We've Moved

"Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal." Lionel Trilling in Esquire; adapted from T.S. Eliot





WE'VE MOVED!!! to http://www.arealeyeful.com

The crazy glass art and painting madness will continue!!!! Stay updated.


Happy Holidays.




Peace out.
Keep it real!!!

Voodoo?!!!

"Everyone in Portland is living a minimum of three lives." Katherine Dunn (author of Geek Love)

We at Eyeful Gallery are often times asked; how is it exactly you guys come up with all of the exquisite glass pieces? Is it a little bit of magic, or trickery, or how about voodoo? Well today I'm going to try and show you a little bit of what it takes to craft some fine glass art.




First we start out with a healthy dosage of paddle ball.




Then add a pinch of disco-style.











Insert Smoke and Mirrors
















Consult Ice Man From Top Gun.






...And presto we are finished. The piece is then sealed inside of a top secret, atmosphere controlled chamber. Then it is placed inside of an armour-plated van and rapidly driven to 625 NW Everett, Portland, Oregon: Eyeful Gallery. There it will be professionally installed into its well lit, air conditioned, shock resistant display case. Finally it is properly labeled. Having gone through this rigorous process it is then officially on display in an actual gallery, for purchase. I hope this little lesson has cleared up any questions one may have. Good show.

P.S. We are currently hard at work preparing another website loaded with photos of art, artist profiles, etc. The blog portion will continue in the news article's section of the new website. Once we have the site fully updated I will post a final blog with a new link.

deep brand recognition

"perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than the ordeal it demands on a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality." Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

For our viewing pleasure this week is a small series of fun and whimsical paintings by Josh Sands, simply entitled "buttons." These are five of six small works that appeared last month in the "four artists show..." In this grouping they evoke the possibilities of small clothing accessories taking flight, or perhaps gravitating through space. Individually each small piece appears to be imprisoning the buttons or playfully weaving in and out of them. Then again could they be in seperate stages of application, to a garment? Whether being sewn or escaping reality; clearly no one will know for sure. What is known about the piece is through carefully deciphering contextual clues from the artist himself.

Perhaps what we are seeing is simply the glorifying of a simple item that holds such great and often times underappreciated importance to our species. This unique and humble item can often times fade into the background of our lives like suspenders (not glorified enough either), zippers, or belt-loops. Yet their necessity is greater than ever with the ongoing butt-crack epidemic of the 2000's. Putting this small object up onto the great pedastal of art, seems a valiant and poignant attempt to dramatize the mundane in all of us. In fact the little things are what it IS all about.



Then it was brought to my attention that latent in the buttton's series is an attempt to use color as its own entity to associate another kind of button into the spot light in our minds. It is not known if it was the artists intention to make the pieces hint at Super Nintendo controllers, with their odd colored buttons, or not. The comparison seems to be there upon viewing. Even the shape of the individual canvasses look somewhat like game controllers. It is this type of brand recognition that may be permanently creeping into young peoples perceptions of art in general, however subconcious. Then again it could be a clever trick by the artist to facilitate the possibilities of multiple interpretations. Sneaky!


For fun here are some photos of the artist hard at work in 2006 at his Hyde House studio in Milwaukee, Wi.


A colorful eyeful!

heart of glass

This lovely month us folks at Eyeful Gallery, had to stop and meditate as a group pondering the way for the future. The country itself could use a little sip off of the same spoonful of medicine as we have now taken, sugar and all. Smelling the roses once in a while etc. Still just as our young country is now starting to realize, things do have a habit of altering themselves at a breakneck pace, and not always for the better. I guess its important to remember that much is out of our control! That being said we decided to focus on the things that are within our control, and one of those things as always is, how we choose to spend our time. Just then Phil Anthropy knocked on the door, and we at the Eyeful Gallery were compelled to answer. The philanthropic task turned out to be just a matter of combining forces like the super friends, to blow glass. With Jeff Ballard at the helm of one of two gaffer's benches aptly leading the team of Wes Chumley, Joe Tsoulfas, and Josh Sands. Applying his trademark smoke screen to the ambience. Two glory holes spit fire like circus freaks, as the temperature reached epic storybook proportions.



Thank you as well is due to the other teammates in zone two. At the gaffer's bench was Mike Hengler, with Aaron, and Emmerich, big pimpin' it with assistance.



Our mission was to fabricate all of the blown glass art center pieces for the tables during the Eugene Glass School's annual auction event. With the Eugene Glass School being such a great non-profit organization, and facility it was naturally an easy choice to want to donate our time and skills to create some nice glass to add to the auction for bidding. We are all very excited for the upcoming event, which is changing venues this year.

Still it is truly mutually benificial, to donate your time, since ultimately you will learn something new everytime. This is especially true with soft glass blowing in the hot shop, since it takes a crew, a large and well equipped facility, time and energy, etc...Besides each time you do something it only helps you to get better at it, even if it's just a little bit, right? Plus all the bonding, and teamwork.



And finally our "Four Artists: Two Hours" show, starring; Freeman Corbin, Josh Sands, Flynn Helper, and Jeff Ballard comes down in the gallery. The fine folks who purchased pieces can now promptly add them to their collection!

busy bees

Its the last day of summer, the beautiful solstice is upon us. Damien Hirst has rocked the art world with his 200 million dollar auction. Including the famous skull. With the holiday season fast approaching like an avalanche, we at Eyeful Gallery are hibernating inside of our shops, and in our studios, working to create new pieces befitting all of the occasions.

successful first thursday

All of our hard work has paid off and this month's first thursday was a great success. The crowd mosied in like George Jones' first appearance shortly before set-break. Many faces were familiar this month, and many were brand new. Thanks to all of the art connousiers, that habitually line the streets of the Pearl District and beyond, every first thursday. This affair also brought out a fine smattering of local, and national artists, to support not only art, but the fine line between politics and art; however subtly, or blatantly endorsing Obama. How are we to judge here at Eyeful Gallery, we can't. That is left to our fine viewers, and patrons. We are only creating art, not criticizing it, that's left to the Greenbergs, Apollinaires, etc



Thankfully we still have plenty of delicious blackberry's to eat, and that is far more than most of us need to keep inspired and making art, since we are of course all starving artists in one fashion or another. Still who isn't starving for something, perhaps longing, or pining at the very least



The stylish glass art on display, draws the people in off the street, like the shimmering glint of gold leafed statuettes. The wild organic shapes waving through space suspended and fused to the serenity of the viewing event. How does one capture that feeling? Someone once described art like a virgin, and laying eyes upon it, like making love. The experience has also been likened to fine wine, magic, dancing, or music and it is easy to see how art, and more specifically glass blowing are akin.



Speaking of music the evening was graciously set to a romantic soundtrack that could easily nestle itself around the arms of a Parisian debutante, by two lovely street performers, on saw and accordion. This month also saw the addition of Alec Berg to the Eyeful Gallery walls and thanks to his contributions many people were treated to an eyeful of his 2-dimensional works.

G.A.S. Conference comes to Portland

The 2008 Glass Art Society conference will be held at the Portland Convention Center June 19th - June 21st. This is a very exciting time for us at Eyeful because as you know we are a mostly glass gallery. We are just one of many stops on the ever popular gallery hop. The gallery hop takes collectors and glass enthusiasts to all the glass related exhibitions around the downtown area. We are all working diligently in our studios to have new work to show for this exhibition. The show will be running from June 5th (first Thursday) till July 3rd. We hope you all can come out and support us. This is shaping up to be the most eclectic and impressive exhibition we've had yet.