Visual arts: 93-year-old artist blends passions for nature, paints
Oil painter Ruthie Renfro is celebrating her 93rd birthday by having her first Inland Northwest solo exhibit.
Renfro is showing 17 landscapes at the On Sacred Grounds coffee house and art gallery in Valleyford through July 8.
“Painting has always been in the family,” says the Spokane artist. “Both my mother and my aunt were very musical and quite artistic.”
As a child, Renfro says, she “always had watercolors in my hand.”
She grew up in a small prairie town in southern Alberta, Canada, where she fell in love with nature.
“My twin sister and I would just go out on the prairie and hike around for hours,” she says.
Her family moved to Spokane in 1926, and she’s lived here since.
Renfro set aside her brushes as an adult until she retired about 30 years ago.
“Everyone has to do something,” she says.
For Renfro it became an obsession with painting classes and reading art journals.
“I remember one artist recommending that every painter should always put something ‘alive’ in a scene,” she says. “So I decided to put in two little birds in each of my paintings. They have become my signature.”
Meet Renfro at an artist’s reception from 1 to 4 p.m. June 23 at On Sacred Grounds, 12212 E. Palouse Highway. Call (509) 747-6294 for directions.
SFCC students ‘Merge’
An exhibition of artwork by Spokane Falls Community College’s graduating fine arts majors, “Merge,” will be up through Friday in the SFCC Art Gallery.
Students with items in the show are Yvonne Archer, Sara Babcock, Jamie Bendixen, Audrey Benevedes, Ryan Desmond, Krystle Field, Deborah Harder, Tracie Howe, Christina Jackson, Peter Jose, Sandra Lund, Teresa Meade, Ahmad Ejahali Mohammed, Dustin Moreland, Kathleen Parr, Tim Pritchard, Zadie Short, Jessica Smith, Trina Snediker, Sabrina Sorger, Allie Sweitzer and Mariko Takahashi.
The gallery is in the Art Department, Building 16, on the college campus. It is open from Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There is a closing reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday in the gallery.
‘Interactions’ in Moses Lake
Pencil in a trip to Moses Lake next week for the opening of “Interactions: Exploring Relationships of Forms and Patterns.”
The museum’s first summer art exhibit features woven vessels by Dorothy McGuiness, of Everett, and paintings by Betty Hageman, of Seattle.
McGuiness, who has been weaving since the late 1980s, began creating baskets with painted watercolor paper about six years ago. She combines traditional bamboo weaving with her own innovative techniques to fashion distinctive, flexible vessels.
Hageman, inspired by the natural world, paints images that explore the recurring forms and patterns found in deep spaces.
Her process involves the building up of multiple transparent layers of intense color. The final paintings become three-dimensional as the images wrap around the deep canvas edge.
The show runs June 22 through July 13, with an opening-day artists’ reception from 7 to 9 p.m.
The museum, 228 W. Third Ave. in Moses Lake, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (509) 766-9395.
Center Place shows
Three exhibits are on view through Sept. 6 at Center Place, 2426 N. Discovery Place in Spokane Valley.
Displays include photographs by the Spokane Valley Camera Club and the painting collection of James Harken.
The third show is “Summer Paintings” by Spokane Valley artists Marge Carper, Betty Jo Cook, Trish Elser, Erin Griffin, Don Hiatt, Benita Papadakes, Anna Rector, Susan Rohrback, Linda Schneider, Anne Sherrodd, Kathy Williams and Rada Zukia-Ehmke.
View the work Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (509) 688-0300 with questions.
Flett’s book launch
Artwork by American Indian artist George Flett (Spokane) will be on display Wednesday at the Tinman Gallery, 811 W. Garland Ave.
The show is part of a launch celebration for his newly published illustrated book, “The Ledger Art of George Flett.”
Flett and essayist Scott M. Thompson will be on hand to autograph books between 6 and 8 p.m.
Other galleries
“ArtWalk at Spokane Valley Mall runs Friday through Sunday during regular mall hours. For more information, call (509) 842-2492.
“The Coeur d’Alene Art Association is having a show at the River City Center through Sunday at the corner of Mullan Avenue and Highway 41 in Post Falls.
“On Saturday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., fiber artist Nan Drye will help participants make domino-based pins in a free workshop. Drop into Pottery Place Plus, 203 N. Washington St., inside Auntie’s Bookstore. Call (509) 327-6920.
“Harper’s, a new contemporary crafts gallery, is open at 410 Sixth St. in Wallace. Look for works by glass artist Steve Adams, metal worker Rob Harper and photographer Gay Waldman. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (208) 512-1797.
“Artists’ Studio at Schweitzer Mountain is showing items by Carolyn Beckwith, Betty Billups, Diana Moses Botkin, Susan Dalby, Pauline Ehly, Marita McDonough, Karen Robinson and Cassandra Tauber. The gallery, near the White Pine Lodge, is open Thursday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Labor Day. For information, call (208) 800-2106.