Get Connected: Links to Local Artists

Writing about art has enabled me to meet some amazing artists, like Eileen Klatt, who emailed me an updated link to her website (which I added to the "Get Connected" section).

Klatt is a Sandpoint-area artist who has more or less dedicated her life to painting salmon, documenting their story, including the extinction of so many unique and beautiful species from tributaries throughout the Columbia region.

Here's a photo of her painting in her Hope, Idaho studio.

Hear the Difference: KYRS Ready Made Radio Art Fundraiser

If you haven't already bookmarked this site, check it out. This is from Bernadette Vielbig, who is producing Ready Made Radio online visual arts broadcast. The upcoming fundraiser features cool art available from local artists for donations of $25 and upwards. A worthy cause. March 2-11.

The more we support KYRS, the greater reach...in lots of ways. Where would be be without public media?!

Out of this World Exhibit at Gonzaga: Timothy Ely

You love the game Myst, are fascinated by secret codes, would have given anything to be Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact. You own at least one Wizardology book, have your own theories about crop circles and the importance of Stonehenge, and you think comics and graphic novels are brilliant and underrated.

And you’ll think Timothy Ely’s exhibition Secret Order at Gonzaga is out of this world.

Ely seduces the viewer with exquisitely detailed, hand-made books that appeal to your sense of wonder and mystery with their vaguely familiar charts, illustrations, graphs, and cryptic words. With titles like Apocry-chronon and Book from the Sky, Ely pulls us into his puzzling world while at the same time urging us to unleash our imagination to its broadest possible horizon. 

March 19-July31.

Who Loves Ya, Baby?

As I looked at the scheduled postings (I do them in batches to try and stay current and, as one of my editors advised, keep the postings frequent and short), I realized that Valentine's Day is coming up. I don't particularly care for this saccharine event/holiday/phenomenon. I don't hate it as much as I do the commercialization of Christmas, for example, but I don't care for it. Maybe it's because my family wasn't one to say I Love You much. Maybe it's some other deep-seated Freudian thing.

Regardless, when I thought of Valentine's Day posting, I thought "love letters," but what crept in there just as quickly was the blog hit PostSecret.com. And so I went there, figuring there probably wouldn't be any Valentine's themed stuff yet or if there was, it was likely to be dark or tragic or just plain unusual. Here are two that caught my eye:

 

Isn't love a strange and wonderful state of being? Happy Valentine's. Or not.  

Contemporary Art, Juried Exhibition at EWU

 

Der Zeitgenosse: a national exhibition of contemporary art
February 25 - April 1, 2010
Reception: an opening reception will be held Thursday, February 25 at noon.

Google a translation of zeitgenosse and you get contemporary time. So contemporary art, or art of our time. Fourteen works. A variety of media. A good way for students and local community to experience what's out there.

Saranac Art Projects will present an art exhibit of new work by Jenny Hyde and G duMonthier Feb 5 - 28. An opening reception will be held on Feb 5 from 5 to 8 pm.

"This exhibition features new video works as well as digital prints by media artist, Jenny Hyde. This work dwells on simple movements of the body that are captured and looped. Video is used to capture gesture much like a hand drawn sketch. Comic and a bit sad, this work is meant to reflect on overlooked struggles of day-to-day life. Jenny Hyde holds an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from Alfred University in New York and a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA.  Her work has been part of numerous Media Art Festivals and exhibitions nationally and abroad such as the New York Electronic Arts Festival (New York, NY) and the Loop Video Art Festival (Madrid, Spain). She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Eastern Washington University.



Greg duMonthier is a nationally exhibiting sculptor that has recently moved to Spokane WA. An interdisciplinary artist, he holds an MFA in Sculpture from Alfred University in New York and a BFA in Drawing from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. His experience ranges from working professionally as a foundry manager at a fine art sculpture-casting foundry, to creating interactive web based artwork. His studio practice includes sculpture, installation, digital and drawing work concerning contemporary American cultural landscapes. This work is idea-based rather than material specific, finding appropriate material to physically manifest conceptual decisions. This has led him to researching new media, adding to his knowledge of traditional practices and installation."

Our Town Shows the Many and Varied Faces of Sandpoint at POAC Gallery, Thru March 8

You never know what you're going to get at a POAC show. Generally, it's local, Sandpoint-area artists, some seasoned veterans and others complete novices. And generally it's a wide variety of media, styles and content, not all of which fits the "theme" of the show. And generally the shows are interesting, thoughtful and give one a basic sense of the breadth of artistic expression in the area.

Called Our Town, People of Panhandle, the current POAC show has a few knockout pieces showing exemplary technique, talent or both, as well as a few unusual or nostalgic pieces that give the home-town context to the show.

An example is Dan Earle, whose figure and portrait studies (his wife, Jackie, at right) exemplify the extensive training he has had. And Diana Moses Botkin's paintings, such as "Young Scholar," have that magical feeling of light. Julie Hutslar's "Aisla" is a lovely watercolor. Couple of interesting photos, a few 3D works, and several pieces that may have come off of mantels--Yola Biter's "Mother" and "Father"--to serve as reminders of Sandpoint's past.

Although there are a significant number of artists in the area who do not exhibit at POAC (and yet are nationally or even internationally known), the sheer volume of artists in the area who do exhibit is impressive. To be sure, we would still like to see someone in the area willing/able to exhibit more edgy, contemporary work (no nudes allowed at POAC, which is in a high-traffic public building), the fact that POAC continues to find new ways to reach the public is noteworthy.