Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1987)
■VISUAL ARTS Tibetan Art featured at two Eugene shows Public Library Tibetan thangka painting is one of Asia’s greatest artistic traditions. Its purpose is to carry on the dharma (teachings of Tantric Buddhism), the religion native to Tibet. They are created to be hung in temples and private shrines using sacred and cere monial concepts as their subjects. Their purpose is to facilitate the be holder’s transference from everyday existence to the spiritual realms. An exhibit of thangka paintings is currently on display at the Eugene Public Library. It will remain throughout the month of October. This exhibit was put together by Elayne Quirin and her family from their frequent visits to the Tibetan refugee centers in Asia. Each work was chosen for its auth enticity and beauty. Each was created with strict conformity to iconograph ic rules prescribing in minute details the appropriate mudras (hand ges tures), asanas (body positions), ayud has (attributes), ornaments and col ors for each deity. The Tibetan Buddhists place great emphasis on visualization. This is the practice of mentally embracing and eventually realizing a oneness with the deities introduced to us by the art form. A person’s ordinary mind is constantly engaged in warping reali ty into a polarized subject/object field. The deities in thangka art sup ply us with concepts which we may first view as objects, but as meditation progresses, one may well reverse positions and accord them the status of subjects. Thangka deities do not ex ist independently of us or our qualities, for they are not things, but ways of being. They are not limited to existing in a so-called objective world, but neither are human beings. There is no limit to the levels of meaning expressed in every detail of these paintings. The knowledge is there because the art is not separate from the reality it brings to our atten tion. The art and the world of our own experiences inform and enrich each other until they ultimately merge in to a deeply felt comprehension of universal insight. Kerns Art Center “Tibet in Eugene” is a new exhibi tion at Kerns Art Center, organized and sponsored by Eugene’s Tibetan Library. The coordinators collected artifacts, many of which have never been viewed publicly, from around the Northwest. The exhibition features works from simple household items to musical instruments and elaborate temple art, including an tique pieces brought out of Tibet dur ing the 1959 Communist invasion. "We hope that the art exhibition and cultural activities we planned will provide windows into both the exotic, vanished Old Tibet and the tiny Tibetan enclave that exists in Lane County,” said coordinator Carol Diane. According to Diane, only 500 Tibetans live in the United States, and 12 of them reside in Lane County. Most all of them are participating in the preparation of this exhibition. Some of the special activities plan ned are slide shows, daily tours, lec tures, a cooking demonstration, and evenings for meditation and chanting. Check with the Art Center for the times of these events. This exhibit, along with etchings by Betty LaDuke, will be on display dur ing the month of October. Kerns Art Center (a.k.a. Maude Kerns) is at 1910 E. 15th in Eugene. Watch for your brochure announcing the Sixth Annual Pacific Northwest Computer Graphics Conference Eugene Conference Center and Hult Center for the Performing Arts October 25-27,1987 Eugene, OR If you haven't seen our logo in your mailbox, mark these dates and call for a free brochure. U of O Continuation Center 503-686-3537 General and Special Interest Sessions: •Animation ‘Publication Graphics CAD/CAM/CIM • Simulation • Medical 3-D Imaging • Mapping (GIS) Special Events: Exhibitor Technical Presentations, Film & Video Show and Trade Exposition Free Admission: MicroGraphics Computer Lab, Noncommercial Exhibits, and Art & Design Show U of O Continuation Center Eugene, OR 97403 1553 Moss St. (503) 686-3537 “Staffs of Irresponsibility,” cast paper pulp, by Aaron R. Friedman. Exhibit challenges ideas on art by Elizabeth Brinton The New Zone Gallery opened a new season a couple weeks ago and celebrates its fourth year as the place to see, to participate in, and to be challenged by contem porary art. NZG gives its members the opportunity to show current works in an environment which frees the artists from the ' need to cater to current trends, art world hype, marketing, and other concerns. Outside of academia, where else can artists and art lovers