Save the Date!

April 26, 2014 is coming up soon. And that's when the 2014 Great Spokane Art Party is happening!

Art Party Raffle Packages!

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SCAFCO Contributes $2000

Thanks to SCAFCO Corporation for their generous donation!

This Year's Sponsors

Many thanks to this year's Art Party sponsors!

$2000

SCAFCO Corporation

$1000

Tom & Melissa Sauve -- Growers Supply Co.

$500

Itron
St. George’s
Tickets West
Paras Homes
Circle of Security

$250

Jim Lister Real Estate
Washinton Trust Bank
R. H. Cooke & Associates
Prime Lending
Rainman Rain Gutters

2013 Artist and Activity List

Community Building Children’s Center Teachers
Silk Scarf Printing
Using vibrant tissue paper shapes you’ll arrange your design and then “print” it onto the silk using an amazingly simple technique. The results are breathtaking.

Eva Silverstone
Collage Magnets
Collage is the combination of many materials to make something new. You can “borrow” others’ ideas and designs and with a little reworking make something unique from the materials that you started with.

Greg Pritchett
Watercolor Painting
Explore watercolor painting in a loose impressionistic style as an introduction to this medium. Watercolors are translucent, they allow light to reflect from the paper’s surface creating a luminous effect.

Mardis Nenno
Making Marks on Clay
We will be working with thin slabs of clay to build simple vessel shapes and decorating the surfaces with slip monoprint, sgrafitto and stamping techniques.

Elllen Blachke
Painting on wine glasses

Susan Whaley - Inland Northwest Drawing School
Designer Gourds
Explore your creativity by transforming a common gourd into a work of art. Be inspired by a variety of designs & patterns derived from different cultures.

Gloria Fox
Friendly Plastic Beads
These eye-catching beads are fun and easy to make. Use the to create your own one-of-a-kind stretchy bracelet to wear home tonight.

Rings and Things
Earrings!
Dig through bins of beads and findings to create earrings! Simple, asymmetrical, elegant or contemporary - you choose!

Yang Xu
Chinese Calligraphy and Painting
This activity will include drawing Chinese characters and painting with ink and brushes. Yang Xu paints in the traditional Chinese style of the Song Dynasty (~1000 CE). She teaches Chinese language, culture, painting, dance and the guzheng (a traditional Chinese zither). She has given live demonstrations of her painting numerous times.

Teya Kuhle
Mixed Media Papermaking
Papermaking is known to have been traced back to China (about 105 CE), when an official during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other bast fiber along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste. Try your hand at this ancient craft and incorporate materials from nature into your sheet.

Kira Atwood
Make your own art party bag
Starting with a fair trade bag donated by Ganesh Himal trading company and made from recycled billboards, doodle yourself your own unique 2013 art party bag.

Kit and Peter Jagoda
Milagros: a metal tooling relief activity
The delicate craft of Milagros (mee LAH gro) making is a folk art tradition that has played an important role in many cultures. A milagro is a little metal pendant that symbolizes a request, a prayer, or a wish.

Nikki Gamon
Mixed Media Self Portraits


Lou Carver
Artists Trading Cards (ATC)
Prepackaged kit for you to make several collage cards - four themes to choose from. Learn how you can start your own hobby by trading cards from all over the world. Ms Carver has been teaching art classes in spokane for over 25 years; she has been a career graphic designer. The Art Coop offers over 30 goofy art classes for chicks for ages 9-99, in a 1933 rennovated chicken coop.

Loretta West
Zen tangle


Damian Butler
Photo Booth
A photo set, costume props, and your creative poses are a great way to document your evening at the Art Party. Prints to keep.

Viza Arlington
Printing
"Having left commercial print production to pursue my own artistic path, I now live on the family farm south of Cheney, Washington. I enjoy wilderness and much of my work focuses on the natural world- animals, plants, trees and landscapes. However, the images I create often reference archetypes and symbols found in mythology and literature; they relate a personal interpretation of the intersection of both the fantastical and absolute physical realms: dream-like figures that often evoke primitive culture. Solitude resonates throughout much of my work- I tend to focus on singular figures that encourage personal introspection, a turning inward, a visual recognition of the vastness of the inner human landscape, the original wildness of the body and mind."

Art Party Info Video

Spokane Coeur d'Alene Living Article

Click to enlarge.

Facebook Event Page for Art Party 2012

Planning to attend the Great Spokane Art Party on April 28? Check into the 2012 Art Party Facebook event page to see who else is attending, RSVP, and invite others.

