george bernard shaw

"i am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as i live it is my privilege to do for it whatever i can." 

-george bernard shaw

1865-1950

"intuition" installation series with mark lammi

(mark lammi, in front of one of his glass pieces at fenario a few months ago)

our new show for december is going up after the shanna and rainen show comes down next weekend. we've got local glass artist mark lammi coming in to present a series of multimedia installations featuring his award winning glass art. Lammi's glass pieces are a study of form and line, and his constructions offer diverse views of these influences. He is known for his deft handling and ability to create strikingly delicate goblet and vessel forms, often influenced by classic Venetian design. Lammi says, "As an artist I've found borosilicate glass to be a medium unlike any other. There is a quality of intimacy between the glass and the artist that I find incredibly appealing."

the bridge + quick and easy boys benefit...

(men being men)

rocked the spot. 

thank you to eugene, and the larger oregon/blacksheep family for coming together to pull off two nights of fun, funding and foot stomping this weekend at the gallery. with special guest the bridge and portland rockers the quick and easy boys, the music was on point and the dancing non-stop. with the help of the silent auction, the venosa print raffle and holly and nate slangin' drinks behind the bar we not only ended up feeling loved, but managed to raise enough money to at least keep our heads above water for awhile. it was really touching to see how people banded together to help the gallery. many of our friends took it upon themselves to help with the promotion, and i heard a few people mentioning to one another the importance of saving a spot that's brought so much joy to the community. it felt really good to get such a positive response. 

in the end it wasn't about money, it was about having the chance to witness first hand the love and support of our friends and community. it makes all the rough days worth it. 

the only crack in the icing on the cake was a few idiots who wouldn't accept a gentle send-off at the end of the night. no accounting for bad manners. unfortunately the incident seems to have caused one hooligan to go off the deep end far enough to come back to the gallery at 6AM and break the front window with a pair of pipe wrenches. luckily my friend zack was kind enough to come and spruce the window up a bit.

 

(come by in the next couple days to see this shit in detail, the figure bending over is a cop, complete with walkie talkie, too fucking funny.)

compound gallery + upper playground

(upper playground, 5th and couch, portland, or)

i was recently in portland to see the my friends' band play and got to spend some time perusing art in downtown portland. my friend is from the east coast, land of uninspired apparel, and wanted to pick up a sweatshirt at upper playground. i was on board because i'd yet to visit the urban clothing mecca, and was pumped to see the gallery space i'd heard so much about. its a small space, but efficiently used, with lots of natural light and an amazing amount of pull in the west coast art scene. they get artists that i would give my left pinky toe to show at fenario. their current show, "from the desk of whatserface," features art by mel kadel (who's work i hadn't seen before but instantly fell for), travis millard and michael sieben. i also picked up a great t-shirt and flirted mercilously with the sales girl. good times, good times. 

(compound, 5th and couch, portland, or)

we then strolled across the street to compound gallery, where the brightly colored scarves drew my in like a magpie to tinsel, only to paralize me with fear with their price tags. the upstairs gallery space was a pleasant surprise. the first room was full of prints leaning on the walls like presents under a christmas tree. i was stopped dead in my tracks (and the further poached with jealousy) when i saw an original jen lobo painting of a jellyfish and it was explained to me that jen is a good friend of the manager, and the pieces were created for him for various shows he curated. holy shite, i want that man's little black book. they're having an art sale in mid december which i will not be missing. when i get the details, i'll post them. if you're in the area get your ass down there, because this guys collection is hands-shaking good. 

(jen lobo, the devil whale, oil on wood, not the piece i saw at compound, but one of my favorites)

best of eugene

(oh god this tattoo is awful, surely its photoshopped, but let's hope for the model's sake the tribal tramp stamp is faux as well. because in amerindian that shit reads "musty hooker.")

well, well, well...

fenario gallery with the win. each yeah, our local "alternative" weekly paper opens ballots for the "best of eugene" awards. though the results are heavily fixed by the primarily extreme-lib readership of the rags, its still a good indicator of what people like in eugene. it is fenario's pleasure to share that we won best art gallery this year. in the write up EW wrote:

"Wow. Fenario in an upset! By the way, y’all, it’s prounounced Fen-AIR-ee-oh. Or so the proprietors told us back before the gallery at the corner of Broadway and Willamette became the place for hip multiculti art, spoken word and the occasional DJ. Sometimes appreciating the art at Fenario calls for special brownies rather than wine … not that we’ve got a problem with that. Pop in to get something framed or land at the gallery for one of the benefits it sponsors — and stay for the art. Runner-up DIVA usually features local artists but hits it outta the park with the Teenie Harris show this fall, and besides, there’s usually a movie or experiemental noise band to liven up any unlively art." 

there were mixed feelings amongst the fenarions about the "special brownies" comment. some felt that it was a dig, and that it was meant to make us feel like lazy stoners that barely deserve the win, but i'm in another school. i think the writers at the weekly just think making snarky little comments like this make them sound cool. you know, "hey kids, i'm down with the pot! i'm hip, i'm with it, tucka tucka tucka tucka..." oh well, let them have their fun. 

the best of eugene awards are given out at a sort of oddly choreographed, low production value extravaganza, this year hosted at the mcdonald theater with a halloween theme. costumes were encouraged, but i skipped out. i got caught somewhere between history teacher and disco minx and had to run out the door. in retrospect is was a very foxy, if a little confusing, get up. we were honored to receive the award, but no one was too keen to be the one who got up onstage to accept the plaque. in fact, when our name was called we were all milling about in the bar. i refused to set down my drink to exit the bar, so for a few painful moments i squinted up at the screen showing the stage, willing someone to take one for the team and get up there. fortunately at the last minute brent and mikl made it to the stage and awkwardly claimed our prize. 

afterwards we went to a sad bar with an empty dance floor and drank our joys away.... JUST KIDDING! ... except that i'm not.