Guardino Gallery

Great Gallery. Alberta is lucky to have it

I didn’t want to take on too many galleries while on vacation… but this one caught my eye because they had a great Day of the Dead display in the window.
We browsed around looking at all the wonderful art and taking photos and the people who ran the gallery were super nice and helpful. Of course I couldn’t get outta there without bringing some treasure home so I snagged a tiny skull to add to my collection. :)

v. nice gallery.
Caring people who wanted the artwork to go to people who felt a connection to it. That’s A+ in my book.

Come here every Last Thursday to browse local art. Price is reasonable and its fun to visit.

Loved the rocket pack bear! SO COOL. Wish they had little ones so I could afford it.

This Complex actually hosts four other businesses, besides the Guardino Gallery:
— HiiH Gallery (Handmade Paper Lamps)
— Redbird Studio (Specialty Stationary)
— DarSalam (Middle Eastern Food)
— Shrunken Head Massage
In Portland, that would be called a destination location and brings to mind all sorts of «Date Night Under 1 Roof» ideas in addition to the «Last Thursday» Art Walk on Alberta. The Guardino Gallery, HiiH, and Redbird are also connected internally, which provides a most interesting wander. My recent stop was too brief and I hope to take another stroll the next time I’m or near these parts.
The Guardino Gallery has changed shows every month since it opened in 1997 (that’s really established in Portland Art years). The focus is on Northwestern Contemporary art, among a wide variety of themes and media. They also schedule «mini-​shows» in our new Feature Area and Window Gallery.

This gallery is on my «regular» route of places to visit. I love the variety of work, including range of prices. It’s local, and it’s fun.
There’s plenty of work to tweak my «if only I had unlimited space and unlimited money for art» desires.
I look forward to the December «Small Things» show (despite my usual lack of enthusiasm for Xmas-​related shopping). It’s gratifying to give affordable art as gifts … and Santa always manages to find something for me, too ;)

I think this gallery is one of the best for real creative fine art. Their shows are always fun yet sophisticated. They also have a great gift store, I do my Christmas shopping here and always find something unique!

This place is about a block from my house and I stop in whenever they have something new on display. They typically have works by local artists that have some meaningful connection to life here in Portland. There are a couple of small pieces that I have my eye on right now. The prices are actually quite reasonable and even within the budget of a penny-​pinching schlub like me.
I appreciate having this cool gallery in my neighborhood. If you want to have something interesting and thought provoking hanging on your walls, check this place out.

I’d been receiving this gallery’s e-​mails for quite awhile and I was interested in an item made by one of its sculptors, so I called the owner to ask some specific questions. She was very UNfriendly, to put it mildly. As an aside, I then did a web search and e-​mailed the sculptor directly — but he was *also* very UNfriendly. It was very odd (and how foolish of me to think that the point of showing one’s work is to sell the items).
The only reason I’m giving two stars instead of one is because the gallery shows lots of interesting work.