First Friday: Give the gift of art

Does shopping crush your soul? Not this time. Knock out that gift list and enrich your spirit at the same time at this week’s First Friday Art Walk. For a full listing of events, go to http://downtownspokane.org/first-friday/

Fortify yourself at Iron Goat Brewing with a taste of craft beer and the Art Spirit Gallery. Several artists represented by the Coeur d’Alene-based institution will show their works at the popular Spokane brewery. Participating artists include Iron Goat co-founder and painter Sheila Evans, as well as Jeff Weir, Mel McCuddin, Tanden Launder and Michael Horswill. Opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at 1302 W. Second Ave.

From the Iron Goat, walk a block north on Adams Street to catch a mind-bending collaboration between two local artists at the Kolva-Sullivan Gallery. Composer and visual artist Larry Ellingson has created music and objects to realize the visual compositions drawn by painter and printmaker Timothy Ely. If you have ever studied Ely’s reality-changing drawings and visual language, the idea of translating them into music may shock you. In a good way. Using both found and synthesized sound, Ellingson will perform electronic soundscapes as dense and intricate as Ely’s inner visual dialogues. Ely’s prints of his original drawings will be on exhibit and for sale. The resulting book of images complete with CD inside, called “Score,” will be available for pre-ordering. From 5 to 8 p.m. at 115 S. Adams St.

A few blocks east at First Avenue Coffee shop, three young local artists are showing their works. Makayla Cavanaugh will display her final series in her senior exhibition at Eastern Washington University: “deconstruct/dismantle/disassemble.” EWU art student Jun Oh will show his pieces using stippling methods and inspired by traditional Korean folk art. And EWU alum Brittany Decker rounds out the trio with her digital art. You may know of her project Glittercouch, which spotlights local artists and Spokane’s diverse scene. From 5 to 8 p.m. at 1011 W. First Ave.

A four-minute walk north to Riverside Avenue is the vital and vibrant Native Art Show. Despite dire predictions during the past 100 years or so that Native people are a “vanishing race,” the tribes are going strong. That’s never more evident then when viewing art. The exhibition “We Are Still Here,” features the works of 28 Native American artists from in and around the Inland Northwest. The show’s creatives in both the visual arts and spoken word come from tribes including Spokane, Colville, Coeur’d Alene, Lakota, Hopi and many more. Opening reception is at the Philanthropy Center, nestled between the Spokane Club and the former Masonic Temple (renamed Riverside Place). From 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday. There will be an art preview on Saturday at 10 a.m. before a live auction kicks off at 2 p.m., all at 1020 W. Riverside Ave.

For more visual arts, head to the Chase Gallery at City Hall. There you can catch the All Media Juried Exhibition 2018, showcasing 36 artists from the Inland Northwest and curated by guest curator, Mason Miles. From 5 to 8 p.m. at 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

“Painter of place” artist Ben Joyce opens his new studio tonight. To celebrate, he will show three massive new works symbolizing spots close to his own heart: the North Idaho Panhandle, the West Coast and Spokane. Grand opening Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. at 806 W. Third Ave. Studio open houses continue Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

The Washington Cracker Building is a must-stop spot tonight, hosting two art shows. On the main floor, the Terrain Gallery will be transformed by PORTAL Collective artists Shantell Jackson, Roin Morigeau, and Asia Porter. They invite viewers to step into a highly immersive “Illumination,” an installation of interactive projections and audio recordings. Upstairs on the walls at Fellow Coworking is a collection of handcarved relief prints by Venezuelan artist Reinaldo Gil Zambrano. From 5 to 8 p.m. at 304 W. Pacific Ave.

Artist Karen Mobley will have new charcoal drawings up at Marmot Art Space in Kendall Yards, along with works by Alfredo Arreguin, Ric Gendron, Melissa Singh Cole and Rob Fifield, to name a few. Serigraphs, fine art digital prints, and more affordable prints will be ready to put under the tree. From 5 to 8 p.m. at 1202 W. Summit Parkway.

Nearby Avenue West Gallery features three exhibits for December: “The Night Sky,” photographs by Pat Schilling; the artwork of Jan Hess; and “Spokane River Landscapes,” the inaugural exhibit by art students from Gonzaga University. Live guitar performance by Sky Dornbirer during the artists’ reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at 907 W. Boone.

Lovers of woodworking will have to meet artist Joe Simonson at Pottery Place Plus next to Auntie’s. His handcrafted boxes, drawers and woodland plants put Santa’s elves to shame. Then there’s all the “Plus” at Pottery Place Plus. 203 N. Washington St., Liberty Building. From 5 to 9 p.m.

Walk east from Auntie’s to Saranac Art Projects, (next to all things yummy at Saranac Commons). The art collective continues its delightful annual Small Works Sale designed with gift-givers in mind. From 5 to 8 p.m. at 25 W. Main Ave.

Walk south from Saranac on Browne Street to experience the interactive show “Hashtag Sad.” Laboratory’s latest interactive artist-in-residence Cyrus Clarke asks the question: Will machines benignly watch our projections as we tag our worlds and upload them to the clouds for algorithmic digestion, or might they use their growing reasoning, imagination, and decision-making capabilities to benefit themselves? Hosted by the Richmond Art Collective from 5 to 8 p.m. at 228 W. Sprague Ave.

For those who appreciate musical instruments as art pieces, New Moon Art Gallery has the show for you: “Music to Your Eyes,” by artist Droz. He combines his love of music, sculpture, and recycling into imaginative pieces of functional art. To top off the theme, acrylic and watercolor painters Vicky Cavin and Betty Bradley bring a splash of musical energy through their depictions of musicians and dancers. From 5 to 9 p.m. at 1326 E. Sprague Ave.

This article has been updated to reflect the correct information for the Chase Gallery.