The Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) community gathered on Tuesday at the sƛ̓x̣etkʷ Fine Arts Building to welcome the college’s new artist-in-residence, Claire Rae Edmo. Edmo grew up on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in southeastern Idaho and was selected by a panel of jurors to serve in the three-month, fully supported residency created to help develop emerging Native artists.
“I’m so happy and excited to share meaning and stories,” said Edmo, who works primarily in oil, acrylic, watercolor, beading, and print making. She is looking forward to expanding her technical palette through the residency, including “Painting, ceramics, jewelry, trying new things, and connecting new mediums into my personal practice.”
The reception included a welcome from Fine Arts faculty as well as a gift of palo santo and an honor song delivered by SFCC’s Indigenous Outreach and Support Manager Mark Ramos, who shares a distant family connection with Edmo. “I want to connect Claire with my niece, who lives here in Spokane . . . just so she’s not here feeling like she’s alone, that she’s not with her family,” said Ramos. “She has family here, whether we’re related by blood or not.”
The welcome of Edmo also coincided with the opening of the SFCC Gallery’s Here & Now exhibition, which includes works from 16 artists including Edmo, many of whom are members of SFCC’s art faculty. “I’m always impressed with the lengths my colleagues will go to in service of their college and in support of their students,” said Cozette Phillips, SFCC’s Gallery Program Director. “I’m always amazed by their exceptional artistic talent and research that goes into the art you see in the gallery on display this month.”
The breadth of medium and style of the works on exhibition for Here & Now suggest Edmo will have every opportunity to achieve her goal of expanding her technical skills and the mediums for her own art. One component of the residency is the opportunity for collaboration with faculty and students and the use of the varied facilities of SFCC’s sƛ̓x̣etkʷ Fine Arts Building, which opened in the fall of 2024.
Claire Edmo’s residency at SFCC runs through March 26, 2026, and the current exhibition of Here & Now runs through February 10.
Learn more about SFCC’s Artist-in-Residence Program