The Eugene Warehouse District Art Hop marks its first anniversary on Saturday, celebrating a year of welcoming the public into artist workspaces and building a creative community.
On the first Saturday of every month, artists and small businesses across the Warehouse District open their doors, inviting visitors to tour working studios, meet artists and experience everything from live music to pop-up markets.
The Art Hop was created by local artist Sarah Bush, who owns Fripp Jewelry and works out of the Pinebox warehouse studio. After years of selling her jewelry online, wholesale, and at markets, Bush realized she most enjoyed welcoming people into her own creative space.
“I just kept finding that direct to consumer is my favorite. I love interacting with people,” she said. “I feel a huge drive for wanting community engagement and yeah I also just love a warehouse scene.”
However, the Warehouse District–located in [part of Eugene]--doesn’t attract much foot traffic, so Bush began talking with neighboring businesses about creating an event that would encourage people to explore the area.
“It was my goal, in part, to showcase my jewelry and I also knew that foot traffic isn’t a thing,” she said. “I think I reached out to 10 places at first, and we had our first meeting (around) May 12 last year. We ended up calling it the Art Hop, because it’s not possible to walk it!”
Today, the event includes studios with kinetic art, metal working, printmaking, and glassblowing as well as a cafe and a brewery.
"The Art Hop is basically like a map or a route of different warehouse spaces,” said Bush. “It's basically like an open studio art crawl, and it runs pretty much all day on the first Saturday of the month."
For Bush, the warehouse setting is part of what makes the experience memorable.
“It’s neat because going into the different artist studios, the whole space is them,” she said. “And you can get a feel for like the energy behind the art, which is kind of special and unique.”
Bush said it also gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at how the artists create their work.
“They’re like ‘oh you want to see how that’s made’ and we’re all so eager to share too,” she said. “We’re just stoked that people are coming by, we love talking to people about what we do.”
Saturday’s anniversary Art Hop will include markets and live music, along with a scavenger hunt. The map and warehouse hours are available on the KLCC Shortcut.
