Stories by Kourtney Schott (’18) and Sidnee Grubb (’18)
with reporting by staff. Photos by Zack Berlat (’11).

AWE & WONDER: Tim Westerhaus

Tim Westerhaus is a romantic in the classical sense: He loves poetry and idealism, believes in the power of hope and love and human connection. For the chair of the Music Department, a vocalist and conductor, nothing is more romantic than music itself.

“With music, we foster a sense of awe and wonder of the world,” he says. “We inspire creativity. We create solutions to complex problems. We experience real human connection. We make our communities better.”

Skeptics would say this is fanciful thinking. To that, Westerhaus would implore: “These things are all possible, in the rehearsal room, during performances, simply listening. Because music heightens our awareness of ourselves and one another, makes us more present but also transports us to other times and places.”
In fact, he says, “Music helps me understand why I am here – what I am supposed to be doing in life – how I am to relate to other people.”

Creating beauty as musical artists is what makes us human, says Westerhaus. “In the midst of music-making, we come together recognizing the power of our potential and the impact of our love.”

ARTIVIST ON THE RISE: Monica Elenes (’18)

“I realized I could sing when I was 9 years old. That was the first time my brother and I had written a song,” says Monica Elenes (’18). “I kept pursuing music and figuring out what it meant to be a singer.”

Elenes is a transfer to Gonzaga from South Seattle College, where she mentored the Emerald City’s rising young hip-hop artists. “Regardless of what people think hip-hop is now, it’s based in this culture of understanding that every day is a constant fight and music will help get you through it,”
she says.

She calls herself an “artivist” – an activist and artist. After graduation, she hopes to employ her political science knowledge as a policy advocate for underrepresented students and arts education in public schools.

SYMPHONIC STUDENTS:

Austin Hagel (’17) and Luke Westermeyer (’20)

Austin Hagel’s (’17) love of music began with a middle school idolization of ’80s rock and metal icons: Scorpions, Judas Priest, Megadeth. “I knew that electric guitar was going to be a huge part of my life,” he says. Already equipped with a bachelor’s in economics, Hagel is working toward a degree in guitar performance. Although he hasn’t yet started his own Iron Maiden revival band, he has enjoyed some major accomplishments: a gold medal in guitar solo in the 2016 Musicfest Northwest competition and playing to a full house at the Bing Crosby Theater.

Luke Westermeyer (’20) – according to music department faculty member David Fague – is “already as good as most professionals in town.” He isn’t a music major, but performs in the Bulldog Band and jazz ensembles and is perhaps most noted for the “Dorm Room Desk” show he records with fellow Desmet Hall resident ’20 Peter Gray. Together, they gig at Spokane jazz events, play house parties and record original compositions in their dorm room, in the fashion of NPR’s “Tiny Desk.”

“It’s going to be really interesting to see what these two do,” says Fague.

Joe Panchesson (‘18) and Megan Shultz (‘18)

Joe Panchesson (‘18) and Megan Shultz (‘18) make music. They sing, they play, they dance. Notably, they conduct.

“The oboe is the hardest instrument in the wind ensemble. I tried to make a reed with Shultz once and it was a disaster. She’s amazing for being able to play it,” Panchesson says.

Their friendship is as steady as a metronome. Shultz depended on Joe’s mentorship during her first year as Bulldog Band conductor. Panchesson depends on Shultz to keep time when his busy schedule has him off beat. The two not only share a rehearsal room, they share an appreciation for the rich collaborative nature they find in GU’s Music Department, from the chamber groups to the wind ensemble and the jazz combos. No music student exists in a bubble or a clique. Shultz says she’s surprised by the lack of exclusivity among musical organizations. “There’s so much crossover. Most students in the wind ensemble eventually join jazz, or choir, or Bulldog Band. We’re just united and together, all the time.”

Panchesson finds value in another element of the program that’s been key to his experience: the prestige. “It comes from the sheer talent of the faculty and the standards they impose, despite our department’s small size.”

Panchesson chose Gonzaga over larger programs because of the unique opportunities offered in the conducting minor and the chance to be interdisciplinary, without sacrificing advanced musical development. He claims these have met the expectations of a conservatory experience. Plus, he gets to study both environmental science and trumpet.

