On a recent cloudy afternoon in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood, Baso Fibonacci dipped the slender tip of his brush into a glob of white gouache and painted the shape of a skull on a scrap of fentanyl-stained aluminum foil.
Two queer artists were both showing work at John’s Alley Tavern in Moscow, Idaho, toward the beginning of Moscow Artwalk’s 2023-24 season. After talking for hours about their art and mutual love of zines, they became best friends and were editing two zines together within weeks.
Resting atop a hill, a headless deer gazes down at a city. Without eyes, the deer manages to appear sentinel. This was artist Emilija Blake’s first creature, artwork that serves as a stand-in for her disabilities and symptoms. The deer is disassociation, “feeling like you’re outside of your body, existing somewhere else, like your head is in the clouds,” Blake said, sitting with her mom, Taffy Hunter, in Hamilton Studio, while Don Hamilton, Hamilton Studio co-owner, busied himself setting up projectors, and her service dog, Kasper, a goldendoodle, stayed by her side.
When the World’s Fair in Spokane shuttered in November 1974, archivists quickly packed up 246 boxes from the corporate Pavilion offices and archived them within what was then called the Cheney Cowles Museum.
Visual artist Jiemei Lin may be based in Pullman, but she’s left her mark – literally – on Spokane. As you admire the Black Lives Matter mural, you’ll see Lin’s vibrant orange, red, yellow and blue flowers in the first ‘T’ in “Matter.”
To mark Expo ’74’s anniversary, The Spokesman-Review, in partnership with Spokane Public Schools and Expo 50, held a writing and art contest for high school students.
When Tami Hennessy finished assembling her tree inside Shotgun Studios, it was much larger than expected. Carefully constructed of the moldable, easy-to-carve polyethylene foam found cheap in the form of pool noodles, the tree stands nearly 8 feet and its arms span over 12. Sharp words are etched in its bark, and black-brown oozes from its ridges. In its middle is a purple-rimmed pit that looks like it could only be described as the knots in your stomach. But clumped about the trunk and barren branches are patches of bright green moss, showing that life still abounds on this blackened, twisted tree.
It takes a lot to sustain art in the community. You need artists, of course, but you also need spaces for them to show their work, events where people can view and purchase art and organizations who help bring artists and patrons together.
The impact of legendary artist Harold Balazs on Tom Kundig is evident. The Lewis & Clark alum, who has become a venerable Seattle architect, returned to his hometown and to the MAC, to pay tribute to his longtime friend and influence.
Growing up, Vanessa Swenson spent hours wandering around wheat fields, climbing trees and admiring wildflowers, often with a coloring book or painting supplies in hand. The daughter of a music teacher and an art teacher, she was never short on paper, colored pencils or creativity.
Post Falls photographer, podcaster and publisher Hara Allison, who is adept at juggling a myriad of endeavors, has a show on the horizon. 'Through the Lens" is slated for March 8- April 13 at the Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center.
