Downtown received some color last Wednesday as the City of Eugene unveiled the winner of Ethos Magazine’s Spirit of Summer art competition.
Mayor Kitty Piercy, Chamber of Commerce President Dave Hauser, Community Events Manager Billie Moser, Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns and Ninkasi Brewery’s James Book were all in attendance at the ceremony, as eager Eugene art enthusiasts and a handful of journalism students took their first glimpse of the colorful 7-by-17 foot banner.
The untitled “temporary public art installation,” as Ethos’ former Editor-in-Chief Kevin Bronk described it, is located on the northwest corner of West 8th Avenue and Willamette Street, on the east side of the Parcade Parking Structure.
Matt Wiggins, the artist of the winning piece, produced illustrations and design work for Ethos in the past, and according to his biography on the magazine’s Web site, is currently studying art and design at Lane Community College. Wiggins’ inspiration for his entry came from his experiences of past summers, when he met the colorful people whom he tried to recreate in the piece.
The city’s Public Art Program Manager Isaac Marquez said that the contest was organized in part to achieve the goals set by the Eugene Public Art Committee, one of which is to implement more temporary public artwork.
“The community wanted to vastly increase the space for two-dimensional public art, so we capitalized on this outside location,” Marquez said. “We also wanted a variety of art, and of the 200 pieces in [the city’s] collection, none are from graphic artists like this one.”
The city used the unveiling to kick off a series of free summer-long family friendly events dubbed “Summer in the City,” an indirect goal of which is to provide a “stimulus to local businesses” through tourist and recreational activities held downtown, Marquez said.
Rachael Mitchell, Ethos’ development director, described the competition as an opportunity to build a relationship with the City of Eugene and to continue the publication’s growing relationship with Ninkasi Brewery.
“It was an opportunity to work with two entities that support what we do as a multicultural publication,” Mitchell said. “It was a development event in the way that it show(ed) people that we support the idea of putting public art in our community.”
Marquez said he thinks the banner captures the essence of Eugene, saying “public art like this helps the community with its identity and tells a lot about who we are and what we are about.”
Following this logic, the banner represents Eugene graphically with half a dozen airborne ducks flocking around street musicians, a pair of beer drinkers, fan-powered bike riders, headphone-clad skateboarders and a shirtless, dreadlocked iconoclast holding a guitar case with a laughing baby strapped to his chest.
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