Friday, September 8 // 4pm - 7:15PM // Across The Fairgrounds
The Spokane County Interstate Fair is excited to host the 2nd Annual First Friday Art Walk, presented by US Bank! As a creative new way to showcase local artists and to celebrate Spokane’s unique arts community, the Fair will spotlight 16 local artists, sponsored by US Bank, to create original works of art LIVE on Friday, September 8 (the first Friday of the 2023 Fair). Guests are invited to make their way across the fairgrounds to visit each artist. Once each “live performance” is over, guests will be able to vote for their favorite artists! Plus, a judges panel from Spokane Arts will award cash prizes for their top three favorite pieces! This event is FREE to attend with purchase of a Fair Admission Ticket!
MEET YOUR STARS
Kate GB
I was Katie Gesinger when I started college at Evergreen in 1998. By the time I graduated I was a printmaker. It wasn’t until I was married, living out in the woods with two little kids and less than a fat chance at an accessible Printshop that I became Kate GB. I was alone; desperate for the art that was my freedom. I started spray painting in my back yard, the forest floor. I have since found SPOKANE PRINT AND PUBLISHING CENTER, where I have gotten back into my first love of monoprinting. I have posted a few examples of my art on my Facebook page ASPARAGUS ICE CREAM .
Kelley Hudson
Kelley “Kel” Hudson is an artist and photographer currently living and working in Spokane, Washington and Copenhagen, Denmark. Kel began life as a painter and evolved, over time, into a world-renowned photographer with her photos and paintings being published and shown around the globe.
A citizen of the world, Kel has made her home in many places but none so far like Spokane, the city that granted her substantial funding to create “The Spokane Coloring Book.” “The Spokane Coloring Book” is a locally produced coloring book filled with 30 hand drawn images that has so far sold 500 copies since its release in October 2022. The book was self-published, is only available locally and completely funded by the citizens of Spokane.
Being a lover of nature, her family, all dogs (even the one that bit her that one time), going with the flow and copious cups of coffee with friends; Kel has found herself at home in the quiet communities that have nurtured her art. Copenhagen and Spokane have since provided the laconic serenity that permeates Kel’s art and her childhood home of San Diego, California influences the color. The warm tones and bright hues are a direct result of her warm childhood by the Pacific ocean, giving her still landscapes a pensive softness.
With community always at the heart of her work, Kel focuses primarily on landscapes and mental snippets from her life. She revels in hushed restraint and aims to include that element in her works alongside her love of symmetry and straight lines.
Kelley’s work hopes to connect viewers with the land but also with each other. Often forming ideas for her works from reoccurring moments; she tends not to sketch or plan her pieces but will instead find her subjects on long walks or during her everyday and observing them for weeks before a work is made.
Kelley is a quiet and elusive artist and will often make art when no one is watching. She is an observer of the everyday and a lover of the seemingly mundane. Kel often seeks out her subjects during the middle of the weekday when citizens are less likely to notice her watching and focuses on places devoid of cars and people.
Living in Scandinavia surrounded by artists also seeking the same silent feeling in their work, Kel has been able to find further influence in the clean lines and soft aesthetics of the Nordics. The minimalist designs and thoughtfulness in decor has provided Kel with some of the strongest influences in her artistic life.
Sindhu Surapaneni
A 14-year-old creative artist from Spokane, Washington, Sindhu Surapanen is also a philanthropist, a change maker, a two-time TEDx speaker, a cultural dancer, a henna artist, and Miss Teen IndiaSpokane/WA1RU. She hopes her art will inspire all the youth to embrace diversity, inclusion, and their culture simultaneously. At 11 years old, she taught over 400 free art lessons online and 100 creative workshops. She donated $22,000 selling her artwork and to charities that support low-income families. She has won many awards, including the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award twice from the president. As a young artist and activist, she encourages empathy above all! Sindhu runs Imaginations2Creation, a nonprofit with the dual goal of producing art that embodies happiness, joy, and hope. You can learn more about her philanthropy work at www.facebook.com/i2csindhu www.imaginations2creation.org
Luke Grayson-Skinner
Luke Grayson-Skinner is a gay artist, writer, and advocate who moved to Spokane in 2012 and discovered the local poetry and arts community in 2015.
Luke has been creating some thing or another, and trying different art forms, for as long as he can remember.
Luke has released 3 small poetry books, competed at local, regional, and national competitions, and Luke also writes for FaVS News (formerly Spokane FaVS) as a columnist, and runs Starfish Arts PNW – an art showcase and shop that he began in 2021.
