Fine Art/Galleries

A special flare for art and culture add yet another spice to the mix that is the Lewis-Clark Valley.

• Artisans at the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown
• Lewis-Clark Center for Arts and History – 415 Main Street; Lewiston, ID; 208-792-2243.  Housed in an 1884 building, the Center showcases the Beuk Aie Temple and turn-of-the century artifacts from Lewiston’s Chinese community. Numerous d artists display work in rotating exhibits. They also present concerts, recitals and literary events.
• Valley Art Center – 842 6th Street; Clarkston, WA; 509-758-8331.  Displays work by local artists, conducts art seminars and classes, and hosts special events. The annual Sun Festival in Clarkston is a big event for the center.

Public Art

The valley has a growing collection of public art. The newest addition, the North Lewiston Gateway Project, provides artwork that can be appreciated as you drive into Lewiston from the north and east. Artists David Govedare and Keith Powell created a series of statues depicting the meeting of Lewis and Clark and the Nez Perce people. Three bronze statues, created by Shirley Bothum, depict Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacajawea. They are located at the intersection of Highway 12 and 21st Street.

In the center of Lewis-Clark State College campus is a representation of the explorers meeting Chief Twisted Hair. The wooded setting depicts the Clearwater region with waterfalls and native plants. Other bronze figures include Nez Perce women gathering food.

The Tsceminicum sculpture is located on the Lewiston side of the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers. It interprets Nez Perce mythology with a symbolic Earth Mother figure whose body sustains all forms of life, and from whose hands the rivers run. The wildlife and legends depicted on the east-facing wall are those of the Clearwater River and its tributaries; on the west face are those of the Snake River. The central “Trickster”
character of Indian legend, Coyote, keeps watch from the north end of the wall.

Other art include a bronze statue of Sacajawea at Lewiston’s Pioneer Park. Water flows from the bowls in her outstretched hands in the summer months, into a pool guarded by four bronze coyote statues. Brackenbury Square, on Lewiston’s Main Street, features a modern sculpture fountain of connected rings with three bronze children playing in the pool of water. Tribune Plaza, a public area created by the Lewiston Tribune, features a bronze sculpture of long-time local newspaper reporter Tom Campbell. In 1973 Don D. Joslyns was commissioned to create the bronze of a Nez Perce warrior on an Appaloosa horse entitled “Indian Summer 1974”, located at the Nez Perce County courthouse.