Art is a part of what makes us human. We have, since even before the beginning of what we call civilization, been making images (and objects). And looking at them. And pondering their meaning. Pretty powerful, right? So whether you're sliding a brush across a canvas or standing back and contemplating why someone else did so, you are part of an epic adventure. This summer, let art be your guide.
PICTURE YOURSELF IN PULLMAN
Like many college towns, Pullman looks different during the summer without the majority of the more than 16,000 Washington State University students who call it home most of the year. Plentiful parking, fewer pedestrians and yet loads of art to experience.
Pack a picnic — or peruse the Inlander's online restaurant guide for the Pullman-Moscow region — and enjoy a self-guided arts walking tour. Start at WSU, which is home to nearly four dozen artworks inside campus buildings and on campus grounds. Visit arts.wa.gov for specific locations, including sculptures by Jim Dine and John Buck or paintings by Ric Gendron (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Arrow Lakes Band).
Head downtown to view murals courtesy of the Pullman Arts Foundation, including at the Hotel McCoy (455 S.E. Paradise St.) or the 100-foot-long Riverside mural in the 400 block of East Main Street. While you're downtown, visit the newly opened Greystone Grand Gallery & Gifts for local and regional art (greystonegrandgallery.com).
If you're planning your trip around specific dates, the university's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU closes on June 28, but reopens later this summer on Aug. 19 with two powerful exhibitions.
Anish Kapoor is internationally known for his sculpture, yet "Dissolving Margins" is the first solo exhibition of the artist's five decades in printmaking. Additionally, "Color Outside the Lines" explores how artists like Kapoor, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Faith Ringgold and others use color "to question institutions, beliefs, and expectations," according to the museum website: museum.wsu.edu.
And since you're already in the Palouse area, what's a few more miles? Nearby art venues include the nonprofit cultural hub known as Artisans at the Dahmen Barn (artisanbarn.org) in Uniontown. Across the state line, Moscow Contemporary (moscowcontemporary.org) is featuring a rad exhibition about skateboard culture that's on display June 20-Aug. 9.
JOURNEY CLOSER TO HOME
Stay in Spokane and experience a different kind of trip this summer — time travel! Head to Spokane's Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture for a multisensory journey into the Tlingit origin mythology when Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight opens June 28. The nationally traveling exhibition combines visual projections, original music, and soundscapes from the Pacific Coastal region from which Singletary (American Tlingit) hails. The exhibition also features Singletary's extraordinary cast, carved and blown glass works, which serve as guide pieces for the immersive experience. Visit northwestmuseum.org for more info.
TAKE FLIGHT
Performance art is part visual art, part physical activity on behalf of the artist, audience or both. While it might be a stretch to call University of Idaho's Professor Stephen Cook an artist (he's actually head of the entomology, plant pathology and nematology department) a June 24 evening event he's leading will certainly look like performance art.
Cook is supplying painted lady butterflies for the Community Memorial Butterfly Release, a free event being held from 5:30-7 pm at Coeur d'Alene's Share Hope Memorial Garden. Formerly the Bestland Cemetery, the garden at East Gilbert Avenue and North Eighth Streets was so named for Iva Mae Best, who died in 1893 at the heartbreakingly tender age of 5.
Thus the butterfly release, which Auburn Crest Hospice created in 2022, is meant to do just that: offer release to those grieving. Whether that's the loss of a lover, a friend, a family member or a four-legged companion, participants will be encouraged to write him/her/it/them a message on a piece of dissolvable paper for the butterflies to carry up, up and away. Visit facebook.com/auburncrest for more information
FAIRLY FINE ART
This might finally be the year you do it: submit your art to the fair. Acrylic painting, charcoal drawing, photography, but also sewing and needlework, jewelry making, woodworking, welding, and yard art are just a few of the categories accepted.
No, you're not going to get rich even if you win the coveted blue ribbon, maybe just enough to cover your materials, but just entering has its benefits. Not only do you have the added motivation of meeting a deadline, being accepted is sure to boost your confidence
Participating will also boost your reach. Over the course of 10 days, for example, the North Idaho State Fair (Aug. 15-24) can see upwards of 170,000 visitors. Visit nisfair.fun for details.
Even if you don't enter your artwork, local fairs offer plenty of art to look at and be inspired by. This year, the Spokane Interstate Fair (Sept. 5-14) is hosting an art walk on opening day with a spray paint art contest and artists painting en plein air. Visit thespokanefair.com to learn more.
SAY 'HEY!' TO CLAY (and more!)
You can try artmaking at any age and pursue it with any level of seriousness (or not). However, to learn new techniques or improve existing ones, taking a class helps shorten the learning curve and expands your artistic vision simultaneously.
That's especially true when expensive or specialized equipment is required like with ceramics. Learn to throw on the wheel at The Clay Connection (clayconnectionspokane.com), which offers a regular lineup of classes for $220 per session. For that you get two hours of weekly instruction across five weeks, 25 pounds of clay, plus firing and glazing of your magnificent creations.
In Coeur d'Alene, Emerge also offers adult classes (emergecda.com), including one less focused on finishing a piece and more focused on fun. On June 20, Emerge offers its spin on paint-and-sip nights with Sip and Spin for $35 (glass of wine included).
And if you're interested in finishing your artwork but don't want to wait for it to be fired, Covered With Art (pictured left) offers a two-part air-dry clay workshop at its Spokane Valley studio for $56. Visit coveredwithart.com to schedule a workshop in clay, painting and other media.
SAY 'YES!' TO ART
Whether you're interested in making art or appreciating it from afar, you clearly value art. What's more, you understand that support for the arts takes many forms. Buying art, of course, but also just attending events and using your voice to advocate for the arts, from kindergarten to college, in both private and public forums, and both locally and nationally.
An upcoming annual event in Sandpoint, for example, benefits Pend Oreille Arts Council, including its local school district outreach. This year the Sandpoint Art Party is June 27 at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center — a gorgeous North Idaho venue surrounded by orchards! — and catered by local legacy, Ivano's. Tickets are $75; visit artinsandpoint.org/art-party to register.
You can also make an impact on a broader level. Write to your legislative representative. Submit a letter to local media. Let recently targeted organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts (arts.gov) know you appreciate them. Connect with a credible arts advocacy group like National Art Education Association (arteducators.org) or Americans for the Arts (americansforthearts.org) that can walk you through how to find and contact your legislator.
And never underestimate the impact even one person can have when they say yes to art.♦
