When i export my video to .avi i notice artifacts in the video. The original footage looks great. Any suggestions

The only files that Media Composer exports with very good quality is Quicktime files, you might use an external encoder to create your avi file using a qt ref export-import from your Avid to that app.

AVI is not a compression format, but a container or wrapper around the actual compressed a/v data. Which compression format is used inside the AVI file can be selected in export settings, the "right" one depends on your intended usage. Additional Compression CoDecs can be installed in windows, i'd recommend "ffdshow tryouts", which is actually a collection of almost any usefull CoDec available.

What do you need the AVI file for?

If you intend to spread the clip through the internet, try xvid.

If you need an intermediate file, use a lossless format like huffyuv or even uncompressed.

Be aware that AVID MC is built on quicktime and therefor can't import most AVI files, even if it can create them! If you need to re-import the material you should use quicktime (.mov) container instead, preferably reference files.