Summer Windowfront Exhibitions welcomes the world to Eugene

The next installment of downtown Windowfront Exhibitions begins Friday, July 1 and is curated to greet visitors from around the world to the City of Eugene.

Running through Aug. 20, "Welcome World!" uses empty storefronts as canvases to introduce art inspired by the multitudes of international visitors who will be traveling to Eugene in July for the Oregon22 World Athletics Championships. The artists featured in this collection use a range of painting techniques, fiber arts, repurposed materials and digital media to share multicultural traditions and personal experiences with the rest of the world.

Six of this summer's Windowfront Exhibitions were created by participants in the City's Urban Canvas program. Urban Canvas accepts portfolios from artists of all experience levels, which are then shown to wall or window owners who have expressed interest in commissioning murals. Windowfront Exhibitions that were created by Urban Canvas artists include QR codes that can be scanned to play brief audio interviews of each artist describing the work on display.

Some highlights:

• 225 W. Broadway: "LIttLE BIG Bear" is an inspiring and educational color-along pop-up book written by Andre Royal Sr. and illustrated by his son, Andre Royal Jr.
• 224 W. Broadway: five artists collaborated on "Asian/American Contemporary Women Artists" to explore themes of independence and personal voice in this digital video presentation. Contributing artists include Helen Liu, Kum Ja Lee, Mei-Ling Lee, Mika Aono and Sandy Honda.
• 856 Willamette St.: artist Kim Ja Lee merges fiber arts and a variety of textiles with projections of light to create "Meditative Layers," an exploration of time and space worldviews from both Eastern and Western perspectives.
• 873 Willamette St.: explore a gallery of wearable, upcycled art and jewelry inspired by stencil graffiti and Mexican textiles in the Primera Pop-Up shop created by Mija Matriz.
• 833 Willamette St.: with "Queer Ancestries," "Self-Prophesies" and "Horse Girl Fantasies," a collective of three visual and written word artists examine the unseen moments of new growth. Artists include Eric Braman, Alex Evar and Melissa Rose.
• 99 W. 10th Ave.: Esteban Camacho Steffensen created his mural "Touching Balance" by incorporating painting with video to display the give-and-take relationship between humans and the ocean.

Windowfront artwork created by Urban Canvas artists:

• 1059 Willamette St.: for the mural "A Sunset Together," Pattrick Price used traditional formline designs and ancient petroglyph styles to create a comforting embrace that welcomes travelers to the community.
• 120 W. Broadway: Valentina Gonzalez (VRGNZ) painted a creation story using archetypes of the Jaguar and Coyote in "Celestial Migration."
• 1038 Willamette St.: in "Snow Birds," Alejandro Sarmiento mixes references from real life with images from his imagination.
• 133 W. Broadway: through a variety of painting techniques ranging from photorealism to impressions to total abstractions, Eleanor Soleil created "Humility of Narcissist IV" to weave the real with the imaginary and the symbolic.
• 41 W. Broadway: Janene Block painted "Spring Fling" to inspire excitement for life and new beginnings.
• 858 W. Park St.: for "Make Way," Lisa Yu used repurposed materials to celebrate ordinary life through subject matter, exhibition and media.

Cultural Services put out a call to artists for the spring installments and received dozens of inspiring proposals. The goal of the call was to provide professional opportunities for artists to present their work, support and increase the presence of art in downtown public spaces, celebrate diversity, engage community, provide a platform for historically under-served communities and support and increase positive interactive activities downtown.

Thanks to partners Broadway Place, Campbell Commercial Real Estate, Kesey Enterprises, Harmonic Laboratory, Pacific Real Estate Services Inc., Lane Council of Governments and Toxic Wings.

For more information, visit eugene-or.gov/windowfrontexhibitions or see the City of Eugene Cultural Services Facebook or Instagram pages (@eugculture).

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.