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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1978)
F * ive hundred and thirty-three sand-filled baggies suspended by fishing line hang from the ceiling. Two dimensional cloud-like shapes in copper and steel dangle in mid-air. Little knitted hearts, like tiny pillows, are clustered on the wall, each one enclosed in a baggie. Painted china plates; flamboyant can vases; doggie burgers enshrined in a glass case—these are among the artworks cur rently on display at Open Gallery, 4355 High St. The exhibit, "Eccentric Abstractions,” opened Nov. 7 with a birthday party. Open Gallery is now two years old, healthy and growing. About 100 people attended the celebra tion, viewed the work, drank wine, ate cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to the gallery. Charlie the Magician strolled around, dazzling people with his wizardry, while Matt Cooper and Friend(s) played soft jazz. Reactions to the artworks were varied. “I guess it’s the trend of modern art,” said a middle-aged woman. “I don’t appreciate it. I can hardly keep from laughing at some of it. When you think of Michelangelo...” Her voice trailed off. “There’s nothing here that really says anything." Others had different responses. “Some of it's really good and some of it’s really bad,” one 18-year-old woman said. “But it’s unusual and refreshing — it’s imagina tive. I like it.” Even the negative responses are re garded with satisfaction by Flora Rudolph, gallery director, and Richard Haller, chair man of the board. “If the art evokes a feeling, it’s success ful," Haller says. “No one has to justify their reaction. Confusion is a justified reac tion." “I think this is one of our nicest shows,” Rudolph says with unsuppressed en thusiasm. “I was looking for people who were working in fairly traditional media—painting and sculpture—but who were going in different directions with them. They are all very serious artists who have a kind of craziness about them. “I wanted a strong, colorful, full show, and I think that's what we have.” D A Rudolph and Haller started Open Gallery as an experiment in 1976. Their goals are far-reaching and varied: to reach the community; to provide a forum for vis ual and performing artists; and to make Lane County a viable member of the na tional art community. “We want to have art (become) part of everyone’s daily life, so it’s integral, so it’s not something you set aside in a mausoleum or a sanctuary,” says Rudolph. Open Gallery has an educational role to play, Rudolph and Haller believe, not only by conducting workshops and pro grams in the public schools, but by making art accessible and visible to the commun ity. “We try to pique people’s interest,” says Haller. “Appreciation of art requires ex perience of it. You need exposure. If peo ple can’t understand something they feel uncomfortable.” Art functions to enhance the quality of life, maintains Rudolph, herself an artist whose pieces are among the “eccentric abstractions” now being shown. ‘‘Art is just basic to everyone,” she says. “It gives you something spiritual in your life... it improves your aesthetic sense. It relates to beauty and to thought; it gets your ideas going, and your blood going.” When the gallery opened at its original location, its space was small, and most conducive to one-person shows. Now, with the spacious area it occupies in Midgeley’s Mill — a converted lumber mill housing a variety of business — the gallery has con centrated more on large, group shows. o_._ art gallery. It encourages innovation and experimentation. “We present intentionally ephemeral experiences as well as objects which may endure,” explains an adver tisement. “Environmental art" is in the vanguard of experimental art. Rudolph describes it as “using a space to set up.a whole situation that somebody can come into and get a total experience, as compared to looking into a painting, which is a different kind of experience.” Ames Montgomery’s show in late Oc tober, “Sand Installation,” is an example of environmental art. The artist brought in 900 pounds of sand and covered the floor, with pathways running through it for view ers to walk on. “We had incredible com ments from people," Rudolph says. Rudolph’s own work is moving toward environmental art and toward works that people can move and manipulate. “Par ticipatory art" might be an appropriate label for what she is describing. Arguing for the merits of nonrepresenta tional art, she says, “You can take off on abstract art so far. If you have a picture of a mountain, that’s a picture of a moun tain. Your own head and imagination can get really involved in an abstract piece. You can come back and have a new thing each time with it." l nvolvement is the key—the viewer’s involvement with the piece, the community’s involvement with the arts, the gallery’s involvement with the community. Artists should not be isolated; they should be “working parts of the community,” Rudolph feels. Neither should Eugene be isolated from the rest of the art world. Open Gallery is developing contacts with other arts organi zations across the country to promote flux and interaction between communities. Haller illustrates the idea by telling his “Golden Age of Athens” story. “In the Golden Age of Athens, the popu lations of Athens was not much larger than Lane County. Numbers don’t make the dif ference. The resources are here. If they (the people of Lane County) want quality, world-class art, they’ll get it.” Open Gallery wants to help give it to them. In addition to hanging paintings and showing sculptures, the gallery presents work in a potpourri of other media: dance, poetry, music, film, mime. “They’re all related,” says Rudolph. “For us they’re not detached things. “There are a lot of performing artists who don’t have a forum,” she continues. “They need a space, they need an audi ence, they need feedback. Their intention is usually visual.” She mentions Morton Subotnick, an electronic composer from Los Angeles, as an example. Subotnick gave a concert at Open Gallery in September. “His music is sculptural,” she says. “You can feel that sound going around. He comes from visual images when he makes his music.” Other innovative projects during the past year included “Window Works,” in July and August, and “Plaza Arts Live," in Sep tember. The artists involved in “Window Works” created “art environments” in storefront windows on the downtown mall. “Plaza Arts Live” was a series of free, lunch-hour performances, or “events hap penings,’” in Rudolph’s terminology, on the plaza of the U.S. Federal Building. These included dance, “new music” and poetry reading. pen Gallery, a nonprofit or ganization, has redeved financial support from grants—CETA, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, and Eugene Room Tax—-as well from indi vidual and business contributions. The September CETA cutbacks elimi nated nice positions at the gallery. How ever, another CETA grant for six poisitons will take effect in December. But Rudolph doesn’t want to depend on CETA as a primary source of income for the gallery. “Ideally we would like the bulk of our money to come from the commun ity," she says. What is the goal? $20,000 in 1979, to be matched by grants. Rudolph says the gallery's goals include becoming more professional, more fo cused and making continual improvements in quality. By Lee Sherman-Stadius Photos by Keith Allen THafa, tfoun. owk outdoor eqttifutuMtf /ind Mvc friom 30 to. 50% BankAmericako HHtfi-HH fit it WE HAVE KITS FOR: ** D , Down Parkas Rain Parkas Day packs Duffel bags Mt. Parkas Knickers Gaiters Pullover Shirt Pullover Parka Jits ^the kits mads in America by everyone Vo&uium CImM/v Cfokib 27th & WILLAMETTE ST. *345-6224 Free front of Store Parking r~~~ DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC We’ve got new shipments of Christmas gift wrap, cards and ornaments. Come soon for the best selection. Also lots of: •cards ’stationery ' posters & prints ’velvet bound books • calendars ’electronic travel clocks