Shultz has been sure since her first day of fifth-grade band; Music education would be her career. At Gonzaga, she has more opportunity and greater individual time with her mentors, especially Robert Spittal, director of bands. She and her peers also learn together in their chamber groups as they become leaders in their own right, experiencing the harmony of independence and collaboration musicians encounter in their careers.

“Gonzaga’s Music Department is going places,” says Panchesson. “One day when our music program is top five in the country I’ll be able to say, ‘I went there.’”

FACULTY FUGUE

By Kourtney Schott (‘18)

Gonzaga’s music faculty is a broad mixture of adjunct instructors and full-time professors – professional musicians each one of them – who give students high-quality instruction in vocal training and a plethora of instruments, from acoustic guitar to xylophone and everything in between. Here are just four of many talented professional performers on the faculty.

CHRIS COOK
Though Cook is a member of the Spokane Symphony as well as a trumpet soloist at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, many people don’t know that he also is a virtuoso in poetry.

His writing often whimsical, Cook has represented Spokane in the National Poetry Slam and the Individual World Poetry Slam. In addition, he has had two poetry books published: “The View from the Broken Mic” and “Damn Good Cookie.”

Cook says he refrains from writing about music, instead using poetry as “an escape” from his profession. Escape or not, Cook’s
poetry demonstrates the medley of talents a person can have.

KEVIN HEKMATPANAH
“Being both a cellist and a conductor helps me develop a comprehensive approach [to music], keeping things fresh.”

Hekmatpanah has nurtured the University orchestra’s freshness as its director since 1994, when the group was small enough to practice in the Music Mansion. Since then, he has modulated the orchestra’s vision, programming music that challenges his students, while at the same time giving them a chance to shine.

Outside of teaching, Hekmatpanah plays cello with the Spokane Symphony, as well as conducting and playing in world-renowned orchestras and festivals. His most recent performance was last summer at the Classical Music Festival in Austria.

AMANDA HOWARD PHILLIPS
“I’ve cried with a student who lost her father to cancer, and I’ve celebrated as a student welcomed her baby. I’ve lost sleep over students’ disappointments, and been incredibly proud of their triumphs.”

For Howard Phillips, the role of violin instructor means being a confidant, supporter, mentor and friend – countermelodies to her major part as teacher. Outside Gonzaga, Howard Phillips leads the second violin section in the Spokane Symphony, performs with the Spokane String Quartet and follows her husband, fellow music faculty member Chip Phillips, to professional landscape photography destinations with their 3-year-old son.

MELLAD ABEID
For some, strumming a guitar is a hobby; for others, like Abeid, it’s a way of life. The ’02 Gonzaga alum stays in tune as the University’s guitar instructor, and plays and co-writes demo tracks for recording artists – Nicole Lewis (’08), Christy Lee Comrie and Luke Yates, to name a few. Additionally, Abeid has had the honor of working as musical director of “Celtic Fire,” a world-class exhibition of Irish dance and song.

Being both a performer and instructor, Abeid has realized that the two lend themselves to honing his own skills, as well as bringing tools to his students: “The two parts serve to inspire one another.”

More to explore in our music issue!

Featured are:

• Nicole Lewis (’08)
• Christopher Yakawich (’18), Traveler of Home
• Robert Spittal, faculty, composer and conductor
• Mellad Abeid (’02) faculty, guitarist
• Gonzaga Chamber Choir
• Amanda Howard Phillips, faculty, violinist
• Kellen Faker-Boyle, K-Rad

Listen here on Gonzaga University’s Soundcloud channel.

When we turn our gaze to other countries and cultures, we sense a seemingly endless list of differences: Language. Race. Behaviors. Expressions. Mannerisms. Dress. Hobbies. Food. Music.

Then there are the common threads that call us together: a parent’s love, a child’s laugh, the language of music. Our very lives begin with music – the rhythm of our hearts beating in our chests. From that moment, music connects us to each other.

