Art has been part of the human journey since the beginning. We make it, view it, live with I and are impacted by it in countless ways. This summer, consider including art on your journey as you discover all that it has to offer.
ART AL FRESCO
If you've ever picnicked or otherwise dined "al fresco," meaning in the open air, you know that something about eating outdoors feels special. The same can be said for outdoor art festivals, which offer a visual treat, typically with the added bonus of live music and food.Terrain's beloved annual outdoor street party known as Bazaar returns June 22 in its familiar spot outside River Park Square at Post Street and Main Avenue. Help Terrain celebrate 10 years of offering jewelry, household goods, wall art and more. This year's free event features work from 133 local and regional artists and runs from 11 am to 8 pm. Details at terrainspokane.com.
In July, head to Coeur d'Alene, where Emerge is doing both an indoor and outdoor thing with its annual Block Party on July 12 (5 pm-midnight). The gallery will be packed with work from more than 100 artists (meet them at an exclusive ticketed event the night before), while outside, a nearby empty parking lot will be transformed into party central with live music, interactive arts activities, food trucks, and a beer and wine garden. Visit emergecda.com for more.
A is for August and for art. From Aug. 2-4, the 56th annual Art on the Green takes place on the campus of North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene; visit artonthegreencda.com for details. The following weekend, Aug. 10-11, the Pend Oreille Arts Council's 52nd annual Arts & Crafts Fair takes place in downtown Sandpoint. Rounding out the month is the annual Art & Glass Fest hosted on Arbor Crest Wine Cellars' scenic grounds from Aug. 24-25, the perfect way to end your art festival-filled summer.
HURRY UP AND LOOK
Art lovers needn't wait for an outdoor festival, exhibition opening or other art event to get their fix — there's plenty of gallery shows already open (and some also ending soon!).In Coeur d'Alene at The Art Spirit Gallery, check out "Convergence," with mostly abstract works by Claire Akebrand, Christian Benoit, Jill Kyong, Jon Morse and Andrew Parker, as well as a collaboration with the Idaho Commission on the Arts, titled "Between Borders: Folklife Through the Coeur d'Alenes," highlighting work by Panhandle-area folk artists. Both shows are open through June 30.
The Spokane Queer Art Walk in June includes group exhibitions at the Chase Gallery, Gonzaga Urban Arts Center, Locust Cider, Lunarium, Mom's Custom Tattoo & Body Piercing, SAN - Spokane AIDS Network, Trackside Gallery and other venues. Visit spokanearts.org/queer-art-walk for more information about related events and opportunities to support and share in the LGBTQ+ community.
If you haven't made the drive to Pullman to view three excellent (free!) exhibitions at Washington State University's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, get on it. There's still time to see "Beyond Hope: Kienholz and the Inland Northwest," "Uncovering Radical Artistic Practice in Unexpected Places," and the Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition. All three close on June 29; visit museum.wsu.edu for gallery hours and other details.
SUMMER SCHOOL
Lifelong learning is just that — the sense that there's always something new to explore. Treat yourself to creating, viewing or engaging with art this summer with any number of area classes and educational events.The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture sets aside Tuesdays for gallery talks (free with paid admission or membership) to complement the museum's current exhibitions. This summer, an Expo '74 retrospective continues, as does the historical "1924: Sovereignty, Leadership and the Indian Citizenship Act." The new show "Driving the American Dream: 1970s Car Design" opens June 15 and runs through Sept. 14. Summer exhibitions at the MAC also feature local artists Jeff Weir (through June 30) and "Woman, Artist, Catalyst: Art From the Permanent Collection" opens June 29 and remains up through next March. Visit northwestmuseum.org for more.
At Spokane Art School, Maria Andrus will teach you to embroider a colorful cat on July 11, while Susan Rohrbach takes you on a four-week discovery of birds starting Aug. 13. Learn to sculpt, paint, draw, work with color and more at the school, which has been building the arts community one class at a time for over five decades. Visit spokaneartschool.net for the complete summer class schedule.
If your idea of art school is also old school, get thee to your local library or bookstore, and peep the selection of art books available. We can recommend classics like Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, John Berger's Ways of Seeing, and any of the updated versions of Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Check out Auntie's and The Well-Read Moose, or peruse the used art book selections at such places as Page42 in Spokane, Brused Books in Pullman and Bookishly Happy in Coeur d'Alene.
BUZZIN' AT THE HIVE
There's always something going on at Spokane Library's The Hive, an innovative space on East Sprague Avenue that's home to a diverse and ever-changing group of short-term resident artists. Sign up for a free workshop, like color theory basics with painter Jaime Rome Crain (June 25) or stop by any Wednesday from 4-7 pm, when the Hive welcomes the public to interact with its artists-in-residence. Visit spokanelibrary.org/hive for more.
ART FOR KIDS
Ever notice that little kids need little encouragement to splash paint or wiggle their bodies to music? Parents, plan to bring the family to Chewelah on July 13 for the annual Children's Art Festival. Sponsored by the Chewelah Arts Guild, the free event takes place in the children's pavilion, a large, covered space in the city park the guild helped create — talk about a community committed to the arts! Activities are still being planned, all of them guided by art teachers and guaranteed to nurture the inner artist in all. Visit chewelahcreativedistrict.org for the latest.
CELEBRATION OF LIFE
Isamu Jordan was "a writer, artist, musician, teacher, father, and community leader," says friend and fellow Flying Spiders bandmate, Rajah Bose. Known as Som to his friends, Jordan also struggled with depression and, in September 2013, ended his life.That, says Bose, was the impetus behind an upcoming exhibition at Terrain Gallery honoring Jordan's legacy, titled "Be An Art: Derivatives of Som Jordan" (Sept. 6-28).
Bose is collaborating with fellow Flying Spiders members Thuy-Dzuong Nguyen and Justyn Priest, as well as Jordan's sons, Caleb and Osiah, and a selection of local and regional artists to develop a monthlong event that Bose says "explores the intersections of hip-hop and the lives of participating artists: musicians, poets, painters, photographers, rappers, writers, and filmmakers."
"[Som's] suicide made it difficult to process the personal and collective loss and to talk about it as a community," he says. "This is why we are creating this show — to give permission to contemplate and create in his spirit, but also to acknowledge and honor how one life can reflect in so many other lives." ♦
