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Art Notes ART CARDS
What do trading cards and serious works of art have in common? Most people would think nothing; Marilyn Kent would like to change that. Along with fellow artists, she hosted an exhibit called "Artist Trading Cards" at M.E.C.C.A. on Friday, June 2, during the First Friday ARTWalk to give local artists the opportunity to display and trade small pieces of art. Their only constraint was to limit the size to material about 2.5"x3.5". The arts trading card movement arose in Europe in the late 1990s to give anyone interested in art an opportunity for its creation and then a forum to share it. The website www.artist-trading-cards.ch gives more info and a ton of examples. Kent, who may be offering an art trading card class through the Parks & Recreation Department in the fall, uses such things as rubber stamps and tassels of cloth or paper to create her cards. She says that creating cards offers quick gratification for people who may be artistically inclined but who have a hard time getting started. She says the cards are a "nice kind of format if you don't have much time or space." — Graham Coslett
MEGA FUN He sits on the sidewalk on the University of Oregon campus and plays. To some passersby he is the awesome guy who builds toy block animals in the street, and to other he's the pretentious art kid who is in their walkway; to some, he's both. Jeffrey Aldrich, a 21-year-old UO art major, just wants people to play. Every day classes are in session, Aldrich makes sculptures out of Mega Bloks, which are comparable to Legos, only bigger and brighter. He first started building his sculptures in the street for a class project. "I wanted to study social interaction with art, through art," he says. By the end of this term, he will have composed a 40-page book that documents his observations of peoples' reactions. He chose Mega Bloks as his medium for this project because, well, he wanted to play with blocks. "It's fun, and I can do it for a class and get credit for it," he says. Aldrich also sees his sculpture building as a way to involve others even if that goal is sometimes lost on his spectators. "The problem with this is that people don't know that. It's mostly people walking by, their perceptions of it, they look at it as art," he says. He'd like for passersby to play along, but perhaps they're too used to museums, he thinks. "You're not supposed to touch sculptures. You're not supposed play with things like that because it's art," Aldrich says. "But … it's an invitation for play or perhaps understand art or get into art." — Emily Cable
BABY PICASSOS Victoria, BC, has a lot of flowers, some fine vegetarian restaurants and great bike trails. Sound like the Eugene-Springfield area? The Emerald Art Center thought that Victoria had an advantage: a great arts program for kids ages 2-12. So the Art Center applied for a grant from the Chambers Family Foundation, and $5,000 later, the TEACH Arts Children's Art Education Outreach Program is planning to kick into high gear. Beginning in the fall of 2006, 2-3 year olds can take the Baby Picasso class while their older sibs and buddies sign up for Doodle Bugs and Splat (4-5 year olds), Art All Around Us or Birds, Beasts, Blossoms and Bugs (6-7 year olds), Quirky Contemporaries (8-9 year olds) or Teach Me Technique (10-12 year olds). Emerald Empire Art Association President Shirley Reade is excited that the fun programs will reach "a broader, more diverse audience." For more info, email emerald@epud.net or call 726-8595. — Suzi Steffen
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