Windowfront Exhibitions
Windowfront Exhibitions - Winter Roots
December 2, 2022 - March 19, 2023
Downtown Eugene
Downtown Eugene’s empty storefronts become interactive artworks and galleries with new and evolving windowfront paintings and art installations. Come downtown by foot, car or bike to enjoy windowfronts transformed by local artists, artisans and creatives. Windowfront Exhibitions believes all empty spaces have great potential to be transformed by artists and innovation.
Winter is a time of stillness and quietude, when nature’s energy turns inward during this most reflective season. There is work to be done, but inside. The sentiment of winter is latent and potent. In this state of resting deep within, energy is collected and held in reserve to nurture us with courage and strength of will.
Current Installations:
- Art Installations from local artists seeking to uplift and enliven Downtown Eugene through art installations in storefront windows.
- Urban Canvas Windowfront paintings by Urban Canvas artists.
Zoë Gamell Brown
Vexing me!
Dates displayed: December 2, 2022-March 19, 2023
Location: 224 W. Broadway
About the art: Plenty howdy, welcome to my Guyanese American meal. In our time together, I invite you to immerse in the Caribbean currents carrying this exchange forward.
My creative practice speaks to multiplicity within Guyanese identity and extensions of the Caribbean to the Gulf Coast. Themes in my work revolve around culinary catharsis, collective and self-care. My creative work aims to move beyond monolithic definitions of artistic expression and ecological knowledge. For sales inquiries, email Zoë.
About the artist: Zoë Gamell Brown (she/they) is a Guyanese American integrative artist, educator and storyteller whose work spans ceramic sculptures, creative nonfiction, experimental video, landscape photography, photopoetry, restorative cartography and sonic arts.
Brown is a doctoral student in the University of Oregon's Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies department, where she centers Caribbean constellations of care through creative and spiritual practices. She is a Digital Evolution/Artist Retention (DEAR) Fellow Cohort IV through the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and a Louise Westling Distinguished Environmental Justice Fellow through the UO's Holden Center for Leadership and the Pacific Northwest Racial and Climate Justice Futures Institute, 2022.
In 2020, Brown founded Fernland Studios, a nonprofit organization reimagining environmentalism through art and education. Their mission is to provide black, indigenous and people of color opportunities to explore environmentalism through artist residencies, educational retreats and writing workshops. When she is not writing or reading, you can find her hiking around the Pacific Northwest and taking pictures of trees and sea anemones. zoegamell.com
Justin Kittell and James Sartor
Altered Cumulus | Polyester fill, chicken wire, LED strips
Dates displayed: December 2, 2022-March 19, 2023
Location: 833 Willamette Street
About the art: Justin Kittell and James Sartor strive to emphasize the foundational nature of change through dynamic and interactive works where light, sound and color blend in harmonious and meaningful ways. The exhibition shown here, Altered Cumulus was originally featured in BEAM, an annual showcase presented by ArtCity that features works of art incorporating light. This installation consists of 10 glowing clouds strung from an octahedral frame. The clouds are synced together and rotate through an assortment of light modes, sometimes evoking lightning and other times calm skies.
About the artists: Sartor and Kittell are light artists and scientists from Eugene whose mediums typically involve light, music and mirrors. For the past five years they have worked together on creations inspired by nature and geometry and bringing them to various festivals and other settings for people to enjoy. instagram.com/foxlightlabs
Leo White Horse and Sue Gallego
White Horse and Gallego | Acrylic on canvas, digital and multimedia
Dates displayed: December 2, 2022-March 19, 2023
Location: 873 Willamette Street
About the artists
Leo White Horse: I am a Sicangu Lakota artist who carries the inspiration of my Native American ancestry of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. My art is influenced by the quick sketches of cowboys, rodeos and natives from the past that were drawn long ago by my father, Myers White Horse.
