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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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The Verve: Creative gatherer

Tammy Richert sits in her Spokane Valley backyard with an end table she designed and built out of twigs and branches that she gathered. Her dad built the bench she's sitting on out of lumber that they found on beaches at Lake Coeur d'Alene. (Photos by J. BART RAYNIAK / The Spokesman-Review)
Jennifer Larue Correspondent
Tammy Richert sits in her Spokane Valley backyard with an end table she designed and built out of twigs and branches that she gathered. Her dad built the bench she's sitting on out of lumber that they found on beaches at Lake Coeur d'Alene. (Photos by J. BART RAYNIAK / The Spokesman-Review)

Tammy Richert is a gatherer.

“I like to gather things while walking in the woods or on the beach and bring them back to life,” she said. She is waiting patiently to see what the neighbors have planned for the dying birch tree in their yard, and she looks forward to the after-effects of a good windstorm.

Branches and twigs, each with their own texture, shape and tone, are her palette. A couple of years ago she wanted to make an old chair for the garden that flowers could sit in and, after her husband Marc showed her how to use the power tools, she went to town. She makes chairs, tables and wall hangings using found pieces of nature or old fences.

Richert, 54, has always felt a need to create. “I can’t imagine life without it,” she said, “Creating gives me a sense of peace and wholeness.” She displays her creative flair in her Spokane Valley home, her garden, even in the meals she prepares. She works in a basement studio that is filled with tools, and a second room dedicated to sewing, stamping, watercolors, oils and pastels.

She won awards for art projects in junior high and high school, and she took classes at Spokane Community College, Gonzaga University and Eastern Washington University in oil painting, watercolor, drawing, photography, calligraphy and pastels.

“My life as an artist is like a mosaic. Each piece is a different element of me that wants to try new ways of expressing myself, of bringing some part of our natural world to life, whether in a photograph or giving life to a dead and forgotten tree.”

Her artistic nature perhaps came from her mother who draws or her father who enjoys woodworking. He builds benches, unique birdhouses, rustic picture frames, wagons and wheelbarrows. Together they have had “yard art sales” in the Valley. “One lady said I wasn’t charging enough for my chairs,” Richert said. She sees craft shows and fairs in her future.

While Richert considers making art a relaxing pastime, to look at her work is also relaxing, reminding the viewer of an earlier era when things found in nature were used to serve needs and decorate homes without the distractions of television and computers. Her work also brings forth a sort of longing to retreat to a more serene environment. Her twig-and-branch pieces are a personal connection to nature.