March 2023 HEATHER STRONG BROWN

Heather Strong Brown is the artist and children's art teacher at HeatherThymeArt in Spokane Valley. She works in watercolor, acrylic and oil paints. Her work is heavily influenced by the natural beauty around her as well as her faith. 

Heather grew up in LaCrescenta, California with parents who were very supportive of her artistic nature. As a child, she would spend hours creating with any materials she could get her little hands on, including self-portraits on tissues. As a teenager, she took art classes in impressionist painting, which heavily influenced her personal style. 

She began college at Brigham Young University as an illustration major, but quickly realized that having someone else dictate everything about her artwork took all the joy out of the creation process. She switched programs and graduated with a degree in Elementary Education in 2019. 

Heather moved to Spokane Valley in 2020 for her husband to attend medical school. After having a few different jobs in childcare, tutoring, and even cleaning houses, Heather got her art supplies back out in 2021 after almost 7 years of not using them. She began painting again and named her business HeatherThymeArt. She soon realized she could blend her two passions of teaching and art and began offering children’s art classes out of her in-home art studio. 

Now Heather teaches a variety of art classes for kids of all ages where she focuses on nurturing creativity and developing artistic skills and techniques. She gets to paint in her free time and sells her work on Etsy. She loves painting commissioned work where she gets to work closely with clients to make their vision a reality. 

FEBRUARY 2023 CINDY GEORGE AND AMBER WYCKOFF

CINDY GEORGE - ACRYLICS

My name is Cindy George and I live in the Inland Northwest.  I have been painting in acrylics for most of my adult life.  As my children have grown, I find myself committed to doing more of what I love, which is to paint, paint, paint! Primarily, I paint on small canvas with an edge so that the scene can be continued all the way around, allowing the painting to be viewed from all angles.  I initially started painting on these small canvases due to time constraints but now love to work on this size.  I find they can be tucked into so may interesting places such as corner shelves, coffee tables, counter and desktops, usually displayed on a miniature easel or set free standing.  It is also fun to change them around with the seasons or just to stir up a memory.



I find most of the subject matter, nature and wildlife, for my art right where I live.  Last Autumn, there was a herd of elk in the field at the bottom of my driveway.  This summer I frequented the large commercial sunflower field just a half mile up the road.  I never have to go far to find something to paint.  I love how even the simple landscape can be transformed by color, light and movement of atmosphere.



This is what truly inspires me, capturing that snippet in time of Nature’s unending beauty and surprises.  My goal would be for the viewer to want to be zapped into the painting, feeling transported into the scene, experiencing that mini-break we all need from time to time.


AMBER WYCKOFF - JEWELRY

Hello! I am Amber Wyckoff, the artist behind A.Wyckoff Handmade Jewelry.

My artistic vision is expressed through the use of mixed metals; silver & copper. The creative journey begins with raw materials. I saw, stamp, solder and stone set all my pieces by hand. I LOVE working with fire! Every piece I make is beautiful yet functional, making it the perfect thing to wear casually or for that special touch at an important event. I believe jewelry should be worn every day, no matter the occasion, and I design my jewelry to achieve this! My studio is located in the Pacific Northwest- in Nine Mile Falls, Washington. If I am not in my studio you will spot me out exploring the mountains!

Happy Adornment!~ Amber

JANUARY 2023 JUAQUEETTA HOLCOMB

Juaquetta hand spins local wool and alpaca into rustic art yarn. She does all the fiber processing, making her yarn, hats and shawls, truly local creations. 

Garden Party Fibers, YARN, handspun by me, Juaquetta, with local Pacific NW grown fibers. I have been selling my handspun yarns since 1993. I also knit, crochet and weave shawls, hats and scarves with my handspun art yarn. Every day I am washing, dyeing fleeces and spinning more yarn, creating new yarn colorways. Textured, bulky, rustic colorful YARN is great for gifts or a treat to yourself!

Thank you for continuously supporting my passion, hand spinning yarn,  which in turn, helps support local Pacific Northwest sheep growers.

