The marquee event of Lewiston’s Dogwood Festival, Art Under the Elms is back after a two-year absence Friday through Sunday, April 22-24, on the Lewis-Clark State College campus, promising the return of some audience favorites and a variety of new offerings.
The annual fair, presented by the LCSC Center for Arts & History, includes an artisan marketplace where attendees can purchase handmade goods such as art, crafts, food, home goods, jewelry, photography and sculpture.
New events include cultural performances, an Art Battle and an Indigenous artists exhibit, among other features:
Events get started from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 22, with the Nimiipuu opening ceremony at the SUB Amphitheatre, honoring the original inhabitants of the land. Art Under the Elms attendees are invited to walk in solidarity with the Nimiipuu to recognize the importance of the Nez Perce Tribe’s continued contributions in the community, experiencing the heartbeat of the drum and power in prayer through dance.
A music performance and talk by Seattle-based composer, instrumentalist, and social entrepreneur Benjamin Hunter is set for 5:30-6:45 p.m. Friday, April 22. Hunter plays in the internationally touring duo Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons and performs with other local Seattle groups and solo.
An Art Battle will be held from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in the SUB Amphitheatre at the LCSC campus. Artists paint works on a canvas in the timed competition, and audience votes determine the winners. The completed works will be available for purchase in an online auction. Finalists will compete in October during the Downtown Lewiston ArtWalk.
Literature Through the Ages: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Mad Hatter Tea Party and Red Queen’s Throne Room, 1-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday, (April 22-24). An immersion theater performance inspired by the popular Lewis Carroll novel and presented by the LCSC Theatre Department, Mad Hatter Tea Shop and Skalicky’s Sweet Sensations. Guests are encouraged to come in costume as their favorite literary character, and the first 15 costumed participants will receive a take-home arts activity.
Olivia Awbrey, a songwriter based out of Portland and the rural Oregon Coast, will perform from 6-7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at the SUB Amphiteatre. She founded Quick Pickle Records in 2017 and released her first EP, “Fight or Fight.” Her debut album, “Dishonorable Harvest,” was an overseas collaboration with My Bloody Valentine’s touring guitarist Jen Macro, as well as a cohort of London- and Portland-based friends. Described as an “old soul folk songwriter with a modern indie edge,” Awbrey has played hundreds of shows in the past half-decade, opening for Japanese Breakfast, The Beths, Mal Blum, Fink and Jonathan Richman. She tours throughout the Pacific Northwest and the UK as a recipient of grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Portland, the Oregon Arts Commission and the GRAMMY Foundation.
A selection of artwork honoring loved ones through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Movement, “No More Stolen Relatives” will be in the fountain area on the LCSC campus during Art Under the Elms. The pop-up exhibition is organized by Helen Goodteacher and Stacia Morfin, and presented by the LCSC Center for Arts & History and Idaho Commission on the Arts.
Boise musician and northern Idaho native Charlie Sutton (Charlie and the Changelings, Curtis Sutton and the Scavengers) will perform all original tunes ranging from country folk to swamp blues and surf from 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at the SUB Amphitheatre. Playing acoustic National resophonic and resoelectric archtop guitars, Sutton has performed on NPR and recently toured the Pacific Northwest with Eilen Jewell. His latest album, “Trout Takes,” was released in March and received positive reviews from Saving Country Music and Americana Music Show.
“An Afternoon of Poetry & Prose by Idaho Writers,” from 1-2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at the SUB Amphitheatre, includes readings by CMarie Fuhrman, Julian Ankney, Max Galeano, Diana Higgins, Courtney Morgan, Carlee Smith and Tiara Yount.
Idaho’s Writer in Residence, Fuhrman is the author of “Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems” (Floodgate 2020) and co-editor of “Native Voices: Indigenous Poetry, Craft, and Conversations” (Tupelo 2019). She directs the Elk River Writers Workshop and graduate poetry program at Western Colorado University, where she also teaches nature writing. She lives in the mountains of west central Idaho with her partner, Caleb, and their dogs, Carhartt and Cisco.
Ankney, who is Nimiipuu and resides on the Nez Perce Reservation in Lapwai, teaches Native literature and advanced creative writing fiction/nonfiction at Washington State University Vancouver, where she also co-teaches a language class focused on reclamation, revitalization and the importance of Nez Perce language and culture. She is the co-fiction editor for Blood Orange Review and co-director of the Visiting Writers Series at WSU and is a member of the Nimiipuu Luk’upsíimey (North Star) Writer’s Collective and Nimiipuu Female Educators Talking Circle.
Poster design by Miguel Angel Almeida
His goal is to make the Latinx community and its contributions more visible in Idaho. While he rarely saw artwork growing up that reflected his culture, its people and their stories, his work resonates with his community, providing needed representation in public and commercial art. Limited-edition shirts with his Art Under the Elms design will be for sale at the event.
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If You Go
What: Art Under the Elms.
When: Noon to 7 p.m. Friday, April 22, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 23, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 24.
Where: Lewis-Clark State College, 500 Eighth Ave., Lewiston.
Cost: Free.
Of note: Several new elements, including Friday’s Nimiipuu opening ceremony, Saturday’s Art Battle and Sunday’s author readings. A list of vendors is at lcsc.edu/cah/art-under-the-elms.
This roundup was compiled by Inland 360 staff, including Lewiston High School student Seyi Arogundade.
