Portland, OR – In November, Bullseye Gallery exhibits work by both local and international artists. Australians Chick (Charles) Butcher and Cobi Cockburn present a duo exhibition of sculptural and wall-mounted glasswork entitled It’s Quiet Down Deep, while Portland artist Crystal Schenk offers Shelter, a life-sized recreation of an Appalachian shanty made entirely of stained glass.
“My works are a direct result of intimate conversations I have with myself,” says Chick (Charles) Butcher. For It’s Quiet Down Deep, Butcher creates a series of mixed media sculptures that reflect on impermanence and the “deterioration of matter.” The resulting works are at times aggressive, but often exist in a tenuous space between haunting and beautiful. In contrast to Butcher’s more forceful approach, Cobi Cockburn contributes a series of large-scale wall-mounted works that are equally introspective but refer to an infinite horizon rather than an inevitable end. “I focus on making objects that are each unique, calming and whole,” she says.
Portland-based Crystal Schenk is known for detailed, labor-intensive installations. For her first exhibition at Bullseye Gallery, Crystal creates a life-sized stained glass Appalachian-style shanty. Like much of the artist’s earlier work, Shelter examines the ever-widening gulf between upper and lower classes. “The gulf between classes is not a new story,” explains Schenk. “There have always been those who live in prosperity and those who manage to do without.” Shelter reflects on this disparity not as a criticism, but as an examination of the meaning and importance of home. “It is a reminder to me that no matter how humble our dwelling, it is our sanctuary,” she says. Shelter is funded in part by the Regional Arts & CultureCouncil.