Crossing Borders

Gonzaga Choir members in Zambia (2017). Photo by Danny Chastain (’16)

To invoke musical connection, the Gonzaga University Chamber Chorus participated in intercultural exchanges the past two summers. In 2016, the group ventured to Colombia with a mission to exchange songs and dances. The group on occasion teamed with the Jesuit Javeriana University Choir from Bogotá and the community college choir in the town of Buga.

Listen to the choir sing with their newfound friends in Colombia, on the Gonzaga YouTube channel here. 

Among the broken strings of English and Spanish, there was a new community, one built on shared emotions, felt in the reverberations of the songs they sang and danced together. Happiness, despair, excitement, worry, love – the manifestation of notes on a page, air crossing the vocal chords. The choir traveled to Zambia and Zimbabwe in 2017, where again they stamped their feet and raised their voices to new songs, with new connections.

Katie Kenkel (’17) saw the power in focusing on similarities. “The media often portrays Africa as foreign and exotic, but it’s just a place where
there are wonderful people living their lives and experiencing the same feelings we do.”

Love, for example. And the power of communities made real through music. “Love is truly the most powerful thing on this planet,” Kenkel says.

Zambian musicians dance for GU Choir students,, 2017. Photo by Danny Chastain (’16)

Bringing It Home
As with the complementary clefs on a music staff, real harmony comes when guests of one culture become the host for another. This coming March, Gonzaga will host Director Ana Paulina Alvarez and 25 choir students from Javeriana University as part of the Center for Global Engagement’s Visiting Global Scholar Program. In addition, the department welcomed its first Zambian music education student, Michel Kapwe Somwe (‘20), who started as a student in January 2017. During the African exchange, students visited his home parish in Zambia.

Kapwe Somwe believes that music is one’s identity, and that it gives people a common ground. “Music is more than something you listen to, he says, “it’s a language, a connection, a powerful message you can share with the world.”

Watch a video by former choir member Danny Chastain, who accompanied the choir to Zambia. Visit Gonzaga’s YouTube channel here.

CULTURAL CELEBRATIONS, HERE

“The focus in the arts today is on what makes us human,” says Timothy Westerhaus, chair of Gonzaga’s Music Department.

“Music helps us understand why we are here and what we are supposed to be doing and how it relates to other people.”

That’s really the crux of the focus on intercultural expressions for the ensembles Westerhaus directs. In addition to the exchanges in Colombia and
Zambia, Chamber Choir students celebrate the opportunities to appreciate other cultures here in Spokane. It begins with performing traditional African American tunes and standing with the Black Lives Matter movement, and swells to moments held in solidarity with refugees.

During the last academic year, the Choir partnered with St. Mark’s Lutheran Church to host a benefit concert for World Relief, at the prompting of Jackson Stiemel (‘16), a choir alum who now works at the organization that helps refugees adapt to their new lives in America. The event was an international festival
of sorts, with musicians from Nepal, central Africa and Iraq participating. Ultimately, nearly $8,000 was raised to support the essential work being done to help welcome refugees to Spokane.

Westerhaus notes, “This is art for the sake of the betterment of our community – here and globally.”

Continue reading…

Here are the stories of three individuals, all music directors in schools around the country and globe. They share their teaching experiences, demonstrating how music can move us to give a gift of knowledge – a gift that truly keeps on giving.

By Kourtney Schott (’18)

Stacia Cammarano (’16) – Shadle Park High

Stacia Cammarano (right) while a sophomore at GU. Photo from Gonzaga Bulletin.

Stacia spent the summer after graduation applying for middle school and high school choral positions all across Washington state. As fate would have it, she was hired as the choir and guitar teacher at Shadle Park High School in Spokane.

Even though Cammarano is new to teaching, she finds that her personal choir experience is very fresh. “The passion and musical skills I cultivated at Gonzaga are really what drive me as a teacher,” she says. Just as Gonzaga inspired her to become a great teacher, Cammarano also strives “to provide that same challenging, welcoming and high-level community” to her students.

One of the most surprising parts about Cammarano’s journey has been how close she’s gotten with her students. Many of the students had a well-loved music teacher retire a couple years before Cammarano arrived. Instead of being calloused towards her, the students eagerly asked Cammarano to help them learn and grow, wanting to improve as a community.

