COEUR d'ALENE - Local artists Allen and Mary Dee Dodge met in 1972 at art school in Kansas City. After they got married, Mary Dee did some research about where they could move and make art for a living in the West.

"She came up with Kalispell (Mont.) in this article," Allen recalled this week at their home in Coeur d'Alene.

So, in 1973, they decided to drive out from the Midwest and see Kalispell.

"We made this big circuitous route and finally came through Coeur d'Alene on our way to Kalispell," he said.

While in Coeur d'Alene, a sign along what is now Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive describing the lake's history of steam ships caught Allen's eye. It left an impression. So did the bustling logging and mill operations they saw in the city as they walked around. For the night they found lodging along Sherman Avenue.

Even though they liked what they saw in Coeur d'Alene, Kalispell was their intended destination so they got back on the road.

When they arrived in Kalispell they found the majority of popular art there was of the western variety, and the Dodges were doing contemporary fabric sculpture at that time.

"We thought there's no way we could live here and make a living," Mary Dee said.

So while they drove back to the Midwest they discussed some other places they visited.

"We got back to about Nebraska and went, 'I don't know, Coeur d'Alene was kind of cool, let's go there,'" Allen said.

Once back in the Midwest, they packed up their Honda Civic with all their art supplies and headed for Coeur d'Alene, arriving on Jan. 10, 1974.

"There was three feet of snow on Sherman," Mary Dee recalled.

They initially rented a house from a man who had the only gallery in town. They quickly got involved with Art on the Green, because it was important to them that it continue.

"We were trying to promote the arts, because there wasn't anything else," Mary Dee said.

Before they met at the Kansas City Art Institute, Allen was from Kansas City and Mary Dee was from Chicago. She had roots in central Idaho because her parents owned a ranch along the Middle Fork Salmon River in what is now the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Allen and Mary Dee now own the nearly 70-year-old rustic lodge and spend time there each summer restoring and maintaining it. It's off the grid and is relies on solar power.

"We just love to be there," Mary Dee said.

Since people can't drive to the ranch, the Dodges became pilots and for a time owned a plane. They now drive to Cascade and hire a pilot to take them in with their supplies.

When they first arrived in Coeur d'Alene, Expo '74 was building up.

They took their portfolios to numerous architects, and one group of architects hired the Dodges to do work for the World's Fair in Spokane.

"It was fabulous for us," Allen said. "It really got us going."

Right away, they did a fabric sculpture that was installed at the Flour Mill near Riverfront Park. They also designed and built some table tops for a bar there.

They followed that with some restoration work at the Cataldo Mission in the mid 1970s.

"We were determined to get some work," Allen said.

They've made a comfortable living making and selling plenty of art since then. Meanwhile, they also raised a daughter, Rachel, 31, and son, Morgan, 28, and now have three grandchildren.

"We have each other, which is really fabulous," Mary Dee said. "All of our collaborating goes deep."

Some of Allen's public artwork in Coeur d'Alene includes a group of seven 10-foot-tall sculptures at the wastewater treatment plant. The sculptures are of organisms in the wastewater.

Mary Dee has done murals in Coeur d'Alene and Hayden libraries. She also did the art for a utility box at the intersection of Third Street and Sherman Avenue, and a mural on the front windows of Pilgrim's Market in Coeur d'Alene.

Together, they've done sculptures and bike racks along Fourth Avenue.

They did an art installation of 75 bees at Pilgrim's Market over the bulk food section.

With the exception of a non-art job here and there, they've been working as independent artists for more than 40 years.

"Anything that we could do that was art-related we did," Allen said.

Today they live just off Fernan Hill Road east of Interstate 90, with art they've created decorating their home and yard overlooking the Coeur d'Alene area. They have been neighbors of Scott and Mary Lou Reed. Scott Reed died last weekend.

The Dodges art is inspired by nature, with a bit of abstraction, they said.

In college, Mary Dee started off doing pottery and silk painting. Allen started out cartooning and doing fabric work, and he said one of his inspirations as an artist was American sculptor Claes Oldenburg.

"We came together as this - I do the structure and she does the color, in whatever form it is," Allen said. "We love to collaborate, because it's kind of a mystery."

They don't really talk about the process.

"I make something and give it to her, and she does her thing," Allen said.

They have a major art show starting this weekend at the Art Spirit Gallery of Fine Art, at 415 E. Sherman Ave., in Coeur d'Alene. There are more than 80 pieces at the show, with prices starting at $190 up to $6,000.

There will be pieces by each of them and pieces they collaborated on.

The show opened Friday night and will run for a month.

Allen's work will include big steel sculptures, some 50 and 60 inches tall. He's currently been on a tangent of doing sculptures of dogs, coyotes and foxes with rusted steel.

Mary Dee has been doing pieces with colorful, dimensional enamel.

The pieces they've collaborated on start with his welded sculptures and she adds the colored enamel.