This will be Luke’s 2nd year as an artist in the Art Walk
Beef Bucket
Tasko Lopez
Kyla Oyamot
Kyla Oyamot is a professional artist and instructor utilizing a variety of mediums, styles, and techniques. Originally from Hawaii, Kyla finally landed in Spokane in March 2020 after living in Orange County and then Las Vegas. Kyla’s art background consists of animation, tattooing, paint instructing, and software engineering. She’s passionate about disability rights, healthy communication, giving back to her community through volunteering, Dr. Pepper and cheeseburgers, and her chonky boxer named Zuko. Kyla has traveled the country professionally tattooing for more than a decade, and has offered paint classes to thousands of people. She received her bachelor’s degree in Media Arts and Animation from the Art Institute of Seattle, and also her Certificate of completion in UX Design and Web Development from Bloom Institute of Technology. Kyla’s interests vary often from bleach art, to character design, and other times she’s assembling Legos or perler beads into amazing works of art. You can find her art on canvases(paint and human), t-shirts, vinyl stickers, cards, and even in web design. Kyla’s mantra? “I’m just happy to be here!”
erin williams
Hello, I’m Erin, a Spokane native and a passionate advocate for both art and design. As a full-time senior graphic designer, I bring my unique perspective as a queer BIPOC individual to create meaningful and impactful visual experiences.
rebecca clinard
Rebecca has been an artist her whole life! Her earliest memories were of her mother and her doing art together and always creating. Rebecca is an art teacher at Innovation High School. Her favorite mediums are mixed media paintings and works in abstract realism. Art has always held a special place in her soul!
Mikki-Sue McArthur
I am 45 years old have been doing spray paint art for 6 years I’ve been featured by Gonzaga and I feed the homeless through City gate.
And mom of four grandmother of soon to be 5.0 I lived in Spokane on and off my whole life born at sacred heart Air Force brat. I have been divorced twice and now just love to paint and help people.
Sara Conybeer
Sara Conybeer is an ever-evolving artist with a range of work that expands from her tiny pinhole view into the vast universal flow of creativity. Her art conveys a special bold dreamlike quality and spiritual surrealism.
I am an abstract pop surrealist mixed media artist originally from Canada. I now live in Spokane and work out of my beautiful basement studio full time. My nomadic journey through my life has led me to develop a broad range of artwork…from large canvas art, murals and hand-dyed/felted wall tapestries, to pop art, ink drawings, and ethereal watercolours. I am a multi-disciplinary artist and through the use of various media, I express my voice. I long for a deeper connection to nature, emotion, spiritualism and the divine feminine. I work in a cyclical manner – going with the tides and the moon, and flowing freely with my innermost feelings. The range of artwork that I produce changes like the seasons as I move through my inner world.
Amber Hoit
A creator for roughly 15 years.
A PNW based artist born in Renton Wa and spent time in Seattle, Spokane and the coast of Washington. Art became an outlet for her in her times of hardships and has continued to be just that for her. She started out drawing ideas of clothes and fashion designs then graduated to painting. She dabbled in as many techniques and methods she could think of.
Her Style.
“It’s been a little easier to describe over the years through creating, though, hard to pinpoint exactly. I love a variety of styles! Pop art, expressive motifs, to realism and portraitures. I love bright colors, with bold and dark contrasts. I like to be as versatile as possible.”
She says she has an undesignated style but if she had to define it she says it’s a mixture of abstract motifs, eclectic pop art, expressionism impressionism, surrealism, realism, and any other “ism”. Her painting style is illusive from labels. As she likes to use many mediums. With a variety of portraits and other more intricate styles all the way to large murals with spray paints. She is self taught with no formal training. The mediums of choice range from oils, pastels, ink, spray paint, recycled materials and acrylics.
How she started painting murals.
A meager beginning by painting for a local music venue of hand drawn created logo, and band logos. “I did it for fun with a chance to practice. Then I realized it was a passion of mine and people wanted me to paint for them. I started out with charcoal drawings, acrylics, then oils. Years later I updated to spray painting to get bigger jobs done. I fell in love with the versatility of spray cans mixed with acrylic paints.” “I do not consider or call myself a graffiti artist, but more specifically a Muralist.”
Newer business, started in the year of 2020 right at the peak of Covid, still maintaining thanks to the community.
“Not easy starting from the ground up but satisfying to grow from it. I’m Super grateful for the support I have received. The community has become the wind beneath my wings, more accurately keeping cans and paintbrushes in my hands.
Dan Daley
My name is Dan Daley, and I’ve been creating spray paint art in Spokane for the past 8 years. I grew up in a very rural part of Massachusetts and was inspired at a young age by the night sky, with its stunning starry patterns. Today I use that inspiration to paint funky and colorful planetary landscapes! While my medium has always been spray paint, I love to apply my art in creative places. In fact, my most recent project was an astronomy-themed motorcycle makeover. Check out my Instagram (@the_restless_artist) to see how that project turned out, alongside all of my previous paintings!
