For artwork in Spokane, that’s a wrap

Covering the Bloomsday runners sculpture in Riverfront Park with black plastic sheeting may, at first glance, appear to be some kind of college prank.

But this act of civic defacement and others like it will be seen across Spokane increasingly as part of an arts campaign this month.

Spokane’s arts director and a group of volunteers are covering prominent works of art to get people to “imagine your life without art.”

It started on Monday in Riverfront Park with the Bloomsday runners sculpture and at the Spokane Arena with sculptures there. The campaign then moved later this week to the Lincoln statue at Main and Monroe. More “victims” are expected.

City Arts Director Karen Mobley said she’s got a list of targets but declined to disclose them.

“It’s not any fun if there’s not an element of surprise,” Mobley said, calling the campaign “guerilla marketing.”

It won’t be limited to visual artwork. What Mobley called “interventions” are planned for theater performances, poetry books at some libraries and other art venues. She said the campaign is going for shock value – by blacking out a theater stage midway through a show, for example.

The idea is to get people to support the arts through their purchases and attendance. The campaign is being supported by the BHW1 advertising agency of Spokane.

Along with the plastic sheeting, Mobley and her arts guerillas are pasting on stickers, which ask passers-by to imagine their lives without art. The stickers also give a Web address for spokanearts.org, an online reference for information and schedules of art events in Spokane.

Mobley said the Web site includes long-range calendars for people who want to plan schedules months ahead of time.

“The whole point is to draw attention to arts in general” and to the Web site, she said.