Spokane Public Facilities District

Louise Kodis – The Inland Northwest in Full Color

The new work is in Exhibit Hall adjacent to Spokane Falls Blvd on the second floor.

This work of art, “Inland Northwest in Full Color”, is a long parade of textile works in the form of 31 modules which are made of bamboo rod, natural branches, curved acrylic rod with overlays of fabric in silk, metallic silk, and nylon. The work is wall mounted, running 108 feet in length and 14.5 in height with its highest point being 25 feet from the floor. The abstract work of represents the broad array of color through the seasons in the Spokane River ecosystem. The work is in Exhibit Hall adjacent to Spokane Falls Blvd on the second floor

This work of art was commissioned by the PFD as part of its efforts to create an attractive and distinctive welcome to visitors to the Convention Center.

“The District is pleased to be able to facilitate another of what we hope will be a continuing series of art installations in the Convention Center, commented Mick McDowell, Chair of the District Board. “This project will enhance the experience for the hundreds of thousands who use the Convention Center annually.”

Louise Kodis’ banners, mobiles, and fabric works are known not only locally, but nationally. Her work can be seen at Boise International Airport; Santa Rosa County Health Facility in Florida; University of Oregon; University of Utah; Unitarian Universalist Church at Shelter Rock in New York; University of Wisconsin; Fashion Plaza in North Brunswick, New Jersey; Lake Mead Library in Nevada; and she has done works at Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane County Libraries, KSPS Public Television, and Shriners Children’s Hospital in Spokane. Kodis’ recent work for Spokane International Airport brightens and brings a lively energy to the airport rotunda with shapes that suggest dreams, ideas, and facts about flying and the visual details of our thoughts as we fly or anticipate flying.

Kodis is from Harrington, Washington and has made her home in Spokane for many years. She has worked as an artist in Spokane since before Expo ’74 and has been active in Spokane arts activities, including being a founding member of Inland Crafts and as a volunteer for many arts organizations.

Kodis says about this work of art, “I think and dream in full color, then draw to precise scale while understanding the plan in fabric. From that process I have produced 31 fiber sculptures that billow and curve and float, singing about our luscious natural landscape.”

The Spokane Public Facilities District Board was assisted in this project by the Spokane Arts Commission and an art selection committee which included members of the PFD Board and members of the Spokane Arts Commission Sandy Wade, Michael Bagley, Anne Hanenburg, Lucia Huntington and PFD staff members Kevin Twohig, Johnna Boxley and Dave Gebhardt.

Melissa Cole Art Work – Riverdance

Spokane Convention Center. Exhibit Hall Lobby

Artist Melissa Cole created the art work in the “point” of the Exhibit Hall Lobby adjacent to Spokane Falls Blvd. This work of art, Riverdance, is a large scale painting made up of 20 panels. The work is 24 feet wide and 21 feet high. The image in the painting represents the Spokane River ecosystem and has images of fish, herons and ducks and the river landscape. It has elements of textured acrylic paint, hand-hammered copper, mosaic including recycled glass, tile, fused glass and jewels.

This work of art was commissioned by the PFD as part of its efforts to create an attractive and distinctive welcome to visitors to the Convention Center.

"The District is pleased to be able to facilitate the installation of the first of what we hope will be a continuing series of art installations in the Convention Center," commented Mick McDowell, Chair of the District Board. "This project will enhance the visitor experience for the hundreds of thousands of guests who use the Convention Center annually."

Cole was born in Oregon and raised in London, Hong Kong, and India. She graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Zoology. She has spent time working in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic in environmental education, as a dive guide in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, and as a naturalist guide in Baja, Mexico. She has written over 30 children's natural history books and travels with her husband Brandon, who is a wildlife photographer specializing in marine life. Melissa Cole works in Spokane and exhibits her work widely throughout the region. Recent exhibitions include TinMan Gallery, Art@Work, and most recently her show titled "India Hues" was in New Delhi, India at the Farrago Art Gallery and Alliance Francaise.

Cole says about this work of art, "It was great fun to work on this project because I got to take a two dimensional project proposal drawing and turn it into a huge, multi paneled, mixed media, three- dimensional work of art. I loved working with the variety of materials: textured acrylic, recycled tiles, fused glass bubbles, and stained glass shards, copper, clay and wood. I really enjoyed the subject matter and continuing the flow of the river design from one panel to another, especially because the Convention Center is located right along the river. This has been my favorite project to work on in my art career and I am so grateful to those who allowed me the chance to work on it."