CULINARY ARTS | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ARTS
NOV EMB ER | DEC EMB ER 2016 . I S S UE 6
$5.95 US
$7.75 CAN
Artist Exclusives with
cover artist www.artchowder.com
Dawie Mocke November|December 2016 1
I
am sitting in my little cabin in the woods without Internet, cell phone or even a television signal, as I write this. Every so often I need to take a break from all the stress and noise that my daily life brings. I am surrounded by the beauty of the mountains and trees, the flowing of the Kettle River, and all the creatures living their busy little lives trying to survive.
From the Publisher
Dean Cameron
The feelings I get while I am here are very reminiscent of the feelings I have when I am “captivated” by a piece of artwork, an artist’s story, or even a musician who’s talent amazes me and makes me ask “how can they do that?”. Sometimes all it takes is a fine meal that keeps me focused on its perfection. All these things are able to take us away even for a short time from the hurried stress and challenges that go along with this thing called life. It is an honor and a blessing to be able to share the amazing talents of our regions finest as well as introduce some who share this globe with us. It seems like we find ourselves asking with each issue “how do we top that?” We hope that after reading each issue of Art Chowder you too will ask “Wow, how are they going to top that?” I can’t think of a better challenge in life than to try and accomplish that goal. Happy Reading,
Dean Cameron Publisher 2 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
CONTENTS: 02 From the Publisher
Dean Cameron
08 Artist Exclusives Dawie Mocke 18 Roch Fautch: Born into Tradition 26 Artist John F. Thamm
32 Art About Town Art Resource Directory 34 Hitting the Wall By Tom Quinn November|December 2016 3
Mailing Address No. 1
Mailing Address No. 2
Full Name
Full Name
Address
City State Zip
4 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Apt. No.
Address
City State Zip
Apt. No.
CONTENTS: 40 Ellen Welker | Washington Poet By Karen Mobley 44 Roger de Piles and the Nature of Painting By Melville Holmes 50 Spokane Spotlight | Performance Venues
By Janis V. Bers
56
8 Ways to Celebrate the Holidays in Spokane By Chandler Anderson Baird
62
ART CHOWDER MARKETPLACE
Publisher & Advertising Sales P.O. Box 141292 Spokane Valley Washington 99214 509-995-9958 ISSUE No. 6
www.ar tch o w de r.c o m
Dean Cameron dean@artchowder.com
Editor In Chief & Creative Director
Rebecca Lloyd rebecca@artchowder.com
Roch Fautch
Photography: Grace June Imagery
Contributing Writers
Dean Cameron Karen Mobley Melville Holmes Rebecca Lloyd Janis V. Bers Tom Quinn Chandler Anderson Baird
Cover Artist Dawie Mocke
November|December 2016 5
6 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
November|December 2016 7
ARTIST EX
8 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
XCLUSIVES
DAWIE MOCKE
Dawie Mocke was born in Pietermaritzburg KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 1975. He grew up in Pietersburg, Limpopo Province where he graduated from the Pietersburg High School in 1993. November|December 2016 9
Dawie MOCKE How long have you been creating? “I’ve been a full time artist for 14 years now and man, was it a rollercoaster ride, but I wouldn’t have had it any different.”
ENOUGH Acrylic on Canvas 40” x 40” LIMITED EDITION GICLEE CANVAS PRINTS 2015
Do you work in different mediums? Which is your favorite? Why? I have to sell fast to make a li-
The Buffalo with the Yellow Billed Oxpecker I called "Enough". The Buffalo shakes off the birds that bother it, I placed the emphasis on the bird and blurred out the Buffalo however the name is linked the Buffalo's irritation.
10 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
ving, so most of the work I have done is in acrylics, it dries faster and therefore, I prefer this medium. 14 years ago I started doing pencil sketches and people loved that. For me it is a little stagnate, so I doodle in pen and ink and acrylics. I have had to teach myself all these mediums and I love them equally, but acrylics are my favorite.
The Buffalo is called “Wrath”, this animal is hunted everywhere and is also called “Black-death” by hunters, in this painting I tried depicting the feeling of the animal, therefore this heavy close up where you can see the eyes of the animal, the window to its soul, and this one is angry and stares straight through you.
If you had not become an artist what other career do you believe you may have pursued? Because I grew up close to the Kruger National Park I always had a love for wildlife. After finishing school I was very interested in becoming a game ranger, but life happened and it didn’t work out that way.
What are some of the most meaningful responses that you have had to your work?
WRATH Acrylic on Canvas 40” x 60” 2016
I always try doing interesting and different ways of animal behavior, like close ups, walking away or lying down, it keeps my work fresh and different
SHERIDAN-UNTAMED Acrylic on Canvas 40” x 29” LIMITED EDITION GICLEE CANVAS PRINT
“Very recently I had an exhibition and a young girl, probably about 7 years old, couldn’t believe that a lion I had drawn was in pencil and she just loved it, I gave it to her. “ ...
ver being in the restaurant industry for 12 years I had to learn to be open at first sight, I still apply those skills today. I know myself now and I’m very happy just being on my own, being creative.
Would you consider yourself to be a social person? Naturally I’m
people would appreciate art, the hours and planning that goes into a piece, whether it is super realistic or abstract.
an introvert. At first I’ll study a person before I open up to them, howe-
Is there anything you wish was different in the art world? I wish
November|December 2016 11
Artist Exclusives | DAWIE MOCKE Is there anything interesting, or notable about you or your career that you feel comfortable sharing with our readers? I recently started a small framing business to learn the art of framing, this also helps me fund my own framing and keeps me going in quiet times, it is not good to have all your eggs in one basket. I’m also exploring the art of abstract painting just to have more versatility.
What do you enjoying doing besides art? I love music and I also enjoy playing some guitar and harmonica. One of my other pastimes is gardening, because I enjoy getting my hands dirty and soul “earthed” while I unwind. 12 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Peone Creek Pottery amy wharf, potter
on display year-round at
Pottery Place Plus, 203 N Washington, Spokane
Is there anything you wish you had done differently in your own career as an artist? Do you have any advice for emerging artists? I have done a lot of exhibitions and have been very disappointed in some of them. Try to stick to the ones that work and don’t waste your time in things that don’t. 14 Years ago I prostituted my art on some Online auction sites, that was a huge mistake, art sells at a fraction of the price it’s worth and the hammer price never disappears from the Internet, it has taken me fourteen years to only now start pricing my work at reasonable prices.
What is your favorite childhood memory? The times we spent on holiday in the Kruger National Park, the quietness and smell of the African bush, night fires burning throughout the campsite. Ah, bliss and no worries in the world, listening to my dad playing guitar and harmonica while we pushed old Mopanie logs into the fire.
Do you have a “bucket list” so to speak as an artist? I would still love to do an exhibition in the United States, however with our exchange rate it is quite expensive, but that is one of my dreams I’m working on.
903-1/2 W Garland Avenue (509) 315-7900 Wed-Sun 10:00-5:00
November|December 2016 13
Are there certain subjects that you are particularly drawn to for inspiration? I love good wildlife photography and particularly cat’s eyes. I always try to capture a feeling spoken through the soul of the animal.
14 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Do you have a favorite piece from your own collection? My latest painting is always the best, the lion called “Day sleeper� is to date my favorite, I just love the feeling it expresses in its eyes.
November|December 2016 15
What is your biggest fear when exhibiting your work?
“Not making a sale! I like comments, good or bad. I always see it as positive criticism and I grow from that, but darn it just buy something�
...
Can you tell us a little about any upcoming exhibits that you are looking forward to? I always look forward to my exhibition at Gallagher Estate in April. It is a hunting expo called HUNTEX and it falls right into my subject matter with wildlife paintings
Where can we see and find out more about your work? Use Facebook as my main portfolio and from there I share to Instagram and Twitter, I also have works posted on flootie.com and my website is DAWIEMOCKE.COM
16 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
DEMONSTRATIONS | CRITIQUES | EXHIBITS
Radius Gallery’s 3rd Annual
WATERCOLOR SOCIETY Encouraging watercolor artists and promoting their growth
Spokane WATERCOLOR SOCIETY
Meetings held the 2nd Wednesday of the month • 6:00PM (No August meeting)
Spokane Art Supply, 1303 North Monroe, Spokane, WA For more information go to www.spokanewatercolorsociety.com
Or call: President Becky Gromlich 509-863-5392 or Vice President Gay Witherspoon 509-466-4069
HOLIDAY SHOW
unique, original, affordable fine art
Nov 4 - Dec 24
Jennifer Eli French, Red Birds, 2016
114 E Main, Missoula www.radiusgallery.com November|December 2016 17
ROCH FAUTCH
BORN INTO TRADITION
18 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
ROCH FAUTCH
BORN INTO TRADITION
Roch was born into a creative tradition, coming from a family of artistic minded people; his earliest memories include being shown the value of a pencil by his grandfather, Leo Fautch, a cartoonist. His cousin shared her college art books with him and after seeing his first Dali painting, Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening, at the age four he said
... it was like an alarm went off and inspired a life committed to the creative process. His father was an engineer and taught him to visualize and design whatever he saw. Also how to build it. While mostly self-taught, with an insatiable curiosity and the passion that drives him, he has spent his entire life studying and working hard to absorb everything in his path and apply it creatively. With each new skill, from molding, building, fiberglass and concrete construction, his overall artistic potential has continued to grow.