DECEMBER 2022 MARY PAT KANALEY

Mary Pat Kanaley loves creating stories, whether in words or pictures.  Her latest works

dive into the stories she hears and sees in music and songs.

Mary Pat is a lifelong storyteller who has published several books and has her art in

collections around the country.  She currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her

family

NOVEMBER 2022 SPOKANE JEWELERS GUILD

The Spokane Jewelers Guild formed in 1982, and consists of an ever-varying membership with a variety of specialties, backgrounds and interests. Guild members this year work in sterling silver, titanium, copper and mixed metals, as well as vitreous glass enamel, polymer clay, fibers, found objects, crystal, and precious and semi-precious gemstones. Techniques include silversmithing, beadwork, weaving (wire, fibers, beads), designs strung with gemstone beads, fusing, riveting and much more.

Valerie Fawcett

Holly Swanson

Phoenix

Janet Brougher

Helga Hirsch

Linda Malcom

Kris Howell

Michele Bournonville

Bunny Webster

Sarah Peterson

Joan Ashworth

Cynthia Smutny

Amber Wycoff


OCTOBER 2022 PAM HANSEN

PAM HANSEN

Washington native Pam Hansen is an intuitive abstract textile artist who lives a short walk from the Spokane River in historic Millwood. She finds inspiration for her art and renewal for her soul hiking forested trails and paddling quiet Northwest waters. Her fascination and curiosity with textiles as an art medium was honed early, leading her to study textiles as both function and art at Central Washington University. The individual interpretation and mystique of abstract expressionism is reflected in her work through the organic layering of colorful textiles and finely stitched detail

SEPTEMBER 2022 GLORIA FOX & KAREN ROBINETTE

SEPTEMBER 2022 GUEST ARTIST

GLORIA FOX & KAREN ROBINETTE





GLORIA FOX



My art is my way of responding to the world around me.  I draw inspiration from the drama of nature with its colors, light, shadows, patterns and the mood of a particular place or subject.  Watercolor is a challenging, gratifying medium through which to capture the nuances of life that bring joy to the senses.





KAREN ROBINETTE



Associate member of Northwest Watercolor Society and signature member of Spokane Watercolor Society

Showing watercolor originals since 2016

August 2022 Sally Lancaster

August 2022

SALLY LANCASTER

Sally Lancaster was born in Spokane, Washington and attended Washington State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. She has taught jewelry making, paper making, and art classes. She has participated in group shows and displayed in galleries along the West coast. Sally’s work is focused on mixed media, a culmination of all of the types of materials she has worked with – acrylic painting, colored pencils, papermaking, printmaking, and fabric.

The mixed media pieces I create focus on working with form, texture and space. By layering and using different materials, I strive to create that feeling of balance and harmony as in nature – the smooth and the textured, the bold and the soft working together.

My compositions develop spontaneously – they plan and develop themselves. Generally, I don’t have an exact theme or preconceived notion in mind since it is an organic process for me. I love to experiment and let the ideas flow as I begin to work with the materials until a painting emerges. My work suggests, allowing the viewer to use their imagination.

JULY 2022 KAY WEST

FISH INNA OUTTA WATER

THE THEME IS A RESULT OF MY THOUGHTS CONCERNING INCREASED GLOBAL WARMING AFFECTING OUR STREAMS, LAKES AND OCEANS—AND—IMPACT ON FISH AND PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE.

THE MIXED MEDIA WORK IN THIS GUEST EXHIBIT ISN’T POLITICAL, BUT MORE A CELEBRATION OF FISH IN THE WATER AND IN HUMANS’ STORIES AND ART SINCE THE BEGINNING.

KWEST

MULTI-DISCIPLINE MAKER: Jewelry Design, Fiberart, & Photographic Capture of Effect of Time. Like many artists, I'm interested in chronicling the passage of time. My eye is drawn to the effects of that passage, resulting in close-up photographs of rust and deterioration.
Additionally, working with my hands and tools, I enjoy cutting, heating, bending, texturing metals, rendering different forms of personal adornment. A recent interest has been play with powder coat to add color and drawing to my metal jewelry surface. Hands and tools also come into play with various fibers and threads in creating fiberart brooches, neckpieces and sculpture.

