Terrain free art show returns for its 17th year, featuring more art, artists, variety
The annual Terrain art festival returns for its 17th edition, turning Spokane’s historic Jensen Byrd warehouse into the Inland Northwest’s largest free multimedia showcase. Over 1,000 installations from 523 local creators—ranging from toddlers to septuagenarians—fill the space with paintings, sculptures, poetry readings, soundscapes, dance and theater.
Friday night runs from 5 p.m. to midnight, and admission is free, while a limited “sneak‑peek” on Thursday offered 1,000 ticket‑holders an intimate first look. Attendance routinely tops 10,000, and last year artists collectively walked away with more than $77,000 in sales, underscoring the event’s role as a vital market for emerging talent.
Young voices are front‑and‑center. Eastern Washington University student Isabelle Murphy debuted a charcoal self‑portrait and an inked landscape of Manito Park’s Japanese garden, while Whitworth University’s Faith Rice explored storyboard concepts in a live setting. Their enthusiasm reflects a growing confidence among Spokane’s new generation of makers.
Founded in 2008 by co‑founder and executive director Ginger Ewing, Terrain was conceived as a way to keep creative energy in the region rather than watching it drift to larger cities. The nonprofit’s juried selection process, which narrowed more than 2,500 submissions to the current lineup, continues to champion diversity and experimentation across media.
As the night buzzes with conversation, the warehouse becomes a micro‑cosm of the city’s artistic pulse—an invitation for anyone to experience, purchase, or simply admire the myriad ways people make art today.