With her first year of teaching under her belt, Cammarano continues to explore and challenge her students and herself, but she never forgets how fortunate she really is to be an educator, “My students blow me away everyday with their energy and work ethic. The fact that in this huge world I cross paths with these specific students and teach them for a short time is the greatest honor.”

Jordan Spicher (’15) – Great Falls High

Jordan Spicher (center) at Gonzaga in 2015

Like many other students who grew up in rural Montana, Spicher was involved in a long list of activities – including band and choir. Her music teacher, Mrs. Ryan, taught K-12 band and choir, and instilled a love for music in Spicher, helping her find her voice. Still, Spicher did not have career aspirations of becoming a music teacher when she came to Gonzaga.

What changed her mind? It was as simple as joining Gonzaga’s Concert Choir, where Spicher found that music was something she could not go without in life: “To our very core, we experience singing as one of the deepest forms of human connection.” A connection that Spicher wanted to give to others.

Fast-forward to today. Spicher teaches vocal music and guitar at Great Falls High School in Great Falls, Montana, but as an educator in a public school, she is able to shape her teenage students, to convey the personal connection music brings.

“My passion for using music as a tool to send compassionate, conscientious and understanding people out into the world really blossomed from the network I developed at Gonzaga,” Spicher notes. Her engagement in the world around her helped her realize the power of music in our society, a belief she continues to instill in her students.

“For my students, I hope to build their musical literacy, but also their ability to be vulnerable and share their voice with the audience.”

Whitney Meininger (’12) – Seoul International

For Meininger, combining a career of music, international travel and teaching initially wasn’t as simple as “do re mi.” A planner at heart, a music career did not sound like the safest option to her. Once Meininger was able to work with the incredible and inspiring teachers at Gonzaga, though, she realized that her musical passion could lead to something more.

Meininger graduated from Gonzaga, and after teaching high school choir in Colorado for three years, Meininger became Secondary Choral Director with GEMS American Academy in Abu Dhabi. Currently she is the Director of Choirs at Seoul International School in South Korea.

Diversity is an overwhelming factor in the classroom when it comes to international education. Meininger says that in Abu Dhabi, she rarely had more than two students from the same country in each class, creating one of the most culturally rich choral programs she could possibly imagine. Though Seoul International School is not as ethnically diverse, it still offers an array of students who have grown up all over the world.

“Teaching internationally has truly been a dream come true,” says Meininger. “Getting the opportunity to see students of different nationalities, backgrounds, races and religions create beauty and harmony together has been profoundly awe-inspiring.”

Another perk? Competitions, festivals and professional development allow Meininger to travel to five to ten countries every year, all free of charge as part of her position. Regularly scheduled school breaks means that she is able to functionally and affordably travel the majority of the year.

Though there are many reasons Meininger is grateful for her position, she says that the perspectives she gained living in the Middle East is one of the most valuable outcomes of teaching internationally. Oftentimes the media portrays a false reality of hostility in the United Arab Emirates, while in actuality, the generosity and kindness of every person Meininger met often surpassed what she was used to in the United States. Life in Abu Dhabi and now in Seoul have been breathtakingly diverse experiences that Meininger describes as “unbelievable.”

TIMELESS TRIO

(L to R) ‘60 Mike Kobluk, Chad Mitchell and Joe Frazier

For the better part of the 1960s, Mike Kobluk, Chad Mitchell and Joe Frazier formed the Chad Mitchell Trio, which appeared in such renowned venues as Carnegie Hall and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Mitchell started the trio on Gonzaga’s campus with his friends Kobluk and ’61 Mike Pugh after putting together a music presentation for the Winter Carnival of 1958.

A priest at the school, Fr. Reinard Beaver, took notice of the boys and knew they had potential. In the summer of ’59, he invited them to join him on a trip to the East Coast, the Chad Mitchell Trio singing at nightclubs and bars along the way. Fr. Beaver introduced them to Bertha Case, who became their agent and helped them gain fame. For the next 10 years, additions to the trio came and went (even John Denver joined for a time), but Kobluk and Mitchell remained as original members.

