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VIZ CITY BLOG: Audio, photos, transcripts & more by Terry Way and Sandy Brown Jensen.Airs every other Wednesday during Morning Edition and Here & Now.

Put Art Back into the Heart of the Holidays

Sandy Brown Jensen
/
KLCC

This is Sandy Brown Jensen, and you’re listening to Viz City, KLCC’s arts review program.

I hope you’ve been able to find your way to the Park Blocks in downtown Eugene for the outdoor Holiday Market. It’s been open for some beautiful weekend weather, but if it rains when you go, don a mask, pop an umbrella, and wander at will among the many gift vendors selling all handmade and original art. I collect dolls from around the world and display them every holiday season in a Parade of All Nations.

My husband stopped at the booth of Kaulean Morningstar and purchased a gift of a wonderfully vivid African-American doll of wire and felt. Kaulean is a master dollmaker who paid very close attention to the details of the face and costume and the headful of softly braided felt dreadlocks. Her name is Sadie.

Credit Sandy Brown Jensen
The Holiday Market is outdoors this year to help prevent spread of the coronavirus. People are socially distanced and wearing masks.

We were pushing my 94 year old, blind Mom in a wheelchair. Vendors were very kind in letting her touch items and then they diligently disinfected the item. I appreciate how on point everyone is to make the Holiday Market experience both safe and festive.

Elsewhere around the area, there’s more art to be seen and gift shops to explore. At the Emerald Art Center, walk into De Colores, a juried exhibit showcasing the work of LatinX artists. Also look for the softly glowing photography of the Artist of the Month Linda Deverow. At the Maude Kerns Art Center, the current Art for All Seasons Member show can also be seen online. The New Zone is overflowing with good things at their two locations, and the PhotoZone Gallery is featuring the dramatic bird photography of Greg Geisy.

Credit Sandy Brown Jensen
The owner of this booth, called Ferret and Stash, was a history major. He explains that in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries doctors wore beak-like masks filled with aromatics to ward off disease.

Around the corner from the PhotoZone is the Karin Clarke Gallery and a big, bold exhibit of Adam Grososky’s new oil paintings. Across the street, at the White Lotus, you’ll find an exciting new show of acrylics by Jon Jay Cruson. His large, stylized landscapes open up into vast skies that are quite wonderful.

As always, check websites for hours and always mask up. This has been Sandy Brown Jensen for KLCC’s Viz City!

Copyright 2020 KLCC.

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