Northwest Artists Gather For A Soriee

You might want to go to Jennifer’s this weekend. She’s preparing for a really big crowd and says the more the merrier.

To be precise, it’s Jennifer Compau-Pettoello’s annual “Soiree of Art, Fashion and Literary Arts.”

Soriees originated at the turn of the century in Paris, when art lovers would host an event in which both artists and art aficionados could informally meet. The “happening” recurred during the ‘60s and ‘70s, and Compau-Pettoello is bringing them back again - in the form of the original.

A soiree offers a more relaxed atmosphere for artists and audience to discuss the art and artist. She’s gathered artists from all over the Northwest for this weekend:

* Ruben Trejo, an art professor at Eastern Washington University who teaches sculpture, has had his work acclaimed the world over. The Smithsonian Institute bought a Trejo piece for its permanent collection.

He will display a wealth of hands he’s sculptured from lead, aluminum bronze, painted on canvas and formed into a collage in another form. He says hands are an analogy for nearly everything humans do. They incorporate love, joy, sadness, courage …

* Ann de Vuono of Seattle will show her collection of original hats, which Compau-Pettoello says are pieces of art as well as wearable items.

De Vuono, well known as a fabric artist, has been accepted into a book called “Fiber Arts,” which attracted 5,500 applicants from 55 countries around the world. Compau-Pettoello doesn’t know precisely how many were accepted, but certainly nowhere near the number who submitted their work for consideration.

* Debra van Tuinen of Olympia creates visionary landscapes that range from monumental to miniature. These encaustic creations are imbued with the drama of reflecting light and the mystery and unique memory of layers upon layers of wax over pigments, Compau-Pettoello said.

* Ross Coates, art professor at Washington State University, has created surprises with found objects placed strategically in cigar boxes, each with its own story to tell.

* And, Marilyn Lisohir, Coates’ wife, will premier the couple’s latest bizine (book/magazine) which includes “art articles that are regional, national, historical, delicious, poignant and way cool,” according to Compau-Pettoello.

Beth Moore will conduct walking tours of the Latah neighborhood at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

This all happens in Jennifer’s house, 1418 S. Chestnut. Hours are from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 747-8979.

And the winners are …

Stan Miller took first place for his “Autumn Quiet” for the Spokane Watercolor Society’s recent Juried Watermedia Exhibition at Colburn’s Gallery.

Alf Dunn, retired professor of art at the University of Idaho, was the juror to determine the top eight awards.

Taking second place was Edie Dunlap’s “Hoop Dance Hopeful”; third place went to Olivia Waterman for “Ancient Kimono.”

Memorial Awards were won by Louise Hubbard and Mari Anne Figgins. Miller also took an honorable mention award for a second painting, along with Vivian Pendell and Melissa Cole.

The paintings will be on display through October at Colburn’s Gallery, 203 W. Riverside; hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

In other galleries

Karen Mobley, arts director for the City of Spokane, has a show through October at North Idaho College’s Corner Gallery in Boswell Hall.

“An Unstable Cartography (Maps Not To Scale)” reveals a personal story, Mobley said.

When Mobley was a child, she would read forest service maps while driving with her father, who was a game warden, from place to place.

She read more maps as she grew older and went backpacking through Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains and the Snowy Range.

The maps in her paintings are “factually wrong because they are cut up and put back together, yet (they) have a metaphoric or unified rightness, based on the composition,” Mobley has said.

Mobley, who lives a dual life as arts director, and an artist and poet, has had recent work accepted in the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyo., and Spokane galleries.

NIC gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Charlie Schmidt is exhibiting “Objects Paintings” at Art@Work Gallery, 123 N. Post “I am showing paintings and objects from my past, present and future,” Schmidt’s press release says. “The common thread is that these are all some of my favorites.

“Being a baby-boomer is a lot of fun.”