In addition to providing entertainment, the Trio also offered satirical impressions of the country’s social and political events through their songs. Even though radio stations wouldn’t play some of these “controversial” songs, the group remained true to its causes. It also remains one of the most famous musical legacies connected to Gonzaga today.

Read more about the Glee Club legacy.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GLEE
We’re not talking about the popular Fox musical comedy-drama. At Gonzaga, Glee Club conjures memories of the men’s group directed by Lyle Moore in the 1930s – ’50s, which performed nationally and garnered championships. More than 80 years later, Glee Club members still gather annually to sing with current students, a tradition that is a gift to Zags young and old alike. The endowed scholarship in Moore’s name has reached $2.1 million and has provided more than 130 financial gifts to young men and women majoring in music.

NEW STAR RISING OVER NASHVILLE

Nicole Lewis (’08)

Nicole Lewis (’08) was always a perceptive young woman. When she arrived at Gonzaga as a freshman science major, she knew she’d need an outlet away from the lab. While on a freshman rafting trip, a fellow student told her about Big Bing Theory, Gonzaga’s student-run acapella singing group. “I was nervous for the audition . . . there was a lot of talent in the group. But it was clear from the start they were great people, and could be lifetime friends,” Lewis says. She made it, and her career in music has continued to crescendo.

Many of her Gonzaga music instructors became part of the Nicole Lewis Band. David Fague (’00) and Daniel Cox had invited her to sing with GU’s jazz program; Don Goodwin, director of the Spokane Jazz Orchestra, is presenting a concert in March featuring arrangements of Lewis’ songs and presenting her as featured guest artist; and Mellad Abeid (’02) is a co-composer.

She worked up the courage to call Joe Brasch, who produced the local version of “American Idol,” “Gimme the Mic.” She won that competition and went on to the third round of American Idol twice. Her passion to perform professionally was officially launched. Today, Brasch is in her band, which recently produced an album in a major Tennessee studio.

Lewis has traveled back and forth to Nashville since 2009 and settled there last year. She spends her time writing music, recording her own songs and performing at college stops and the concert circuit, singing backgrounds for Ben Folds and opening for acts like Sarah Evans and Chance McKinney. “It has gone even better than I had hoped,” Lewis says. “Moving to Nashville and taking new risks really challenges my comfort zone. I like that. When there’s movement in my life,
opportunity tends to show up.”

Learn more at nicolelewismusic.com, or hear an original track on our Zag Playlist on Soundcloud.

Continue reading more from our music issue.

CELEBRATING THE ARTS AT GONZAGA AND IN SPOKANE

With this issue of Gonzaga Magazine, we introduce Gonzaga and the Arts, focusing on poetry, literature, theatre, dance and visual art. In the next issue, GMag will explore music and its impact on Gonzaga and the world around us. Don’t miss spotlights on Sherman Alexie, Tod Marshall, Brooke Matson and Ken Spiering.

	We are creators A reflection by Rajah Bose Read More →
	Arts & Innovation at Gonzaga and in Spokane Read Story →
	Dance with Silks Read Story →
	WA129: Tod Marshall’s collection of poems from our state Read Story →
	The Art of Bringing Us Together by Tod Marshall Read More →
	Where Arts and Academics Intersect Read Story →
	In Search of Beauty: Spokane’s Ken Spiering Read Story →
	Creativity, Innovation, Imagination: Brooke Matson Read Story →
	Forty Years of Thread: Louise Kodis Read Story →
	Waiting for Godot: Tragicomedy goes green Read Story →
	Road Trip with Sherman (Alexie) Read Story →
	Abstract Topophilia: Ben Joyce (’01) Watch Video →

Up next: Music!

Have a related story or an original track you’d like us to hear? Email editor@gonzaga.edu.

A reflection by Rajah Bose
Gonzaga Magazine’s “Resident Master of Fine Arts”

People tell me all the time that they wish they were creative.
That they wish they had abilities to make things.
I ask if they used to draw when they were kids.
Of course, but that was a long time ago
and they’re not kids anymore.

