Variety Fair Visual Arts Tour Will Feature A Wide Range Of Works From Several Inland Northwest Artists

Downtown Spokane will be bustling on Friday with another Visual Arts Tour. This time, 29 sites will display a variety of works from a host of Inland Northwest artists.

“The free tour is a chance to experience the most current trends in Spokane’s active visual art scene — all in one exciting cultural evening,” said Susan Smith, outreach coordinator of the Spokane Arts Department.

“Thousands of arts enthusiasts hop from one gallery to the next, many of which feature artist receptions, music and gourmet refreshments,” Smith said.

Some of the artists and galleries are:

* Inland Craft Warnings will be part of this year’s tour with “A Taste Out of Season” at Art at Work on the corner of Post and Main. This is the “second helping” of the annual Inland Craft Warnings, held in November for the past 17 years, said Gina Freun, spokeswoman. This edition will continue through Feb. 13.

The crafts show is considered as “one of Spokane’s most treasured juried craft exhibitions,” Freun said.

There will be an array of ceramics, wood, leather, fiber, crafted furniture, photography, art to wear and more.

Some of the artists are Mary Ennis Davis, Wendi Metzer, Mickey McKay, Lee Rentz, Gay Waldman, Barb Campbell, Jill Smith, Mike Neiman, Pete Jagoda, Greg Fruge-Brown and Louise Kodis.

All sales benefit the artists and Cheney Cowles Museum.

The opening reception will be Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. The gallery will also be open daily (except Sunday) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Feb. 13.

* Wendy Franklund Miller and Tricia Florence will mount a show called “States of Minds” Friday through Feb. 26 at Lorinda Knight Gallery, 523 W. Riverside.

Both Florence and Miller use mixed media to convey their ideas about contemporary life.

Florence has used art to render her vision of U.S. geography that includes Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Ohio and Hawaii.

Miller’s work investigates the symbolic dimensions of an article of apparel, known as the “dickey,” a small, detachable fabric insert worn to fill in the neckline.

An artists’ reception will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

* Seattle artist Cheryl dos Remedios will be featured at Chase Gallery in City Hall with “Layers: Paintings on Vinyl.”

“This group of paintings is a way for me to honor the amazing variety that is always present in my life,” dos Remedios said.

An artist reception will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday.

* “Now I Am Exposed” is the show of work by Denise Bowles, a Spokane artist whose mixed-media pieces will be displayed in Pasta Veloce Cafe in the Paulsen Building, 421 W. Riverside.

The show “consists of several mixed media pieces that portray varying feelings of self-discovery, isolation and empowerment,” the artist said.

Bowles will also have work showing at Art for Design at Hotel Lusso, 1 N. Post, from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday; and Raw Space, 115 S. Adams, Friday through Sunday.

* More than 70 paintings by members of the Spokane Watercolor Society will be displayed through February at the Colburn Gallery, 203 W. Riverside.

Included will be realistic landscapes, florals, still-life, and impressionistic florals and abstracts.

An artist’s reception will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The Corbin Gallery is open 9:30 to 5:30 Tuesday through Friday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

* Raw Space, an alternative exhibit venue sponsored by the City of Spokane Arts Commission, has another address: Lambert Candy Factory at 115 S. Adams.

The work of dozens of artists will be displayed Friday through Sunday. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

The Visual Arts Tour can be viewed as a free self-guided tour by walking from gallery to gallery; or with a $2 ticket for a bus that will make a continuous downtown loop from 7 to 9 p.m., beginning and ending at City Hall. The bus will also deliver passengers to galleries in outlying areas beginning at 5:15 p.m. Bus tickets are $2, available in advance at the Arts Department office on the sixth floor at City Hall, or until 6 p.m. Friday at City Hall’s Chase Gallery.

For more information about the Visual Arts Tour, contact Susan Smith at 625-6081.

In other galleries

Edie Dunlap, a Spokane artist, will have a show at Interplayers Theatre during the run of “The Beauty Queen of Leenane.”

Dunlap’s 18 pieces cover a broad range of subjects in a variety of mediums.

The play continues through Feb. 22; the theater is open at noon daily, except Monday.

Keith Snider, a Bonners Ferry, Idaho, resident who creates art objects out of native rock, is the featured artist at Art Works Gallery, 309 N. First, in Sandpoint.

Snider’s show will run through February. The gallery is open daily.