Calendar of Quirk: Just in time for homecoming week, the Linfield edition

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##“Love your mother” reads the small sign near the vivid rendition of a watermelon at the community garden next to Renshaw Hall.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##A former pedestrian ramp leads to a doorway long since covered in ivy on the south side of the Linfield library, a former Hewlett-Packard building.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Geometric figures, linear and abstract, kinetic or seemingly so, surround Linfield’s Miller Arts Center.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Distinctive purple curbing communicates the “no parking” message with school spirit, next to Walker Hall and Linfield Avenue.

Rusty Rae/News-Register##Friends gather at the Bar West Classic, an annual culinary event bringing together Linfield alumni and supporters, at Ford Hall plaza.

This is homecoming Week at Linfield University. Time to turn our attention to the many examples of Quirk to be found on the Wildcat campus. It’s fertile grounds for Quirk and you could say I’ve packed this week’s suitcase with extra socks. Also, full disclosure is in order: I am a 1980 grad and that heightens my attention to campus, and I often walk there since I live a few blocks away.

Oct. 9 We begin with Art Walk, at the southwest edge of campus, along Library Court and around Miller Art Center. About 30 sculptures, mostly wooden, line the trail and courtyards. Most are hard to define, but one dominant theme might be described as skewed geometry. Along the trail, most are bare wood, some are painted, many are low to the ground but a few are 15-20 feet tall. There’s a flaming heart, an outhouse with a tree growing through the roof, and a trellis with newsprint attached to and left to weather and disintegrate. In each piece there is a statement made, but it is up to the viewer to decide what it is. It’s 15 or so years of creativity on permanent display, with one or two new ones appearing each year.

Another intriguing part of the outdoor art is the changeable mural, redone each year (sometimes twice in a year), by students of Totem Shriver. Students work gradually to complete the murals over 2-3 weeks. As of early October a new one is in the works.

While not part of art walk, close by, next to Renshaw Hall are art works including a giant watermelon slice painted in vivid red on the community garden fence slats.

Oct. 10 Red is one of the Linfield’s colors; the other is purple, represented in a permanent and unusual way adjacent to one of the busiest crossings on campus — the parking lot serving Walker and Pioneer halls. Color-coded street curbing is a common thing, but Linfield has the only known section of curb painted bright purple. With so many gatherings in and around the heart of campus, the purple curb and signage denote “Events Only” parking adjacent to Linfield Avenue.

Oct. 11 Then there is homecoming central — “Streak Street” — the alternate name for the section of Lever Avenue, closed for game days (as in this weekend) in front of Maxwell Field and Memorial Hall. This year the streak of winning football seasons could go a historic 67 years. (And speaking of Memorial Hall, this is a good time to reiterate that it was built in 1947 “in honor of war dead.”)

Oct. 12 Linfield University has a stacking-cup series of names connected to the Ted Wilson Gymnasium building…. The Paul Durham Lobby and Foyer….. Dutch Bros …. Wilson Court … and the gym space is known as the “Catzone.” Meanwhile, next door the university’s alternate name for Maxwell Field is “Catdome.” But the field has no roof – no dome. (Again, Class of ’80, Go ‘Cats.)

Oct. 13 Near Maxwell, the annual homecoming tradition that is Bar West Classic returns. Alumni c. 1960s and early 1970s combine forces to add an elaborate, gourmet smorgasbord of hospitality that feels like reunion central.

Oct. 14 The rabbits that are often seen on the lawns around campus have their fans and detractors; “Watch For Bunnies” signs appeared along Linfield Avenue over the summer, but have disappeared. The school has also placed “Don’t Feed the Wildlife” (that’s you, too, Sammy Squirrel) signs around campus. Yet in some locations you can see containers of food and water put out by scofflaws.

Oct. 15 Almost unseen, on the south side of Nicholson Library, is a door entry ramp that leads, Narnia-like, into an ivy-covered wall where once was a door, built as part of Hewlett-Packard in 1974.