Jamie Walsh

After two years at Lansing Community College, close to her family home in suburban Holt, Michigan, Jamie Walsh and a couple of friends moved west to Los Angeles to establish California residency and decide where to go to school. "I didn't like LA at all," says Walsh, who headed north to study art history at Humboldt State in Arcata. "It's small, and nature is everywhere." She graduated in 2006, worked for three years at The Studio, an arts program for adults with developmental disabilities, then came to Eugene for a master's in arts management. As an intern with the Oregon Supported Living Program, she helped develop its Arts and Culture Program as part of her graduate project on arts programs for adults with disabilities. "It's a way for them to learn skills, to be productive, and be a part of the community," says Walsh, who got her MA in 2013 and became coordinator of the A&C Program when it opened the Lincoln Gallery at 309 W 4th Ave. "It all fell into place. I live a block away." The A&C Program offers open art studio hours and classes in many visual arts media, and in music, dance, yoga, and cooking. "We're open to anyone," Walsh notes. "You don't need to have a disability." On Sunday, August 16, 11am-5pm, A&C artists will take part in Print Eugene, a free event sponsored by Watershed Arts, at 291 Mill St in Eugene, featuring giant-sized woodblock prints rolled out by a street paving machine. Look for Walsh's own watercolor and acrylic paintings at the ArtWorks Gallery in Corvallis, during the Corvallis Artwalk on Thursday, August 20.