The Bullseye Story |
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In the summer of 1974, three recent art school graduates set up a glass factory in the backyard of a ramshackle house in Portland, Oregon, to make colored sheets for the stained glass trade. A chance encounter with artist Klaus Moje in 1979 inspired them to do something that had never been done before: produce a palette of tested-compatible glasses for creating works in a kiln. Four decades later, that humble backyard factory has expanded to cover most of the block, but two things remain the same:
And the story continues...
Bullseye Through the Years1974
Dan Schwoerer, Ray Ahlgren, and Boyce Lundstrom found the company. 1981
The world's first line of "Tested Compatible" glass designed specifically for fusing delivered to artist Klaus Moje. Read The Klaus Moje Connection: How Bullseye Came to Develop Compatible Glass 1980s - present
Numerous artist residencies. Artists have included Narcissus Quagliata, Rafael Carduro, Bertil Vallien, Jun Kaneko, Giles Bettison, Richard Whiteley, Dante Marioni, and many others. 1990
Department of Research & Education formalized 1993
Bullseye Research Director Rudi Gritsch develops the Vitrigraph kiln for a Narcissus Quagliata project 2000
Bullseye receives its first liturgical commission: Narcissus Quagliata's The Gift. A tall window in the north transept of San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, The Gift is one of 68 windows by five artists, done in three different techniques. 2001
Warm Glass @ Bullseye (wg@be), a juried exhibition for emerging artists working in kiln-glass, held at the Bullseye Resource Center in Portland. This will grow into a biennial event renamed Emerge. 2003
BECon 2003, our first international conference on kilnforming, held in Portland — Keynote address by Richard Whiteley. 2004
Bullseye Resource Center relocates to current location adjacent to the Factory Emerge 2004: WG@BE3 — winners included Judith Conway, Rachel Ravenscroft, and Nathan Sandberg 2006
Emerge 2006 — Winners/finalists included Cobi Cockburn, Jaqueline Cooley, and Joseph Cavalieri Bullseye Research & Education Studios move into new facility adjacent to the Factory Bullseye begins developing a dedicated fabrication studio that can make kilnformed glass available to artists and architects working with large scale projects. 2008
Bullseye Online Store opens Emerge 2008 — Winners/finalists included Sabine Rosenberger, Saman Kalantari, and Heike Brachlow 2010
Bullseye Resource Center Santa Fe opens Emerge 2010 — Winners/finalists include Kate Baker, Shannon Brunskill, and Joseph Harrington 2012
Bullseye Resource Center Bay Area opens Emerge 2012 — Winners/finalists included Émilie Haman, Miri Admoni, Amanda Simmons 2013
Bullseye Resource Center New York opens BECon 2013: CHROMA-CULTURE — Keynote address by Beverly Fishman 2015
Bullseye Gallery renamed Bullseye Projects — In addition to local and touring art exhibitions, its evolving scope now includes a child-focused Glass Lab and expanded artist residency and studio fabrication programs. 2016
Bullseye officially names its fabrication department, Bullseye Studio. 2020
Bullseye Studio completes its second collaboration with artist Lynn Basa, with the successful installation of a 71' x 25' kiln-glass mural. A Percent for Art project, the artwork was commissioned by the Regional Arts and Culture Council for the new Multnomah County Central Courthouse in downtown Portland, OR. |
