For updates on the recent fire that claimed the building leased by multiple businesses including Emerge go to: https://emergecda.com/
Siara Pprich has always wanted to be an artist. Ever since she was little, her notebooks have been filled with hand-drawn characters playing on the pages.
In school, the options for art classes were limited. In the real world, with only a few galleries for the more experienced, a budding young artist didn’t have many places to show artwork in North Idaho.
While her classmates were excited for countless opportunities after graduation, she had two choices: stay in Coeur d’Alene and get a desk job or move to an unfamiliar big city.
It wasn’t until her last few years of high school that she discovered Emerge, a Coeur d’Alene non-profit arts collective. Being an Idaho-based artist was finally a reality. Her hands could go from being stained with Crayola markers to professional paints.
“The fact that [Emerge] is so accessible is astonishing,” says Siara, now a University of Idaho student. “They’ve provided a space that anybody in the community can go to in order to enhance their skills. Ultimately, Emerge has provided me art skills needed to bring my most ambitious creative ideas into fruition.”
Throughout high school Siara served as a volunteer artist, painting local murals and attending classes like acrylic painting and pottery making. She learned how to become a more experienced artist and was given the essential tools to sell art in today’s world. Because of these hands-on skills, Siara can now share the characters in her notebook with the world. (And make a little extra money on her way to becoming a storyboard artist.)
“Many local high schoolers, especially those who want to be artists, graduate and leave,” says Jeni Hegsted, Emerge’s founder and executive director. “Emerge is here to make an impact, create opportunities, and build a sense of community for these young artists.”
Jeni created Emerge in 2014 after seven years as the director of St. Vincent de Paul’s Art on the Edge, an arts program serving impoverished, homeless and at-risk youth and adults. Emerge began as an Art on the Edge pop-up gallery, displaying the artwork of participants and volunteers in the program. The one-time event has now flourished into a full-time non-profit with countless classes, workshops, gallery shows and events each year.
Photo By Joel Riner
“I wanted Emerge to be accessible to any type of artist, no matter their background,” Jeni says. “There is tremendous talent in our community, and we should share it.”
Before Emerge, Jeni says there were very limited resources for beginning artists in Coeur d’Alene. Local artists have struggled trying to find a bridge between being a student and becoming a professional. For this reason, representatives from Emerge visit high schools and middle schools, encouraging students to volunteer and participate in their programs. Just like Siara, these students are given the opportunity to better learn their craft while also serving their community.
“Our elementary schools are saturated with arts programs, but that drops off when students reach middle school,” Jeni says. “These young people need safe places to express themselves. I definitely could have benefitted from Emerge when I was young.”
Jeni also struggled in school. She didn’t fit in, and she wasn’t appreciated. So she dropped out of high school and tried to find a job. It didn’t go well.
Feeling judged and inadequate, she studied for her G.E.D. then furthered her education at North Idaho College. She completely exhausted the arts program, taking every class offered. Finally, something fit. Creating art made her feel important, like she was part of something bigger, and she wanted to help others feel this way, too.
She focused on learning how to curate galleries and how to play on the administrative side of art, so she could provide the opportunities she was given to others. She put down her paintbrush and picked up a clipboard — a sacrifice she still grapples with, as she tries to find time to create her own art and give the same chances to others.
Photo By Joel Riner
Support and accessibility for artists surge through every aspect of Emerge. Several of its gallery shows encourage all types of artists to apply — regardless of age, experience or style. Even its biggest event of the year, the summer Pop-up Show, is open to all. The only guideline is to create. For many artists, from middle school to retirement, it’s their first gallery show.
The yearly event that blossomed into Emerge is unique to Coeur d’Alene, Jeni says. There is nothing else like it. With 14,000 square feet of art, music, vendors and guests, almost every artist in the community is represented. And the show just gets bigger every year.
“When I first started the Pop-up Show with Art on the Edge, I struggled to fill a room and only had 30 artists on display,” Jeni says. “Now the show has almost 100 artists and overflows three floors, hosting thousands of guests over the course of a seven hours.”
Emerge hosts 12 unique gallery shows a year, each hand-curated by Jeni or guest artists. These events range from a ceramic showdown competition to a Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, bringing awareness to Hispanic and Latin communities through art, music, food, workshops and presentations.
“I am passionate about being an ally to minorities and other marginalized groups,” Jeni said. “It is important to me to welcome people of color, the LGBT community and other groups who often haven’t been represented very well, if at all, in Coeur d’Alene.”
Local artists like Christina Villagomez are thrilled that Emerge provides opportunities to add their story to the North Idaho narrative. An illustrator and tattoo artist, Christina never expected to feel represented in a local gallery. That is, until Emerge put her art on display for the very first time.
“Jeni has always been so kind, encouraging and helpful,” Christina says. “ [She] puts a lot of love and care into each individual community event, and it really shows.”
Now an Emerge veteran, Christina has displayed her work in several gallery shows, as well as assisting in building a show around illustrative art. She has even spoken on panels, sharing print-making and selling skills with fellow local artists.
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“Emerge really encouraged me to participate in the local arts community on a much larger scale,” Christina says. “It’s really intimidating to put your stuff out there as a young artist, and Emerge has been such an invaluable venue — not only to me but so many other artists in the area.”
Over the course of the last few years, Emerge has tripled its programming and expanded far beyond monthly gallery shows. With support from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, local businesses, universities, state programs and individuals, Emerge has given over $40,000 to local artists, musicians and performers — making every workshop, class, community program and gallery show virtually free.
Emerge is a place where artists share with the community not for fame and fortune, but because they care. Because of Emerge, artists like Siara and Christina can thrive in North Idaho and support the future generation of local artists to come.
“Growing up, I had no idea you could see art in the way I see it now,” Jeni says.
“I see artists of all different backgrounds, educations and strug-gles thriving through Emerge. There is never one right person or one right way to be an artist. Art is about giving people meaning, and all art has meaning.” N
By Rosemary Anderson