2012 Artist and Activity List

Community Building Children’s Center Teachers
Silk Scarf Printing
Using vibrant tissue paper shapes you’ll arrange your design and then “print” it onto the silk using an amazingly simple technique. The results are breathtaking.

Eva Silverstone
Collage Magnets
Collage is the combination of many materials to make something new. You can “borrow” others’ ideas and designs and with a little reworking make something unique from the materials that you started with.

Greg Pritchett
Watercolor Painting
Explore watercolor painting in a loose impressionistic style as an introduction to this medium. Watercolors are translucent, they allow light to reflect from the paper’s surface creating a luminous effect

Diane Rowen Garmire
Wiggle Wire Ornaments
If a squiggle is a line that meanders and moves, never closing on itself, then a wiggle wire must be its three dimensional cousin. Wiggle wire ornaments are made from re-claimed copper wire, turned and twisted into glorious, natural, organic lines. Once shaped to the crafter’s liking, the ornaments are pounded flat with hammers on metal. They are dressed at last with a glint of sparkling color from glass beads. These ornaments can be hung anywhere, inside or outside, to bring charm and aesthetic joy to the observer.

Loris Stupel
Iris Paper Folding
This paper craft creates eye catching, three dimensional cards. It has its origins in the Netherlands and gets its name from the spiraling design like the iris of an eye or the shutter of a camera

Susan Whaley - Inland Northwest Drawing School
Designer Gourds
Explore your creativity by transforming a common gourd into a work of art. Be inspired by a variety of designs & patterns derived from different cultures.

Gloria Fox
Japanese Bookbinding
Japanese bookbinding is a creative, versatile process for personalizing anything you would like in book form. It's fun and easy, limited only by your imagination.

Rings and Things
Earrings!
Dig through bins of beads and findings to create earrings! Simple, asymmetrical, elegant or contemporary - you choose!

Dani Pavlic
Xerox Transfers
I will be demonstrating a transfer technique to apply images on a variety games and puzzles. These small pieces will then be manipulated to create pendants and key chains.

Teya Kuhle
Mixed Media Papermaking
Papermaking is known to have been traced back to China (about 105 CE), when an official during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other bast fiber along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste. Try your hand at this ancient craft and incorporate materials from nature into your sheet.

Rolf Goetzinger
Community Mural Painting
Work in pairs or small groups painting a section of a larger mural depicting our surrounding neighborhood. The tiles will be puzzled together & hung in the schools entryway to celebrate community

Kit and Peter Jagoda
Milagros: a metal tooling relief activity
The delicate craft of Milagros (mee LAH gro) making is a folk art tradition that has played an important role in many cultures. A milagro is a little metal pendant that symbolizes a request , a prayer, or a wish.

Heidi Arborgast – MAC museum
Mono-Prints
Get hooked on printmaking as you watch your print appear before your eyes – you’ll want to make more than one.

Ashley Frensdorf
Handmade Clay Tiles
Contribute your creativity to our community with a handmade clay tile. Together with tiles made by the preschool children, it will become a mosaic mural-a permanent work of beauty on our playground

Dave Perham
Spirograph Art
Everyone loves a slinky but remember The Spirogrhaph? How much did you love this toy? With a little color and a steady hand you can recreate the art of your childhood. Simple circular lines make complex designs that you can hang on your fridge."

Amp’d Entertainment
Photo Booth
A photo booth, costume props, being creative with ourselves as the subject. Fun! Prints to keep.

Save the Date

The 2012 Art Party is set for April 28!

Artist and Activity List 2011

Nicole Troutman & Vanessa Lopez - Children’s Center Teachers
Silk Scarf Printing
Using vibrant tissue paper shapes you’ll arrange your design and then “print” it onto the silk using an amazingly simple technique. The results are breathtaking.

Pricilla Barnett - Art Director, Discovery School.
Unmask Your Mask
Design a papier mache mask that is an expression of you. Using paints, markers, color pencils and accessories, you will be on your way to a masquerade of fun!

Greg Pritchett
Watercolor Painting
Explore watercolor painting in a loose impressionistic style as an introduction to this medium. Because watercolors are translucent they allow light to reflect from the paper’s surface creating a luminous effect.