Other than working as a fine artist, are there any other lines of work have you been involved in?
“Rock and roll stage lighting, electronics sales, mold building, fiberglass production, concrete construction, theme work, business owner, ad graphics and photo retouching.�
Photographer: Grace June Imagery
November|December 2016 19
When you are working on a project do you see the finished product in your mind beforehand or it is an evolution? I have a couple different ways that I compose pictures. Sometimes, I see the completed vision in my head and will develop it either by drawing or doing it digitally. The other way is a more intuitive, random approach, where I take a few colors and throw them on a blank canvas using lots of water and allowing the color to do its own thing. After it dries, I will look for images that I see in the canvas, kind of like looking for images in clouds, and then I paint whatever I see. While being careful not to over think the composition and allowing the canvas to present the content, I find in the end these paintings always have a multilevel cohesive theme, which seems to reflect deeper parts of myself.
Do you feel that living in the Inland Northwest has any influence on your career as an artist? I love Spokane and the local area. It is truly one of the most beautiful spots on this planet. Growing up here, by a little lake in the mountains of Eastern Washington, I have gained a great respect and appreciation for nature, the environment and the wildlife. While it is a conservative community, it has kept me somewhat isolated from the rest of the art world and think it has been beneficial in giving me the opportunity to explore and develop my own style.
20 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
November|December 2016 21
Your work is very diverse. You work in many mediums from concrete to oil paint. Do you have a favorite? Ha, my favorite is whatever I’m up to my neck in at the moment! Each new idea, has its own way of expressing itself and I am grateful to be able to work in a variety of mediums to see these things realized. I’m often told, I should either paint full time or sculpt, but to me, both disciplines feed each other, so I could never choose one over the other.
ROCH FAUTCH
BORN INTO TRADITION
22 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
What would you consider to be your “dream project”? I’m planning to begin pursuing more public artworks in the near future. One of the projects I’d love to create would be a sculpture park and playground to inspire children to use their imaginations more. Another project I’d like to build would be a melted clock about 200 feet in size, hanging off a shear rock cliff on a mountain. I have a couple locations in mind.
Is there a boundary in your mind between a “trade” and an “artistic” work; or, do you approach everything artistically?
it to the level of artistry.
I was trained from the beginning to think like an engineer, so to me it is all a form of problem solving, whether it’s figuring out how to paint a cloud or build some crazy large concrete installation. The only difference between an artist and engineer is that the engineer solves real life problems and the artists create their own. The “trade” is simply the skill and understanding of the material, (whether roofing or concrete) along with tools and techniques. How you apply that knowledge is where artistry comes in. As with most materials, it takes a solid understanding and respect for your material of choice to be able to push
I reason why I identify with surrealism is because of its exploration into the irrational realms of inner space, which I believe is where our own personal truths are found. Most of my work seems to revolve around themes about consciousness, time and the nature of reality, which I’ve pondered my entire life. In this day and age, with an overly programmed society where the media tells us what to think, how to act, and what to buy; I prefer to do work that makes people think for themselves. Challenging the viewers to look at the deepest parts of them and perhaps inspire others to reach for higher truth.
As a surrealist do you wish to portray specific messages in your work?
November|December 2016 23
While traveling the world, where would people find your artwork? Most of my work is in private collections but Pacific Science Center in Seattle and a Dali Museum in LA have my Bent Space and Time clocks. I also have concrete installations of trees and artificial rocks up the west coast. Other than that, mostly at Magicraftsman Studio in the Spokane Valley. Can you share with our readers what is next for you? More of the same! I plan to keep working on my art, both two and three dimensional, while continuing to support and promote the arts in our local community through my personal gallery, The Hatch, Creative Incubator and the occasional outdoor event. Currently, I’m working towards producing Magicraftsman’s Surreal Film Festival. I would also like to instigate an Art Car Parade, maybe a surreal river raft race or even a Magicraftsman’s Surreal Carnival, which would be a traveling show of artists, actors, musicians, etc.
WWW.MAGICRAFTSMAN.COM
POTTERY CLASSES | WORKSHOPS | EXHIBIT | SELL | MEMBERSHIPS
Microscope Slide Jewelry Workshop November 19, 2:30-4:30pm,$45.00 Make and take one or three reversible pieces. Learn how to solder.
8 Week Pottery Classes $125.00 Start January 9- March 4 5 week pottery classes $89.00 Start February 1 - March 1
3017 N. MONROE SPOKANE, WA 24 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Holiday Bazaar Fundraiser, At 5 mile grange, 3024 W Strong FREE ADMISSION! Dec 10, 10am-5pm Dec 11, 10am-4pm
W W W . U RBA N A RT C O O P . C O M
509.327.9000
E.L.STEWART B etween E arth
and
H eaven
40” x 60”- Acrylic on Canvas www.elstewart.com painter@elstewart.com
November|December 2016 25
ARTIST
John F. Thamm John Thamm always knew he wanted to be an artist; in fact, he’s been creating since the age of six. Although large crowds put him off, he always enjoys getting together in small gatherings with family or some of his life long friends. When he isn’t creating you may find him spending time camping with his family and dogs on the St. Joe River, near St. Maries, Idaho. When asked what some of his favorite childhood memories were he recalled appreciating being read to by his mother when he was young and also going to boxing matches with his father, when he was a little older. Over the decades he has been changed by many of the experiences he has had while working as an artist, yet when asked whether he would had done anything differently, he replied with a simple no. On the other hand, he wishes a few things were different about the art world. Specifically how the Internet is changing how artwork is displayed, shared and sold in the present day. He acknowledges that in some ways it allows many viewers the ability to access a tremendous amount of art very easily, however, he feels it is discouraging new art admirers from coming to see live shows where they can actually meet the artists in person. At this point, he doesn’t have many fears about exhibiting his own work, apart from ensuring that he has all the art ready in time to hang for the show. He’s tried nearly every medium, but always finds himself going back to oil. When asked why he’s so fond of working with oils, he responded,
“I like oil’s flexibility, you can use it in many ways. It dries slow compared to acrylics or you can speed it up with an additive. You can use it thin as a glaze or you can apply it thick. You can layer it once it dries and alter the color over time.“ ... 26 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
John was born in Wendell Idaho, and then studied art with Herman Keys in Spokane, WA. He went on to receive his undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Idaho. Then under a Ford Foundation scholarship he moved to New York City and studied at the Art Student’s League with Samuel E. Oppenheim and was mentored by Jack Levine. Although he has always known that he wanted to be an artist, he believes he may have pursued film if his life had turned out otherwise. He added that he marvels at those that can create a story within a sixty-second commercial. John Thamm is particularly drawn to politically inspired works. He’s always had a deep interest in politics and the effect it has on the social scene. John elaborated on some of the experiences that have made a profound impact on him.
“At a time long ago, in the depression years, there was a school of art called “social realism.” My mentor, Herman Keys, was part of this movement and I guess it rubbed off on me. During the 60’s and 70’s there was more interest in socially conscious work, no doubt because of the Vietnam War. Social and political material shows up in music, poetry and literature but not as much in painting. My subject matter comes from a deep interest in history, current events and predictions of a dark future. I have come to view world events like Shakespeare; the world is but a stage and everyone gets a part to play. I am well aware I’m tilting at windmills and trying to prop up the under dog. Two events in my life had a deep effect on me, Ruby Ridge and Waco. I had the honor of being a courtroom sketch artist at these two trials, which resulted from these two government slaughters. I always knew that power and authority had the capability of going out of control. Experiencing the testimony while sketching the witnesses and listening to what happened; it changed me. Current events provide me with a wealth of material everyday that I interpret through the changes that I experienced during those two trials.”
