Summer is finally here (with a vengeance) and most of downtown Coeur d'Alene (aka Sherman Avenue) is abuzz with activity. When my buddy Dale came into town from Seattle, we hit Capone's first, then scooted downtown to geegawk at passersby from the vantage point of the Wine Cellar's new outdoor dining locale, Tango Tapas.
While there, we popped into a few art "galleries." It amazes me what passes for a gallery. If art is shown there, it's a gallery, apparently. Regardless of the quality of the work or the knowledgeability of the persons showing the work, if there's "art" on the wall, it's a "gallery." To me, a gallery space needs to be dedicated to selling and promoting the art and artists (not knick-knacks or t-shirts or whatnot), e.g. The Art Spirit Gallery. Devin Galleries and The Painter's Chair are ok. And Angel Fine Art has some fine artists, like Rachel Dolezal and Mary Maxam, but way too much other stuff too to be a traditional gallery.
That's not saying what they do isn't valuable; it's just saying gallery is a term way too loosely applied.
Regardless, we dropped into Studio 107, which now shares space with the newly opened TimberRock Winery tasting room. Yikes. Mostly schlocky, really amateur or just goes-with-your-couch kind of stuff, with the exception of some of the work by Nelson Duran, who runs Bank Left Gallery in the Palouse.
Up the street at La Muse, a new "gallery," an artist named Bonnie was supposed to be showing but if she was, the work was overshadowed by terrific illustrations from David L. Clemons. Cool space. I'll be curious to see what they do with it.
In the meantime, mark your calendar for the new show at The Art Spirit: Beth Cavener Stichter. Ceramic sculpture and some bronzes. Very powerful work. Definitely need to see it installed in the Gallery.
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