They’ve forgotten that we were
all dancers and photographers
and painters and printmakers
and writers and sculptors.

How we used fabric and film
and words and clay
and paint and ink.

When we witnessed and repeated
took and tinkered
saw and stole.

When we were inspired
to inspire.

When we created
to create.

They forgot we were made
to make.

And to find
some truth.

See more of Gonzaga Magazine’s ARTS issue here. 

Untitled, by Judy Pfaff. Chase Gallery, Spokane

Words by Dale Goodwin (’86)

Over the past dozen years Spokane has become a magnet for the visual and performing arts, from music and theater to literature and visuals. The Lilac City boasts a growing number of galleries, exhibits, literary readings and concerts at a number of venues, and many art festivals and outdoor performances are free of charge.

Spokane Arts, through leadership, advocacy, networking and support, has helped to manage public art projects, murals and signal boxes, as well as collaborated with other arts groups to create the citywide Art Tour. Executive Director Melissa Huggins says, “We love to help connect artists with opportunities in the community, and to spotlight what’s happening at any given moment in the local arts scene.”

Part of the Chase Gallery Summer 2017 exhibit

In 2017, the Spokane Arts Grant Awards (SAGA) began with support from the City of Spokane and City Council President Ben Stuckart (’01). Winners receive funding to support projects and programs that add inspirational elements to the downtown Spokane experience. Recent examples include Poetry Slam; Window Dressing (a way to showcase talent in the display windows of currently empty buildings); Spokane Tribe artist Shawn Brigman’s traditional Salishan sturgeon nose canoe; and See Me Spokane, a photographic project portraying women of Spokane. Another is Millwood Printworks, a traditional printmaking start-up founded by three local artists and supported by donations of unused equipment by organizations like Gonzaga. And, there’s Terrain, an innovative art collaborative – started in 2008 by Luke Baumgarten (’03) – that has cultivated the sense of pride in Spokane, encouraging young artists to stay and make incredible things happen here together.

COMING SOON
December 2018, the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center will be complete, serving as the cornerstone for arts-related research and performance. Watch for details on the life of Miss Woldson, through the lens of local and student artists. More here: gonzagawill.com.

“Passage: Immediate and Eternal” by Ken Spiering. Chase Gallery, Spokane

Gonzaga University is proud to be a part of this burgeoning arts science. For example, GU spotlights the role of Jesuits in the arts through Gonzaga’s multidisciplinary Jesuit and the Arts series. The Jundt Art Museum offers rotating exhibitions, including the recent Roman Myths and Mythmaking exhibition that drew large audiences. Its galleries are free and open to the public year around. On the academic side, the University is exploring opportunities for interdisciplinary work with the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics to help build relationships between creativity and innovation. Last fall, Arts and Sciences faculty introduced a minor in interdisciplinary arts.

Elisabeth Mermann-Jozwiak, interim academic vice president, notes that “faculty also are exploring the role of the arts in their relationship to social justice” through projects like the Colombia Initiative, which focuses the way this stressed South American country transitions to a more peaceful society. The growth of arts programs on the Gonzaga campus parallels the expansion of creative opportunities in the greater Spokane area. One exciting new opportunity for collaboration is the possibility of a Gonzaga “satellite” in a historic downtown building being converted into an Urban Arts School. See details inside the President’s Message.

Words by Megan Carroll (’18)
Photos by Edward Bell (’17)

Loïe Fuller was a woman of many talents.

Before her death in 1928, the pioneering American interdisciplinary artist created one-woman shows combining dance and revolutionary theatre lighting with
silks.

A stagecraft innovator, Fuller painted the silks with luminescent salts that created an effect similar to the glow-in-the-dark metallic element radium. She was a
close friend of scientist and Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie, who discovered radium.

Throughout the past academic year, student Elaina Pignolet (’17) and Suzanne Ostersmith, assistant professor and director of the dance program, collaborated to re-create Fuller’s work at Gonzaga. Dance historian, performer and educator Jessica Coxe-Lindberg visited Gonzaga’s campus in October to set the reconstructed choreography of “Lïly,” Fuller’s most famous dance with silks, for the 2017 Spring Dance Concert. Guest artist Megan Slayter worked with technicians and lighting designers to capture Fuller’s lighting from more than a century ago in the Magnuson Theatre.

