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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2018)
NEWS POLLUTION UPDATE BY KYLA RAMSEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS LEARNING NEW SKILLS A3 High School sends two seniors to New Zone for a month-long internship I love while also learning how to plan, has given me a lot of insight into how established artists treat their work.” Cunningham says the experience with the interns was eye- opening. “They each created fabulous pieces with no guidance from me other than basic instructions. I was available to help but left them to come up with their own ideas and only made suggestions as to how to use the materials.” Ashburn and Whitworth plan to give back to the artists who have spent their time working with them. While interning, the two students found that exposure was a gray area for most peo- ple, and that many artists weren’t sure how to market their art online. “Social media is a crucial part of making money off your work, or receiving any recognition,” Ashworth says, “but a lot of artists feel uncomfortable posting work online. The biggest worry is that their artwork can be stolen.” The two contacted Cunningham about putting together a so- cial media workshop at the gallery to teach skills like adding watermarks on photos, using hashtags to organize art and, most important, by finding their preferred platform. “I am hopeful to get a session scheduled with New Zone artists — and anyone else who might be interested — so the students can teach us about Instagram and other social media ideas many of us know little or nothing about. That would be a real contribution to the gallery,” Cunningham says. Ashburn and Whitworth feel at home at the gallery. “New Zone Gallery has given us the first step into diving into the Eu- gene arts community, and I feel like I wasn’t even aware of it. It felt so natural, and I feel so comfortable meeting new people and working with them,” Ashburn says. “They came to us outgoing, energetic young women, which has made working with them very easy,” Cunningham says. “Being an artist is simply doing art. Having the knowledge that they can do art, in many mediums, may well help them consider a more artistic approach to both a career and life.” T he New Zone Gallery in downtown Eugene is home to a diverse community of local artists. But last month, it was also home to two high school students learning the ins and outs of art gallery work with the help of the arts community. Seniors Sara Ashburn and Satysha Whitworth are high school interns for New Zone through the Academy of Arts and Academics internship program. They say they hope to expand their artistic horizons with the opportunity to work for a local art gallery. “Both of us put down that we wanted something art related, so we ended up grouped together,” Whitworth says. The internship program provides high school juniors and se- niors the opportunity to intern for local businesses around Eu- gene and Springfield. These internships last the entire month of January and replace classes with work experience. At first, Ashburn and Whitworth spent their time cleaning the gallery itself, hanging artwork, filling nail holes in the walls from previous displays and scrubbing floors. “It was great, I felt like Cinderella!” Ashburn jokes. Within the first week of working there, New Zone Gallery President Dianne Cunningham began filling the interns’ sched- ules and arranging meetings with the artists who are part of the New Zone Gallery community. “The artists of New Zone have been wonderful in stepping up to give the students their time and resources, nurturing them in the particular medium each artist uses. Some artists have not worked much with younger folks,” Cunningham says. “I think perhaps the learning may have gone both ways at times.” The students meet with artists in their homes and receive les- sons about how to use the medium of the artist’s choice. When asked how these experiences have benefitted them academical- ly and artistically, Ashburn says, “working with different artists every day helps me manage my time, since we only have a few hours with one before we have to go meet another. Making art within that time limit really challenges me in a fun way.” Whitworth adds, “Artistically, I feel like I’m overly self critical and get hung up on details, but working with artists who just tell me to start working, just create and make something IT’S ABOUT TIME BY D AV I D WA G N E R New Zone Gallery is hosting a one-night opening for Ashburn and Whitworth’s art 5:30 pm Friday, Feb. 2, during the February First Friday. New Zone is located at 220 W. 8th Avenue. This article was written by Eugene Weekly’s own A3 intern. A lthough spring does not begin officially until Equinox in March, Eugeneans might well pronounce that spring begins on Lunar New Year, Feb. 16, this year. It’s also the average first bloom of native flowering plants that have flowers pollinated by insects, such as osoberry and spring beauty. Native filbert, having wind pollination, actually began releasing pollen last month. Without petals or nectar, the catkins billowing billions of pollen grains activated the season’s first attack in allergy sufferers. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent a pre-enforcement notice to San Mateo, California-based J.H. Baxter & Co., Jan. 18 for illegal discharges of copper and of the wood preservative pentachlorophenol at its Roosevelt Boulevard facility in Eugene. J.H. Baxter’s pentachlorophenol discharges violated its Clean Water Act permit in December 2016 and in January, February and November of 2017, and its copper discharges violated its Clean Water Act permit in November of 2017. DEQ classified the violations as serious, and noted that “[p]entachlorophenol and copper are toxic to many organism[s].” J.H. Baxter’s Clean Water Act permit expired at the end of October of 2015, and requires monitoring of pentachlorophenol and copper just once a month. Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY INFORMATION • Roseburg Resources, 541-679-3311, plans to spray clopyralid, glyphosate, hexazinone, imazapyr, indaziflam, metsulfuron methyl, oxyfluorfen and penoxsulam, sulfometuron methyl, triclopyr with amine, triclopyr with ester, Forest Crop Oil, WEB Oil, brush and basal oil, petroleum oil, emulsifier, Alligare 90 (non- ionic surfactant), Conquer, Crop Oil Concentrate, Insist 90, MSO Concentrate, Mor-Act, No Foam, R-11 on 200.9 acres east of Westfir. See ODF notification 2018-771-01639, call Tim Meehan at 541-726- 3588 with questions. • Roseburg Resources, 541-679-3311, plans to spray a similar list of chemicals on 253.9 acres in two areas south and west of Veneta. See ODF notification 2018-781-01619, call Brian Peterson at 541-935-2283 with questions • Weyerhaeuser Company, 541-746-2511, plans to apply Chlorophacinone rodenticide on 347.5 acres near North Fork Smith River and 179 acres near Sweet Creek and south of Swisshome. See ODF notifications 2018-781- 01775 and 2018-781-01780, call Quincy Coons at 541-935-2283 with questions. • Seneca Jones Timber, 541-689-1011, plans to spray roadsides in Lane County with 2,4-D, triclopyr, aminopyralid and/or MSO Concentrate. See ODF notifications 2018-781- 01542, 2018-781-01548, 2018-781-01549, 2018-781-01554, 2018-781-01598 and 2018-771-01737, call 541-935-2283 with questions. Compiled by Gary Hale, Forestland Dwellers: forestland- dwellers.org. After December’s freeze, cool winter rains presage early blooming, whether weedy like chickweed and cardamine or ornamentals like snowdrop, anemone and crocus. Daphne, daffodils and tulips will follow before we know it. The appearance of perennials signals it’s time to plant frost-hardy crops like snap peas, arugula and chard. Onion sets will be available soon. There has been a change in the number and kinds of birds visiting our home feeders. Many have moved away to look for nesting sites. Steller’s jays attack suet vigorously. Huge flocks of Canada geese cackling overhead means migrations are beginning. Digging our fingers in garden dirt distracts us momentarily from the grim prospects of global warming. The inability of our country’s administration to recognize the challenge of global warming is deeply discouraging. In the growing conflict between immediate profits and conservation, the drive to exploit is dominating politics. Society’s connection to nature is threatened, as the proportion of urban dwellers grows due to migration from country to city. Developing urban nature parks is critical for sanity. STELLER’S JAY, CYANOCITTA STELLERI David Wagner is a botanist who works in Eugene. He teaches moss classes, leads nature walks and makes nature calendars. He can be contacted through his website, fernzenmosses.com. read us online at eugeneweekly.com eugeneweekly.com • February 1, 2018 9