Follow me @element_kwest on Instagram

June 2022 DIANNE KINNEY AND YASUKO MAYHEW

DIANE KINNEY

“ With a passion to bring light where I could

To reflect what is kind

Compassionate and good”

I have worked most of my life as a creative entrepreneur. Gaining retail experience as a young adult and when my children were mostly grown I began to pursue as a business. Following where inspiration has led. I have owned and operated two small retail shops as well as my own hand craft business. The first being a collection of fine art and crafts supporting non profits and fair trade artisans. Creating Making a Difference store in Sandpoint Idaho during the mid 90’s. After that I began to travel doing the art fair show circuit with my own Mountain Song Creations. Wood burning designs on to frames for mirrors built by my partner of salvaged and reclaimed wood. I was also beading jewelry and Swarovski Crystal sun-catchers at the time. Always with a passion to reflect light and good in the world.

In 2015 I opened a small gallery in Sandpoint continuing with Mountain Song.

I had met so many wonderful artist while doing art shows that I called on many of them to create a unique and special gift gallery. Including also my own work. It was there that I began creating my little bird luminaries. I had an idea and a dear friend shared paper scraps to play with. The bird luminaries have grown from this and continued to evolve. Always searching for new ideas and inspiration. They are a joy to create. Hope you enjoy!

YASUKO MAYHE

Celebrating Lives - From Sea Slugs to Sloths

Ever since I made an instant connection working with clay 16 years ago, I have had so much fun creating different types of beautiful creatures. It does not matter what kind of animal they are: mammals, birds, fish, or amphibians. Whenever fascinating subjects catch my attention, I have a strong urge to portray them. I then set to work on a new art project to try to celebrate a precious life and pray that it would come alive with a soul.

When I was a guest artist here at the Pottery Place Plus last year, my ceramic creatures were very well received and adopted by new owners. I am delighted to be back at my favorite art gallery to exhibit my work again. I like true-to-life images, but occasionally I get whimsical ideas. The subtitle - From Sea Slugs to Sloths explains the unpredictable range of my inspiration. You might think why sea slugs? My son is graduating with a Master’s degree in Marine Biology in June. The subjects of his thesis were sea slugs, which are amazingly colorful and lovable creatures. Why sloths? My coworkers had cute pictures of sloths taken from calendars at their work stations, and I kept looking at them every morning. One day I suddenly realized their innocent smiles were what we needed to get through this dark tunnel with Covid-19. It is hard to resist having a sloth in your house or in your office, isn’t it? So, why not sea slugs? And why not sloths?

I will also bring some raku fired pieces. Besides ceramic clay, I am experimenting with other clay media to capture the natural look for certain creatures. I like to pursue challenges in transforming hard and heavy materials to look light, warm, rough, smooth, or fragile. So, please come see my unique world of nature in ceramics. I hope some of them will speak to you and give you a smile.

May 2022 LADD BJORNEBY & MIGUEL GONZALES

LADD BJORNEBY

Ladd Bjorneby paints landscape and nature in watercolor,

oil and acrylic and has been painting most of his life.

 

CHICANO ARTIST: MIGUEL MALTOS GONZALES


BIO~

Miguel began exploring photography in 1979 from his father in a small home built darkroom in the back of the garage. His father photographed the Chicano movement in the late 60s through the seventies. He often collaborated with other Chicano artist in San Antonio, TX and wrote several of his own formulas for color photography. This influenced Miguel to understand exposure, composition, and conventional darkroom techniques. Of which he committed much to memory, and commonly practices today with his old 35mm camera that was built before cameras had light meters. Miguel’s technical proficiency increased through the 1980s. He started to write his own formulas for color photographs. With his own formulas, he hand developed photographs yielding brilliant colors and black and white portions on a single print. This inspired the current bicultural concept Miguel practices today. Miguel learned computer based graphic arts in high school and by 1990 was scanning hand made prints into the computer. Miguel combined the scanned image with digital illustration methods to create the first series of the colorful people on photographs. With the traditional skill of analogous and proficiency in current digital imaging, Miguel continues to explore biculturalism by combining two different mediums representing the mix of two different cultures.

