For 40 years William E. Elston’s work has been found in many public, private, and corporate collections in the United States and beyond. However, it’s Spokane that inspired him as an artist. He grew up on the Glenrose Prairie, a rural area southeast of Spokane. He attended grade school and high school in Spokane, traveled extensively as a young adult, and returned to Spokane to study at Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and later taught.
He spent his “wild years in the alleys, bars, and dives of Spokane” where he “loved and lost.” His newest collection titled, “My Old Haunts”, pays tribute to the Spokane that formed him as a person and as an artist. He says there are parts of Spokane that remain unchanged over the years, “The River still tumbles down the falls, and the train still goes whistling by. Fragments of My Old Haunts can still be found, here and there.” His urban and rural landscapes utilize the plein air, or “open air” technique. It has been 20 years since his last show in Spokane and he is excited to bring his art back to the area.
