Festival celebrates genius of da Vinci
The celebration, which takes
place in Corvallis, showcases
art, science and technology
in a unique atmosphere
By Jenni Schultz
Oregon Daily Emerald
Leonardo da Vinci was a genius
inventor as well as an unprecedent
ed artist. He envisioned planes fly
ing through 15th century skies 350
years before the Wright brothers
were even born.
Now he is being used as a source
of inspiration to those behind the
festival that is da Vinci Days.
The festival was started by a
group of Corvallis residents
14 years ago to “put Corvallis on
the map,” festival director Tony
Perez said.
Someone was looking at an Ore
gon guide book and noticed that
Corvallis wasn’t even mentioned.
The group wanted an activity that
was unique to Corvallis, he said.
Every year, Corvallis’ Central
Park and the lower portion of
OSU campus fill with an estimat
ed 18,000 people who come to
celebrate art, science and technol
ogy. This year, the event will fea
ture everything from the Portland
dance group Taiko to a kinetic
sculpture race reminiscent of The
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Learning Channel's “Junkyard
Wars.” The race begins with a
sand dune portion on Saturday,
continues with a mud bog compe
tition on Sunday and ends with a
race to the finish down the
Willamette River. Participants
must use the same vehicle for all
three races, and the winners are
determined by a point system.
In addition to a children’s vil
lage and film and video festival,
seven teams from Comedy Cen
tral’s “Battlebots” will be partici
pating in “robotics activities,”
Perez said. “They have given us
an offer to destroy anything we
can give them,” he said. Slated for
destruction are Perez’ old washing
machine and dryer.
Yet another event is a competi
tion that will attract both homo
sapien and canine. The Skyhoundz
Hyperflite Corvallis Oregon Local
Championships will be at the
event. The contest is free for spec
tators and promises to be quite en
tertaining.
Perez hopes for 20,000 people at
this year’s celebration. The event
will also have art exhibited
throughout the area.
The celebration runs July 19 to
21. Advance three-day passes can
be purchased for $10, or $5 for chil
dren ages 3-13. Children younger
than 2 are admitted for free. Day
passes are also available for pur
chase. For more information, visit
the da Vinci Days Web site at
www.davinci-days.org or call (541)
757-6363.
E-mail the managing editor
atjennischultz@oregondailyemerald.com.
Art show celebrates
Crater Lake history
Artists nationwide gather
to paint, photograph and sculpt
artwork inspired by the lake
for its centennial anniversary
By Pat Payne
for the Emerald
Crater Lake, on the site of the
former Mount Mazama, has been
a national park for 100 years.
This year, in honor of its centen
nial anniversary, Southern Ore
gon University, in cooperation
with the National Park Service, is
holding an exhibition of artists’
impressions of the natural sur
roundings.
49 artists from across the coun
try, as well as a Chinese and an
Israeli artist, were invited to re
side at Crater Lake National Park
for as long as a month at the park
service’s expense to create art
documenting their views of the
natural scenery. Their works in
clude photography, painting and
abstract sculptures.
“(The park service) gave
artists an opportunity to come
up to the lake, and they, in turn,
created art based on their expe
riences there,’’ said Mary Gar
diner, interim director of the
Schneider Museum of Art,
which is hosting the exhibition.
“It turned out to be a great par
ing between the park service
and the museum.”
One of the reasons that SOU
was approached by the park
service for the exhibition was its
relative closeness to the park.
“We were chosen due to our
location and our ability to handle
the amount of art required,” Gar
diner said. “We’re about two
hours from Crater Lake.”
Among the pieces of art in the
exhibition is a video piece from
Marlene Alt, a professor of art at
SOU. Alt traveled into the crater
itself, where she videotaped the
surface of the lake for a half an
hour, taking care to record reflec
tions of clouds across it. This
video is being played at the exhi
bition, projected on a wall.
“Are you looking at the sky, or
are you looking at the water?”
Gardiner said.
The lake was created nearly
8,000 years ago by the explosion
of Mount Mazama. The lake is
the deepest lake in the United
States, and the seventh deepest
in the world. On May 22, 1902,
Crater Lake was declared a na
tional park by President Teddy
Roosevelt.
The Schneider Museum of
Art is a facility of SOU, and is
open Tuesday-Saturday from 10
a.m.-4 p.m. The museum closes
at 7 p.m. the first Friday of
every month. It is located at
1250 Siskiyou Blvd., in Ash
land. For more information, call
(541) 552-6245.
Pat Payne is a freelance
columnist for the Emerald
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