Statement~

Film photography captures the beauty in the land, and preserves the world we all share for generations to come. Each photograph is a finished image derived from a trusty fifty year old 35mm camera. The illustrated people of color are drawn on to the photographs to resemble a memory. Drawing colorful people is symbolic of how people of color are vibrantly expressive as they navigate an ethnocentric world, and at times still struggling to connect their internal mixed colonized family history. Balancing the existence between multiple languages, social practices, and at times a conflicting self identity. As each generation developers there is a language loss, and disconnection from ancestral ties. The Chicano arte of Miguel Maltos Gonzales hopes to reconnect Mexican culture, American upbringing, and honor the indigenous heritage from pre colonization in each composition for future generations to know they will always be connected to their ancestors. Somos de aquí y de allá.

 

APRIL 2022 NAN DRYE

ARTIST’S BIO

I work with plants and plant dyes on natural fibers to make beautiful, useful things. I am fascinated with the colors achieved from many humble weeds we overlook every day and the rather magical processes used to get them to give up their secrets. I have always been a bit obsessed with the passage of time, and this art form fits right in. The time of year and the stage of growth of a plant can affect what color it will give. The process itself cannot be rushed-open the bundle too soon and it is ruined. This work teaches me mindfulness, presence and patience.

"SMALL STORIES: ECO PRINTING AND MIXED MEDIA"

This show is about the things I think about and is made up of projects I have always wanted to make, but haven’t given myself the time and space to do so. We all tell ourselves stories in way or the other. Some of this work is a story I am telling you, some pieces allow you to either finish or write the story yourself.

Mar 2022 LINDA THORSON

MARCH 2022 GUEST ARTIST

LINDA THORSON

CAST CONCRETE SCULPTURE

Linda decided at age five to be an artist, but it took about half a lifetime for that to become a reality. In the meantime, she enjoyed growing up in Lewiston, Idaho- the oldest of four siblings- when her family moved there from San Francisco in the sixties. After graduating from Whitman College in 1982 with a degree in history and art history she set out to experience the world. The next five years were spent traveling and working in Europe, Asia and Africa (with trips home to earn money and re-connect!). Always in love with Seattle, the move here came next, with marriage, a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington, the birth of a wonderful child, and work in landscape design.

            In 2005 Linda revived the art casting business on her own that was started in the early nineties with her former husband. With a long-time love of the decorative arts, she gains inspiration from various periods of art history, places she has traveled, and nature, creating objects to grace the home and garden.

          When she’s not slinging concrete, Linda enjoys gardening, hiking, music, reading, deep-sea fishing, travel, volunteering, and time with friends and family.

Feb 2022 RAVEN FRUSCALZO AND BARI FEDERSPIEL

RAVEN FRUSCALZO - BASKET WEAVING

Raven Fruscalzo has been been making pine needle baskets since she was a child. She fell in love with the medium after visiting an exhibit on basketry at a small art museum.

Ponderosa pine trees are pillars of the Inland Empire ecosystem and so have always represented Spokane to Raven. Their needles are long, sturdy, and beautiful making them a wonderful medium for basketry. Raven shared than when she's working on these baskets she feels close to the trees and the natural world they represent.

Raven's baskets feature many natural materials that help her depict the pine forests and our relationship to them.

BARI FEDERSPIEL - WATERCOLOR

Bari is a watercolorist who has been painting since 2003. She paints subjects that she loves.

Bari says about her work, “I seem to pick one category at a time to delve into with paint – in the past I’ve painted series of architectural structures, portraits, and landscapes. You may notice a few chickens! I have fun painting, and take it very seriously – learning as I go, trying new subjects and different ways to look at everyday scenes and objects.”

