Welcome back to campus! After an action-packed summer of thrilling sporting events like the Oregon22 IAAF World Championships, it’s time to pick up the books… and experience all the arts the university has to offer.
Two popular events are back: Ducks After Dark with select weekly film screenings and free craft activities, both at the Erb Memorial Union. Latinx Heritage Month, which runs from mid-September to mid-October, also has many celebrations and events planned.
If you’re a new student, be sure to visit the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and the UO Libraries. Each offers events, presentations and new and permanent exhibitions throughout the year.
celebrations
The popular biannual ASUO Street Faire returns on October 12th. Held on East 13th Avenue in the heart of campus, visitors can browse unique gifts and handcrafted items offered by artisans and nonprofits, and sample appetizing dishes from a variety of food vendors.
The 41st annual celebration of el Día de los Muertos begins on November 1st. In Mexico, when the souls of the dead return to this world for a few short hours each year, they are greeted with a feast of all the food and drink that pleases them in life. Take part in the Día de los Muertos procession through UO campus and experience a traditional Day of the Dead celebration with performances by Los Musiqueros, dances by the Ensamble Identidad y Folclor and an art exhibition by Grabadores Guanajuatenses. That ofrendas, or changes will be on display to the public from October 26th to November 2nd.
exhibitions
An online session entitled “Memory Work for Black Lives” is planned for October 21-22. The two-day event brings together Black activists, community members, speakers, librarians and archivists to discuss the power of Black archival memory and community archives. The session is being held in conjunction with Don’t Shoot Portland’s Archives for Black Lives: A Liberated Archives exhibit at the Knight Library.
Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea opens September 28 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Featuring artworks by 48 modern and contemporary artists, the exhibition examines popular culture, accepted historical narratives, misconceptions, and racial stereotypes surrounding this iconic region of the United States.
music
Immerse yourself in music again at the Beall Concert Hall. October concerts include Sphinx Virtuosi, a self-conducted orchestra dedicated to bringing the power of diversity to art, on October 9; Oregon Wind Symphony, Oct. 20; UO Symphony Orchestra on October 21; a birthday celebration with music by the romantic composer Franz Liszt, Oct. 22; [email protected] presents the Faure Piano Quartet on October 30th. And don’t miss the eerie sounds of the pipe organ at Pipe Screams, a Halloween organ performance, also on October 30.
handicrafts
Who doesn’t love a craft project? Take a break from studying and do something great at Freebie Fridays from 12pm to 2pm at EMU. Create fun designs and patterns with Sculpey clay on October 7th. Plan your destiny on October 14 with a collage board. Make a friendship bracelet for your best friend on October 21st. Paint a Pumpkin Rock on October 28th and stock up on Halloween costume ideas with all the necessities: glue guns, sequins, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pom poms, puffy paint and more. All UO students are welcome to these free weekly events.
movie theater
On October 13th, take a look inside the film business at an interactive, hands-on Professional Edge workshop. Film Finance 101 attendees learn from industry insiders how to develop a budget and pitch ideas to potential investors.
Ducks After Dark returns! The month kicks off on October 6th at the EMU Redwood Auditorium with The Bob’s Burgers Movie, complete with free burgers from Little Big Burger for the first 200 guests. On October 13, two selfish actors will compete against each other in the “Official Competition”. When an interdimensional rift unravels reality, an unlikely heroine must channel her newfound powers to battle bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance on October 20 in Everything Everywhere All at Once . Just in time This Halloween, get ready for another trip back in time with Frank-N-Furter, Brad and Janet, Riff Raff, Magenta and the gang in cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show on October 27th. Free entry for UO students with a valid UO ID.
lectures
Join Portland artist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation Brenda Mallory for an artist talk on October 5 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art about her work with reclaimed materials, including fabric, fiber, beeswax, and found objects. Mallory’s work addresses notions of interference and disruption in long-established systems of nature and human culture.
The symposium “Prudence and Curiosity in the Early Modern Collection” on October 21 at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History examines the political relationship between statecraft and art from the perspective of art history and the history of science.
Join photographer, installation artist and cultural activist Lonnie Graham for A Conversation with the World at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on October 15. A Conversation with the World includes work created in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Rim and the… Europe have emerged and America. Graham meets individuals and through mutual trust takes a portrait and records a conversation. Regardless of age, gender or nationality, all were asked the same eight questions about origin, family, life, death, values, tradition and thoughts on western culture. Their individual portraits and responses form the content of the project, which the artist hopes will “penetrate beneath the superficial patina of cultural differences to explore people’s essential and fundamental motivations, to reveal the connectedness inherent in our humanity make. ”
Artist V. Maldonado will present an artist talk on October 23 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. “Geographies of Liberation: Self, Land, Mind” focuses on self-design and transformational themes, as well as current and past multidisciplinary works, including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, performance, and poetry.
Vancouver-based artist Liz Magor will present I Have Wasted My Life, a lecture by George and Matilda Fowler, at Lawrence Hall on October 27. The artist presents her most recent sculptural and photographic works. Magor’s process and studio practice were featured in Season 8 of the PBS series Art 21, “Art in the Twenty-first Century.”
streaming resources
Can’t come to an event in person? Google Arts & Culture is a great starting point for finding exhibitions, collections, audio, video, images and more.
Explore the UO channel for a variety of livestream events, videos of the Department of Art guest artists’ lecture series, guest speakers and more.
– By Sharleen Nelson, University Communications
