Art-filled living

People in this area are often known for spending their downtime outdoors – hiking, fishing, rock climbing. But longtime Spokane residents Jim Kolva and Pat Sullivan have a decidedly more interior passion: They collect – and live surrounded by – local and regional art.

“Art is part of our everyday life,” Sullivan says. “It’s what we do instead of snowmobile or ski,” Jim adds.

Often described as the pioneers of Spokane’s downtown condo movement, Kolva and Sullivan live in a spacious loft that is home to ceramics, paintings and sculpture.

The building, which they bought and began developing in the late 1990s, houses four additional lofts and two art galleries located on the ground floor.

“There were times when we didn’t have a refrigerator because we were still paying off the last art piece,” Sullivan says.

The couple even plans their vacations around art.

“Next month we’re going to the National Ceramic Educators Conference in Louisville,” Kolva says.

“It’s sort of like a welcome home,” Sullivan adds, referring to the many familiar faces they see during trips to such annual events.

On a recent afternoon Kolva and Sullivan stepped gingerly past stacks of framed artwork yet to be hung in the perfect place in a bedroom or on the mezzanine. Now and then they paused to admire and reflect on an oil painting or a porcelain vase, speaking warmly of each piece and its creator as if recalling a cherished loved one or a precious memory.

“Jim and I could go through 85 or 90 percent of everything in this house, and we’d have a connection to the person who created it,” Sullivan says.

“And if we haven’t met them before, we will try to connect with them; we’ll invite ourselves over to their studio,” Kolva adds.

A sense of humor is evident in much of the work, along with a healthy dose of the absurd highlighted by a giant ceramic rabbit overlooking the kitchen from the mezzanine above, or the bas relief sculpture by artist and Spokane native Patti Warashina that depicts tiny women reveling among – and wreaking havoc upon – huge ceramic dishes.

Ceramics comprise a large part of the collection, and most of these pieces are displayed inside a huge wood cabinet that originally came from a local bakery. Across the room, a long wall, painted a deep aubergine, showcases a number of paintings, each illuminated by track lighting that Jim salvaged from the old Cheney Cowles Museum and a massive brass chandelier the couple found during their travels.

Even without the art, the loft itself is rich with texture and hue. Upstairs in Kolva’s office, red brick peeks through timeworn black paint to reveal the faint outline of an old exterior mural. Rough concrete with faded graffiti gives way to deep periwinkle walls and a steel floor.

The couple say they love the old industrial surfaces that now showcase their art collection. “You have the signature of what was here, the evidence of it,” Kolva says.

Downstairs in the open kitchen, Kolva points out that a long countertop works well for entertaining, which they often do after downtown art events.

“Jim loves to cook, which is good, because I don’t,” Sullivan says. But the couple’s dissimilarities seem to end there.

“What are the odds that two people who both love art and living downtown would find each other?” Sullivan says. “We have a lot in common.”