Pastels, portraits and locally made paints say little of the two floors of featured artists and vendors at The Duck Store’s 30th annual “Tools of the Trade” show Nov. 9-10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.@@http://www.klcc.org/Calendar.asp?View=EVENT&EventID=27277&Date=11/09/2011&SectionID=48@@
The crowded interior is stacked from end to end with all types of art. From bookbinding to watercolor and many mediums in between, artists mingle and jostle among vibrant colors and expressed passion.
“The idea is for students and those in the community to come and learn new techniques,” Creative Duck team leader Rachel Witt said.@@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rachel-witt/7/645/766@@ “My hope is that people will come to the show and get inspired.”
Don Colley, a staff artist for Faber-Castell@@http://artgraphic.fabercastell.com/video/@@, created an evocative, original piece of art depicting the local flora and prevalent forms of art in Eugene to auction off at the event in honor of the 30th anniversary of the “Tools of the Trade” show.
“My girlfriend is a teacher, and she’s always telling me about the high cost of art supplies,” Colley said. The proceeds of this auction will go toward the purchase of art supplies for El Camino del Rio, Centennial and Yolanda elementary schools in the Eugene and Springfield area.@@http://www.school-supply-list.com/states/oregon/ AND google mapped the locations@@
“It’s great to see vendors come and demo products (the students) might not know about,” University alumnus and landscape architect Nathan Stowe said. “When I was a student here, my friends and I would save up until the show, and buy all the supplies that we could.” During the show, the Duck Store offers a 25 percent discount on all art supplies. “If I had any advice for art students today, I would recommend that you try every type of material and medium that you can. See what works best for you.”
M. Graham, an oil paints company of Hubbard, Ore.@@http://mgraham.com/ AND http://www.manta.com/c/mm4bnqn/m-graham-co@@, has been coming to the event from the beginning of their company 20 years ago.
“We’re pretty small. There are eight of us and a cat,” co-owner Art Graham@@http://www.manta.com/c/mm4bnqn/m-graham-co@@ said. “We get a lot of good feedback here since we’re local. In this economy, there’s always a good reaction that we actually manufacture what we sell.”