Kelly Greenfield – Clay Connection
Fused Glass Pendants
Take part in the first steps of a custom glass pendant of your own design. Cut the glass and play with layout to arrange a unique pendant. Finished jewelry can be picked up at the Clay Connection 714 E Sprague beginning May 21st .

Eva Silverstone
Collage Magnets
Collage is the combination of many materials to make something new. It is a unique medium because you can “borrow” others’ ideas and designs and with a little reworking make something unique and different from the materials that you started with. Learn about this technique and make a small collaged magnet.

Susan Whaley & Pat Benson - Inland Northwest Drawing School
Designer Gourds
Explore your creativity by transforming a common gourd into a work of art. Be inspired by a variety of designs & patterns derived from different cultures.

Dani Pavlic
Stencils for Education
Stencils for Education is a workshop to create Spanish alphabets for classrooms in Guatemala. This workshop will show how to draw and construct letter stencils and apply them to paper with paint.

Justin Easton, Toni Plastino & Kameron Fox - Rings and Things
Button Cap Jewelry
This simple and clever technique turns a pin-on button (of your own design) into a super-cool ring or pendant. Best yet, you can switch out the designs and have an endlessly versatile accessory.

Bryan Burke
Floppy Disk Books
Make a beautiful, simple journal out of a recycled floppy disk and paper. Use clip art stickers or free draw designs to personalize your book. It's possible that you can write more info in the completed journal than the original disk could actually hold.

Tiffany Patterson
Mixed Media Illustrations on Wood
Local artist Tiffany Patterson will help participants as they explore water-based paints and inks to create small illustrations or paintings on birch wood boards. See examples of Tiffany's unique style and experiment with your own style with these accessible mediums.

Joyce Thomas
Felted Beads
Making felt on purpose is magical. Making beads with felt is just plain fun! We will use the wet felting technique using water, soap and wool. Beads can be any shape or color your imagination wants them to be and then can be used in a bracelet, necklace, hair piece or whatever! It takes about 5 min. to make a bead.

Hamilton Studio
Facebook Photo Booth
A photo set, costume props, being creative with ourselves as the subject. Fun! Go ahead, it’s a great way to document your evening at The Art Party. Photo to keep by email.

Gloria Fox
Dancing Paper Stick Puppets
Enjoy making these one-of-kind, uniquely you, dancing stick puppets. Think jazz, big band, burlesque, rock 'n roll, or whatever is your style. Decorate and embellish to suit your fancy and dance the night away!

Scott Kolbo
Mono Printing
Create one-of-a-kind mono-prints using a press, plexiglass plates and water-based paints. The process is almost magical- watching as the plate travels through the press and your original design is suddenly and beautifully transferred to the paper. Many thanks to The Museum of Arts and Culture for loaning their portable printing press to us this evening.

Teya Kuhle
Mixed Media Papermaking
Papermaking is known to have been traced back to China (about 105 CE), when an official during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other bast fiber along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste. Try your hand at this ancient craft and incorporate materials from nature into your sheet.

Loris Stupel
Iris Paper Folding
Iris Folding is a paper craft that creates eye catching, three dimensional cards. The technique called Iris Folding had its beginnings in the Netherlands and gets its name from the spiraling design which has the look of the iris of an eye or the opening of a camera lens.

Jaque Meng
Handmade Clay Tiles
Contribute your creativity to our community. Create a handmade clay tile that, together with tiles made by the preschool children, will become a mosaic mural – a permanent work of beauty on our playground.

Diane Garmire
ZenTangle
A zentangle is a structured, contained doodle. As the participant quiets their mind and engages in this type of rhythmic drawing there is often a feeling of timelessness and a sense of deep well-being.

2010 City of Spokane Arts Award

From the Spokane Arts Commission website:

Arts in Education – Spokane Community Building Children's Center - Blueprints for Learning Program

The Community Building Children's Center (CBCC) describes itself as one part school, one part home and one part museum. Its Blueprints for Learning Program for preschoolers actively incorporates the use of art to help children learn and grow.

Their approach is designed to focus on nurturing each child's intellectual growth and creativity through an emphasis on the local environment and the inclusion of arts (visual, performance, music, dance, song, etc.). The Museum of Arts and Culture trains their staff in the use of a technique called visual thinking strategies which encourages children to view art with a critical mind. Studies have shown that there is a strong relationship between visual thinking and positive growth in math and reading skills.

Blueprints for Learning also offers a Training Institute which teaches other local child care professionals how to incorporate art and exploration into their early childhood education programs.

