New to Spokane, I tend to call myself a diehard creative more than an ‘artist’. In the 1980’s I started a cottage industry in bas relief sculpture, both with wearable and wall art. Eventually I returned to my first love of painting, experimenting in oils and acrylic, primarily with color and composition. In those, my ‘Montana years’, I was raising my wonderful daughters as well as keeping up with the occasional life drawing class. I took classes at the U of M in printmaking, history and generally ‘expanding the mind’ as we used to say, and I still say it. Being a creative is a state of mind.
Words
Words of all types: writing, spoken word, storytelling and more! All genres welcome. Seek out a book club or writing group, mark your calendar for visiting authors, or find ways to tell your story live onstage. If you are specifically interested in poetry, check out our Poet Laureate page, too!
Kel Magnuson
Kel explores the chaos of consciousness through a variety of mediums, including film photography, drawing, painting, and written word.
Expanding Healthcare Access for Artists
Join Better Health Together, Spectrum, and Centre for Arts Workers for a virtual presentation and Q&A on healthcare eligibility in Washington State. Artists and creative workers often work gigs or freelance, so our focus is to support individuals facing barriers to healthcare. Many people are unsure if they qualify for benefits, so we decided to host this event to get our questions answered! Everyone is welcome to attend!
Voice of the River Art Nature and Community
The Voice of the River project is an ecological art project on the banks of the Spokane River June 13, 2021. Part dance, part story, and performance art, it centers on our sense of place and what nature means to each of us.
Patricia Meredith
Patricia Meredith is an author of historical and cozy mysteries. She currently lives just outside Spokane, Washington on a farm with peacocks, ducks, guinea fowl, chickens, and sheep. When she’s not writing, she’s playing board games with her husband, creating imaginary worlds with her two kids, or out in the garden reading a good book with a cup of tea.
In the Neighborhood poetry film
Celebrating National Poetry Month through poetry from local community members! In honor of National Poetry Month (happening now), Spokane Arts commissioned a short video featuring eight community members reading their poems from the “In the Neighborhood” project. “In the Neighborhood” is a community-based project created by Spokane Poet Laureate Chris Cook and Spokane Arts to collect and share poetry exploring Spokane neighborhoods. Written by area residents past and present, of all ages and experience levels, the poems here each showcase unique perspectives on our city. Together they do one magical thing: share the many stories of our neighborhoods! All the poems shared by community members to date can be found at www.spokanepoetry.com, and for those who haven’t had a chance to participate yet, there’s a link on the website to share a poem.
Get Lit! Festival
While Get Lit! is not celebrating in person in 2021 due to COVID-19, an exciting virtual festival is planned for April 12 – 18! Featuring readings, lectures, workshops, craft classes, contests, book signings, radio/music/film/theater events, and more!
Spokane Arts grants Operational Support Grants to local cultural organizations
Spokane Arts was able to fund five cultural organizations with a dispensation from the City of Spokane earmarked for the support of cultural groups. This set of grants was awarded by a separate selection panel, composed of Spokane Arts Commissioners, who made their choices independently from the SAGA process. These five organizations have received grants to support their general operations and events in 2021-22.
Kate Lebo
Kate Lebo will be writing five chapters of her next book: a collection of essays about listening through hearing loss.
Mary Carpenter and Mary Pat Kanaley
Ponies in the Park is a fully illustrated, four-color, hardback picture book, which incorporates Spokane’s Riverfront Park into local art and history education.
Spokane Valley Summer Theatre
As a professional theatre, SVST produces three large mainstage musicals each summer at the Central Valley Performing Arts Center.