UNMASKED: Steve Nash and Stephanie Pasquariello of Woodbridge's Eyecandyair admire some of Nash's handiwork. Nash is the man behind the designs on several NHLers' goalie masks, including Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins. Photo by Flo da Silva/Vaughan Today
Squint next time you see Nashville Predators goalie Chris Mason take a slap shot to the mask and you might be able to make out the work of Vaughan resident and airbrush artist Steve Nash.
For the past eight years, Nash has designed and created goalie mask artwork through his company Eyecandyair. The Woodbridge-based business services goalies of all levels of play from as far away as Australia.
The self-taught artist’s clientele also includes Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins, Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Biron of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Nash’s most recent design, produced for Mason, has garnered attention from various large media outlets.
“That mask has caused a lot of attention for some reason,” Nash said from his studio this week.
“Chris (Mason) loves us,” says Stephanie Pasquariello, Eyecandyair’s customer relations rep and self-professed hockey fan.
“He’s been talking up a storm,” she added. “I think we’ve probably got more press off his mask than any other NHLer we’ve done.”
The front of Mason’s mask is adorned with Kratos, the protagonist from the best-selling Playstation 2 game God of War and a scene from the movie 300 and the Canadian flag are on the back.
Despite recent interest, the mom-and-pop business was once starving for attention, Pasquariello says. The duo began calling as many equipment managers in the NHL as they could, hoping to break into the league’s lucrative market.
“Those guys won’t even call back,” Pasquariello said. “Basically, if you’re not contracted by a major mask company, then you’re not going to get at any of the players.
“You’re just some guy that paints masks.”
Opportunity’s door finally opened two years ago, when custom mask-fabricator Sportmask in Oakville gave Nash the chance to design Thomas’s protective gear, Pasquariello said.
Thomas was so pleased with the result that Sportmask gave Nash first crack at all his NHL mask designs, she added.
Two years later Eyecandyair’s business has steadily picked up. Nash said he is booked solid until May of next year.
Pasquariello said they try to complete three masks a week, but “it doesn’t always work out that way”.
Each project takes two to five days to complete, depending on the design.
The duo says they’re no longer star-struck by the professional athletes they run into — Pasquariello is an avid collector of hockey player signatures and Nash has participated in numerous brainstorming sessions with the NHLers at their hotel rooms or at game-day skates.
“All the NHL guys we meet are really down to earth,” Nash said. “They don’t look down on you.”
But the airbrush maestro said he still gets a kick out of receiving international design requests.
“It’s pretty wicked to deal with people all over the world,” Nash said. “They all have the same unique passion for hockey.
