It’s been a banner time for Kodis

Textile artist Louise Kodis is known for luxurious, richly textured banners that suspend from the ceilings of numerous public and private spaces across the country.

In her current exhibit at the Spokane Art School – “Tabled Motion and Stand-Ins: A Banner Maker Holds Her Ground” – Kodis is showing a series of standing and wall-mounted works intended for intimate living areas.

Most of the pieces on exhibit are made of translucent silk organza, often with several layers to obtain “mixed” color.

Many of the creations feature inserts of exotic netting sandwiched between solid colors. Dimension is often added with pods, twists or billowing over lapping leaves.

“All works are memories of gardens current and past,” says Kodis, “built with my shovels or seen only in my daydreams.”

An artist’s reception is Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gallery, 920 N. Howard St.

The free gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For information call 328-0900 or go to www.spokaneartschool.org.

‘Artists Showcase’

This weekend the Coeur d’Alene Art Association returns with its ninth annual “Artists Showcase” at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

There will be a variety of mediums including traditional oils, watercolor and acrylic paintings, photography, pottery, metal and glass, says association member Chelsea Cordova.

The three-day show features the work of at least three dozen artists including Laura Collins of Priest River and Joe Kronenberg, Dorothy Porter and Patsey Parsons of Spirit Lake.

Coeur d’Alene artists in the showcase are Cordova, Cora Kohler, Rita Gobert, Carol Airhart, Jackie Jewett, Cobie Schuchard, Sharon Mille, Karen Pfeiffer, Janet Launhardt, Sue Sausser, Barbara Lee, Yvonne Benzinger, Joy Fitzpatrick, Harriett Masterson, Bob Kreefer, Joy Shepston and Dianne Munkittrick.

Rathdrum artists are Jo Teske and Cindy Radavich. Post Falls artists include Suzanne Jewell, Joanne Reeds, Louise Telford, Jim Baumgartner, Beverly Peterson and Pat Harns.

Also displaying work are Colleen Buzolich, Sally Schneider, Sharon Cummings, Vivian Stevenson and Debbie Motz of Hayden Lake, and Ginger Rose of Hayden.

Washington artists are Dan Severns of Spokane and Barbara Jo Burnside of Liberty Lake.

The event opens on Friday at 1 p.m. and goes until 7:30 p.m., with an artists’ reception beginning at 5 p.m. with live music. The showcase continues on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

There will be artists’ demonstrations throughout the run of the show.

The Kootenai County Fairgrounds is at 4060 N. Government Way in Coeur d’Alene. Parking and admission are free. For more information on the show call (208) 664-1737.

‘Critters’ invade Sandpoint

The Pend Oreille Arts Council Gallery is opening its new show, “Critters,” on Friday with a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Critters – real and imaginary – will be exhibited by 25 regional artists in an array of mediums including paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolor, sculpture, prints and photography.

“Some of the critters on display are animals and creatures we are familiar with, such as chickens, cats, birds and fish,” says POAC executive director Lizzy Hughes in an e-mail, “others are more fantastic in nature, such as dragons, gnomes and trolls.”

The show runs through June 5. The POAC Gallery is located in the Power House at 120 E. Lake St. in Sandpoint. For more information, call (208) 263-6139 or see www.ArtinSandpoint.org.

Photography ‘Salon’

Hundreds of photographic images will line the walls of the Commons Building on the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute campus on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

The Spokane Camera Club is hosting its annual free “Salon” exhibit of photographs entered into competition during the 2005-2006 season.

“The photographs were created both digitally and with film for the monthly competitions,” says spokesperson Barbara Miller. “They are now in competition for the end of the photographic year awards.”

Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, 4000 W. Randolph Road, is west of Spokane Falls Community College.

NIC art at Silver Mountain

The work of North Idaho College graphic design students is on display through May 6 at the Mountain Tapas Café and Bar at the base of Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg.

The graphic design exhibit of computer-generated pieces showcases the work of seven NIC students: Yuliya Yefremova, Aaron Barton and Susie Lam of Coeur d’Alene; Shelley Page of Dalton Gardens; Chad Severtson of Post Falls; Jack Knecht of Princeton; and Julie Peterson of Hayden.

For more information call graphic design instructor Philippe Valle at (208) 769-3426.

Printmaking lecture

Esme Guenther, a visiting artist in printmaking at Whitworth College, will talk about her work on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Koehler Gallery, in the Fine Arts Building on the north Spokane campus.

Guenther will also give two free book-making workshops on May 6 and 7 from 1 to 5 p.m. Reservations are required. For more information or reservations call 777-3258.

Gold Mountains show

“Perspectives in Nature” opens Monday at the Gold Mountains Gallery in Republic, Wash.

“The design of the show is to share the experience of using nature as the basis of art,” says gallery director John-Dan Key in an e-mail.

Elizabeth May photographs the reflective surface of water to create challenging works. Cynthia Bonneau-Green draws from the colors of nature as well as using natural fibers and stones to make jewelry, bags, shawls, hats and dolls.

May, who uses no manipulation in her photography, says in a news release: “The viewer must first un-name, then re-frame that which is seen. When something is named, its possibilities are often fixed, tied to past experience.”

Bonneau-Green, a fiber artist for 30 years, says in a news release: “It is always useful to look at things, especially nature and your own work, in new or open ways. How else would your work transform itself, the observers and you?”

The show runs through May with an artist’s reception May 5 from 5 to 9 p.m.

The gallery, 852 S. Clark Ave. #2, is next to the Northern Inn hotel in Republic. The free gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.