto the Mary's Peak Road and follow it until it dead ends in a large parking lot. A much more interesting route to the top is the Meadow Edge Trail, which you'll find by turning into the Mary's Peak Campground, 8.8 miles from the junction with Hwy. 34. Stay to the left as you enter and find the trailhead in a picnic area. After a couple hundred yards, the trail splits — stay to the left here and at the trail split near the top on your way back down to make the loop. The two major attractions of this route — both of them rare in the Coast Range — are an amazing stand of old-growth noble fir and meadows that are choked with wildflowers in late May and early June. Mary's Peak is a sort of Noah's Ark in a complicated Kalapuya legend in which the trickster Coyote floods the entire Willamette Valley, leaving just the top of the mountain as a refuge for plant species that aren't found anywhere else in the Coast Range. It's likely that much of the rest of the Coast Range resembled Mary's Peak during colder periods thousands of years ago. As the climate warmed, ice age species retreated to the top of the 4,000-ft. peak. On a clear day, the summit offers views from the coast to the Three Sisters, and the best panorama of the Willamette Valley anywhere. It's a Cascades-like view, on the doorstep of Corvallis.
Revival
on Willamette Just in time for summer, new L&L Market building proprietor Ali Pourfard will head up the revamping of the market as Triomphe Midtown, which will house Triomphe Patisserie (in operation now three weeks), as well as a restaurant serving Mediterranean lunch and dinner, a bar and a deli under the same name. Serrano's, the coffee joint, will maintain its central location in the building. Pourfard, a key player for years now in restaurant and real estate development in Eugene, aims to keep L&L's casual attitude while offering excellent food, services and entertainment. "This will definitely still be a market," he says, "where people can be comfortable and hang out. Only now, it will be cozier, with more privacy, and just more pleasant all around." Pourfard is working with builders to redefine L&L's cavernous dining area into a more intimate and better organized space. Plans include a stage for music and entrances from the Willamette St. and 16th Ave. sides of the building for better traffic flow. While things are still under construction, improvements are already underway — beautiful, solid, high-gloss mahogany-colored floors, improved lighting and a much more consistent style of design throughout. You'll still find Long's Meat Market here for the time being, but the stalwart butcher shop is on the verge of moving to Southtowne at 29th and Oak. Their space will be used for the Triomphe deli, where Pourfard wants to provide meats, cheeses, wines and gourmet foods-to-go. The Triomphe Patisserie has been in operation about a month now, offering a broad selection of cakes, cookies and pastries. Baking is done by Pastry Chef Julie Fether, whose work you might know from Marché and Eugene City Bakery, and the place is managed by Kimberly Murphy of Fall Creek Bakery fame. For less than $8, I am able to sample four desserts that are easily shared with three or four other people. The most unusual of the sweets is an Orange Lavender Cookie, a butter cookie with a hint of orange flavor and actual lavender seeds throughout. I approach the cookie with some skepticism, but the flavor is surprisingly wonderful. The lavender is, obviously, floral in flavor, but it's just the thing to cut through the richness of the cookie. This would be perfect with a cup of herbal tea. The most wonderful of the desserts is the Strawberry Poppy Seed Cake. Beautiful to look at — decorated with pink whipped cream and sliced berries — this balances sweet cake with tart berries, and the whipped cream makes it feel both rich in flavor and light in texture. Dreamy. Love the Apricot Streusel (Triomphe offers several fruit flavors of this buttery pastry), and the classic brownie is huge — cakey but rich and satisfying with a dark chocolate glaze topping. The last item is a slice of the Poppy Seed Bread, which has a really nice hint of cinnamon to it — much more a breakfast-type pastry than a dessert. Given what a rough dismantling L&L went through last year, the change here to something more consistent and centrally focused shows great promise and hope for one of Eugene's favorite spots. 1591 Willamette St. 485-6267. 6 am-6pm M-Sa, 6 am-2 pm Su. Wheelchair accessible. $. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
