SPRINGFIELD – Parks are being honored through art after an artistic frenzy of small creatives and a community art project gained momentum in Springfield.
A “free for all” art experiment for children, guided by a local artist last month, is now on display at the Willamalane Adult Activity Center.
Youngsters at the annual Children’s Celebration were invited to pick up a brush, smear on some paint, and showcase their budding artistic talent on a giant white canvas. The result is a colorful collection of shapes, structures, and splatters, creating an abstract landscape that covers the large canvas.
“I was like, ‘this thing’s going to be brown by the end of it,’ because they’re just splattering stuff everywhere,” said Kenny Weigandt, the community engagement Director for Willamalane. The end result … “is such a beautiful piece.”
Local artist Emil Good guided the project, and said this is their “first collaborative painting,” and hopes to do more. Good, who is an architectural designer with Pivot, stated on their social media that to prepare for the event, they stretched the canvas. They prepped it with outlines, and “after the event, I went over the artwork to make it complete.”
Good graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in interior architecture. Before joining PIVOT, they worked as a cabinet maker.
Together Through Parks Projects
Weigandt said that Good became involved with Willamalane art projects after submitting work to the “Together Through Parks Project,” which is underway throughout the summer.
The collaborative community art project features five black and white/grayscale art pieces displayed together at the Bob Keefer Center, accompanied by community submissions.
Each commissioned piece aims to inspire the public to explore the prompt, “How do Parks and Recreation bring us together?”
“A lot of people are drawing wilderness or nature. We have a lot of kids with a real connection to nature that’s being expressed,” Weigandt said, noting that, for those not necessarily artistically inclined, there are also fill-in-the-blank, MadLibs-style cards available.
“We’ve had some people who have been artistically using it as a survey,” he said. “They’ll draw what they want in the future, and that’s a wonderful way to give feedback to your parks.”
Good submitted another piece for this project, composed entirely of flat black shapes and negative space, creating abstracted human forms taking part in outdoor activities.
Bart Bemus’ work features a pair of hands tilted toward the audience, holding a tree that extends upward with a light bulb at its center, surrounded by radiating lines of light. Below, a paper doll chain is wrapped around the tree.
Melanie Pearson hosts Screaming Owl Studio out of her home in Eugene, where she also teaches. Her creation is a park scene featuring a winding path with a cyclist in the left foreground, a couple on a bench in the central right, and groups of people further down the path.
Melissa Ghiglieri’s piece also features hands, but hers hold a sapling, and around them are glimpses into other scenes, including a river, and people playing tennis.
Theodore Dillon is a rising freshman at the University of Oregon, where he will study arts and technology with a focus on illustration and concept art. His work shows multiple dogs in the foreground with a park in the distance.
All ages are encouraged to participate by submitting a piece throughout the summer.
Prompts are available at all Willamalane events and facilities. The prompt can be dropped off at one of its locations, or folks can mail the prompt back, as it doubles as a postcard.