find a fertile ground for making and receiving messages through art? People may find rough spots in this exhibit, may find some of the presentations crude or difficult to read, but that is simply a by product of NZG’s role as a forum for new blood, and for experi mentation. NZG is almost a studio; creation can happen on the spot, and collaborations are a natural event in the space. When I viewed this exhibit, there was a feeling in the air—something was going on and was still chang ing and living in the space. The installation piece by Mike Walsh titled “At Risk, Golden Temple, Burning House, Lost at Sea” com bines the public and private sym bols frequently used by the artist and suggests a bad dream, or a worse reality, utilizing small sym bolic objects. In this piece Walsh uses his corner of the gallery like a little theater, turning the viewer into a giant. This is a mysterious scene, where a tiny prone figure in a little boat floats through an alien world. This landscape is made with the little houses (often seen in Walsh’s work), fibers, numbers on the wall and on rocks, and with other materials suggesting dream like space. I imagine Walsh building these inner worlds with the intense seriousness of a child at “play.” In another installation work, Mike Bukowski and Bob Gibney create “Temporal Reconnaissance.” This work is made from a com bination of things including con struction materials, gauze, found objects, rock and broken concrete. The piece seemed to be in transi tion, and was still being changed around by the artists shortly before I saw it. There are sperm-like shapes on the wall moving towards a blue “egg,” oblivious to all the walls and barriers laid out all around them. This looks almost like a feminist statement for some reason, created by men, and some how has a poignancy and humor that seems male. It might be a dif ferent thing next week though, and in any case will evoke different ideas from other viewers. Aaron Friedman is exhibiting his first large work in cast paper, titled “Staffs of Irresponsibility.” Floating amoebic forms in bright colors are found in repeat on the walls in a flat white. These organic shapes undulate and create counterpoints in space. Viewers who have seen Freidman’s prints and paintings will recognize these abstractions as familiar characters, and will enjoy watching Friedman play them out in yet another way. Katherine Gorham provides us with a disturbing look at growing up female in the 1950‘s in her boxed tableau, “Growing Up in America.” Of particular interest is her use of fused glass for the depiction of some rather sinister elements. Boats seem to be a big theme with NZG artists. There must be some subconscious interactions among all these sensitive beings. Boats appear in Pam Cohen's ceramic works, and in Virginia Taylor’s painting titled “Life Boat,” an uncluttered picture of a small boat which seems to say more than it shows on the surface. Toys or toy-like found objects are seen in several works by various artists. Tina Dworakowski exhibits “Yo Yos,” which are func tioning yo yos, with extraordinary messages, and are made of a varie ty of materials, unlike any yo yos you may have seen before. Architecture and ideas surround ing houses are evident in many of these pieces. The beauty of simple architectural detail, and of light in a room, provides a powerful and quiet refuge, in Robert DeVine’s “Morning in March.” Other two-dimensional works in clude evocative photography by Larry Quik, and drawings by David Vala. Vala’s drawings reflect an interest in architecture, but like Dworakowski’s yo yos, this is a new and playful look at what is ordinary only on the very surface. In “Freeway Garden,” and “Phan tom II," Vala displays an imag ination for wonderful magical spaces. I wanted to visit these places. There is rich interaction in this show, and we have the chance to see in a way that challenges our vision and our ideas about art. See this show during gallery hours, from 11 to 4 pm Monday through Saturday. This exhibit will run through October 15th. •00000 wo 60 o South Hills Crystal Shop Featuring crystals and rocks from the Northwest: Amethyst—Canada Smoky Quartz—Nevada Quartz 6 Pyrite—Washington Quartz—Oregon The mining season is now over. Regular Hours: Wed.-Fri. 11-4 Stop by or call for directions 342-6544 31334 Fox Hollow Road See us at Saturday Market, Booth 59 Authorized Diamond Pacific dealers. See us for discounts. J I i 235 ( (J&XOESXS JOX)s ©O-©l? !• —re. WWnQIII Ma1e ex ? JFIROM ©UU/1R S v7AL89A®P-30TT1Es1rUTSKL,APTNUROTUU%
