Slightly West of Spokane Artists Studio Tour highlights makers from Cheney, Medical Lake

While driving through the Cheney and Medical Lake area on Saturday, Nov. 29, you might see bright yellow signs with an image of a flying goose. Follow those signs, and you’ll be led to seven venues showcasing art from 14 artists who call the West Plains home.

The Slightly West of Spokane Artists Studio Tour began in 2009 when painter Janet Wilbanks asked potter and painter Dennis Smith if he would be interested in expanding his after-Thanksgiving sale into a studio tour.

Wilbanks saw it as an opportunity to invite the public into artist studios and community venues in the Cheney and Medical Lake area and give them a chance to see working studios and buy directly from the artists themselves.

Smith had hosted his after-Thanksgiving sale for at least a decade prior to the first Slightly West tour and was able to bring many regulars to the tour. The next year was potter Michelle Schneider’s first with the Slightly West tour.

A new ceramicist at the time, Schneider was told about the tour by her pottery teacher Adam Scoggins and asked if she wanted to sell some of her work at his studio as part of the tour.

“I was excited, but I was pretty intimidated, because I admired his work so much,” she said. “I wanted my work to represent him well as my teacher and represent me well as an artist. I was so nervous, but he was very generous. It was so fun that I wanted to do it again.”

Along with Schneider and Smith, this year’s tour features the work of Chris Bradley, a woodworker and knifemaker; Nicole Nutt, a mixed media artist who creates flower paintings and collages; Amanda Shepard, a ceramic and polymer clay artist; Summer Milson, a painter and fiber artist; Rosanne Anderson, a fiber artist and novelist; Ruthie Franks, who stains and carves gourds she grows herself; Alexandria Odjonii, who creates silver jewelry; J. Veda Jones, who makes lampwork glass beads; Cloie Milson, who works with acrylic, watercolor, ink and fiber; Gayle Havercroft, a relief printer who also works in graphite and pen and ink drawings and watercolor paintings; Mia Simonsen, a needle felter; and Jeff Harris, a potter.

As the name suggests, the tour only features artists who live “slightly west of Spokane.”

Now president of the tour, Schneider said the tour usually features between 12 and 14 artists, many of whom have participated for the last several years. She appreciates the variety of mediums the tour presents and notes the artists vary just as much in age. This year’s tour features artists ranging from 16 years old to in their 70s.

The tour usually brings a varied crowd as well. In the last few years, more and more people from outside of the West Plains, from Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, have been making the trip to Cheney and Medical Lake for the tour.

The crowd is a mix of families and art collectors, though Schneider said the tour also brings her neighbors into her space and gives them a chance to catch up.

Prep time before the tour depends on the medium, but artists begin meeting in April to organize the tour. The group genuinely enjoys spending time together, Schneider said, and they visit each other’s studios the Friday before the tour so everyone can admire each other’s art before the tour itself requires them to stay in one space.

Schneider had an opportunity in the fall to fire pieces in a wood-fired kiln, and she’ll have pieces from that firing for sale at her studio. Schneider’s twin sister Mia Simonsen will have needlework for sale at Schneider’s studio too.

The tour spreads the artists and their work among seven locations. Smith will be at his studio at 609 N. Howard St., Medical Lake; Shepard and Nutt will be at Roam Coffee, 116 N. Lefevre St., Medical Lake; Odjonii and Franks will be at Silver Twilight Studios, 324 E. Lake St., Medical Lake; and Jones and Havercroft will be at Veda’s Beads, 13210 W. Medical Lakes-Four Lakes Road, Four Lake. Bradley and Harris will be at Elk River Knives, 227 Gregory Drive, Cheney; Schneider and Simonsen will be at Schneider’s studio, 15204 S. Cheney-Spokane Road, Cheney; and Summer and Cloie Milson and Anderson will be at Spotted Threads, 12525 S. Spotted Road, Cheney.

Those who are able to make it to all seven locations can enter a raffle for an “appreciation basket,” featuring art from each artist. Each stop has its own personality, Schneider said, so those visiting the various studios and locations can treat it like a sightseeing tour.

Many artists will have light snacks available for visitors, making the tour a low-pressure opportunity to mingle with artists and fellow art fans. It’s important for people to see artists in their creative spaces, Schneider said, as it adds another dimension to the act of viewing and purchasing art and goes towards the Slightly West tour’s goal of education.

“We feel it’s important to educate the people who are coming about the process,” she said. “You gain an appreciation for it when you learn how it’s done.”