November|December 2016 27
In 1978 John was an art instructor with the Community Colleges of Spokane and became friends with one of his students, Bob Ross, who was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base. They would paint together in John’s studio in Peaceful Valley. Bob was fascinated by John’s portrait painting technique that he called the “Wipe-Out” method. Bob and John remained good friends and Bob produced several videos that highlighted John and his method of painting portraits. Those instructional videos can still be purchased from the Bob Ross Corporation. 28 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
John has had some pretty memorable responses to his work over the years, he was once part of a group show at the Monmouth County Arts Center in central New Jersey. The Monmouth County Rose Society also used the room where the show hung. One of his paintings was a 48” x 60” explicit female nude reclining on a bed that members of the Rose Society found objectionable. They actually took it upon themselves to cover the painting with black plastic garbage bags along with the other nudes displayed by another two artists.
John Thamm has surely stirred up some controversy with his art, but it seems that he simply wants to make an impact with his work. When asked about what project has meant the most to him over the years he shared this with us;
“My favorite project was painting fifty portraits of area veterans in the wanting room at the VA Medical Center. Once I realized how important their stories were for both the veteran and their family, I interviewed each veteran with my close friend Tom Davis who took each interview and condensed the stories into a page on each veteran. I shared the 50 portraits in celebration with the veterans and their families at the Medical center and then produced a book called: VETS: Fifty Veterans and Their Stories. I have maintained friendships with many of the veterans after I completed the project.”
...
An art reviewer from the Red Bank Register who was outraged by the gestures from the Rose Society alerted him to the event and then went on to write a very favorable review of the show noting how the nude pieces had been covered with black plastic. Thamm elaborated on the event, “We demanded an apology from the Rose Society and prolonged coverage of the show with another article featuring the apology.”
John’s work is in private collections throughout the United States and the Wolfson Museum in Miami Beach, Florida.
November|December 2016 29
30 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
ARTIST
John F. Thamm
Do you have a personal favorite piece, from the work that you have created? The Sower and the Spin Doctor. I took the figure from a painting by Jean-Franรงois Millet called The Sower who was casting out seeds of regeneration. My Sower is casting out political and religious symbols that create hatred and war that are disseminated by the media. I painted myself into the painting as media from covering the Branch Davidian Trial. Do you have a favorite location to exhibit your artwork?
The Sower and the Spin Doctor
In 2000 I purchased a turn of the century building on Main Street in Bisbee, Arizona. It gives me a studio living area above and a gallery below. I am able to produce paintings in the evening and show them fresh in the gallery within a few days. Bisbee has a large tourist population in the winter so I show to a variety of art lovers from all over the US and Europe. I enjoy talking with the gallery visitors and sharing my work. Where can our readers see your artwork in person or find out more about you? You can also find out more by visiting my website: www.jfthammstudios.com or by contacting me directly through email: pinklloyd2@msn.com HATCH GALLERY 9612 E Sprague Avenue Spokane Valley, WA 99206
J. F. Thamm Studios 40 Main Street Bisbee, Arizona 85603
J. F. Thamm Studios
November|December 2016 31
Art About Town
ART RESOURCE DIRECTORY 29th Avenue Artworks 3128 East 29th Ave. Spokane, WA 99223 (509) 534-7959 Angel Art Gallery 423 Sherman Ave. Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 (208) 665-7232
Avenue West Gallery 907 W Boone Ave, Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 838-4999 Bozzi Gallery 221 N Wall St Suite 226, Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 290-5604 Cello 415 W Main Ave #101 (509) 315-9579 Opens at 11:00 AM Chase Gallery 808 W Spokane Falls Blvd (509) 625-6050 Emerge 208 N 4th St, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 (208) 818-3342 Hatch Gallery 9612 E Sprague Ave, Spokane Valley, WA, CURRENT ADVERTISERS 32 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
99206, SUITE 201 509-598-8080 Jundt Art Museum 200 E Desmet Ave Spokane, WA 99202 (509) 313-6843 Kolva Sullivan Gallery & Trackside Studio 115 S Adams St Spokane, WA.99201 (509) 462-5653 Kress Gallery / River Park Square 808 W. Main River Park Square, Third Level Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 456-3413 Little Dog Art Gallery 903-1/2 W Garland Ave Spokane, WA (509) 315-7900 Marmot Art Space 1206 W Summit Pkwy Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 270-5804 Magic Craftsman Gallery 18209 E Appleway Ave Spokane Valley, WA 99016 (509) 475-2390
McCarthy Art Company 601 W. Main Spokane, Washington 99201
New Moon Art Gallery 1326 East Sprague Spokane, WA 99202 (509) 413-9101 Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture 2316 W 1st Ave Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 456-3931 Painters Chair 223 Sherman Ave. Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 (208) 667-3606 Saranac Art Projects 2910 E 57th Ave # 5-282 Spokane, WA 99223 (509) 954-5458 Spectrum Fine Art 21 W 34th Ave Spokane, WA 99203 (509) 747-5267
Spokane Gallery
409 S. Dishman Mica Rd
Spokane Valley, WA 99206 (509) 747-0812
Spokane Falls Community College Fine Arts Gallery 3410 W Fort George Wright Dr, Bldg 6 Spokane, WA 99204 (509) 533-3710
Steven A. Scroggins Fine Art Gallery P.O. Box 1164 Cd’A, ID. 83816 (208) 659-8332 The Art Spirit Gallery 415 Sherman Ave Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 (208) 765-6006
The Artisan Gallery 53 Wisconsin Street Priest River, ID 83856 (208)-304-4656 The Liberty Art Gallery
203 N Washington, Spokane, WA 99201 Urban Art Co-op 3017 N Monroe St. Spokane, WA 99205 (509) 720-7624 William Grant Gallery
1188 W Summit Pkwy Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 484-3535
Quinn’s CORNER
November|December 2016 33
Tom Quinn
Wall
Hitting the
34 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Wall
Hitting the
Being a muralist is quite different from what many people may envision. At first, you might imagine yourself working quietly in your studio on a small easel painting. Now imagine yourself doing this while people honk their horns at you as they pass by. Picture yourself turning around, because it would of be impolite not to; then as you turn, you see your admirers saying, “looks good” while flashing you a thumbs up. Then, when you least expect it, TV crews or reporters from a local publication might drop by to interview you. That would be mighty sweet, right? Now imagine that you also get visited by lonely people, asking the same questions again and again; trying to start a conversation with you.
“Did you do all of this? …Do you do this for a living? …Are they paying you for this? …You got any spare change?” Those are some examples of the up and downsides of mural painting. It has many such extremes. On the upside, your work will become a conspicuous part of the city. You might even pass two or three of your own murals in a single drive. Unfortunately, you may also see the flaws; a brushstroke in the wrong place, or even the poor color choices that you’ll never get a chance to repair, and you’ll see them every time you drive by that wall. Artists tend to be hermetic, cloistering themselves away in their studios. For better or worse, public art gets them out where others can see them. Most murals are on high vertical surfaces that must be reached by ladders, scaffolds, and power lifts. Artists are known for their neuroses, but for muralists they cannot include acrophobia. It’s hard to be creative when you’re in terror for your life. November|December 2016 35
You get a lot of exercise climbing up and down those ladders and scaffolds, which would be a great way to burn calories if it didn’t make you so hungry. Culminating in the inevitable result of eating too much junk food and flopping down when you get home, too tired to hit the gym and get some exercise. You’re more likely to gain weight than lose it. Then there’s the weather. The window of opportunity for painting outdoor murals is cruel and brief. First, you can’t paint in the winter. Even if you’re tough enough to brave the cold, your paint won’t stick to an icy surface; and if it freezes before it dries, it will surely peel when the temperature gets above freezing. There are plenty of pleasant days to paint in the spring, but there are also a lot of rainy days. You can keep yourself dry with a raincoat and hat, but you can’t paint on a wet wall. It’s hard to maintain a consistent schedule when you never know for sure whether tomorrow will be rainy and sunny, but you do often learn how unreliable weather reports can be. Painting in autumn has the same unpredictability as painting in spring, but with a little more
wind, and the pressure of having to get the job done before winter.
That leaves summer as the only practical time of year to paint outdoor murals. Summer means heat, sunburn, sweat, and bugs. But at least it doesn’t rain so much and the paint won’t freeze. Speaking of paint, the kind of paint most practical for mural painting, exterior flat latex, is made for contractors, not artists. The colors have completely different names. The art supply industry has done remarkably well at standardizing the names of their colors, to the point where one brand’s cadmium red is virtually indistinguishable from another’s. But just try to find “cadmium red” among the swatches at a house paint store. The closest thing they have to that color may be called “dragon’s blood” or “harbor sunset.” Not to mention that house paint is messy, gloppy, uncontrollable stuff. It’s easier to manage in quart cans than gallon cans, but if you try to buy more than one quart at a time, the clerk won’t sell it to you because two quarts of house paint cost more than one gallon.
