Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Brian M. Seay Herb Eaton gets some work done at his studio in Bloomington Wednesday afternoon.

Media Credit: Brian M. Seay Herb Eaton has been contributing his art to the Bloomington area for 30 years.

Imagine a peaceful river, a musical instrument in pieces, the personification of nature or the lives of two characters. For artist Herb Eaton, these are some of the things that envelop his everyday and these are images he paints and allows the world to experience.

Herb's wife Pam Eaton has an intriguing theory as to her husband's view on life. "He sees the world through a different set of eyes," she said.

An artist has the ability to take an ordinary scene, such as a river, and create a complex and unique work of art from it. For Eaton, the Mackinaw River Valley, which is located near Lexington, Ill. provides much of his inspiration and personal happiness.

"It's my river, I own it. Everyone else just borrows it," Eaton said.

Eaton's family had settled around the Mackinaw and so the river holds a special place in his life and in his art. It is one of few rivers remaining undamaged over time. One of his paintings entitled "The Insignificant" is about a part of the river valley, which is not named, and he felt needed a name. The painting was made with watercolors and the image is realistic and creates a wonderful scene.

Eaton also feels a deep connection with nature itself and says at heart he is just a 14-year-old boy who likes to wander around the woods. For Eaton, corn imagery is prevalent in his works.

Near the middle of his gallery sits a statue of the corn goddess. Eaton graduated from ISU with a degree in sculpture and is proud of all his work, but especially his corn goddess sculpture. The exhibit is surrounded by wire screens that seem splattered with paint, but really is paint personifying corn or corn imagery as he called it. The overall effect is to make the sculpture and the wire screens dance together. The corn imagery screens are called "honor guards" for they are honoring the sculpture. The title of this piece is "Dressing for the Winter Dance."

"It's kind of awkward and that's how life is," Eaton said.

Eaton took only one art class in college. The rest were based in sculpture and paintings. While college is important, he grew up learning most of his skills. He always wanted to make things and he picked up the knack when he was younger.

"You can take as many art classes in college as you want, and never learn a thing," Eaton said.

Sculpture is what brought him into the world of art. His background of always wanting to make things led him to believe he must follow his artistic pattern.

Eaton's main works revolve around two characters he simply calls "he" and "she." He is a nude male and she is a nearly translucent gowned female. He allows them to live and exist in his art. "She" is a reserved female who seems to have things together, while "he" is a mess and will permanently be a boy at heart.

These characters grew in his mind until they finally were part of his life completely. To understand "he" and "she" Eaton joked one must have a PhD in philosophy before asking of their origin.

"Sometimes the brush strokes change them, and I let that happen," Eaton said.

Eaton also holds a passion for music. He plays the trombone in a jazz band called "Jazzchocolat." His music and his paintings often combine. He likes to paint instruments and from far away the paintings almost seem like swirls of color. Walking closer, the colors form into parts of a trombone broken apart.

"Playing jazz is incredible, it's a feeling you can't get any other place in the world, and in my art I like to conceptually take the instrument apart," Eaton said.

Eaton is not only a painter and musician, but also a writer. Many of his pieces are accompanied by a short narrative or a poem, most of which were written by Eaton.

When people look at his paintings, Eaton hopes they will form their own stories, and their own ideas about his characters.

For "he" and "she," he painted a scene of them holding a letter.

"What the letter says, it's for you to decide," Eaton said.

Eaton's art is made for his family, himself, friends and the community. He likes to portray what he sees and share that with others.

"Painting for him, is like breathing air to the rest of us," Pam Eaton said.

One of his older paintings sits on a wall in his work area. The painting shows a male and a female dancing while they balance on a tight rope, in the background is a cornfield with a tornado and lightning coming down from the sky. The image is powerful and drawn so meticulously to detail.

Pam confided she loved that painting for the message she feels lies underneath.

"Despite all issues and obstacles, the best thing to do is just hold on and dance," she said.

Eaton's Studio & Gallery is located on 411 N. Center Street in Bloomington. The gallery is open Wednesdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment.

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