In brief: Sale of paintings raises $1 million for museum

Washington State University’s Museum of Art has brought in more than $1 million from the sale of two paintings.

The museum sold the paintings by New Mexico genre painter Walter Ufer at an auction April 28. “House on the Hill,” painted in 1920, sold for $190,000, and “Indian Encounter,” painted in 1926, sold for $850,000.

The pieces originally were part of a 93-piece collection obtained in the 1930s by former WSU President Ernest Holland. Proceeds from the sale were used to create the Holland-Orton Endowment, named after Holland and Charles Orton, who donated funds for the collection.

Museum Director Chris Bruce said in a news release that the two Ufer pieces are considered regional works that don’t fit with the museum’s focus on modern art. He said the endowment will ensure the museum can care for each piece in its collection and buy some new pieces down the line.

Debby Stinson, a spokeswoman for the museum, said there are no plans to sell more pieces from the collection.

Chad Sokol

Riverfront Park fest a thank-you to voters

To thank Spokane voters for approving a tax for renovations at Riverfront Park, the city will host a celebration there Saturday with free rides, live music, $1 hot dogs and a beer garden.

The event, dubbed “Thank You Spokane,” will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The first 10,000 attendees will get free park rides all day. Additionally there will be a prize raffle and live music by local artists.

Attendees will check in at the park’s Rotary Fountain. A schedule of events can be found on the city’s website, my.spokanecity.org.

The event celebrates a $64 million bond that Spokane voters approved in November to renovate the park.

Separately, urban planners will present the three park designs in the running from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. today in the City Council Chambers at Spokane City Hall. Construction will start after Labor Day.

Chad Sokol

Art planned as tribute to 1858 horse slaughter

A community art project in Huntington Park will pay tribute to the hundreds of horses that were slaughtered in an act of aggression along the banks of the Spokane River by the U.S. government against Native American tribes.

From June 20 to June 29, community members are invited to draw horses on a wall in the Tribal Gathering Plaza in the park. The temporary chalk mural, titled “900 horses,” will commemorate the horses killed in 1858 near what is now the border between Washington and Idaho.

Although land east of the Cascade Mountains was off limits to the U.S. Army, there were settlers, and some had been killed by tribal members. The horse killings, carried out by soldiers under the leadership of U.S. Army Col. George Wright and Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe, were supposedly to suppress an uprising by the tribes. The artist leading the project, Ryan Feddersen, and assistants from Spokane Arts will prepare the space June 19.

Chad Sokol