Artistic spread

The heart of Art on the Green is inside a wall of booths lining the North Idaho College campus. Artists’ skills speak out from every booth, even when it’s children with painted faces or a cluster of tie-dyed wardrobes.

The beat of Art on the Green rests with artists who see the festival as a once-a-year chance to catch up with old friends.

“It’s still the anchor of exposure to arts in the community,” said Carol SinClair, president of Northwest Artists Cooperative in Coeur d’Alene.

Community artists are getting more exposure than ever before, as they fill more than an annual booth on the NIC campus. Instead, many are finding ways to display their works beyond the bevy of summer fairs.

Nearly 15 years ago after an Art on the Green festival, a group of 30 artists got together to form the cooperative as a year-round way to keep arts in the public eye. The cooperative allows artists to show their wares and share in shop time on Sherman Avenue.

The co-op also has proven a springboard for long-standing artists in the area to launch their own presence downtown.

After 13 years with Northwest Artists, Mark and Mary Rodgers branched out in June with their own storefront in a new “Artists Village,” a building on Sherman Avenue between Simple Pleasures and the Coeur d’Alene Eagles.

The Rodgers own The Leather Works and got into the leather-working business 20 years ago after being married in buckskins. They started their business simply — with leather belts and moccasins — and have since expanded their product line and established themselves with return customers from across the country. Cindy and Clark Summers of Summers Glass also set up shop in June at the village, and at least one more artist is expected fill space in the five-office building.

The moves are the most recent in a series of new art shops downtown.

Steve Gibbs moved his Art Spirit Gallery closer to downtown last summer, and the Painter’s Chair Fine Art Gallery now fills the former Harvey’s clothing store at Third and Sherman. In addition, Erlendson Art Glass, a glass-blowing studio and coffee shop, opened near Second and Lakeside in April.

But Mark Rodgers said artists tend to be reclusive by nature, and unless they’re at an art fair or a gallery, most artists tend to do their art in seclusion. So art fairs end up being a gathering for artists to share stories and learn new tricks of the trade.

He attends about a dozen each summer.

“We kind of run around like gypsies in the summertime to do these art fairs,” he said. “The next best thing was Northwest Artists. It’s another kind of hub for people to come through.”

Cindy Summers has been working with glass for 28 years and moved to the area three years ago. She was with Northwest Artists for three years before opening her fused glass studio.

“Northwest Artists is a great place for local artists,” said Summers. “It gives artists a storefront without taking the risks like what we’re doing.”

SinClair said membership at Northwest Artists dropped as artists open their own storefronts, but she’s not worried. She hopes to set up a shop for her Feathers on Leathers business by August.

“To me, it’s a positive sign,” said SinClair. “Yes, we lost two supportive members, but the cooperative isn’t made to be sedentary. It’s a springboard for new artists. They’re raising up new energy.”

With each new storefront, the artists are exploring new ways to attract a following, from live demonstrations to hands-on art workshops.

But when the time comes, each is fired up about the art show that started it all.

“We always look forward to going there, seeing friends, neighbors, fellow artists, sharing what we’ve been doing, what’s new in the art world, who’s fresh to town,” said Rodgers. “It has that staying power, that reputation that draws people from all over.”

About 140 booths of original artwork by regional artists are on display along with 90 juried works of art. Entertainers will perform — and stroll by — with more than 30 music and dance groups and a few stragglers on stilts or in duck suits.

The celebration began Friday on the North Idaho campus near the Spokane River. The festival continues each day from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Coeur d’Alene Street Fair is on Sherman Avenue, and the Taste of Coeur d’Alene is in City Park both days.