New Horizons Contemporary Arts Alliance Wants To Bring Challenging Artistic Events To The Area

Leslie Ronald long suspected Spokane was ready for a breath of fresh artistic air.

But even she was surprised when the avant-guarde “Global Soundings” event she helped bring to town filled all 256 seats at Interplayers’ downtown theater. “We were thinking we could maybe sell 100,” she admits.

The real gratification, though, came at the end of the exhausting four-hour ensemble performance, when Tacoma sound artist Dan Senn let the last note from his wires-andstrings creation fade away, then quietly thanked the audience for coming and walked off stage.

“Immediately everyone stood and clapped and clapped and clapped,” Ronald recalls. “Dan told me later that none of the (six) artists had ever had a standing ovation before. I was so proud of Spokane for recognizing the quality of these performers. It was great! We’re ready to move ahead.”

The “we” Ronald refers to is the Contemporary Art Alliance, a group of two dozen local architects, artists and patrons eager to make top-quality events available to area residents. Architect Ronald is CAA’s secretary.

The non-profit group’s president, architect Glenn Davis, says Spokane has grown to the point where it needs an institution that focuses primarily on presenting contemporary arts. The CAA “is not so much the result of a lack of that sort of presentation in the past,” he explains. “It grows out of the fact that Spokane is ready to take the next step.”

And taking that step, Davis says, is easier in some ways for Spokane than for larger communities like Seattle. “Here there’s no (institutional) superstructure that has to be dealt with. We have more flexibility.”

But less money. Some observers already wonder out loud how long CAA can last, given the mortality rate of similar local efforts, such as 123 Arts and the Touchstone Center for the Visual Arts.

“I suppose we could be considered following the same path,” Davis says. “But we’re trying to take a more fiscally conservative route.”

That’s why, after some inquiries, CAA decided against renting a building and hiring a full-time director.

Instead, the group will focus on sponsoring events such as July’s “Global Soundings.” There’s already talk of commissioning a dance to accompany a sculpture exhibit, and Davis envisions an “earth exhibition” in which an artist will create forms on a square-mile patch of Palouse farmland.

For the time being, CAA’s plans are less ambitious. Currently it is sponsoring an exhibition of local artist Mel McCuddin’s “figurative expressionistic” paintings on the first floor of Ronald’s office at 518 S. Maple. The event coincides with the opening of Spokane’s new Veterans Memorial Arena, for which McCuddin has been commissioned to create murals with entertainment and sport themes.

Next spring, Davis will curate an architectural show at City Hall’s Chase Gallery featuring the work of John and Patricia Patkau of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Davis and Ronald acknowledge that “Global Soundings,” which practically fell into CAA’s lap, will be a hard act to follow.

“But we’re not going to let situations hold us back,” Ronald insists. “We want to keep our standards high and do things that are challenging, without being the inyour-face variety. “If you present the best,” she says, “people will come.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: For more information about the Contemporary Art Alliance, contact Leslie Ronald at 624-2615 or write to CAA at P.O. Box 1003, Spokane, WA 99210.