In 1863, the Salon des Refuses in Paris, France, represented a turning point in the history of art. That year, 2,800 canvases were rejected from the emperor’s art show, provoking a strong enough protest among the “refuses” that Emperor Napoleon III took notice and organized a second exhibit dedicated solely to the rejected works.
In 1991, Eugene’s art scene experienced a similar turning point when the local artists whose works were rejected from the annual Mayor’s Art Show organized a protest and ultimately formed their own Salon des Refuses, which has been held every year since 1991 .
If you want to kill two birds with one stone, the upcoming First Friday ArtWalk, sponsored by the Lane Arts Council, will feature both the Mayor’s Art Show and the Salon des Refuses.
The ArtWalk, held monthly, is a free guided tour of downtown Eugene’s art galleries and visual arts attractions. The upcoming walk, which is scheduled for Oct. 7, will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Mayor’s Art Show at the Jacobs Gallery, located on the lower level of the Hult Center, and will conclude with the Salon des Refuses at the DIVA gallery, located at 110 W. Broadway.
According to Andrew Toney, executive director of the Lane Arts Council, October’s ArtWalk is particularly special because of its inclusion of the Mayor’s Art Show and that the Salon des Refuses should give a exceptionally good taste of the local art scene.
“There are some very talented artists around here,” Toney said. “Eugene has an extremely rich artistic and cultural community that, unfortunately, students don’t always stay connected to.”
Miriam Jordan, executive assistant and special events coordinator at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University, has attended almost every ArtWalk for the past two years. She believes the event, which is hosted by a often allows walkers to speak with the artists featured, has great potential to teach students about the visual arts and artists in our community.
“Art enriches our lives and elevates our cultural understanding of humanity,” Jordan said. “It is important for UO students to know about what is available in the areas of arts and culture in the Eugene downtown, which is near and within walking distance.”
Lane Arts Council’s arts program assistant Heidi Durden, a recent UO graduate, agreed that it is important for students to involve themselves in the local arts scene.
“It may not always be your cup of tea, but at least it gets you off campus,” she said. “Campus can be a great comfort zone, but you gotta break away at some point and actually get into the city and see what’s happening.”
If this year’s Salon des Refuses serves as any proof, there is quite a lot happening in the Eugene art scene. The Salon’s exhibit coordinator Steve LaRiccia said the display, co-hosted by DIVA and the New Zone artist’s collective, will feature 292 pieces of art by the same number of individual artists. Almost 450 pieces of art were originally submitted to the mayor’s show, he said.
“The Salon is important not only to the artists, but to the community as well,” LaRiccia explained. “It’s a way to showcase what’s out there. It’s a real pulse of the art community.”
It was a common misconception in the past, LaRiccia said, that the exhibit’s name translated to “a place for the trash.” This is nonsense, he said, because some artists will enter their work in the mayor’s show just so they can be rejected and become a part of the Salon. Several have even been disappointed when they ended up actually being accepted into the mayor’s show.
While LaRiccia said none of the pieces in the Salon are officially judged, $5 ribbons are available for purchase by visitors to the exhibit. They are hung next to the visitor’s chosen piece and, at the end of the show, the artists are given the money they accumulated through their prizes.
“It’s like a musician’s tip jar,” LaRiccia said, “And it also gets back to the original idea behind the Salon, which was to let the public decide what they like.”
LaRiccia said the Salon des Refuses is a great place for the ArtWalk to conclude this month – a location, he said, where the walking can end and the partying can begin.
“We’re gonna do it up right,” LaRicca said. “We will have music, food, wine, non-alcoholic drinks – and it’s all free. It’ll be crowded and it may not be the very best time to see the art, but it will definitely be a good time.”
For more information on the First Friday ArtWalk or the Mayor’s Art Show, visit the Lane Arts Council’s Web site at www.lanearts.org. For more information on the Salon des Refuses, visit DIVA’s Web site at www.divanow.org.

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