UA Museum exhibits contemporary Alaska art

September 23, 2016

The traveling exhibit “Living Alaska: A Decade of Collecting Contemporary Art for Alaska Museums,” opens Oct. 1 at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. The exhibit presents a retrospective of some of the more than 1,000 pieces of Alaska art purchased through the Rasmuson Foundation’s Art Acquisition Fund, which began in 2003.

Mareca Guthrie is the UA Museum of the North’s curator of fine arts. She said the exhibit showcases artworks that tell the story of Alaska through the eyes of living artists. “The artists featured in this exhibit are able to tell us something about what it means to be an Alaskan in the 21st century. The artwork reflects the issues of identity, politics, changing traditions and the beauty of the Alaska landscape,” she said.

Curated by Sven Haakanson Jr., the exhibit includes 25 works from 12 Alaska museums, including the UA Museum of the North, and is grouped into three categories. The first explores Alaska’s landscapes, animals and the issues that surround them. Another group reflects Alaska Native traditions as artists examine, reinterpret and celebrate cultural practices. A third documents the contemporary Alaska experience, using visual art to study subjects like politics and employment.

The result is an exhibition with a broad, contemporary, Alaska feel. The installation includes a range of materials and objects, such as a beaded moosehide smartphone cover by Rochelle Adams, painted portraits of XtraTuf boots and stacked wood by Carla Klinker-Cope, and a translucent polymer painting by Sonya Kelliher-Combs embedded with pieces of walrus gut and strands of beads.

Angela Linn, senior ethnology and history collection manager, said the museum is unique in that it collects both fine art and cultural objects.

“For the ethnology and history collection, we are generally looking at contemporary Alaska Native artworks that fit within a continuum of artistic traditions and show how modern people interpret these traditions,” she said. “Masks, baskets, skin sewing, wood working — these are all aesthetic expressions that we’re collecting from contemporary artists, but are curated as ethnology objects because of that long-standing body of work.”

This exhibition hints at the breadth and depth of the artworks collected by Alaska museums because of the foundation's investment. The statewide professional association Museums Alaska facilitates the grants, which help Alaska museums collect current work by Alaska artists. While museums typically rely on donations, which could come decades after a piece was created, the pieces made possible by the fund are specifically selected. The exhibition was organized by the Anchorage Museum, with major support for traveling the exhibition provided by the Rasmuson Foundation.

Diane Kaplan is the president and CEO of the Alaska-based foundation. “Artists help interpret complex phenomena or simply convey the great beauty that surrounds us in our natural world,” she said. “We hope that we are further along in creating an important and invaluable permanent collection of contemporary artwork for Alaskans.”

The exhibit debuted last year and has traveled to several museums around Alaska. It will be on view at the University of Alaska Museum of the North Oct. 1 through Dec. 3.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Mareca Guthrie, fine arts curator, at 907-474-5102 or mrguthrie@alaska.edu, or Angela Linn, senior ethnology and history collections manager, at 907-474-1828

ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/museum/exhibits/special-exhibits/