Drawing up a list of necessary colors and quantities is hard enough when the paint is sold by the ounce, like the paint in art supply stores; but having to decide how many gallons you may need is maddeningly imprecise. Also, you’ll need help. Much of the work, like pulling chalk line, can’t be done by just one pair of hands, and much of the simpler work, like rolling out flat colors, can be done while you’re being creative. Volunteers are easy to find, but if you’re going to be well paid, it’s only fair to cut them in on it, which means you’ll have to work out how much paid assistance you can afford. At the beginning of a mural, assistants can speed things up considerably, and at the end they can help wrap it all up. But in between, the hardest part of having assistants can be giving them something to do. I found that out when I did a mural outside a bar. I was about to go home when I saw I had a flat tire. I could have fixed it myself, but I thought I’d duck my head in the bar and ask if anyone could give me a hand. To my surprise, four men got up. I didn’t do any of the work. One man used the lug wrench to lower the spare tire while another put the jack in place and turned it as high as it could go without the jack handle, which was also the lug wrench. After that, it was a one-man operation. That one man jacked up the wheel, pried off the hubcap, loosened the nuts, and reversed the process with the spare tire. We had five men, including me, but four of us just stood with nothing to do, because there wasn’t much more than one person could do. Up until then, I wished I had an assistant. That experience made me realize, I could end up wasting a lot of money, because only I could do most of that work in the end anyway. When I’m high up a ladder on an 80-degree August day, spreading paint with a three-inch wide brush as passersby stand around and try to start a conversation with me, I wonder how I got into this business. It was practically by accident.
36 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
In my student days at the Art Institute of Seattle, I had ambitions of being a famous illustrator of book covers and record albums, then retiring at about 45 to spend the rest of my life doing modest sized easel paintings. Murals never crossed my mind. Oh, every now and then I wondered if some future Pope might consider me if he had another ceiling in Rome, and I thought it might be fun to do some bucolic mural for a craft brewery or farmer’s market. But I never wanted it to be a career. After I left the Art Institute, I returned to my home town of Great Falls and advertised myself as a freelance artist. I have no memory of how I got contacted by the manager of an indoor swimming pool to paint palm trees on one of their walls. They wanted something simple, “in earth tones,” and I drew up a few cartoon like, intentionally asymmetrical palm trees that I thought I could whip out in a day. I asked for $150, which would be $325 in today’s money, and hoped they wouldn’t think I was gouging them. I had no idea at the time how much muralists typically get paid. I was just relieved to hear them accept my terms. I had no scaffold or ladder of my own, so they set up two ladders with a plank that could hook onto the rungs. I felt jittery at first, but I quickly got used to it.
I learned a lot of valuable lessons from that mural. First, you can’t dilute latex paint; it’s already runny and more transparent than you might like. Secondly, you can’t work with foam brushes; the paint simply squirts out of them. And finally, always give the client an estimate of three times as much time as you think you’ll need, because that’s how long it will take. This “one-day” job ended up taking three.
When I got a notice that my design was accepted, I thought I had bought a ticket to a blazing future of wealth and fame. This job paid $1,100 (about $1,850 today), and I thought that was a fortune. It made up for the lack of running water, the filthy, unprepared wall, the bicyclists hurtling down the sidewalk of Division whether they saw me or not, and worst of all, my own inexperience.
I had no reason to expect to do any future murals, but six years later, when I had moved to Spokane, there I was getting one, and in one of the most heavily trafficked intersections in town. I was teaching at the Art Institute at the time, and when I received a prospectus for a future mural on the corner of Sprague and Division, I decided to apply.
My idea was to show one large marmot spread across the Division side, another standing near the corner, and the heads of two other marmots, on the Division side and one filling up the Sprague side. On my sketch, the marmots were smaller than actual marmots; I had no idea how bizarre they would look on a large scale.
November|December 2016 37
The big marmot on the Sprague side has a head nearly twenty feet high, and it didn’t actually look much like a marmot.
As I was perched on a ladder painting it, some teenagers drove by and honked their horn; “Hey, you!” One said, “Is that a gorilla?” I turned around and said, “No. It’s not a gorilla,” then went back to work, trying to make it look more like a rodent and less like a primate.
He took another look at the paperwork. “Well, I’ll be damned. We didn’t. You’re lucky you didn’t tip over.” Mural painting has a lot of dangers they don’t teach you about in art school. After gravity, the greatest threat is crime. I once had the scaffold I borrowed from a paint shop stolen. Fortunately, I wasn’t on the site at the time, but I had to pay for a new one, which meant I made no profit on that wall. At least I never worked on a mural at night in a building that was being burglarized. That happened to the brothers Todd and Cain Benson at three in the morning. They heard suspicious sounds outside, but the burglar seems to have given up.
I had a three-week time frame to complete the work, but I got it done in only two. I had no idea how long a mural takes, so I made it as simple as possible, and covered only about two thirds of the Sprague wall. It got me in the papers and it got me on the TV news, but for 21 years I couldn’t pass it without wishing I had put a little more time and preparation into it.
I was with them while they were working on the enormous mural on the Maple Street Bridge. I visited them one night when they were near the end. The city had blocked one lane so they could work under intense, hot lights. I crossed when I could, to see it from the other side, and nearly got killed by those cars hurtling at freeway speed. But the real danger came while I was chatting with them. We noticed rocks hitting the sidewalk, and looked up to see kids throwing them.
Soon I learned another important lesson about murals: they lead to other murals, but they don’t lead to more sales of easel paintings. I expected people to want a small painting by “the guy who did the railroad mural in Hillyard,” but nobody did. Fortunately,though, I was able to get more and more commissions all over Spokane. Some I had to suspend when the weather turned cold, and return to in the spring. For obvious reasons, I preferred indoor murals. The best mural job I received was in the Spokane Airport, for a 22 by 26-foot wall in a prominent position. I could only work at night, which was fine with me; it meant my classes and other freelance work never got in the way. As murals go, that one was not especially stressful. I did get a bit jittery doing the higher parts on the scaffold I had rented; there were times I could swear it would tip over. One returning passenger on his way out asked, “Where are the outriggers?”
I and a friend were on our bicycles, and as we were riding home, we noticed those same kids lurking nearby. I got off my bike, leaned over the rail, and shouted “Officer! Officer! The kids throwing the rocks are over here!” That made them high-tail it out of there.
“They didn’t give me any,” I replied. “Well, they should have. I think that’s an OSHA violation.” But it couldn’t be. This scaffold must be safe, I reasoned, while I kept as close to the wall as possible. When I finally brought it back, and paid my fine for returning it late, the renter asked, “Where are the outriggers?” “You didn’t give me any,” I said.
38 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Todd and Cain ran after them, but couldn’t find them.
It was a non-commissioned work of street art that got Todd Benson into murals. An architect with ambitions to be an easel painter, Todd and his brother did a piece of political “street art” in Hillyard that caught the eye of a developer in Kendall Yards, who hired them to paint in two indoor buildings. Since then, they have done several prominent photo-realistic murals, notably on the corner of Second and Maple, the Local 238 union building, and, most prominently, the interior of the Spokane Arena. In the years to come, there are sure to be more and more Benson brothers murals all around Spokane. Todd tells me he only wants to do about twenty more before he retires to the easel. Then some younger artist or team of artists will be painting the town. I plan to quit outdoor murals by the time I’m 60 (four years from now), but may do indoor ones another ten years if I get the commissions. It’s not a job for the elderly. They say if you have to take a shower in the morning, before you go to work, you’re a white collar worker, and if you have to take one in the afternoon, when you come home, you’re a blue collar worker. Until I did murals, I didn’t realize that I was a blue-collar artist. But I can’t be one for long. This is one blue collar job that will never be supplanted by automation, but it will — and must — be replenished by young blood.
TOM QUINN
Originally from Great Falls, Montana, Tom Quinn grew up surrounded by art -- mostly nostalgic celebrations of the Old West by the likes of Charles M. Russell and Frederick Remington. He found there was more to art by the time he attended Gonzaga University and spent his junior year in Florence, the home of Michelangelo and Botticelli. There he became enamored of the serene beauty of Renaissance painting.
