For those of you who’ve already read my brothers post, history’s going to somewhat repeat itself, sorry! I had a hard time coming up with something to do this assignment on, and am a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to find something better. Water under the bridge I guess. Friday, February 27th, was the last Friday artwalk in Eugene. As some of you probably already know, this event takes place the last Friday of every month. This month, most of it took place in the Whiteaker area in west Eugene. The event was scheduled to run from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm. My brother, and some of my other family, left right around 5:30 to head over and see what we could see. It was the first time I’ve ever been through there, that I can remember. It takes up most of the residential area over around Blair Boulevard. It was pretty dark by the time we got over there and found a place to park on the corner of 4th and Blair. Since it was the very first time any of us had ever attended a last Friday art walk and didn’t quite know what to expect, we decided to walk some of the streets in the area and observe some of the neighborhoods interesting features. I thought to myself as we were walking along, for it being an “art walk”, I’m sure not seeing a lot of art, as far as paintings/drawings. There was a really interesting mosaic sculpture made up of colorful shards of glass right on the corner of Van Buren and Blair that we stopped to take a look. It was four figures all standing back to back of each other. I snapped a picture of my brother giving one of them a high 5, and then we moved on! Further up Blair Blvd. was a Serbian Orthodox church that I thought had unique architecture with its onion domed roofs and arched windows and entry ways. We also walked past the Ninkasi Brewing Company building which also had an interesting design, especially the big gates which had the logo branded into the steel. Must have just been built within the last couple years, because I went on Google Earth to find out where it was located and as of September 2011, the only building that was there was a garage. We then retraced our steps and cut across W 3rd Ave. to Van Buren St. At a tattoo shop across the street, there was a guy twirling a flaming baton, which was kinda cool to watch. Before heading back to where we parked, we wandered up Blair in the opposite direction of where we had parked. I finally spotted the first painting that I had seen on the trip, though it was difficult to make out all of the details, because by then it was completely dark. As best as I could tell, it looked like a landscape mural. That was pretty much the last place we looked at before heading back. We wanted to stop and get a bite to eat at the little Papa’s Soul Food place there on the corner of 4th and Blair, but we would’ve been hard pressed to even get in the front door! Not a bad trip, but never was quite sure where all the art was!

Standing next to the mosaic sculpture on the corner of Van Buren and Blair.

For X4, I had originally intended to go with the informational interview option and try to find somebody in the multimedia or art field to interview, but as time became less and less and I wasn’t able to find someone I decided to change my mind and attend one of the events listed for the assignment. The event that I chose was the Last Friday Art Walk in Eugene. Neither my brother or I had really been to the Whiteaker area in Eugene (even though we had heard of it’s infamousness) so we thought it would be interesting to go check it out!

The drive over was interesting in and of itself because we left at about 5:30 and had to drive through Eugene right in the middle of rush hour so the traffic was insane, plus we didn’t know exactly where to go or what to expect. Once we got to the Whiteaker area we found a spot to park on Blair Blvd. and started walking down the street past the various shops and restaurants. I was kind of surprised that it didn’t seem like there was a lot going on at least on Blair Blvd. so we turned around and walked back up and took Van Buren Street. There was a little more to see on Van Buren. We stopped for a while at the very beginning of the street to examine a cool sculpture of 4 figures standing in a group. The sculpture was a mosaic crafted out of shards of glass and clay. The longer you looked at it the more it seemed you discovered. There were several smaller objects embedded in each figure that created scenes in the sculpture itself so it was like an image within an image!

Standing next to the sculpture on Van Buren St.

Continuing on, we walked a little further until we came to the Ninkasi Brewing Company and stopped to take some pictures. We didn’t go inside but had a fairly good view of the factory and equipment looking through the window. Our last stop was a Tattoo parlor where there was a guy twirling a fire baton. It was hard to get a very good picture because we were on the opposite side of the street and there was a lot of traffic.

Gate outside Ninkasi Brewing  Company.

Flame Dancing outside of Tattoo Parlor on Van Buren St.

This pretty much concluded our little adventure. We got back to where we parked which was outside of “Papa’s Soul Food” restaurant. We had planned on going in and eating but it was jam-packed as were many of the other restaurants in the area so we decided to go eat at Buffalo Wild Wings in Springfield instead.

Overall I thought the experience was interesting! Even though we didn’t stay a long time and see a lot, it was cool to get the opportunity to explore an area of Eugene I had never really been to before. I think if I was to do it again I would try going inside a few more places and hit a few more streets because I don’t think we covered the entire area that it was going on.

I had the honorable pleasure of getting a chance to speak to and interview one of, in my most humble of opinions, the most inspiring concept artists, Don Carson. He went to school at the Academy of Art University (at the time he went there it was known as the Academy of Art College) in San Francisco California and studied illustration. At the time he was a student the idea of a concept illustrator was unheard of, when he spoke with the current head of the department.

“You know, honestly, I really do not particularly care for doing finished paintings; I really like doing just the roughs. Is there a job where I can do nothing but the roughs?”

And she said.

“Absolutely not”

And so when he left the academy he did have a portfolio, but it was of the same items that he and his fellow students worked on and so, he had no real work to show. At that moment down the road he decided to take the skills he learned and to do a project just for him just for the heck of it and so he did paintings of Disneyland a sketchbook of the details of Disneyland. Even though he did not find a publisher it did however expand his portfolio with one hundred and fifty pieces of art that is quite a bit to have under your belt not bad for “just another Academy student”.

He has worked on numerous famous projects such as The Dickens Christmas Faire in San Francisco California, The Southern Renaissance Pleasure Faire in both Agoura and San Bernardino California, creating 3D products and environments at IMVU Inc. in Palo Alto California, and of course his work for Walt Disney Imagineering, The Jim Henson Company, Universal Studios, and his current work for Dreamworks. His full résumé is available on his website at http://doncarsoncreative.com/ as well as his blog.

This experience has inspired me to keep going at this full steam ahead! From hearing of his experiences to learning about what tools he used and still uses to the techniques he applies. Learn solid design basics, never be afraid of learning something new, look back on what you have learned, keep drawing and designing, understand good composition, color, value, anatomy, design, and the correct way to use art supplies will be something you will depend on every day of your career. The best structures, even artistic ones are only as good as their foundations, and never be afraid to use your imagination because you never what magic you can create with your own two hands.

In closing I am most grateful to have had this experience and I look forward to the experiences ahead I only hope to do proper credit to those who work and study in the field of concept and design. And so I sharpen my pencils and fire up my computer and will continue to work as hard and as best as I can. To the Undiscovered Country I set forth, excelsior!