While art forms, much like anything else, enjoy waxing and waning levels of popularity, the past decade has been a good one for the area’s printmaking scene.
With the founding of the Spokane Print and Publishing Center in 2019 and the monthlong Spokane Print Fest that same year, along with more low-key milestones like Eastern Washington University’s purchase of a unique machine known as a Risograph for its 4D Lab in 2024, printmaking in the Inland Northwest has been strengthened by more and more dedicated resources, advocates and attention.
You could trace at least one line of the current renaissance back to Emerge’s INK! Print Rally, which takes place this Saturday in front of the art organization’s hybrid office-studio-gallery space in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
Now in its ninth year, the outdoor event has worked to bring together a sizable pool of artists — both emerging and established — for a fun and public celebration of the medium. Typically, INK! pairs an aspiring or outright newbie printmaker with someone who’s more experienced in the field.
“This event is such an educational experience for many of the artists to be involved in because they’re working alongside professional printmakers. Usually we have an artist that has never even carved a block before just jump in feet first, so it becomes this team effort,” says Jeni Riplinger, Emerge’s executive director.
To keep things fresh, the artists receive a new prompt every year. Last year’s theme was “dichotomy.” This year, “portals” is the watchword, although Riplinger notes that creative riffs on that are not only expected but encouraged.
For example, one artist might follow a conventional line by representing a door or a tunnel. Another might choose to depict a more swirly sci-fi or technological vision. And another might adopt the loosest definition of the word and veer off into totally different territory.
“It’s wild to see the different interpretations of the themes each year. It’s kind of fun to be looking at all the prints and then have somebody that maybe wasn’t involved try to guess what the theme was. They never can because everybody has their own unique interpretation of it,” says Jaiden Haley, who leads Emerge’s programming.
Whether intentionally or incidentally, INK! functions as a showcase for many of the art programs at the region’s higher education institutions. Lead artists Jen Erickson and Carl Richardson are on the art faculties at North Idaho College and Spokane Falls Community College, respectively.
Among the 20 participating artists this year are Nate Gilchrist, Madeline Eileen Goolie (aka MEG), Katelyn Burdette, Chloe Howell, Willow Tree, Molly Klingler, Griffon Selby, Ezra Tickemyer and Ky Little, several of whom have current or recent involvement with the fine art programs at NIC, SFCC or the University of Idaho.
As one of the mainstays of Emerge’s annual calendar along with their Ceramic Throwdown and Block Party, INK! joins those other events in going big. Whereas typical printmaking blocks might be best measured in inches, the ones designed for INK! have dimensions between 3 and 5 feet. The artist teams carve the blocks in advance and then spend the day prepping them for the real endurance test.
“Once your block is inked, it gets put in the street,” Riplinger explains. “And then we have an 8,000-pound asphalt roller that some lucky duck gets to drive for the day, and they roll over it and forwards and backwards.”
And for 2025, INK! is going bigger still. Although the scale of the prints is the same, this year’s artist pool is larger, and there will be a beer garden and live music featuring Dazer, the psychedelic surf punk band that recently performed at Emerge’s Block Party in July.
The event itself will be even further augmented by a retail component coordinated by Gwyn Pevonka of 33 Artists Market.
“We trialed last year having a small vendor market, and all the vendors seemed to do really well. It really increased our attendance,” Haley says.
Having become a regular attendee of the 33 Artists events herself, she reached out to Pevonka for “a mutually beneficial collaboration” that would create some additional cross-pollination between the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene art scenes.
Around 20 vendors are scheduled to take part, among them Art by Annaka, Angel Teeth, Some Threads, R&P Paperie, Nomadic Knots, Cat & Crow Studio, Stinko Studios, and Bonez and Buggs. The full lineup includes photographers, potters, jewelers, painters and more.
Right after they’ve been rolled and hung for drying, the large-scale prints that are produced during INK! will be for sale, too. But those who aren’t able to purchase them or even attend this weekend’s rally don’t have to miss out entirely. Come October, selected works from the event will also get framed and hung for public viewing in Emerge’s gallery. ♦
INK! Print Rally • Sat, Sept. 13, from 1-7 pm • Free • Emerge
• 119 N. Second St., Coeur d’Alene • emergecda.com •
208-930-1876