November|December 2016 39
A Spokane poet, Ellen is low-key, quiet, gentle, but her passion for writing and the other writers is evident. ... 40 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Ellen Welker | Washington Poet
Karen Mobley
This year at the Poetry Picnic at the Moran Prairie Library, poetry aficionados watched the dragon flies darting to and fro in the evening sun. A small crowd gathered along with one neighborhood dog, to hear writers hosted by Scablands Lit, a series of events hosted by Sharma Shields and Ellen Welker. The audience was there because they needed to listen. Ellen was there to share her deep love for writing and the poets presenting - Don Mee Choi, Sarah Mangold, Melanie Noel, and Rob Schlegel. A Spokane poet, Ellen is low-key, quiet, gentle, but her passion for writing and the other writers is evident. She has published poems in a variety of literary magazines including two poems in the August issue of Pinweel. Her second full-length collection, RAM HANDS, is forthcoming in fall 2016 or early 2017 from Scablands Books. She has poems collected in the chapbooks Mouth That Tastes of Gasoline (alice blue, 2014) and The Urban Lightwing Professionals (H_NGM_N, 2011), and a book called The Botanical Garden (astrophil press, 2010). Ellen said, “I wanted to be a fiction writer, but I never had any answers. I never had a moral to the story. I still don’t have any morals (yes I do, Mom). I mean, now I know that fiction writers can be every bit as questioning as poets, but when I began writing, it was because I had so many questions and no answers. And poetry is perfect for that. It is art as inquiry. I’ve been writing seriously for about nine years. And we have grown together, poetry and me, because now I have even more questions and even fewer answers. I take that to mean I am growing as an artist.”
When did you get started in Poetry?
“I most love poetry as an internal communion between my mind and the mind of another – so, reading a book. It’s a great social experience to have as well--go to a reading or take a workshop – or utilize the magic of the Internet to bring poets live into your ears!”
“Don Mee Choi, Raul Zurita, Ocean Vuong, CD Wright are all poets I admire and have been reading lately. We have the incredible good fortune of having super bad-ass poets Tod Marshall & Laura Read as our state and city laureates. I love Verbatim (pairing visual artists with writers to create unique works of art and performance pieces) and the Railroad Almanac anthologies of poetry and prose. Terrain’s Uncharted is an incredible collaboration between artists of all genres and the Spokane Symphony—although I am still somewhat mortified to say I failed on the stage to give the performance I hoped to give, the experience of working together with all of those artists was absolutely unforgettable, and I am endlessly admiring of their all-doorsopen approach to creating and sustaining a vibrant, interconnected arts scene” She participated in the Montana Festival of the Book in the Lorca Panel and in a panel discussing Four Inland NW Presses in Missoula, Montana in September. Other Scablands Lit events are coming up including a Silent Writing Party, a Silent Reading Party, Pajama Storytime with Local Authors for the preschool set, a poetry workshop with Portland poet Zachary Schomburg in November, a fiction workshop with celebrated young adult author Kris Dinnison in October, and a series of beginning writing workshops in December with local writer-yogi Diane Sherman. All of these are open to the public. http://www. scablands-lit.org/
Getting to Know Ellen Welker
Ellen is the Coordinator for the Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry. “This a nonprofit that provides leading poets with the opportunity to explore in-depth their own thinking on the subject of poetry and poetics, and through financial and logistical support, to arrange for the delivery of lectures that result from these investigations. Lectures are delivered publicly in Seattle (as the Seattle Series) in partnership with Hugo House and several other host organizations, and nationally, in partnership November|December 2016 41
Ellen Welker | Washington Poet with institutions like the Library of Congress, New York University, The Poetry Foundation, Seattle Arts and Lectures, The Poetry Center at University of Arizona and more. My job is to set up the events, which means I get to talk to a lot of amazing poets on a regular basis, brainstorm some incredible events, listen to all their lectures, and sometimes attend their workshops and talks. It’s great.”
It’s Called the Sea A tiny kitten scratches my palm. Later I find the claw embedded like a pearl or a fossil in the meat of me. I give a puppy a bloody nose that won’t stop. That night I blow up the American buffalo. I push it off a cliff. It’s my anniversary. I don’t want this to be about me. I heave a beached Orca into a plastic bag. It quietly doubles over on itself. I twist the top of the bag and look for a bread tie. There is none to be found. I push it out into collective shame and anxiety. It’s called the sea. My name is unpronounceable. The whale’s name is whale.
Visit Our Site or Check Our Social Feeds for Art, Contests, and Information on Our Upcoming Events. artisangallery.biz Representing Over 60 Artists Local to the Pend Oreille Region
Winter Season Hours Thursday - Saturday 10-5 53 Wisconsin St. at the corner of Hight St. Priest River, ID
42 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
208.304.4656
November|December 2016 43
Roger de Piles
and the Nature of Painting Melville Holmes
“The essence and definition of painting is, the imitation of visible objects, by means of form and colours: Wherefore the more forcibly and faithfully painting imitates nature, the more directly and rapidly does it lead us to its end; which is, to deceive the eye; and the surer proofs does it give us of its true idea.”
Roger de Piles in The Principles of Painting, 1708 ...
Roger de Piles (1635–1709) was one of the outstanding lu-
minaries in the history of art theory, in the company of such
notables as Leon Battista Alberti, Denis Diderot, John Ruskin, and Clive Bell. In the annals of art criticism his thinking on the essential nature of painting is thought to prefigure modern art criticism. He is most famously known today for two things: 1) His prevailing role in the quarrel that erupted in the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in the late 17th century over the primacy of Drawing vs. Color in painting 2) His curious (also called “infamous” and even “playful”) addendum to his book of 1708, The Principles of Painting, where he offers a method of ranking the works of “the most noted painters” by a numerical rating system, his “Balance of Painters. Here, after a short explanation, he selects 57 artists, some very well known today and others virtually forgotten, and ranks them by means of four criteria, Composition, Drawing, Color, and Expression, with a maximum of 20 points for each category. Some background will help place the unique contributions of de Piles in context. Born into a distinguished family in Clamecy in central France, de Piles received his early education in the surrounding region before moving to Paris around 1651 to study philosophy, followed by three years of theology. After this he studied drawing under Claude François (Frère Luc Recollet), during which time he made a French translation of Charles du Fresnoy’s Latin poem, “The Art of Painting.” In 1662 he became the tutor of the young Michel Amelot, son of Charles Amelot, the President of the King’s Grand Council, and would be closely attached to that family for many years.
Roger de Piles Self Portrait (1704), engraved by Bernard Picart after a lost painting by Roger de Piles Photo: Yale University Art Gallery
44 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
After the death of Charles, his widow gave de Piles a considerable sum of money that would render him financially set for life. In 1673 his Dialogue on Coloring was published. That same year Madame Amelot sent her son on a Grand Tour of Italy, with Roger de Piles as his companion, a journey that would last 14 months and would immerse them in the treasures of Italian
The Meeting of David and Abigail.
Rest on the Flight into
CLAUDE FRANÇOIS (FRÈRE LUC RECOLLET)
Egypt. 1670-1671
PETER PAUL RUBENS
This was the painting given to de Piles by the Duke of
mille de l’île d’Orléans
Richelieu, from his extensive collection of works by Rubens.
art. Through the Amelot family’s high connections, when in Rome they were lodged in the Farnese Palace where de Piles could study the work of Annibale Carracci, Daniele da Volterra, and others. After returning to Paris the following year, he made the acquaintance of the Duke of Richelieu (Cardinal Richelieu’s nephew), who held him in such esteem as to give him the gift of Peter Paul Rubens’s David and Abigail. (It has been reported that the Duke of Richelieu lost his collection of paintings to the king in a wager over a tennis match. Replacing his collection of Poussins and Carraccis was by that time out of his financial reach, so he began a new collection of Rubens’s works, under the advice of de Piles.) In 1682 Michel Amelot became French Ambassador to Venice, again accompanied by de Piles as his Secretary, a position that would last three years and would afford de Piles plenty of time to familiarize himself with the masterworks of Venetian painting. After this he would be sent on diplomatic missions of his own, acting as King Louis XIV’s art adviser and agent for acquiring paintings for the royal collection, which offered a cover for undertaking secret diplomatic negotiations. In 1692 he traveled to Holland, which was then at war with France. He went under the pretext of an art related mission, but in fact it was to seek out persons who were looking to make peace. It is likely during this trip
TITIAN
1625-1628, Detroit Institute of Arts
Église de la Sainte-Fa-
Virgin and Child with Saints Agnes and John the Baptist Musée des Beaux-arts, Dijon. It was the critique of this painting by Philippe de Champaigne that set off the debate over Drawing and Color.
that he bought a painting from Rembrandt, making him the first French collector of high standing to have acquired one of that artist’s works. Unfortunately, he was caught traveling under a forged passport and spent five years in a Dutch prison. He is thought to have written his Lives of the Painters (containing over 200 artist biographies and an essay on “The Perfect Painter”) during that time. Roger de Piles was also a prolific writer on art, primarily painting; his influence over the argument about the importance of color or drawing in the art of painting began to emerge with the appearance of his book On Color (Dialogue sur le Coloris) in 1673. Two years earlier the debate had been ignited by remarks by Philippe de Champaigne in a critique of a painting by Titian given at the Royal Academy.