Jan 2022 Jaqueeta Garden Party Fibers

Garden Party Fibers, YARN, handspun by me, Juaquetta, with local Pacific NW grown fibers. I have been selling my handspun yarns since 1993. I also knit, crochet and weave shawls, hats and scarves with my handspun art yarn. Every day I am washing, dyeing fleeces and spinning more yarn, creating new yarn colorways. Textured, bulky, rustic colorful YARN is great for gifts or a treat to yourself!

Thank you for continuously supporting my passion, hand spinning yarn,  which in turn, helps support local Pacific Northwest sheep growers.

Juaquetta

Garden Party Fibers

Dec 2021 Mary Pat Kanaley

Mary Pat Kanaley is a Spokane, Washington based artist.  She works in varied mediums from chalk pastel to acrylics and watercolors, often combining all three together.  Over the years, she has been a commissioned artist, freelance illustrator, art director and art teacher. She is never without a sketchbook or travel paint set and is always on the lookout for inspiration, especially when traveling and exploring new places and cultures.

September 2021 Gloria Fox & Karen Robinette

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Gloria B. Fox

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Artist Biography

Born in Texas, I moved to Spokane at the end of first grade. Color and imagery have been life-long interests, which earned art awards and scholarships throughout my youth. As a young adult, I attended EWU for two years and graduated from UW with a BA in General Art, a BFA in Sculpture and a Secondary Teaching Certificate. Since that time, I have offered children’s summer art camps, continue my 30 year involvement providing programs and events for the Museum of Arts and Culture, and lend my efforts to many volunteer organizations. I am a member of River Ridge Association of Fine Arts, signature member of Spokane Watercolor Society and participate in several garden clubs, which keeps me connected and learning. I have exhibited in a number of shows and events in the Spokane area, winning numerous awards as a watercolorist. My goal is to keep growing as an artist and continue my watercolor career in a meaningful and engaged way.



Artist Statement

As an artist I am inspired by many things – patterns, light and shadow, color and the mood of a particular place or subject. I am often influenced by the drama of nature. Artistic expression is my means of responding to the world around me. It’s an attempt to capture the essence of what is attracting my attention and to communicate the emotional and visual aspects to others. Watercolor is a challenging and gratifying medium for this expression.

Contact information: gloriabfox@gmail.com, (509)499-1812, instagram at @gloriabfoxarts

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Karen Robinette

ARTIST BIO

Karen is an award-winning graphic designer and watercolor artist. She applies her understanding of design concepts and color relationships, as used in advertising and publishing, to her watercolor paintings. Since 2016, after a long career as a graphic designer, Karen has taken watercolor classes and workshops, and has exhibited her work from Spokane and the surrounding area to the west side of Washington State. Mostly inspired by nature, Karen’s watercolor paintings reflect her interest in remote places in the outdoors, as experienced on hiking and bike trails, as well as national, state and city parks, and botanical gardens.


ARTIST STATEMENT

I spend many hours yearly on hiking and bike trails, photographing and doing studies on-site to later use in my watercolor compositions. As a watercolor artist, I combine color and design to create unique artistic expressions based on my experiences exploring nature.

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August 2021 Randy Haa

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My background in oil painting and working as a landscape designer was the artist part of me for 30 years.  In about 1998 I took a fused glass class and made a cute bowl.  It was not until 2005 that a friend asked me to go to a Portland art studio to make fused glass Christmas ornaments.  This is when I fell in love with this medium.  

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I did my first year of experimentation at the Portland artist's studio and attended a basic fused glass class at Bullseye Glass located in Portlan, OR.  In 2006 I moved to Newport, WA.  It was at this time that I purchased a kiln for my studio.

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Usable art is the most fun to create.  It can be a colorful spoon rest, bowls or serving plates.  Creating a glass object for someone's home or business is always very rewarding.  Sometimes when I am experimenting with the glass, I receive the most wonderful surprises.


I take great pleasure in watching people run their fingers over my work as they respond to the energy and vibrant colors.  When they smile I know they have made that wonderful connection with my craft