Local artists see dozens drive by new outdoor showing, aim to make it an annual event

Art on the Go, a new drive-by art show held in neighborhoods from Cheney to Spokane Valley on Saturday, wasn’t finished with its inaugural event when the organizer decided it would be back for a second year.

“It’s going to be an annual thing,” said Dennis Carman, a local artist and resource manager of Art Chowder magazine. “We’re going to be bigger and better.”

More than 50 artists signed up to display their art outside, mostly in their front yards and driveways. The event came together in a matter of days.

Frequent art show attendee Lauri Saltzman, of Spokane Valley, said she saw the event on Facebook and thought it was a creative way to get out of the house. She said she spent a couple of hours planning her route.

“I love these kinds of things,” Saltzman said. “I think it’s really creative.”

Maps including different areas of town, such as Indian Trail and East Central, guided people through routes with estimated mileage and trip time.

“We’ll see how many we get to,” Saltzman said.

The maps also brought people to businesses, like ClayFox Pottery and Happy Trails to Brew, as well as the Garland Art Alley.

Graffiti artist Tyler Cinstar was asked to paint a mural in the alley south of West Garland Avenue but didn’t know the Art on the Go event was happening. A few other artists were also painting nearby.

“No one knows about this alley,” said Cinstar, who was painting a mural of koi fish. “So I think that’s pretty cool.”

Local artist Sam White also was painting live for people while listening to music in his front yard near Audubon Park. Some cars drove slowly to observe, while others walked by with pets and children.

White said he had an outdoor art sale in his yard last year and jumped on the chance to display his art in conjunction with others on Saturday.

“I’m having fun doing it,” said White, who paints in an abstract impressionistic style.

The event also gave him a chance to show off more realistic landscape and animal paintings that he started experimenting with during the COVID-19 shutdown. He stockpiled a couple of hundred canvases for the occasion.

“I’m glad I have this or otherwise I’d go crazy,” White said.

John Holen dropped by the home of longtime friends Chuck and Alice Harmon for his fourth stop on the Art on the Go tour.

“We thought it would be good to get out and get some sun,” said Holen, who is a photographer.

Chuch Harmon said he liked that the art event was the first he didn’t have to pay or be judged to enter. And there was no barrier to see the displays, either.

“The main point of (Carman’s) philosophy is to get art out there,” said Harmon, who added that half of the people who drove by his house were new faces.

Alice Harmon was the one who gave Carman the idea to have artists put their art in their yards. And she also came up with the name “Art on the Go.”

“It’s an amazing thing that anything I think of works,” she said with a laugh.

She said she sold a few pieces and also met some of her neighbors.

Carman said more than two dozen cars passed by his display at the Spokane Art Supply on North Monroe Street by about 2:30 p.m. Artists reaching out to him across the country could drive him to make Art on the Go a national event.

“Every person that’s been driving by has been like, ‘Thank you for doing this,’ ” Carman said. “It’s been nothing but good.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that Dennis Carman is the resource manager of Art Chowder magazine, not the founder.