November|December 2016 45
Roger de Piles
and the Nature of Painting
The Meeting of David and Abigail.
PETER PAUL RUBENS
Rest on the Flight into
1625-1628, Detroit Institute of Arts This was the painting given to de Piles by the Duke of Richelieu, from his extensive collection of works by Rubens.
N
oting that the Royal Academy, founded by Louis XIV in 1648; was the bastion of dogmatic artistic conservatism may summarize the heart of the issue. The official doctrine of the Academy was rooted in a reverence for the Antique: the works of classical Greek and Roman art, and the Ideal of beauty contained in them. There was a strict hierarchy to the subject matter of painting, with History painting at the summit, wherein the goal was to represent narratives derived from some biblical, mythological, or important historical event. The 17th century was a period of change, when modern thought and science were beginning to bud, but men still to a large degree looked to Antiquity as the ultimate authority; the Greek and Roman philosophers, poets, and artists were the lawgivers and examples to follow. When writers of the time spoke of the “ancients” (les anciens), they were referring to these. In France especially, it was those Renaissance and later artists whose style best followed the classical Ideal who were the most admired in
46 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
CLAUDE FRANÇOIS (FRÈRE LUC RECOLLET)
Egypt. 1670-1671 Église de la Sainte-Famille de l’île d’Orléans
the Academy, and the two who most perfectly exemplified this were Raphael and Poussin. In the contention that arose over Drawing vs. Color, two parties took shape. One group, led by Charles Le Brun (President of the Academy and First Painter to the King) was the “poussinistes,” named after the French artist Nicholas Poussin who, among later artists, was held to best exemplify the classical rule. It was Drawing (French dessein, Italian disegno, English design), first and foremost, that was believed to be the vehicle for the embodiment of the Idea in the mind of the artist for the given subject, a neo-Platonic conception. In this paradigm, Color was secondary, functioning simply as ornamentation. On the Color side of the progressively heated argument, the champion was the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (hence the party’s name: rubénistes), whose work was thought to represent a greater faithfulness to nature.
CHARLES LE BRUN
The Family of Darius The Family of Darius before Alexander
Louis XIV, who commissioned this painting, was
c. 1660, Musée National du Château, Versailles
so pleased with it that he appointed Le Brun First
Photo: Web Gallery of Art
Painter to the King in 1662.
Enter de Piles. For him it was neither authority nor les anciens (whom he genuinely respected) nor the classical ideal. It is truth to Nature. Painting isn’t essentially about representing a story. It is the painting itself and its overall effect on the viewer that is all-important, whether its subject is a heroic act or flowers in a vase. The goal of painting is the imitation, not of the ancients, but of Nature. The artist’s task is to create a harmonious unity and balance among all of a painting’s component parts and aspects, an effect, for which Color is central, that will immediately engage the attention of the viewer, a response de Piles calls Enthusiasm. It is a response that occurs at first glance (au premier coup d’ oeil) and which doesn’t require special knowledge of art to experience.
experience arising from the pictorial illusion of Nature. As summed up in the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, “His is the first theory of formal pictorial composition.” Inherent in this new way of conceptualizing the nature of painting is the broader implication that a picture may be appreciated and evaluated, not only by an elite of learned specialists, but also by any sensitive and sensible person.
Art lover, theorist, and independent thinker, de Piles was also a skilled painter, albeit an amateur who didn’t paint for a living, but was intimately familiar with the painter’s craft. This brought a valuable dimension to his connoisseur-ship, because he knew the properties of paint, its materials and handling qualities, and could thereby recognize the unique qualities of an artist’s hand with the brush. One This was a radical departure from the systematic and rule- of his lesser-known works, The Primary Elements of Practibound ideology of the Academy; the hierarchy of subject cal Painting (1784), is a short instruction manual for beginmatter has been set aside in favor of a purely aesthetic ning painters that demonstrates his profound knowledge November|December 2016 47
of the painter’s craft. Sadly, while the quality of paintings by de Piles is well documented, they have survived only through engravings after them. It is intriguing to speculate over how much his hands-on practice of the representational painter’s craft enabled him to recognize the inherent genius and mastery of Rubens.
PETER PAUL RUBENS
Landscape with St. George and the Dragon
c. 1634-5 Royal Collection, Windsor
Roger de Piles included this large, unusual landscape with figures in his “Descriptions of Paintings by Rubens,” in the collection of the Duke of Richelieu that appeared the book Collection of Various Works on Painting and Color published in 1775. As described by de Piles, Rubens painted it for Charles I of England, who used to celebrate the Feast of St. George at Windsor Castle. The composition is divided diagonally by the River Thames, with a view of Windsor on the opposite side. The Saint is represented by a portrait of Charles I at the center of the picture, with a portrait of the Queen in the role of the rescued princess.
Vindication for his advocacy of Color over Drawing and of Peter Paul Rubens came in 1699 when he was appointed Conseiller Honoraire Amateur to the Royal Academy and he became its chief theorist. Interestingly, in his “Balance of Painters” nine years later (a year before his death), the highest number assigned to any artist on his list was 65 out of a possible total of 80 for all four categories, and that was achieved only by two: Raphael Sanzio and Peter Paul Rubens. The curious “Balance” of de Piles will be explored in more detail in a forthcoming article.
Three illustrations from The Primary Elements of Practical Painting (1684), engraved by J. B.
ROGER DE PILES
Corneille, Painter in the Royal Academy. Left: Head Studies, Center: The Easel, Right: Arrangement of Colors on the Palette
48 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
November|December 2016 49
SPOKANE SPOTLIGHT
Performance Venues Janis V. Bers
Exploring the who, what, where and when of Spokane’s performance venues.
WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN
THE ROADHOUSE
20 N Raymond Road Spokane Valley, WA (509) 413-1894
50 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
It cannot go unnoticed that our Inland Northwest region is teeming with an almost overflowing abundance of top class and award winning performing artists, bands, soloists and orchestras offering every conceivable style and genre of their craft ranging from blues, jazz, classical, rock, pop, opera and solo vocal work. Add to this, our
scores of talented playwrights, comedians, dance troupes and actors. Many that have honed their artistry here in the Inland Northwest have risen to global stardom and widespread acclaim, including many notable celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Myles Kennedy, George Lynch and Chad Mitchell to name just a few.
THE BING CROSBY THEATER
DALEY’S CHEAP SHOTS
901 W Sprague Avenue Spokane, WA (509) 227-7638
6412 E Trent Avenue Spokane Valley, WA (509) 535-9309
01
THE ROADHOUSE
So the big question arises, “where can we go to enjoy their performances, and most importantly, do we have the appropriate and attractive venues to accommodate them”? In this issue I’m spotlighting three contrasting venues which encourage and promote live local and regional acts and display their respective talents in purposefully different settings. I have personally enjoyed many live concerts and creative events at each of these terrific venues and I’m most encouraged to see them grow and develop. I want to emphasize from the start that I’m fully aware and appreciate that there are dozens of excellent live music scenes in our area, so I’m planning to feature many more of them in a series of future Art Chowder articles.
sound technician Joey Shalloe whose pedigree as tour manager and sound director for international touring artists including Eddie Money, Paul Rogers, Bad Company, Collective Soul and Kenny Chesney puts him in great standing to consolidate his experience into this live music and entertainment center.
I’ll begin at THE ROADHOUSE, located in the Spokane Valley on Sprague between North Raymond and University. Opened just over 4 years ago, The Roadhouse is a very spacious, multi-faceted bar restaurant and concert environment. It’s ideally set up to focus on live performances both indoors and outdoors. Internally this beautifully appointed venue offers an impressive elevated stage equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and an in-house sound array with professional audio technicians that can rival any full scale audio installation. And that’s just half the story because outdoors you find a patio sound stage with dancing area, a fully appointed ‘tiki’ cocktail bar, and a fullsize sand volleyball court. I met with owner, manager and chief
decades touring the globe
“I partnered with Joe O’Connor one year ago last June with a view of showcasing and boosting our local and regional artists in one multi-purpose setting. Having spent over three I felt it was time to take a break and concentrate my efforts into ensuring that a very wide range of live entertainment is readily available to our local community”
...
