Dampened Spirit
Art Spirit Gallery owner Blair Williams discusses the damage that was wreaked when a coupler supplying fresh water to a toilet snapped in the middle of the night. She's seen here Monday, surrounded by artwork that has been set out to dry.
DEVIN WEEKS/Press
Disaster mitigation team members Brian Dombrowsky, left and Mike Jasso, both from ART of the Pacific Northwest in Portland, evaluate art pieces for damage Monday at the Art Spirit Gallery in downtown Coeur d'Alene. The Art Spirit flooded the weekend of Jan. 31 when a fresh water connection in a bathroom broke in the middle of the night.
DEVIN WEEKS/Press
Huge fans are circulating air to dry out the basement of the Art Spirit Gallery, which was flooded the weekend of Jan. 31. This was the basement on Monday.
DEVIN WEEKS/Press
COEUR d’ALENE — The Art Spirit Gallery flooded after a toilet's fresh water connection snapped in the middle of the night.
The ensuing deluge pooled into the showroom and drenched the lower level where inventory is stored.
"When I say it was raining in the basement, I mean that very literally," gallery manager Kylie Sparks said Monday.
Sparks, who became gallery manager in early January, discovered the flooding when she came in around 10 a.m. Jan. 30 to open the gallery. She said she noticed an outline on the floor when she walked into the dark building. She got closer and found that it was water.
"I quickly realized a rushing water sound was coming from the bathroom," she said. "Some kind of supply pipe or connection came loose."
Sparks immediately shut off the water and called the landlords and gallery owner Blair Williams.
"Then it dawned on her — ‘Oh no, the downstairs,’” Williams said. "She ran downstairs and discovered it was raining, just pouring, from the ceiling."
Sparks threw plastic drop cloths over what she could as she raced against the clock. In less than an hour, eight volunteers were on site to help evacuate the artwork.
The Art Spirit Gallery's inventory comprises more than 2,000 pieces. Many of them were stored in the basement on cardboard and wood pallets, "which were drinking up the water," Sparks said.
The damage is in the process of being assessed. Williams said she thinks two-thirds of the inventory was touched by water, and maybe one-third will have been damaged or destroyed, but she couldn’t say for sure.
“About two hours into evacuation, we just had to call it. Any works that were damaged were damaged. We don’t know how long the water was running. Based on the amount of water that came out, we assume it was quite a few hours,” Williams said. "It looks like it was the coupler, is what I’ve been told. It appears it just snapped. We don’t know. Probably age. That would have been installed 18, 19 years ago” when former gallery owner, the late Steve Gibbs, renovated the building.
The building was built in 1905 and appears to have sustained little damage.
Despite the watery mess, the Art Spirit crew's spirits aren't dampened.
Williams said they're finding opportunities throughout the experience and when they come out on the other side, they'll create a podcast sharing what they've learned to help other galleries be prepared.
She said she likes to look for the "lemonade" moments, and that Art Spirit is fortunate to have such an awesome team.
"There are a lot of blessings,” Williams said. "First and foremost, nobody was hurt. Secondly, it happened in our slow season, not in the middle of our tourist season. Third, and most important, we have fabulous artists who are being so kind and understanding and giving the patience necessary for us to get through the assessment period. Guaranteed, Team Spirit rocks."
