A vintage typewriter perches on the corner of a spacious table. Pages of typed paper are affixed everywhere in the studio around it, over paintings and covering the edges of the table.
The typewriter once belonged to Noelle Bowden's grandmother and holds great significance to the artist. It also plays a vital part in her creative process.
"There's this personal connection to typing the keys and having to really punch [them]," says Bowden, a 2023 graduate of Eastern Washington University's fine arts program.
Now that she's out of college, forming connections with other creatives and the professional art world at large will be a crucial step for the young artist.
A new partnership between Spokane Public Library and EWU seeks to help do just this, by supporting newly graduated art students like Bowden as they navigate this sometimes nebulous phase of adult life. Bowden and fellow EWU art grad Luu Melendez are the first graduates chosen for the new Emerging Artists Program, a six-month residency that began last fall and wraps up in February.
"I think that in the past, Spokane has lost some of its creative talent to bigger cities because we didn't support them... and that's losing some of our best and brightest," says Eva Silverstone, Spokane Public Library's arts education specialist. "So, we need to make opportunities for people in Spokane."
For any field, transitioning from the regimented structure of college to post-graduate life can be a difficult process, sometimes more so for creative fields.
"Unfortunately, a lot of art students, myself included, set aside being an artist and do not pick it up again for a little while, because [we] had to get a job and focus on other things," says Silverstone, who helped develop the residency.
At the Hive, Spokane Public Library's hybrid branch in the East Central neighborhood, Bowden and Melendez share a studio where they can spread out and work on multiple projects simultaneously. Having a space to create was appealing to the two artists, as was continuing their art practice while they explore potential career paths and other opportunities.
The Emerging Artists Program was created thanks to a collaborative effort between Silverstone and two Eastern art professors, Jenny Hyde and Joshua Hobson.
"[We] were talking about, how do we nurture an artist post-graduation [so] they get a chance to figure out how to incorporate artwork into the daily rhythm or weekly rhythm of their life," Silverstone says. "Individuals who have just graduated from college, they don't have a huge portfolio, they don't have a huge resume, and so they often don't get the same opportunities that someone with more experience gets."
As part of the Spokane Public Library network, the Hive is also funded by taxpayers. The new Emerging Artists Program was added to the Hive's existing (unpaid) artist residency opportunities. Since opening in 2021, the facility has supported more than 30 local artists with studio space.
Bowden and Melendez were chosen among a pool of other EWU art grads, versus the more traditional residency route of an application process. The program requires eligible graduates to have a Bachelor of Fine Art, which shows they're serious about art.
Committing to three public programs (hosting a joint class and each holding a solo event), attending weekly open-studio hours and spending 20 hours on art in the studio each week are other requirements. In addition, graduates submitted faculty letters of recommendation. EWU faculty advisors continue to be involved with the artists throughout their residency, meeting monthly to check in.
Art is often created alone, Silverstone notes, but something incredible happens between artists when they gather in a shared space.
"A lot of other libraries will have an artist-in-residence, where they'll have one artist at a time," she says. "The natural mentoring that happens between artists in a group studio situation is really valuable. So, we have seven artists and two writers in the building right now, and they end up learning from one another and supporting one another."
The Hive has four studios reserved for artists, and it's a highly desired space. During the last application window for artist residencies, 73 people applied. Selected artists choose their length of stay, between one and six months, and while working at the Hive they provide community programming, although the number of events is dependent on their length of stay.
"It's always been a dream of mine to have this artist-in-residence program," Silverstone says.
Partnering with EWU for the Emerging Artists Program is the perfect complement to existing residencies at the Hive, she notes.
Bowden and Melendez acknowledge their artwork is similar, with deeper narratives playing a large part in their creations, but also very distinct. The artists have known each other for two years, first meeting in creative writing courses, then spending a year together in Eastern's BFA cohort. As a student, Bowden focused on painting and poetry, while Melendez chose drawing and digital art.
In Bowden's part of the shared studio are paintings made on the back of large maps that teachers once pulled down over their chalkboards. Her smaller paintings are filled with movement and deep, maroon shapes.
Bowden also creates poetry, and has enjoyed making crafts and writing since childhood. But it wasn't until she attended an intuitive painting class at 21 when she "had a very deep spark that was rekindled."
The Emerging Artist Residency has given Bowden more opportunities for introspection, offering her the chance to decide where she is in relation to the art world, and how far she wants to take her art.
Dozens of unused, rolled maps occupy space under a table, most of them salvaged from EWU. Bowden relishes using found objects made of natural materials to repurpose in art. She feels a more personal connection to paper, so she prefers painting on it instead of canvas. Throughout the residency she's been working on a cohesive collection utilizing as many of the maps as possible. She'd also like to self-publish a book of her writing alongside the paintings she's made at the Hive.
Her studio partner, Melendez, meanwhile, keeps a methodical, organized area. A grid of her illustrations and a few paintings line a wall, ranging from cute figures like a comic strip of a girl and her cat to atmospheric pieces, such as one depicting a bed inside a bare, shadowy room.
Writing under the pen name Luu Melon, Melendez mostly creates comic strip-style narratives, telling stories with illustrations. She works with ink pens, markers and a computer, and sometimes paints. Creating graphic novels is the type of professional work she's drawn to.
"[Art] is just like another way of communicating yourself," she says. "How I see things in general in life, it's always been through some creative lens."
After the residency, she plans to finish her current graphic novel, Grey Area, and find her audience. The novel explores the relationship of two young men from different backgrounds who are united by a need to hide their sexual identities.
"At the end of the day, I just want to make it for myself, but hope that someone else [will] like it," Melendez says.
A comprehensive collection of the artwork Bowden and Melendez are creating during their time with the Emerging Artists Program is set to be exhibited at the Central Library in September. The same month, a new cohort of recent EWU graduates will move into the Hive's studios to produce their own creations, continuing the creative cycle.
"Art feeds other art," Silverstone says. ♦