After the passing of my parents when I was 12, I was sent to Sky Ranch for Boys. I was chosen to enter the summer program at the University of South Dakota and was introduced to the work of Great Lakota artist Oscar Howe. Later, I attended college for Graphic Design and to study a variety of media for my art, including painting and drawing. I received my design certification and soon became a graphic designer for local sign company where my work included sign design and hand-lettering projects. My career led to illustration. I created graphics for a T-shirt screen printing company that designed apparel for more than 72 universities and colleges across 15 states. These included designing for numerous football bowl games. I later moved on to designing billboards and other artwork for 150 major cities with transit in Canada and throughout the United States.
Currently, I create artwork for online adventure games, which keeps my imagination and design skills sharp. I split my time between commercial work and my native art. Website and sales inquiries, leowhitehorseart.com
Sue Gallego: Historically, in the story of the Lakota people at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Five Mexican Nationals, part of a cattle-drive, married with Lakota women. I am a descendant from one of these unions. In my mother's family, although the older women spoke Lakota for privacy on party phone lines, they were culturally Bohemian, and there were no claims made of having Native blood. Even under duress. I am grateful for my heritage, for the tremendous gift of being all that I am, and for all my relations. My identity as an Indigenous woman has shaped my development as an artist, and represents some of the vital aspects and incentives of my work. I feel a responsibility for depicting the emotional values and story of our people and culture, especially those of personal insight, and vision.
As a self-taught Artist, I am committed to Painting. I first started to work in color with oil based chalk, and eventually shifted to using Acrylics. I enjoy their ease and simplicity, as well at the methods of their use. I paint directly onto the surface of my choice, usually canvas, or MDF board. I discovered very early that when I drew images first, and then proceeded afterward to paint them, I always exceeded the limits of what I had drawn. I painted out side the lines. It is easier for me to apply paint without the need to draw, and let the painting develop and blossom in that accord. In the beginning of this process, what was at first experimental, and required confidence to explore, became an engaging freedom and discovery, more intuitive. On one hand, being in possession of my actions, and on the other, feeling I am well provided for and lovingly supported. I like to express, that when I paint, I know what love is. I appreciate everything that it requires, and everything that must be given in its fulfillment. Importantly, without discipline and perseverance, I would have nothing to show for my efforts. For sales inquiries, contact Sue.
Windowfront Paintings
Urban Canvas artists bring color and vibrancy to windowfronts.
Pattrick Price
A Sunset Together
Dates displayed: July 1, 2022-March 19, 2023
Presented by: Urban Canvas
Location: 1059 Willamette Street
About the art: This mural was created using traditional formline designs and ancient petroglyph styles. The sunset background and ridgeline of trees provide a comforting embrace that encourages people to be together and welcomes travelers to the community.
About the artist: Pattrick Price is an Alaskan born artist following multiple generations of Tlingit totemic style artists. In combination with the oldest styles of art from North America, Pattrick’s form line mixed with modern graffiti backgrounds creates murals that are unique to the Pacific Northwest. Pattrick is the current resident artist for the Ritz sauna in the Oregon Country Fair, with work on two beams that are a total of 35’, a 4’×5’ door, a 6’×8’ interactive art piece, and a 6’×18’ proscenium arch over the stage. He has also completed murals at Peterson Barn and Tracktown Studios in Eugene as well as live paintings for Artistic Encounters, Wow Hall and Sessions Lounge. Pattrick is currently in the process of making a line of printed hats for a local hat company in Eugene. instagram.com/pattrickprice
Valentina Gonzalez (VRGNZ)
Celestial Migration
Dates displayed: July 1, 2022-March 19, 2023
Presented by: Urban Canvas
Location: 120 W. Broadway
About the art: In my work I often play with concepts of social constructs. This piece is about the illusion of borders and separateness. This Summer, Eugene will be host to the World Athletic Championships. Around 2,000 athletes representing more than 200 countries will travel to Eugene to compete. Recognizing the juxtaposition between an event that welcomes the world and the current global displacement and migration crisis, I was inspired to paint a creation story using the archetypes of the Jaguar and the Coyote. The Jaguar is the protector and visionary embodying masculine and feminine desire. The Coyote brings the cunningness and creativity of the wise fool. These combined energies ignite to form the first stages of a new world. This piece demonstrates our innate capacity to use differences as creative fuel instead of destructive force.
