Searching for an
m ken*
■ Most citizens in places
such as Grants Pass and
Ashland fail to admire
Southern Oregon’s culture
By Sara Jarrett
Oregon Daily Emerald
Maybe it’s the permeating blan
ket of fog, so thick its victims are
caught inside like the stick of cot
ton candy cloud that has recently
been dropped in the mud.
Well, if it’s not the fog that’s
suppressing the art in Southern
Oregon, then what is?
Grants Pass, Jacksonville, Med
ford and Ashland — driving
through in that order from Eugene
— make up the Rogue Valley and
surrounding areas. Only two
pages in an entertainment insert
in the Medford Mail Tribune is
needed to list all of the art galleries
within a six-city proximity.
The valley is less than a 200
mile drive south of Eugene, but it
may as well be another world.
The freeway peacefully winds
between majestic forests and soft
ly rolling hills, yet that natural
beauty can’t distract from an obvi
ously abrupt change in culture
once you reach the area. It’s sud
denly hard to breathe as exhaust
billows from behind a pickup
truck that’s displaying a very big,
very visible gun rack in its back
window.
Though the number of talented
artists in the area is few and far be
tween, the main problem con
tributing to the lack of an art scene
is the majority of citizens who fail
to appreciate the beauty of such a
thing.
The Neanderthal, a cave-man
sculpture at the north side of
Grants Pass, for instance, is classi
fied as art by many who live there.
Some believe the “art piece” is all
their town needs.
The sculpture, which has greet
ed cars fresh off the freeway for
nearly a decade, is the source of
much controversy. The ones who
want it removed think it’s a vulgar
sight. The majority, however,
don’t understand the negativity
such a creature can cast on a com
munity and think it’s a historic
symbol of the town’s heritage.
This conservatism and subse
quent closed-mindedness creates
a problem for the local artists,
however, who are trying to make a
living by selling their creations. It
seems they are forced to produce
depictions of landscapes, local
bridges and other well-known
landmarks. Are these painters and
sculptors compromising their vi
sions, or are they all genuinely in
spired by nature?
The Grants Pass Museum of Art
is a flajni-salyatiqn from the same
ness. The venue not onlybrfrlgis in
traveling exhibits but also pro
vides a place for local artists to dis
play their creations without the
threat of censorship. Two other
reputable art galleries in the area
are affiliated with Rogue Commu
nity College.
The choices get better the far
ther south one travels, though.
Thinly-populated with less than
2,000 people, Jacksonville is
seemingly an oasis in this desert
of hunters and fishers.
Galleries such as Eklectix,
which is owned by artist Jan
Schmidt, feature nudes and more
abstract art than most others. An
other standout, Eugene Bennett’s
Southern Oregon
Snapshots
The Grants Pass Museum of Art
brings in traveling exhibits but
also provides a place for local
artists to display their creations.
Rogue Community College spon
sors two art galleries in Grants
Pass.
Eklectix, in Jacksonville, features
nudes and more abstract art than
other galleries. Eccentric Jack
sonville resident Eugene Bennett
specializes in oils and three-di
mensional work.
Medford offers the Rogue Gallery
&Art Center, which is not justa
place to view art but also a venue
to learn how to make art.
Private galleries dot Ashland’s
downtown streets and the First Fri
day of every month is set aside for
show openings, artist demonstra
tions and participatory art events.
Schneider Museum of Art, located
at Southern Oregon University, is
the place to see more nationally
known, traveling exhibits.
gallery, specializes in oils and
three-dimensional work, and Ben
nett is one of the better-known
craftsmen in town. Locals know
him as an eccentric man who reg
ularly travels to New York to en
gage in self-enlightenment. These
two galleries make up the town’s
art scene.
The whole town of Jacksonville
“is a gem,” says Tamara
Archibald, the Administrative As
sistant for the Rogue Gallery & Art
Center in Medford, referring to the
homey atmosphere and historical
district.
Jacksonville does seem like a
gem, especially coming straight
from Grants Pass. It’s a quaint vil
lage where everybody knows each
other’s name and nobody seems to
drive over 25 mph.
Rogue Gallery & Art Center is
the biggest venue in Medford and
basically the only one if you don’t
count the few stores selling locals’
wares. The gallery’s windows are
filled with decorated logs and
more landscape portraits but is
more than just a place to show
artists’ work.
“There are also rooms in the
back that serve as classrooms,”
gallery volunteer Gunny Shurtz
said. It’s a venue to show art and
teach art, she added.
“But Ashland is really where
it’s at,” Archibald said.
Ashland, the town farthest
south on the list, certainly lives up
to that statement.
The amount of small, private
galleries is plentiful, though most
don’t ejtceed those found in the
other three towns. It’s just that
there are more of them.
What makes Ashland unique,
however, is two-fold. Most impor
tantly, the community seems to be
more open-minded and accepting
of different types of art. In addi
tion, Southern Oregon University
makes Ashland its home, and,
thanks to the school’s Schneider
Museum of Art, the town receives
traveling exhibits that would oth
erwise be unavailable to the area.
Art in southern Oregon — the
phrase seems like an oxymoron,
but it’s not. You just have to be
willing to look past the Nean
derthal and search a little.
Center
Homespun art, such as this owl bowl found at Medford's Rogue Gallery & Art Center,
dominates the Southern Oregon cultural scene.
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