“We’ve never hired a professional artist to set a historic work like this,” Ostersmith said. “That is really significant, and marks the growth and development of
this program.”

In a breathtaking visual display, Laura Miller (’18) and Helen Schantz (’20) performed the piece while wearing a white garment made of 70 yards of silk. This work was also the inspiration for “Reblooming,” a contemporary dance performed to a piece of original music composed by Ian Loe (’18).

Pignolet, an art major with minors in dance, interdisciplinary arts and French, began research on Fuller with a trip to the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington. There, she and Ostersmith interviewed curators and historians with extensive knowledge of Fuller ephemera.

Part of Pignolet’s research involved creating a Loïe Fuller art exhibition featuring her original Fuller-inspired monoprint and Ostersmith’s acrylic work on canvas, with help from Jundt Art Museum Director and Curator Paul Manoguerra. She also led Miller’s and Schantz’s rehearsals and critiqued their work prior to the Spring Dance Concert.

Elisabeth Mermann-Jozwiak, interim Academic Vice President, says research is a priority at Gonzaga, not only in the traditional research-focused fields of science, but also in the arts.

“Elaina’s work with Professor Ostersmith is a model for how research works in the arts and humanities,” Mermann-Jozwiak says. “Stimulating research in those other areas is one of the major goals the College is currently pursuing. Collaborating with a faculty mentor is proven to benefit students from diverse  backgrounds and contributes to their success.”

Watch the performance of Fuller’s “Lily” as presented by Gonzaga’s students

]]> http://magazine.gonzaga.edu/2017/forty-years-of-thread-louise-kodis Mon, 25 Sep 2017 19:31:34 +0000 http://magazine.gonzaga.edu/?p=7098

LOUISE KODIS
role
Gardener, chef,
textile artist

keys to inspiration
Leaves, flights of insects and birds, the glory of changing seasons

spokane fave
“Gypsygarden”, which she has tended at her house for the past 30 years, Gonzaga’s Jundt Art Museum, and Saranac Art Projects

Words by Megan Carroll (’18)
Photo by Zack Berlat (’11)

Step one: Think in profound colors.

This is one of seven parts in 30-year Spokane resident Louise Kodis’ handwritten formula for success. Gonzaga’s Jundt Art Museum Gallery displayed 40 years of her hanging fabric works this summer.

“I am inspired by my garden and its leaves, blossoms, trees, stems, wings and feathers,” Kodis said.

Louise Kodis

“Louise Kodis: Hanging by a Thread for Forty Years” was part of the Jundt’s “Close In” exhibition series, an initiative featuring work from regional artists.

Redrawn preliminary sketches, models and proposals for commissioned public art surrounded Kodis’s colorful banners. Her art is featured in local and regional
buildings, including Spokane International Airport, Spokane Convention Center and Boise Airport.

“The objective is to make something strong and durable,” Kodis said.

After growing up in Harrington, Washington, and attending Washington State University, Kodis moved to Spokane and quickly became one of the area’s most
beloved artists. She says the city’s landscape and seasons have influenced her art. Since 1986, she has won five awards for her work, including the Spokane Art Commission’s 1999 Artist of the Year Award and the 2015 YWCA Woman of Achievement in Arts and Culture award.

Kodis also participated in Spokane’s Allied Arts Organization and served on the board of statewide arts advocacy program Artist Trust. She was a founding member, board member, chair and contributor to “Inland Craft Warnings,” an annual juried fine crafts exhibition and sale, for 29 years.

At the Jundt, visitors received a taste of Kodis’ three favorite “ingredients” in her work: color, texture and mystery.

“I want to share the joy of the outdoors and nature. I want people to look at my art …and imagine a feeling or a memory,” Kodis said. “You don’t particularly see insect wings or clouds. You don’t particularly know what I was thinking about. I want it to be that way viewers can have their own experience.”

Learn more about Louise Kodis and see more of her art here