Artists create moving pieces at Jundt

For two weeks in late August, five area artists spent long summer days making their marks. The results can now be seen in “Drawn to the Wall II” in the Jundt Art Museum on the Gonzaga University campus.

Museum director J. Scott Patnode asked five well-known Inland Northwest artists to spend two weeks at the museum, each creating a drawing on one side of a 12- by 8-foot movable museum wall.

Participating artists are Jeanette Kirishian, Scott Kolbo, Kay O’Rourke and Bradd Skubinna of Spokane, and Allie Kurtz Vogt of Hayden Lake, Idaho.

The twist to the exhibit, says Patnode, is that “the works will be painted over and the walls returned to their normal use as museum partitions at the end of the exhibit” on Oct. 9.

“Because it is a temporary installation and a political year,” says Kolbo, “I decided to do something that pertained to the election.”

Kolbo, a printmaker and assistant art professor at Whitworth College, frequently creates pieces featuring Jeremiah, the street preacher. His contemporary social commentary is influenced by the biting satirical art created by Spanish master Francisco de Goya and German Dadaist George Grosz.

Kirishian, an art instructor at Spokane Falls Community College, says: “The most important influences on my work are visual memory and reflective experience.”

O’Rourke’s charcoal drawing features a narrative of her cat, birds and tulips. Vogt’s abstract altar piece reflects her interest in rituals and relics.

Skubinna says that the meaning and purpose art emerges during the process of making it. “I want to go where my instincts take me,” he says.

Meet the artists tonight at a free public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jundt. The 28-minute video “Jim Dine: A Self-Portrait on the Walls” will be shown on Saturdays throughout the exhibit (except for Sept. 18) at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in the Jundt Lecture Hall.

On Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Tom O’Day, artist and art instructor at Spokane Falls Community College, will give a free talk, “Intersection Undone,” in the Jundt Lecture Hall.

Grimes ‘kidnaps the muse’

Spokane artist Robert Grimes works in a slow, painstaking method.

“Each piece takes about a month to complete,” says Grimes of his highly intricate and detailed pieces.

The artwork on view at the Art Spirit Gallery in Coeur d’Alene took Grimes two years to finish. “Kidnapping the Muse” includes nine new oil on canvas paintings, eight painted wood relief sculptures and 10 cast relief sculptures.

“Sculpture allows me to create light changes that flat media cannot achieve,” says Grimes. “This play of color and light across a relief surface is reason enough to put together the most elaborate wood constructions.”

An artist’s reception is Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at 210 Sherman Ave. The show runs through Oct. 2.

The Art Spirit Gallery is part of the Second Friday Gallery Walk in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Other participating art venues with receptions from 5 to 8 p.m. include: Angel Gallery, 423 Sherman St., showing the Idaho Watercolor Society exhibit; The Devin Galleries, 507 Sherman Ave., featuring bronze sculptures by the Frogman; Frame of Mind Gallery, 119 N. Second St.; Painter’s Chair Fine Art Gallery, 223 Sherman Ave., showing paintings by Stephen Charles Shortridge; and Erlendson Art Glass, 116 E. Lakeside Ave., and Timber Stand Gallery, 210 Sherman Ave., in the Coeur d’Alene Plaza Shops.

Whitworth’s art season opens

Works from Whitworth College’s permanent art collection go on display Wednesday in an exhibit in the Koehler Gallery and throughout Weyerhaeuser Hall, the college’s new academic building.

The permanent collection houses prints, photography, glass, ceramics, sculpture, mixed media and paintings including a number of works by Whitworth faculty and alumni.

Some of the collection’s most notable works include “Mt. McKinley” and “The Ebb Tide,” landscape oil paintings by Sydney Lawrence; “Basque Suite,” a signed print by Robert Motherwell; “Portable War Memorial,” a print on metal by Edward Kienholz; paintings by Kenneth Callahan; ceramics by Carlton Ball, David Shaner and Bojidar Bontchev; and glass by Peter Hunner, a 1976 alumnus.

The exhibit in the Koehler Gallery runs through Oct. 2. The gallery is in the Fine Arts Building at Whitworth College, 300 W. Hawthorne Road. A public reception is Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery, with an exhibit lecture at 6 p.m. in Room 203 of Weyerhaeuser Hall.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or by appointment. Admission is free; call 777-3258 for information.

A new painting by Whitworth art professor emeritus Pauline Haas will be presented in Weyerhaeuser Hall on Oct. 2 at 10:30 a.m.

NIC’s ‘Hand Made Books’

A closing reception is today from 4 to 6 p.m. for “Hand Made Books” in the Corner Gallery in the Boswell Hall on the North Idaho College campus in Coeur d’Alene. The exhibit features books from the James Castle collection and ABBA (A Buncha Book Artists), a student group at Arizona State University.

Artist and printmaker Dan Mayer, advisor to ABBA, and book artist Heather Neal, the group’s president, will give a slide lecture today at 10:30 a.m., followed by a slide lecture at 1 p.m. by Tom Trusky, director of the Idaho Center for the Book.

Priest Lake Autumn Celebration

The Entree Gallery, Elkins Resort and Arbor Crest Winery are collaborating on a “Priest Lake Autumn Celebration” with wine tasting, hors d’oeuvres and an artist reception today from 4 to 7 p.m. at Elkins at Reeder Bay on Priest Lake, Idaho.

Entree Gallery is featuring “The Ross Hall Collection” through Oct. 10. The collection of black-and-white photography from the 1930s and 1940s features log drives, Sandpoint’s historic main street and Priest Lake’s Roosevelt Grove. Dann Hall, son of the late Ross Hall, is managing and producing the collection.

Colburn’s 811 Gallery

Ivan Munk’s art exhibit “Gone But Not Forgotten,” a retrospective view of Spokane residential architecture, is on display at Colburn’s 811 Gallery. The exhibit features highly detailed watercolors including a recently completed painting of the old North Central High School. An artist’s reception is Friday between 5 and 8 p.m. in the gallery, 811 E. Sprague Ave. The display runs through Sept. 29.

Never Ending Garden

Thelma Giampietri is showing her realistic soft pastel paintings at the Never Ending Garden Art Gallery, 14115 E. Trent Ave.

Giampietri says she works with pastels because she can best capture the feeling, light, mood and “the way one color bounces off another on my subject matter.” This show features Native American portraits, florals, landscapes, birds and still life.

Meet Giampietri on Saturday during an artist’s reception from noon to 4 p.m.

First Presbyterian art show

A free “Fall Celebration and Art Show” takes place Sunday between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 318 S. Cedar St.

“We just want to celebrate the fall season with fellowship and introduce people to the wonderful variety of significant artists in our community,” says event spokesperson Myrna Johnson-Ross.

Artists with work in the show include Del Gish, Dorothy Fowler, Diane Zahner, Gene Lorenson, Sue Zimmerman, John Plimley, Dolores Hudson, Vicky Bouble, Gayle Havercoft, Jennie Cochran and Lori Smith.

CREATE in Newport

CREATE, a community arts organization in Newport, Wash., is showing a fiber art exhibit through September. The show includes spinning, knitting, crochet, quilt and applique work. An artists’ reception is Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. The center, 900 W. Fourth St., is open Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Go to www.createarts.org for more information.