Portland artist, Tom Fawkes paints gorgeous scenes inspired by the landscapes of Italy, Portugal, and the Mediterranean.  He combines architectural elements with the imagery of gardens to depict light, space, and atmosphere.  Layering rich passages of acrylic paint, Fawkes paints on canvas or wood panel.  He adds architectural elements by building 3-dimensional wood constructs of windows and doorways.  This combination of painting and construction heightens the trompe l’oeil effect of the work, and their life-size scale brings the sensory experience even closer. A MFA graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art, Fawkes taught at the University of Oregon and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 1960s.  Between 1972 and 2004,Fawkes taught drawing and painting at the Pacific Northwest College of Art . He has received several awards including an OAC fellowship, an NEA fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation grant.  His works are in numerous collections including Safeco, Microsoft, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Portland Art Museum.

Tom Fawkes
Biscainos Gate 2007
acrylic on canvas
52" x 78"

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Originally from Texas, Eric Franklin graduated with a BFA from Arizona State University in Tempe in 2000.  He also studied at Pilchuck Glass School in 2002 and 2004.  His sculpture is built up out of glass rods filled with neon or argon gas.  The shapes are flame worked and fired in a kiln, as a vacuum pump allows gas inside.  This produces a light within the glass sculpture.  His work is reflective of biological processes and the glass rods begin to take on spinal or sea-creature characteristics.  A relatively young artist, he has been in one-person and group exhibitions across the Western US.

Eric Franklin
Divide 2008
flameworked luminous glass
40" x 27.5" x 8"

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Richard Royal, a native of the Northwest and resident of Seattle, is recognized internationally as one of the most skilled and talented glassblowers in the studio glass movement.  Richard’s artistic approach combines boldness with a sensual fluidity, creating graceful pieces that express their own sculptural elegance.  His sensitivity and natural affinity towards the material reveal themselves within his extensive body of work.  He worked as a hot glass sculptor in the late 70s at the Pilchuck Glass School and went on to assist Dale Chihuly soon after.  He now works from his own studio full time.  Royal was one of the first Artists-in-Residences at the Waterford Crystal Factory in Ireland.  His work is included in public and private collections internationally including the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; the High Museum, Atlanta, GA; the New Orleans Museum of Art, LA; the Tampa Museum of Art, FL; and the Daiichi Museum, Nagoya, Japan.

Richard Royal
Cagey from the Aperture Series
hot sculpted glass
43" x 11" x 10"

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Washington glass artist David Schwarz is fascinated with the use of optics and perspective.  His blown and cut glass orbs reflect and refract mysterious and beautiful shapes and colors.  His illusionary play of form lets us into a private and intimate kaleidoscopic space.  Scientific and organic in their essence, these jewel like, weighty forms mesmerize and seduce in their presence.  Born in Vancouver, WA in 1952, David Schwarz received a Masters in Science/Glass from Illinois State University in the early 1980s.  From 1979 to 1986, he taught at the Pilchuck Glass School while developing his distinctive style.  Since that time, Schwarz has been a full time artist working at his studio in Ridgefield, WA.  His work is included in such collections as Corning Museum of Glass, NY; Milwaukee Museum of Art, WI; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington DC; the High Museum, Atlanta, GA; and the Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN.  He has shown his sculpture in solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally since 1980.

David Schwarz
Z.A.O.F. 1-11-07
copper red glass
16" x 13" x 8"

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