This year’s Evening of the Arts, sponsored by the Nell J. Redfield Hospital Foundation, is honored to include award-winning outdoor photographer/writer Ron Spomer as one of the featured artists. The Evening of the Arts will be on Thursday, April 6, from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Event Center. Admission is free to this event that provides the opportunity to see works of art by five of Oneida County’s outstanding artists.

Ron grew up on a farm in the southeast corner of South Dakota where he roamed the hills and plains, fascinated by wildlife.  He graduated from the University of South Dakota-Springfield with a degree in education but knew that writing about wildlife and nature was his destiny.  When he sold the first five articles he wrote, he knew that he could making a living as a free-lance writer and self-taught photographer.

Ron’s articles and photographs have appeared in dozens of outdoor and wildlife magazines, including Outdoor Life, Sporting Classics, Sports Afield and American Hunter. He has written several books about outdoor life, including Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Idaho, The Rut, Predator Hunting and The Hunter’s Book of the Whitetail. He also has a podcast, contributes to a YouTube channel (Ron Spomer Outdoors), and tests and reviews guns, ammunition, and optics.

Ron has won numerous Nikon photography competitions and multiple awards for his writing from the Outdoor Writers Association of America. He was named the Leopold Jack Slack Outdoor Writer of the Year in 2006 and the Zeiss Outdoor Writer of the Year in 2007. He received the Bushnell Bill McRae Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.  More information about Ron can be found on his website: www.ronspomeroutdoors.com.

He worked as the Information Office for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks and later as the photographer for the Kansas Department of Fish and Game. After deciding he would make a career of free-lance writing and photography, he spent some time in Alaska and then came back to the Lower 48 to settle in northern Idaho in 1984.  

After living in Boise for a short while, he and his wife Elizabeth moved to a small ranch north of Malad five years ago. Their three daughters and their families live in the Salt Lake area, and the Spomers are always glad to entertain their five grandchildren on the ranch. 

Other artists who will display their works at the Evening of the Arts are Patrick Werk (leather), Lad Neilson (metal), Joan Hawkins (oil painting), and Brian Llewelyn (bonsai plants). Art by the 4th and 5th grade classes of Malad Elementary and by the Malad Middle and High School art students will also be displayed. Popcorn treats will be provided by Malad High School’s Culinary Arts students.

Besides enjoying beautiful and unusual works of art, attendees will be able to bid on baskets donated by local businesses, organizations, and families. Silent and live auctions will provide opportunities for people to win trips, food coupons, household items, vehicle accessories, art and decorations, gardening supplies and other useful and unique gifts for themselves or others. All proceeds from the auction will be used in the remodeling of patient rooms at the Nell J. Redfield Memorial Hospital.