The Blueprints for Learning approach has been shown to be especially effective when a child has a physical or mental challenge. The parent of one such child commented that her daughter has absolutely blossomed since attending the program primarily because she has been encouraged to dance, sing, play music and create art in whatever way she is able. Her daughter is starting to overcome some of her physical challenges through the use of art as she develops new ways of moving, learning and expressing herself.

The CBCC through its Blueprints for Learning Program has truly become a leader in arts in education in Spokane by offering both a local arts-based preschool program and a regional training program.

All About the 2011 Great Spokane Art Party

About	The Art Party is a benefit fundraiser for Blueprints for learning.

Overview	What is the Great Spokane Art Party? It is the antidote to the typical silent auctions, wine tastings and benefit dinners. It is an engaging evening of wine, hors d'oeuvres, camaraderie and hands-on art exploration for adults. The Art Party supports Blueprints for Learning, which tirelessly works to improve the quality of early childcare and education in Spokane. With guidance from some of Spokane’s most beloved artists, attendees try their hand at clay, glass, silk fabric painting, print-making, jewelry, paper collage, and more. Participating artists have included Harold Balazs, Ken Spiering, Kay O'Rourke, Mardis Nenno, Heidi Arbogast, Olivia Waterman, Scott Kolbo, Lance Sinnema, and many more. Tickets are $50 per person or $80 for a couple. They can be purchased at the Community Building Children’s Center, by calling Blueprints for Learning at 777-0822, or at the door.
Description	The Art Party is an unforgettable evening that leaves one feeling a little more inspired.
General Information	May 7, 2011 | 7-10 pm | at the Community Building Tickets are $50 per person or $80 for a couple. They can be purchased at the Community Building Children’s Center, by calling Blueprints for Learning at 777-0822, or at the door.
Mission	The Art Party is a benefit fundraiser for Blueprints for learning, a nonprofit organization working to increase the quality of early child care and learning in our community. Research shows that the foundation of a person's success in life is formed within the blueprint of the first five years. For this reason, we believe that investments in early childhood education, training, staff development and best practice should be a priority for our community. Blueprints for Learning offers two programs: the Child Care Training Institute and the Community Building Children's Center, a high quality child care program. Our programs address both the needs that child care professionals have for high-quality training and the needs that families have for high-quality child care.
Awards	2010 RECIPIENT OF THE SPOKANE ARTS IN EDUCATION AWARD The City of Spokane Arts in Education Award is given annually to a person, organization or school that demonstrates the successful use of arts in education and a high level of commitment to its students. On their website, SpokaneArts.org, it states that the Children's Center and Blueprints for Learning have "truly become a leader in arts in education in Spokane by offering both a local arts-based preschool program and a regional training program."

Email	artparty@blueprintsforlearning.org
Phone	509.777.0822

Bourbon Balls and Much Much More

I just whipped up a batch of bourbon balls for tonight's Great Spokane Art Party.  You grind up some pecans and Nilla Wafers, stir in some confectioner's sugar, corn syrup, and a healthy dose of Jim Beam, roll the mixture up into balls which you in turn roll in chopped pecans ... and then you pop one in your your mouth!  A grown-up delectable sweet-tooth satisfying, boozy morsel. 

And that's just what I'm bringing to the party (a batch of about 75, first come first served!).  But we have a whole army of folks bringing platter after platter of even more delectable goodies, both sweet and savory.  Not to mention wine pouring forth like the spring run-off. 

And then you have the artsy-fartsy activities: 16 different artists and artisans set up to guide you through a painting, collaging, sculpting, assembling, compiling, creating, and confabulational creative smorgy for the right side of your brain.  And let's be honest, that poor right side has been chained up like a long neglected dog that needs to go for a run. 

So come on down to the Community Building tonight at 7pm and have some fun while supporting Blueprints for Learning and early childhood education in Spokane.  $50 per ticket or $80 for a pair.  See you there!

Tired of Boring Parties?

Genevieve Morris posted the following blurb on Facebook recently, and I think it's worth reposting here:

Tired of boring parties?? Ready for something new? Grab your girlfriends, a date, or someone random off the street. Enjoy sipping wine and tasty food as you make a masterpiece at the Great Spokane Art Party. You can make homeade paper, jewelry, prints and much more with great artists in town. BUY A TICKET OR MAKE A DONATION. THIS FUNDS IMPROVING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN SPOKANE. Come make a difference by supporting training for teachers and have fun doing it!