Virginia Sands
Bulbs and Grams on the Floral Painted Box, 2022
Prismacolor pencil, 30 x 42 x 1 in
-950
On display at the Downtown Eugene Public Library
Artist Bio
I consider myself to be a lifelong amateur artist. I received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Alfred University in 1981 with specialties in neon glass blowing and painting, and later operated a small neon sign business out of my Eugene garage from 1986 until 2020. Many of my signs can be found around the Eugene/Springfield area and throughout Oregon. Drawing has been a hobby of mine since childhood. In 1995, I took a Lane Community College color pencil drawing class taught by local artist Richard Quigley and I have hence made time to complete one or two large scale color pencil drawings each year.
I received my Bachelor of Fine Art from Alfred University in upstate New York, where I studied painting and neon sign glassblowing. After many adventurous years as a tree planter traveling the Pacific Northwest as part of a worker owned cooperative, I have settled down as a union stagehand and member of the Hult Center house crew. I have a neon studio in my garage and paint and draw regularly.
Artist Statement
My work is generally more playful than political, I am inspired by things that make me laugh: whimsical objects, toys, exaggerated squashed oval pumpkins. I like reflective surfaces and things made out of glass. My grandfather brought beautiful objects back from his years as a missionary in China during the 1920s and my chemistry professor father had a lab filled with cool glass objects with multiple compartments. I like capturing the sense of youthful wonder and joy I felt on a brisk Halloween night, or finding tadpoles in a spring pond in the woods.
For more information email Virginia Sands