Joey explains. And variety is very much the keyword for The Roadhouse’s mission. What was originally branded as a live country music venue, it now boasts a roster of diverse performing artists which include pop, rock, blues and folk groups and
soloists whilst still maintaining live country evenings on Saturdays. “We recently even put on an authentic Burlesque revue with all the dazzling costume changes, and then we promoted a special World War 2 era evening of nostalgic music and memories called ‘Pin Ups On Tour’ dedicated to our armed service personnel which we presented free to our veterans”. If you’re into dance and karaoke, Tuesdays and Thursdays combine both into The Roadhouse’s swing and line dancing lesson evenings after which you can show off your vocal prowess singing karaoke. Fridays are generally, but not exclusively dedicated to live blues and rock music acts, again with an emphasis on local and regional talent. And for budding musicians and artists who want to perform live on stage with fellow enthusiasts possibly for the first time then Wednesday evenings at The Roadhouse are a must. “Our ‘Big Jam Night’ with Vern Vogel brings to our stage everything from stand-up comedy to poetry to acoustic music plus an opportunity to come together in a group setting and create an ensemble of musicians who may never have played together and who can learn much from one another”. And since Spokane Valley is conveniently located between larger surrounding cities which attract national touring acts, Joey is very active in bringing many of these big names to November|December 2016 51
The Roadhouse by inviting them to perform shows here as they journey close by. A big thank you to I-90! “As for our future, we’re now planning to expand our musical horizons to include big band, swing and jazz orchestras to our wide ranging repertoire of live shows” concluded Joey. The Roadhouse is open 7 days a week from 4pm until 2am, and offers an internal seating capacity of 297 plus outdoor areas for many more. A full service restaurant, a main bar and an outdoor tiki bar along with a sand volleyball court and an indoor games area make up this very attractive all-round entertainment venue.
02
THE BING CROSBY THEATER
If you like to enjoy your entertainment in an intimate theater setting then downtown Spokane has just the place for you. THE BING CROSBY THEATER at the corner of Sprague by Lincoln is a charming and historical medium size theater which last year celebrated its 100 year anniversary. Many will remember this venue as The Metropolitan Theater of Performing Arts or ‘The Met’, and its name was changed to The Bing Crosby Theater a decade ago honoring one of our city’s famous sons. The theater’s Marketing Director Mark Holman offered me a tour of this delightfully cozy venue and began by recalling the theater’s origins. “It opened in 1915 as ‘The Clemmer Theater’ (named after its first operator Howard S. Clemmer) and its original purpose was to show early movies right at the forefront of the modern era of motion pictures”. Thereafter the theater began diversifying its entertainment to additionally include live performing arts including a variety of musical acts, drama, comedy, magic shows, poetry recitals, operas and meetings, and has developed 52 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
and expanded in this avenue to this very day. “Our namesake, a young Bing Crosby actually played drums in a band on this very stage” explains Mark. After changing its name to The Audian and then to The State Theater it was renovated and became known as The Metropolitan Theater of Performing Arts in 1988 and subsequently following further improvements was renamed The Bing Crosby Theater in 2006. “Today we present shows to suit everyone’s
tastes such as literature readings, ballet recitals, various charitable events, theater, often with many shows put on by Spokane’s Christian Community Theater program, drama, dance, opera, and still continue showing movies along with live projection showings of events of interest and significance like ‘Stage To Screen’ which can only be enjoyed here because it’s not available on PBS or any other TV channel”.
The Bing’s show roster spreads right across the spectrum regularly attracting both local, regional, national and international groups and artists displaying their wealth of talent to our community. I have personally enjoyed shows here that range from comedy with Monty Python’s Eric Idle, sizzling music from Brian Setzer, Little Feat, Roy Rogers & Norton Buffalo, Beatles tribute The Fab Four, and Spokane’s own Too Slim and the Taildraggers. My list could go on for reams, as indeed could the Bing’s own list of events!
from the concessions stand which you are welcome to take into the theater during performances. Most recent additions to the theater’s complex include a chic 3rd floor lounge called Ovations offering a full bar featuring 3D illuminated glass artworks and modern seating beside large windows overlooking Sprague Avenue. An intricate custom built steel spiral staircase takes you from balcony level to Ovations, and then another similar
spiral staircase takes you to the new 4th floor open plan conference and meeting room which is available for private hire. Looking to the future Mark is excited to watch the new planned developments for The Bing along with its surrounding neighborhood including The Montvale Event Center in the nearby old Oddfellows Building and the 2nd floor Ella’s Theater, and there are many more expansion plans in the pipeline.
The theater has a comfortable seating capacity of 750 arranged in two tiers with a main orchestra floor and 2nd floor balcony. ...
Mark tells me that he’s never had a bad seat in any area, and having been positioned in many different locations myself I have to agree. The theater interior can only be described as delicately ornate and has an overall warm golden glow. The walls are adorned with splendid antique murals, and above the stage and across the ceiling is a large gilded acoustic ‘shell’ allowing sound to be evenly distributed to every corner of the house. As you enter the theater’s authentic foyer look up to marvel at the restored dome decorated in Wedgewood blue and peruse the many original paintings by local artists displayed throughout the lobby. Enjoy wine, beer or soft beverages and snacks November|December 2016 53
03
DALEY’S CHEAP SHOTS
My third review takes me to DALEY’S CHEAP SHOTS on Trent Avenue just east of Fancher Road between Spokane and The Valley. At first glance from their large parking lot this one level bar and grill may look deceptively small, that is until you step inside! Like a well known battery, Daley’s keeps going and going, and there’s a lot going on there! The sizable open plan bar and dining areas surround a wide floor level indoor stage and a centrally located pool table. Behind two large garage style doors reveals an enormous fenced-in concrete paved outdoor area incorporating a patio with tables and seating, a covered outdoor music stage, and a vast multi-purpose expanse which serves either as an exclusive motorcycle parking zone, or for large scale music events in a concert setting accommodating several hundred customers. Owner and manager Dave Daley, no stranger to musical entertainment being a former local radio DJ and having worked at the now closed Bluz At The Bend took ownership of the property in 2008 and mused “I did it on Halloween day that year! It was formerly the Valley Ho, and there were no windows anywhere in the building! The carpet was 37 years old and the ceiling was covered in black popcorn asbestos! It took 34 days to completely gut and clear it out, install new windows, decorate throughout and build fixtures, and we opened Daley’s Cheap Shots on December 8th 2008”. From day one, Dave’s intention was to operate his new venture with a big emphasis on encouraging free live local music to be performed at his bar & grill. 54 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
And true to his word this is very much what he has achieved at Daley’s. “We are proud to boast that we offer five nights of live music whenever possible per week, and in summer most of this is performed on our outdoor stage and patio. I made a huge investment on our outdoor expansion to cater for both live music enthusiasts, and for our thriving local motorcycle fraternity of which I’m proud to be an active member. So in spring, summer and warm evenings in fall we have ‘Thunder Thursdays’ where we fill our back lot with all types of spectacular motorcycles and put on free live bands on our outdoor stage. And then when we bring in larger touring acts like Eddie Money and Steppenwolf along with multi-act local and regional music festivals we convert this area into a large capacity concert setting where we can accommodate upwards of 1500 people”. Another very big draw at Daley’s happens every Sunday evening at the ‘Voodoo Church Blues Jam’, the longest running open mic event of its kind in Spokane Valley and invites anyone and everyone who wants to perform on stage alongside the resident Voodoo Church Blues Band to bring along their instruments or vocal talents and be part of a live band spurred on and supported by a very enthusiastic audience. Looking ahead to 2017 Dave has already begun planning a series of large scale festival events based around a community conscious theme. He’s suggesting the events be called ‘WoofStock’ (a fun parody on Woodstock) and will be partnering with local animal shelters to attract more national acts with a view to supporting needful charities such as Meals On Wheels, P.O.W. organizations and Animal Care agencies which he already generously supports personally. I wish to greatly thank my three contributors for their involvement in this article, and mostly for their dedication and efforts to help keep live and local music alive and thriving in our community. In turn I would ask that you support these and other similar venues who go out of their way to bring this array of fine entertainment to your doorstep.
