VIS U AL ART S
BY ALE X NOT MAN
‘OLD TRIPPERS’ BY CAROL MARINE
says of he and his wife and fellow co-founder, Carol
Marine. He looks at the fire as part blessing. He had been a
woodworker in Eugene in the ’90s and had always wanted
to return. It was around that time that Marine was ready to
shutter Daily Paintworks. At that stage, the site was an
invitation-only collective, like similar sites, and thus only 50
painters were selling their work. It wasn’t sustainable.
“I was ready to completely give up on Daily
Paintworks,” Marine says. “There was a point where we
realized that what buyers wanted was different from what
artists wanted. Artists wanted to be part of this exclusive
club. Buyers wanted to go to a place where they had a lot
of selection.” Carol Marine suggested turning the collective
into a business by opening up membership and charging
artists $12.95 a month to host their work. Soon membership
ballooned from 50 to more 900 artists, and the site’s
unique visitors per day grew from 200 to 10,000.
Marine says that this business model works in the favor
of buyers and artists. Compared to brick-and-mortar
galleries that charge 50 percent commission and feature
the “top, thinnest slice of talented artists,” and eBay, which
charges 9 percent commission, Daily Paintworks charges 3
percent. In a town where artists can’t find enough buyers,
the Marines may be on to something.
“Eugene has a lot of artists but there’s nobody to buy
the work,” says Sabrina Ridge, a local artist and owner of
Poppy & Moe (a screenprint T-shirt company). “If you
want to make money as an artist in Eugene, you have to get
your art out of Eugene.”
Carol Marine paints five to seven paintings a week and
sells them across the globe for $150 to $250 each on
DailyPaintworks.com. Local painter and member Sarah
Sedwick (see Cezanne’s Greetings, Nov. 15) also uses the
site to sell her work. But it’s not just the international reach
and open membership, Marine says, that has made the site
a success. “We put a lot of effort in attending to our
members and our buyers,” he says of the family-run
business. “We want to be beloved.” ■
A GALLERY IN
THE CLOUDS
Eugene-based online gallery
brings buyers and artists together
T
here is a gallery in Eugene with more than 66,000
paintings from over 900 artists. That’s twice as
many artworks than are currently on display in
the Louvre Museum. You’re not going to fi nd
Daily Paintworks on any art walk, however, be-
cause it’s in the cloud; it’s online.
“The internet is transforming art — the art industry —
just the way it has with music and publishing,” David
Marine, co-founder of Daily Paintworks, says.
Daily Paintworks comes from an idea credited to artist
For more information, visit dailypaintworks.com
BY ANNA G RACE
IMAGE COURTESY OF CLIFF COLES/EUGENE OPERA
THEATER
Duane Kaiser: If a fine arts painter wants to make a living,
the painter should complete at least one small painting a day,
post it online and try to sell it at an affordable price (around
$100) via sites like eBay. Daily Paintworks multiplied this
idea, ushering in artists and buyers from around the world,
from Eugene to India. The online gallery, as a result, has
been a success, but it wasn’t always so.
The Marines relocated to Eugene a year ago after a
devastating fire in Central Texas swallowed their home.
“We didn’t lose anybody, but we lost everything,” Marine
FOR THIS PIRATE, IT’S PERSONAL
Mark Beudert directs Eugene Opera production of Pirates of Penzance
T
he year is 1980. Columbia University student
Mark Beudert stood at the edge of the stage,
coming in on the right note along with the rest of
the chorus, as Kevin Klein and Linda Ronstadt
rocked the house in a wildly successful Broad-
way production of Pirates of Penzance.
Fast-forward 32 years and leap across the nation,
Beudert is back at it again. This time he fills the director’s
chair, but still utilizing the lessons he learned as a
sophomore to inform a new production of the Gilbert and
Sullivan classic.
28
December 27, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
First and foremost among those lessons is a clear
disinclination for gimmicks. This production is in “full
faith with the original text,” Beudert notes. Harkening
back to that long ago Broadway production, Beudert says,
“What impressed me about Kevin Kline (and others) were
that they were serious, intelligent, intense artists who were
respectful of the original material.” Describing Kline’s
performance, he noted, “If you can trust the material, all
you have to do is be good.”
So don’t expect this production to go digging in the
gutter (or trolling the internet) for pop references to keep
you entertained. “I keep telling my chorus,” Beudert says,
“if you don’t do it in real life, don’t do it on stage.” Of
course, I say to Beudert, these are theater people, so
heaven knows what they do in real life. No comment.
Producing a light, clever Gilbert and Sullivan piece is
like a field day for opera people, for whom an ordinary
day’s work might include long-winded death scenes and
the most tragic love stories. “We’re enjoying ourselves
more than is probably legal,” Beudert admits. For those
unfamiliar with the plot, it is a wonderfully goofy love
story between a pirate and the daughter of a “modern
major general,” with more outrageous plot twists than a
choose-you-own-adventure story.
I asked how similar this production would be to his
original experience with the work, and Beudert says, “Very
reminiscent … It is a particular pleasure to be revisiting it.”
Beudert’s day job is running the opera program at the
University of Notre Dame, yet he spends as much time
with the Eugene Opera as he can. His enthusiasm for
Eugene Opera bubbles forth as we speak, “Eugene has
always been known for snagging really good artists, really
young.” While, he says, “all the singers are excellent,”
Beudert seems particularly excited about “our Pirate King
(Mark Walters), a well-known, up-and-coming American
baritone specializing in the great Verdi roles.” He is also
thrilled to be working with Angela Theis and Joshua
Dennis, “our Mabel and Frederic, two young singers on
the cusp of great careers.”
When I ask what he hopes to leave audiences with after
the production, it is clear that he wants us to take away the
same gift this production has given him: “Joy.” ■
Pirates of Penzance runs 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 28, and Monday, Dec. 31,
and 2:30 pm, Dec. 30, at the Hult Center; $20-$84.