by Jeremy Randrup | Staff Writer
Terrain 11, an annual art showcase and meet-up in the historic Jensen Byrd Warehouse, provided a platform for local artists to display their work and talk to other enthusiasts over the nights of Oct. 4-5. Poets, musicians, filmmakers and musicians exhibited their work as well. Visitors could sit down at a constructed “literature park” and listen to recited poetry. In the central stage of the exhibit, musicians also provided live music. The artists included new, up-and-coming contributors to Terrain as well as returning names.
“There’s something homegrown and organic about seeing all this culture produced from Spokane, it’s like feeling a sense of pride,” said junior Makayla Long.
“All of the pieces were really in-depth. It made me wish I had more time to look closely at them,” Long said.
One artist and active community organizer, Jacob Johns, used Terrain as an opportunity to raise awareness about a movement to breach the Snake River Dams and bolster the salmon food supply of Northwest Killer Whales. Johns’ piece involved black stamps of orcas that were put together to make up a larger image of an orca. Guests could approach the piece and write in the stamps to express support for the movement as well as sign a petition.
“I think Terrain is a great thing. It’s one of the greatest cultural nights Spokane has,” Johns said, “It’s done a great job branding itself and it definitely has become a very big thing.”
Terrain featured interactive pieces like Johns’ that invited guest participation, like making music through buttons or walking through elaborate constructions of lights and gardens. Another piece included a woman submerged in a bathtub where guests could write down words of human suffering on black rocks and offer them to her. The woman would then wash the rock off completely, erasing the writing and then thanking the guest.
“The interactive pieces were definitely my favorite part,” said Junior Michaela Scheer, “I think those works are what really make you think about what’s happening because you’re experiencing it.”
With over 250 artists from diverse forms of media, this year marked Terrain’s biggest event yet.