Glenice Moore uses her gift to support a cause

Fridays are filling up fast.

The first Friday of every month is taken by downtown Spokane’s First Friday art showings complete with snacks and elbow rubbing with artists, and the second Friday by Coeur d’Alene galleries’ open-door events.

Now, art enthusiasts can mark the last Friday of every month on their calendars with an arrow directing them to Spokane Valley at Ink to Media, 523 N. Pines Road.

This month’s event highlights the work of Glenice Moore of Coeur d’Alene who has quite a history of artistic prowess which began in her youth with crayons. She went on to become a nurse, all the while creating art.

Moore, 65, retired early to pursue a career as an artist. “Artists are driven by their spirit,” she said, “If I don’t feel it, I don’t paint it.”

Her work is stunning; realistic portraits of animals and people. She somehow brings out the essence of her subjects which is seen in the eyes and stature. Gazing at her work brings a viewer into their private worlds as if you were peeking from behind the bushes, close enough to touch so you hold your breath so they cannot hear – almost forgetting that the moment is already captured in acrylic paint.

You would never know that Moore has had no formal art training. Since she retired from nursing her paintings have sold well. Kenny Rogers owns one of her paintings (a portrait of the singer himself) and a portrait of Ronald Reagan’s white stallion hung in the White House while he was president. Her art has also been reproduced on porcelain plates and figurines.

Moore has taught at conventions throughout Canada and the United States and she has written eight books on how to paint. She has a manager in Montreal who aids her in her efforts, helping her schedule classes and showings. She also teaches at Spokane Community Colleges in the extended learning program. “It gives me pleasure to be able to teach others how to paint. It makes my work worthwhile.”

Her work is an extension of the things that she loves like the animals native to her area. When she began traveling, she studied and photographed exotic animals. When she heard of the slaughter of gorillas in the Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo, she decided to use her gift for a cause.

The exhibit at Ink to Media is called “Please Stop the Killing” in memory of a silverback gorilla named Senkwekwe. The main focus is a portrait of Senkwekwe gazing up through foliage. He is crying. “The painting makes people cry,” Moore said, “Once I had to get a chair for a woman. I’m astounded by the reaction it gets.”

Moore has made posters and T-shirts of Senkwekwe to benefit the Dian Fossey Mountain Gorilla Fund International and proceeds from her gorilla items at Ink to Media will be going to the Gorilla Fund as well. She will also display other animal and people portraits.

In her statement for the exhibit, she writes: “I know not why I was given my artistic gift. If my art can raise awareness and help to protect and preserve the mountain gorillas then my journey to this point will have been worth all the struggles. …”