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Artpoints Alaska and Yukon Tour, 2008
Anchorage, Alaska
June 3, 2008

We stayed in Anchorage for two days before embarking on a two week tour of the great land; Alaska. This year, we decided to leave the organization of our travels to Holland America. We have always been independent travelers, but Alaska is so vast that we decided to leave the arrangements to the experts.
We arrived at the Anchorage Hilton in the early evening of June 2. Our ninth floor room was very small, but has a panoramic view that includes a working shipyard, freight rail yard, the Cook Inlet and snow-capped mountains. I believe that if the weather is clear, we may see Denali peak. As we set out looking for dinner, we found McGinleys, a friendly Irish Pub with a local crowd enthusiastically cheering a Stanley Cup ice hockey match on the television. We were in the mood for simple comfort food, so an excellent chicken pot pie for myself and fish and chips for Jim was perfect.

This morning, we made our way to the Midnight Sun Café to check our email with their WiFi. Their simple breakfast sandwiches are fresh and well prepared. All of their baked goods are home made—a real find.

Our first order of business on the ArtPoints Alaska tour, was to investigate the Anchorage Museum at Rasmusen Center, within easy walking distance from our hotel. We found that we could purchase a day ticket that included the Alaska Native Heritage Center with a free shuttle in between.

The Anchorage Museum was hosting the "All Alaska Juried Exhibition" in its lower gallery. This was a fascinating juried exhibition of contemporary Alaskan art including painting, woodcarving, photography and mixed media. Much of the art on display grappled with the land and seascapes of Alaska. Many pieces from both native and non-native artists referenced Alaska's diverse native cultures. The Anchorage Museum of Art is famous for providing gallery space for exhibitions of the state's artists. In previous years, for example, the museum has hosted the Alaska Watercolor Society exhibitions. This willingness to open their galleries to the contemporary work of local, living, artists gives the general public a greater exposure to the art being produced in and for their community.

The 19th century's most famous painter of the Alaskan landscape was Sydney Laurence . Laurence was from New York and had trained a the Art Students League of New York. He has been described as the most beloved painter of the natural beauty of Alaska. Laurence came to Alaska as a prospector, and when his prospecting didn't "pan out", ended up settling there and applying his painterly skills to the grandeur of the Alaskan Landscape. The Anchorage Museum collection has a magnificent collection of massive Laurence landscapes.

The permanent collection of the museum also contained an impressive collection of large landscape paintings by the 19th century painter, Thomas Hill who traveled to Alaska at the behest of John Muir.

Our feet were already beginning to ache with "museum fatigue", but so much still remained! The fascinating exhibit: Yuungnaqpiallerput, The Way We Genuinely Live - Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival awaited us.
The Way We Genuinely Live was created in cooperation with the tribal Calista Elders Council. It presents more than 200 remarkable 19th and early 20th century tools, containers, weapons, watercraft and clothing in an exploration of the scientific principles and processes that allowed these people to survive in the sub-arctic tundra of the Bering Sea coast. in addition, many wise sayings of tribal elders were shown alongside the technologies that allowed them to thrive in the harsh arctic ecosystem. We could have spent an entire day viewing this treasure trove. The museum attempts to provide a complete experience to the visitor, integrating into the galleries fine art, natural history, exhibitions on the history of the state and the art and craft of the native peoples.

These two venues, the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska Native Heritage Center, have so much to offer, that I recommend allowing a full day to experience them. The Alaska Native Heritage Center is about eight miles out of town. The Center has separate reconstructed dwellings to represent the diverse native cultures that are formerly grouped under the blanket term “Eskimo”. We learned about the resourceful Inupiat who have survived for thousands of years in the glacial land and sea above the Bering Strait, and the complex social structure and artistic traditions developed by the Haida and Tlingit from the temperate coastal areas to the South. The Center has invited native craftsmen to construct traditional shelters representing each region. A walk around a small lake fed by a bubbling spring provides an overview of the six major cultural groups. Most of the wooden and earth structures were partially buried for protection from the harsh weather. Walking into these traditional structures, I was overwhelmed by the smell of the cedar wood and earth. The Center is staffed by local high school students who enthusiastically share stories from their grandparents. We were particularly struck by one young woman wearing a traditional hooded calico dress ( Kuspuk ) who told us about her Inupiat grandmother. The woodwork of these structures clearly shows the pattern from the hand tools used to shape and smooth the beams and planks.

Outdoor Pavilion constructed by native builders with traditional hand tools.

The pattern created by a hand adze on a cedar log.

A physician friend in Seattle had advised us that the best collection of contemporary Native crafts in Alaska is displayed in glass cases grouped around the stairwells at the Alaska Native Medical Center. He also told us that their Craft shop is the best place to purchase traditional crafts. We had to go there!

The Anchorage bus system has several lines that serve the Medical Center. We were glad to get off of the tourist grid by riding public transportation.

We rode the elevator to the fifth floor and descended the staircase. The crafts in the cases were truly amazing. Fur parkas, ivory carving, dolls, baskets, hunting gear all the most beautiful we has seen so far. A special treat were the small, illuminated cases in the stairwell, each one displaying exquisite carvings and crafts more beautiful than the last. The collection is curated by the Craft Shop volunteers who choose the finest pieces for the Medical Center.

The Medical Center lobby had functioned as an informal trading place for Native craftsmen for years before the establishment of the Craft Shop as a place to give them an established outlet for their wares.

We were glad to discover that the artists would be getting most of the very reasonable prices we paid. The workmanship of every item in the Craft Shop was exquisite. I had difficulty confining myself to purchasing several pairs of earrings and a beautiful three-inch carving of a harp seal.

While we were in the shop several native artisans came to the counter with their work to sell or place on consignment in the craft shop. To demonstrate the fairness with which the native artisans were treated, I observed one man with two small knives made of ivory and whale bone. The shop gave this artisan fifty dollars for each of the knives. I then observed the lady write up the price stickers for the objects, fifty-five dollars each was the tag she placed on each of them. The five dollars could only cover the cost of the gift box and bag that would be provided with their purchase. The good feeling of purchasing art at this shop knowing that the native artisans receive the full price for their work is inestimable. Certainly worth the extra effort of making it out to this, somewhat, remote location.

This was the highlight of our time in Anchorage.
The Alaska Native Medical Center Craft Shop, 4315 Diplomacy Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508. Restricted hours, call before going.
Phone 907-729-1122. CASH ONLY.