About the artist: Valentina Gonzalez (VRGNZ) is interested in creating, exhibiting and promoting artwork that challenges social norms, builds community through art and activism and empowers others to share their stories through their own creative lens. Valentina is focused on non-profit art education, mural painting and community outreach.
“I began painting on walls throughout the Southwest and Texas in 1997. Over the years, I've worked with many art organizations, businesses and clients providing graphic design, art direction and murals. My experience includes a staff position as a Program Coordinator at Warehouse 21 Teen Art Center, a substitute Photoshop instructor at the Santa Fe Community College and a founder of the Whiteaker Community Art Team. My experience as an artist began with painting on walls and turned into an insatiable curiosity for creating art with all the tools available to me, from digital to analog, and my process continues to evolve. In the fall of 2017, I was honored to be included in the Santa Fe Indian Market with the Broken Boxes Exhibit at Form and Concept Gallery.”
Lisa Yu
Make Way
Dates displayed: March 5, 2021 - March 19, 2023
Presented in partnership with Windowfront Exhibitions
Location: 858 W. Park
About the art: "Until recently I lived near the Willamette River and enjoyed walking and biking along the paths. This image was inspired by the river in my backyard, and a picture I took of a mallard family where I noticed the ducklings' feet under the water were adorable. I named the mural Make Way, thinking of Spring, younger generations, change, and also the children's book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. He illustrated his own books, and he is one of my favorite visual artists. Alternate title: Waters of March - Águas de Março, a Brazilian song by Antonio Carlos Jobim."
About the artist: Lisa Yu is a painter and assemblage artist originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She likes to use re-purposed materials. Her art celebrates ordinary life, through subject matter, means of exhibition, and media. She thrives on collaboration and works to support social and environmental justice. Since moving to Eugene in 2009 from Chicago, she has taken part in public art projects utilizing various mediums: Upstream Art Springfield, the Umbrella Project, Eugene Storefront Art Project, RainPlay, BRIDGE Exhibitions: Reflections Space River Road/ Santa Clara, murals also facilitated by the City of Eugene, and a mural with children attending camps at Emerald Park. lisayuart.wordpress.com
Alejandro Sarmiento
SNOW BIRDS
Dates displayed: October 8, 2021 - March 19, 2023
Presented in partnership with Windowfront Exhibitions
Location: 1038 Willamette Street
About the artist: My art is always changing, always evolving. I believe that repetition is the mother of perfection so I aim to create as much as I can whenever and wherever I am. I love creating representational art, and currently, I am really enjoying mixing references from real life with images with my imagination. To me, the melange of real with imagined feels like adding my own flavor or lens to life.
Alejandro Sarmiento is an artist who specializes in acrylic painting and drawing. He began his artistic journey at a young age, drawing on any surface he could find and filling his school notebooks with doodles. Mostly self-taught, Alejandro further developed his skills with a few years of formal art training at Lane Community College in his mid-twenties. Today he continues to learn and evolve his craft through daily practice, interacting with other mediums and artists, and independent research of techniques and best practices. Alejandro has created artwork for local and city projects, in both the private and public sectors, including large-scale murals, custom portraits, logos, and collaborative pieces. After eight years of working as a paid professional artist, Alejandro opened his own art business in 2020 where he continues to create commissioned work and teaches art classes for both novice and experienced painters. Artwithalejandro.com
Thank you to our partners
ArtCity, Broadway Place Apartments, Campbell Commercial Real Estate, Harmonic Laboratory, Pacific Real Estate Services Inc., and Lane Council of Governments.
Contact Us
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Public Art Manager
Ph: 541-682-6314
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Downtown Public Art Program Assistant