November|December 2016 55
8 ways to celebrate the holidays in
Spokane
By Chandler Anderson Baird
Chandler moved to Spokane in 2014 without a rain coat and with extremely low expectations. Since then, she has fallen more in love with Spokane every day. As a native Texan, she was raised on Tex-Mex and smoked BBQ and she isn’t afraid of the heat, whether in her food or in the air. When she is not exploring Spokane’s food scene, she can be found exercising, shopping, or binge watching “Parenthood” on Netflix. Her obsessions include guacamole, Labrador puppies, and diet Coke with pebble ice. Y o u can f ind her blog at: w w w. s p o k a n e e a t s . n e t 56 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
1
1. FREE Live Nativity South Hill - “Journey to Bethlehem”
At the Journey to Bethlehem Live Nativity Display, you walk through a beautiful display and see the Christmas story come to life right before your eyes. This show features over 100 actors, live animals, and it’s an experience you’ll never forget. “The nativity is located at the South Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church on the corner of 57th Ave and Freya. Doors are open from 6:00 - 8:00pm on Friday night, and 5:00 - 8:00pm on Saturday and Sunday nights. No tickets or reservations are required. Groups will be dismissed every 3 - 5 minutes. Dress warmly and plan to be outside for 15 - 20 minutes once your tour leaves the church.” 2016 dates and times are not yet posted, but last year this display occurred over one weekend at the beginning of December on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Check their website in the next short while for 2016 date postings.
2
2. Pick up Dick’s Burgers and Drive around looking at Christmas lights. I added the burger part to this old Christmas Tradition, because, why not? Dick’s burgers are cheap and the menu is simple. It’s a Spokane staple. Recommended neighborhoods: •Spokane Valley: Christmas Tree Lane - 1600 block of South Keller Road •Northwest Spokane: The blocks of Gordon, Glass and Courtland just west of Maple •South Hill: Candy Cane Lane south of 37th Avenue and west of Grand Boulevard
3
3. Outdoor Ice Skating
The "Ice Palace" at Riverfront Park opens on October 26th. They offer various deals at different times of day and on different days of the week. You can skate for $5, including your skates, if you time your excursion right. Adults (13 & over) - $5 Youth (3-12) - $3.50 Senior (55 & over) - $3.50 Military W/ID - $3.50 Skate Rental - $3.50
Special Deals: Thursdays - $2 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. (Admission only) Wild Wednesdays - $1 (Admission only, College ID required) After School Special - $5 (Includes skate rental. Ages 17 & under w/ID) Lunch Brunch (Ice Palace also has a Lunch Bunch Special Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. -$5 admission including skates)
4
4. FREE Riverfront Park Activities
The city does a great walking tour light display downtown and STCU sponsors free carriage rides through the downtown city streets. This is a fun and unique activity the whole family is sure to enjoy. Or, make it romantic night and whisper sweet nothings into your date’s ear as you ride along the streets and celebrate the season in your free carriage. Don’t forget to tip your carriage driver. November|December 2016 57
5. FREE Outdoor Activities Holmberg Park is always a hit with the kids, or with the kid’s at heart (hey). This park has sledding hills for all ages. Bring your own sled, park on the street, and let the fun begin! Make sure you dress appropriately, snow boots are highly recommended. Remember, the warmer you are, the longer you will last in the snow, and the more fun you will have. Snowshoeing at Mt Spokane. You will need a county permit to park at Mt Spokane and you can rent snowshoes at REI for a pretty cheap price. Snowshoeing is a great way to get active, out of the house, and explore the mountains in the snow.
5 6. Green Bluff Christmas Tree Farm Green bluff is one of my favorite places, year round. But, there is something extra special about being able to hand select your Christmas tree right on the grounds where it grew. Christmas Trees are available at Green Bluff beginning after Thanksgiving. The farm is open daily from 10am-4pm. They often have booths around Green bluff selling hot chocolate and treats. The only thing you have to worry about is picking the biggest tree that can possibly fit in your home, without falling over. No one likes a lopsided tree.
58 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
7. FREE Davenport Hotel Displays Christmas tree Display & Gingerbread House Display at the Grand Hotel. The tree lighting at the Historic Davenport Hotel usually takes place on December 1st and the lights will be on display from Dec 1-12. Following this, the Gingerbread Houses are on display at the Davenport Grand Hotel from Dec 13-25. Both displays are free to the public and give you a great excuse to look around these beautiful hotel lobbies.
8. FREE Riverside State Park Winter Wonderland Enter the Bowl and Pitcher area of Riverside State Park for this family-friendly event complete with a visit from Santa Claus, hay rides, and an illuminated swinging bridge. They have lights all over the campgrounds as well as campfires with hot chocolate and cookies for sale. This event occurs over one weekend so check their website for 2016 dates. This event only costs $5 per person and children under 3 are free. They do not require you to have a discover pass to attend. Riverside State Park – Spokane Bowl and Pitcher area 4427 North Aubrey L. White Parkway
Honorable mention: Coeur d’Alene Christmas Light (Santa) Cruise This is my favorite Holiday Tradition, but I didn’t feel it was fair to include in the above list as you do have to pay around $10-$20 per ticket. Let me just say, it is totally worth it. Climb aboard one of the Coeur d’Alene boats and cruise around the lake to see the largest on-the-water Christmas display in America. The cruises run from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. Visit Santa’s workshop and see the light in your child’s eyes when Santa knows their name. With over 1.5 million lights and a fireworks show as the finale, your kids are sure to be amazed. Tickets are around $20/adult and $10/ kid, depending on your boat selection. The boats have indoor seating so you can stay warm, as well as a bar with hot chocolate, drinks, and snacks. November|December 2016 59
60 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
R I C H A R D WA R R I N G T O N
C o n t e mp o r a r y
Scul p tor
a nd
D esig n e r
Celebrating
45 years of Creativity
FLOWER CHILDREN Size is 36”h x 46”L Powder coated aluminum Limited edition of 5
www.rwarrington.com
| 509-979-0555 |
warrington@msn.com
SPOKANE CALLIGRAPHIC ART SOCIETY
Spokane - At The Y 8701 N. Division St. 509-468-4665
Spokane Valley Mall 14700 East Indiana 509-922-1399
Spokane - North Town Mall 4750 North Division 509-484-8353
spokane.thegreatframeup.com The Great Frame Up Stores of Spokane shopthegreatframeupart.com
30% Off
Custom Frames! Present at time of purchase. Not valid with any other promotion, discount, or prior purchase. Offer valid through 12/31/16.
Special offers available for artists.
A society of calligraphers whose purpose is to promote
the art of beautiful handwriting
FALL
Calligraphy Exhibit
November 1- December 1, 2016
Centerplace Art gallery
2426 n discovery place
Spokane Valley WA
SCRIPTS & SCRIBES
MEETS ON SECOND TUESDAYS
SEPTEMBER- JUNE - 6:00-9:00 PM
SPOKANE ART SUPPLY 1303 N MONROE ST. SPOKANE WA
* David 509-842-8876 * Karyn 509-847-8535 *
* Vicki 509-928-7793 *
November|December 2016 61
Carol Schmauder F i
n
e
A
r t
G I NNYB RE NNAN.C OM | F LOOTIE .C OM
“Divergent Beauty”
ON EXHIBIT AT THE LIBERTY GALLERY THROUGH JANUARY 2017
Avenue West Gallery 907 W. Boone, Suite B Spokane, Washington 509-325-4809 www . carolschmauder . com
ginnybrennan@gmail.com | 276-608-1612
Song From The Flats 20”x24” Oil on canvas
Nora Egger
BY APPOINTMENT artist@stevenascroggins.com
208-659-8332
P.O. Box 1164 Cd'A, ID 83816 62 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
V ICK I WEST
Steven A. Scroggins
W E S T WAT ERCO LO R @G M A I L .CO M
noraegger.com |509-991-0041
Good Morning Monroe
Framed Watercolor - 24 x 17 Limited canvas prints - 20 x 13 x 1
t o t e m t r a n s i t @ ya h o o . c o m
URBAN ART CO-OP
HOLIDAY BAZAAR FUNDRAISER
FREE ADMISSION DEC. 10TH DEC. 11TH 10am-5pm 10am-4pm 5 MILE GRANGE 3024 W. STRONG, SPOKANE URBANARTCOOP.ORG
Ahura Mazda Hot Springs Resort | 12” x 12” | Oil
Mitchell Pluto
www.mitchellpluto.com
DIANE COVINGTON SANPOIL ARTIST
CHARGING BUZZARD Studio Location: Hatch Gallery
9612 E Sprague Ave. Spokane Valley, WA
! !
T H EurekaSally E 416 5th Street!
!
Wallace, Idaho!
Local ART gifts for all! and Workshops offered! ! Visit the Variety! Vegan CHOCOLATE! Handmade & Sugar-free! ! Savor the Flavor!
G A L L E R Y
!
EurekaSally.com! cell / text: 406-212-5936 November|December 2016 63
a r t c h o w d e r . c o m
Celebrating one Year of covering the Arts
Anniversary Issue 64 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE