Figurative Exchange: Tom Prochaska Residency at Bullseye

Portland, OR – The Bullseye Connection Gallery is pleased to showcase a new body of glass works by Tom Prochaska. Created during a recent residency at the Bullseye glass factory, the works will be on exhibit from November 6 – December 20, 2003.

“I’ll Leave It There” marks the noted Portland painter, printmaker and educator’s fourth residency in the studios of Bullseye Glass Company’s Research and Education Department where he was first introduced to the methods of kilnformed glass in 1996.

The making of Prochaska’s glass panels - gestural sketches of black glass grains and threads fired onto a clear glass canvas - parallel in many ways the printmaking process, albeit at temperatures many hundreds of degrees hotter.

“A piece of kilnformed glass may be subjected to multiple journeys through the process to build up layers, create textures, and in Tom’s case, to try ‘to put the whole world in there' ” says Bullseye’s Director of Research and Education Ted Sawyer, who worked with Prochaska on his last two residencies.

Whether monoprint, painting or kiln-glass, the source of Prochaska’s imagery flows from his daily sketchbooks and journals. How he translates these impressions within his latest kilnformed works will surprise many who have come to expect the usual glitz and bravado from glass.

Both Prochaska and Bullseye have been vital to Portland’s art community for over 20 years. An extension of the Bullseye Glass Co., the Bullseye Connection Gallery continues a tradition begun by the factory founders: working with artists to enhance the creative potential of glass. For over 25 years Bullseye has collaborated with both masters and emerging artists to sharpen the leading edge of contemporary glass.

Prochaska has received many accolades in his 35-year career, including a 2002 commission by the City of Portland and two NEA fellowships. His works are in numerous private, corporate and museum collections, including:

Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
China National Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China
City of Portland, Oregon, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Multnomah County Portable Works Collection
City of Portland, Oregon, The Visual Chronicle of Portland
Gilkey Center for the Graphic Arts, Portland Art Museum, OR
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Peter Leitner, Portland, OR
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Mount Hood Community College, Gresham, OR
New York Public Library, New York, NY
North Carolina Art Museum, Winston-Salem, NC
Portland Art Museum, Permanent Collection, Portland, OR
Washington State Arts Commission, Permanent Collection, Olympia, WA
Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco, CA
University of Oregon Art Museum, Eugene, OR

Tom Prochaska’s works on paper are represented in Portland by Froelick Gallery (www.froelickgallery.com).

If you would like more information or to schedule a studio tour or an interview with the artist or gallery staff, please contact Nicole Leaper by phone at 503 227 0222 or by email at nicoleleaper@bullseye-glass.com.