March marks the arrival of the spring equinox and “weather” it comes in like a lion or a lamb, it’s a good excuse to get out and celebrate the changing of the season at any number of inspiring arts-related events happening around campus.

On tap this month are tons of great film screenings, everything from Asian-American-themed films to films about avant-garde “mermaiding” activists and teenage vampires, Nordic humanoids and an evangelical Christians vs. drag queens documentary. Try your hand at button making if you’re feeling crafty, learn about the history of the color red or giant ground sloths, or maybe just follow your gut and attend one of this month’s always popular, always free Quack Chats pub events.

Art

Got the wintertime blahs? Come out to the Erb Memorial Union on March 14 and make some buttons. The Student Sustainability Center and Zero Waste have all the button-making supplies you’ll need to create your very own.

On March 14 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, interior architecture students from Tom Bonamici’s furniture design course will showcase the pieces they created in response to objects from the Margo Grant Walsh Collection of silver and metalwork on display at the museum.

Exhibitions

Opening March 2 at the art museum is Korda y el espíritu de la Revolución cubana (Korda and the Spirit of the Cuban Revolution), an exhibition of iconic images symbolizing the Cuban revolution by photographer Alberto Korda. Although Korda photographed Fidel Castro’s major political events from 1959 to 1968, he also followed his own artistic pursuits, which included photographing the men who led the Cuban Revolution.

In this group of vintage photographs is Korda’s portrait of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, titled “Guerillero Heroíco, 1960,” one of the most reproduced images in the world. The exhibition runs through July 21.

“The Launch of the Red Thread Digital Project and Traveling Scriptorium” may sound like the title of a fantastical adventure film about medieval manuscripts, but it’s actually a digital exhibition about the color red and the rich and dramatic role the pigment has played in in the history of science, art, culture, commerce and war. The Traveling Scriptorium, which will accompany the exhibit, showcases more than 100 premodern materials used in manuscripts, books and paintings. The March 7 event will be held in the DREAM Lab at the Knight Library.

What could be more entertaining than an evening of science, art and giant, ancient sloths? Find out March 20 when designer Liz White and UO graduate paleontologist Kellum Tate-Jones explore the world of scientific illustration at “Giant Sloths of the Ice Age”, a #SciArt Night at Viking Braggot Co. Stick around and paint your very own giant ground sloth with art party host Thirst 2 Create.

And there’s still time to get over to the art museum to catch the “Fernand Léger’s Cirque and the Livre D’Artiste” exhibition before it disappears March 24. A collaboration between French modernist painter Fernand Leger and book publisher Tériade, these large-format books are paired with handwritten text and original artwork from a number of celebrated 20th century artists.

Music performance

Is it a flash mob if you know about it ahead of time? Shhh, here’s the scoop: March 6, noon, Erb Memorial Union near the O Desk, be there for the Thrill the World dance group’s performance of “Thriller,” Michael Jackson’s classic zombie-choreographed extravaganza along with several other pop-inspired dances.

Experience dance up close March 8 at the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts when the Eugene Ballet and the UO Department of Dance unite to perform “Interplay,” a collaborative presentation featuring an array of immersive and technically challenging choreographed work.

Cinema

In its 14th year, the popular Nordic Landscape in Contemporary Film Winter 2019 series, offered by the UO Department of Landscape Architecture, continues with three films in March. They include “Real Humans” on March 1, a film about “hubots,” humanoids who serve as companions, workers and sex toys; the crime drama “Zero Tolerance” on March 8; and “Love is All you Need,” about a young Danish couple’s bumpy ride to the altar, on March 15. Each film will be preceded by a 20-minute lecture covering aspects of the Nordic landscape.

Who doesn’t love a FREE movie? And if you’re a UO student with a valid UO ID, FREE popcorn and FREE soda for you! Come out to the EMU Redwood Auditorium on March 7 for Ducks After Dark’s screening of “Venom,” the 2018 action-adventure flick based on the popular Marvel Comics’ Spiderman villain.

Welcome to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, home of Christ of the Ozarks, the largest Jesus statue in North America and a thriving and active LGBTQ community. On March 13 Schnitzer Cinema presents “The Gospel of Eureka,” a slice-of-life documentary chronicling the evangelical Christians and drag queens who somehow manage to coexist in this Southern Bible Belt community. Guest director Michael Palmieri.

Mark your calendar for the 14th annual Asian American Film Festival, March 15-17 at the EMU Redwood Auditorium with an opening night gala the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Over the course of the three-day DisOrient festival, attendees can screen 37 documentaries, feature films and shorts that aim to dismantle one-dimensional stereotypes of the “Oriental.” From the dangerous and thrilling, the comedic and dramatic to the stunningly thought-provoking, the films, which chronicle the unique and varied experiences of Asian people, cover a range of topics, including the incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans in 1942, skateboarding, the phenomenon of Vietnamese nail salons, addiction and more.

Lectures

On March 4, join German experimental film artists Miriam Gossing and Lina Sieckmann, who will present “Mermaiding: German Avant-garde Filmaking and Portland Lore — A Lecture/Workshop on Combining Academic Research and Artistic Filmmaking.” Their work with mermaid activists from Portland and teenage vampires from Forks, Washington, combines documentary imagery and fiction with found footage to explore architecture and hyper-staged environments as landscapes of desire. The event is sponsored by the departments of German and Scandinavian, anthropology, cinema studies, folklore and public culture, and the Oregon Humanities Center and Office of the Provost.

Join Alberto Mira, a film scholar on queer studies and Iberian cinema who teaches at Oxford Brookes University, on March 6 as he discusses the film “Inocencia y experiencia: infancias diferentes en Estiu 1993 (Clara Simó) y Pa negre (Agustí Villaronga).” Then, on March 7, Steven Marsh from the University of Illinois at Chicago will lecture on the film “Cast Adrift: Zama as an Historical Film of Non-Arrival.”

Shadi Harouni, visiting assistant professor and director of the undergraduate program in studio art at New York University at Steinhardt, will speak March 7 on the metaphysics of hope that exists in contested bodies, forbidden objects and forgotten spaces in “Of Myth and Monument.” Harouni studies disavowed and marginalized histories of dissent and resistance, primarily in the Middle East.

Quack Chats

Drink beer, have fun, learn something new at several pub talks occurring this month. On March 6, join Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council’s Audrey Squares for “Ideas on Tap: Changing Landscapes, Evolving Practices” at Viking Braggot’s Southtown Pub to learn how you can get involved with habitat restoration projects in your community. Or, head over to the Downtown Athletic Club Ax Billy Grill & Sports Bar and hear UO Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English and Environmental Studies Stephanie LeMenager’s Quack Chats pub talk on energy, climate, culture and the role of the arts and humanities in “What Arts and Culture Can Teach Us About Climate Change.”

Ever wondered whether you should trust your gut? Join UO biologist Annie Zemper, who will discuss the fascinating area of gut science in her Quack Chats pub talk “Your ‘Gut Feelings:’ Where Do They Actually Come From? An Exploration of Gut Science” on March 20 at the Downtown Athletic Club Ax Billy Grill. All Quack Chats events are free.

—By Sharleen Nelson, University Communications