Artists Bring Their Work Out In The Open Creativity Goes To Mall
Stan Miller wasn’t going public again.
The Spokane artist had demonstrated his watercolor and egg tempera techniques at plenty of summer art fairs, and he’d had enough.
“It exhausts you,” he said.
Still, he accepted when Steve Gibbs, a fellow artist, invited him to paint with 13 other people in The Coeur d’Alene Plaza Shops on a recent Saturday afternoon. Steve has arranged the public sessions, Art in the Making, every few months for two years. The next one is scheduled for late June.
Stan found out Dave Clemons was going, as well as Terry Lee, Patsey Parsons, Donald Muth, Randy Raak and Dan Campbell. Stan gathers with those artists to draw most Monday nights at Terry Lee’s Coeur d’Alene studio.
Their passion invigorates him. The drawing exercise satisfies his constant need to improve. The friendships lift his spirits.
He wanted to go public with them.
“It’s good for people to see us having a good time,” he says.
So Stan packed his Conte crayons and pad and straddled one of the 14 drawing horses Steve set up in a circle in the downtown mall.
He studied Mary Lively, a model who lounged in a green swimsuit, her left arm tucked behind her head. Then his right hand moved briskly over his page, leaving a shadowy brown outline matching Mary’s shape.
“It looks just like her,” a woman whispered to her companion. Stan glanced at Mary and continued drawing.
Shoppers milled from artist to artist, watching half sketch Mary and half paint Brigitte Trotter. Brigitte wore a brown dress and sat in an armchair, her legs crossed and her dark hair tossed over one shoulder.
She mysteriously materialized on Liberty Lake impressionist Donald Muth’s canvas after a series of quick dabs and brush strokes. Onlookers oohed, impressed with the 80-year-old artist’s dexterity, then applauded a string trio’s performance of Brahm’s Hungarian Dance No. 5.
“It’s a beautiful set-up, with the stage and the live music group,” Stan said, as he held his head up from his pad just long enough for sculptor Mickey Mank to get a good look. Stan was her subject - “He has a nice face,” she said.
Onlookers perused portfolios artists brought, but nothing that day was for sale, which is why the artists came.
“This makes art more human,” Mickey said.
“Once I got here, I was hooked,” Stan said.
Lap it up
Everybody needs breakfast, even on weekends. So spoil yourself this Saturday and help move a hard-working family into their own home. Go to the pancake feed at Coeur d’Alene’s Christ the King Church, on 17th and Pennsylvania, 7-10 a.m.
Money raised will help local churches build a home in Kootenai County for Habitat for Humanity. Not a bad way to spend your money.
Breakfast for adults is $3. For kids, it’s $1.50.
Dish it up
Soup kitchens aren’t just for hungry people. If your belly is full, consider helping out at a kitchen. In Coeur d’Alene, St. Thomas Community Kitchen serves dinner Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. and St. Pius, 625 E. Haycraft, serves up a soup dinner every Friday.
In February the Dalton Garden Church of Christ began a soup kitchen that serves dinner every Wednesday, 5-6 p.m. And last month, Coeur d’Alene Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 901 Best Ave., opened a Saturday night dining hall. Vineyard serves dinner from 5:30-8 p.m. You don’t need to belong to one of these churches to help out or to eat.
Who’s gone beyond the call of duty to help you? Sing his or her praises to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.