Rankin featured in First Friday event

The Ritzville Art Gallery is launching an endeavor to put a spotlight on the artists who are participating in the cooperative effort.

This Friday the gallery will host a First Friday reception which will spotlight the artwork of John Rankin, owner of Flying Arts Ranch.

Rankin and approximately 15 artists are working together in the cooperative community gallery that is funded by the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce. The artists display their creations in the gallery and work shifts in the gallery. When their art sells, 30 percent of the purchase price is retained by the chamber to help offset the cost of operating the downtown business.

The First Friday reception planned for Friday, Nov. 4, is the first of its kind in the gallery. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and continues until 8 p.m. The community is invited to stop by and view a collection of Rankin’s work as well as the other artists’ works.

Refreshments will be served during the event.

Rankin was born in Whittier, Calif., relocating to Spokane Valley when his father was transferred to the Kaiser plant.

While Rankin has made art his passion and career, he didn’t head in that direction originally. Instead he planned to become an architect. He attended classes at the University of Idaho while living in Moscow, Idaho, from 1972 to 1979. Later in life, in 1990 the university presented him with a Bachelors degree in art.

During that time he worked in radio, learned screening printing and worked as a graphic designer. Those skills led Rankin to opt out of architecture and lead toward a career path that offered a bit more fun.

In 1979 Rankin relocated to Seattle where he did some graphic design and primarily worked for a downtown sign company for four years.

By 1984 he had shed the regular job and was developing a business as a freelance artist. He even did some design work for the famous Seattle festival — Bumpershoot.

During this stage in his life Rankin had a regular hobby, one that has been with him for many years – constructing model airplanes, many of them war birds. His models are meticulously constructed and painted in significant detail. There was one point in Rankin’s life when he was in transition that he spent two months just building model airplanes. It was therapy.

While residing on the west side, Rankin frequently wandered to Eastern Washington for hunting and fishing. That connection to outdoor recreation eventually led him to relocate to Adams County, finding a farm house outside of Lind in 1990, and thus Flying Arts Ranch was born.

Rankin instantly found himself volunteering for the Lind Combine Demolition Derby in the hamburger shack. That eventually led to him painting the sponsor signs. Today he creates unique screen-printed t-shirts for the annual event.

In 1993 Rankin acquired his Ritzville building on Washington Avenue. At the time, it wasn’t the prettiest painted place.

“It was the ugliest looking block downtown,” he said. “It took six months to gut it out.

Today Flying Arts Ranch is a colorful presentation of Rankin’s artistic skills. He tends to create art that focuses on pop icons. He enjoys creating commercial art and is primarily influenced by the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

“The advantage of what I do is I don’t get bored,” Rankin said. “Because I do a lot of different things.”

Among those is sign painter for numerous area businesses. Rankin’s work can be view in the windows of several Ritzville businesses.

Additionally, Rankin comes from a family of pilots including his famous grandfather — Tex Rankin. That connection to aviation is translated in a significant segment of his painting.

Tex Rankin paid Ritzville a visit in 1919 as an aircraft mechanic. He would go on to become a stunt pilot and appeared in the movies as such in the 1930s. He would also train pilots during World War II.

There’s a book about Tex: “Black Cats and Outside Loops.”

John enjoys paying tribute to his grandfather and aviation through his art.

He seems to equally enjoy helping the small communities he spends his time in. He currently handles numerous repair and maintenance projects for the Ritzville Art Gallery.

In 1999 he was instrumental in the establishment of the Ritzville Arts Commission. The reason for his local involvement?

“Because I like small towns,” he said.