Document text
43 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 9, 2004 Jaan Arveguin, 7, of Medford looks through a kaleidoscope during the Art in Bloom festival in downtown Medford Saturday. The show continues from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Medford blooms with art downtown By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Jaan Arveguin holds one of artist Geri Omohundro’s kaleidoscopes to his eye and smiles. "Freaky," the Medford 7-year-old says. The scope contains a mirror that produces seemingly infinite images: mandala, fireworks, psychedelic explosions. Omohundro, a jeweler who got into making kaleidoscopes 15 years ago, came from Hagerman, Idaho, to sell her wares at Art in Bloom, the annual downtown Medford festival celebrating art and flowers, where Jaan and his mom were strolling. The festival was conceived four years ago as a magnet to draw regional artists and thousands of participants to a slowly revitalizing downtown core. It’s back again, probably bigger and better, and it continues from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today (Sunday). This is not your father’s downtown Medford. Advertisement Daisies, lavender and coral bells crowd the planters in busy Vogel Plaza. Beekeepers’ boxes festooned with flowers line "Theater Alley" next to the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in an area dubbed "Bee Bop" for the weekend. Even the trash cans are festive. They’ve been painted with suns and flowers by area schoolkids. Central and Bartlett are closed off, and people on foot browse the art booths. Vendors hawk teriyaki, hot dogs and grinders. There’s wine tasting across from the Rogue Gallery and Art Center. A beer garden has been scratched from the lineup this year. Omohundro praised the festival’s organization. "The Friday night reception brought together artists and patrons," she says. "It was nice to mingle. Not many shows do that." Wildlife artist Dave Bartholet, who brought more than 200 pieces from his Seaside studio, echoes that. "It’s very nice," he says. "This is what towns need to do." In Bartholet’s booth, wood ducks glide through tules, glistening salmon strike elusive flies and a lone buffalo faces the prairie vastness. Portland jeweler Catherine Stemper says she usually sells her work at larger events in Seattle, Portland and Lake Oswego, but she enjoyed Southern Oregon when she used to take part in Jacksonville art shows. "I always did well here," she says. "I like coming." Several downtown merchants, however, criticized the festival, which they said hurt business last year by allowing vendors to park trucks on Main Street during the day, taking up prime parking real estate. "We had a moving van here last year," says Bob Galas of Father and Son Jewelers. "You couldn’t see the store." So Galas, who says he is not opposed to the festival, had a dozen signs made up saying there was no vendor parking, and merchants put them out front. Galas says it helped. In addition, several vendors were ticketed. Returning to the festival this year is Smudge Pot Pourri, a popular, tongue-in-cheek art event that started three years ago with artists being challenged to turn old smudge pots (small orchard heaters) from pear orchards into whimsical art objects. An auction of the pots last year raised $57,000 for Rogue Gallery, the Craterian and the festival. Among the pots are "Ode to a Grecian Urn," a pot that looks like an ancient amphora right down to those silly likenesses of naked ancient Olympics athletes. Check out "Lab Pot," Bob and Bridget Udall’s happy Labrador retriever. There is a striking black horse created by Bogata, Columbia, artist Arlenson Roncansio. But, "You haven’t seen anything until you’ve see the smudge pot crew working on the Jackson Pollock pot," Rogue Gallery director Judy Barnes says laughing. Pollock was famed for throwing paint at his canvasses. The centerpiece of the event remains a juried exhibit of works by artists from around the Northwest. The exhibit at the Rogue Gallery runs to floral subjects in keeping with the Art in Bloom theme. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers