Going To The Dogs In A Good Way

The Anchorage Museum has a dog exhibit this summer.  I thought about the dog pictures people put up on social media platforms and skipped it.  I was more interested in the famous artists: 

"historical images, contemporary art, and major artworks on loan from the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Art Bridges Foundation, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, the Nevada Museum of Art, and the Stanley Museum of Art. 

Artists included in this exhibition include: Rebecca Lyon, Daniel Martinez, Ken Lisbourne, Jessica Winters, Adolph Gottlieb, Grace Hartigan, Theodore Roszak, Kurt Riemann, Conrad Marca-Relli, Trevor Paglen, Peter Ermey, Amy Burrell, Annie Murdock, Mark Rothko, Vera Mulyani, Franz Kline, Charles Stankievech, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Ben Huff, and Dan Deroux."  

I was particularly looking to see the Mark Rothko paintings.  Okay, it takes a certain kind of person to be excited about Rothko's art.  And standing before one is a very different experience than looking a pictures of them.  Unfortunately, there was only one piece of his - not a particularly exciting one - and all these artists' paintings were somehow used to illustrate an installation on 

"COLD WAR TO THE COSMOS: DISTANT EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS AND THE ARCTIC"

The best part as I cursorily walked through it were the parts related to Peter Dunlap-Shohl's Nuking Alaska.  I had been expecting a great art exhibit, but the paintings were used to illustrate the Cold War.  I probably should go back. (Generally I like the juxtaposition of unexpected things, but I was looking forward to the Rothkos and was disappointed there was only one.)

But this recent visit was to see what they did with dogs.  And they did very well.  A thoughtful exhibit.  

There were plenty of sled dogs.  But they were given a bit more context than they usually get.  

The scrimshaw, and this James Albert Frost's The Sleigh Team on the right.                                       "The Sleigh Team is one of a series of illustrations by George Albert Frost for Tent Life in Siberia, a travelogue of George Kennan chronicling their 1885 travels across Kamchatka.  Keenan's writing identifies the attributes of the Siberian Husky (enduring, disciplined, and observant), indigenous sled technologies such as the oersted - a 4-foot wooden stick with an iron spike - used to slow the dog team and his own knowledge about the difficulty of mushing:  "The art of driving a dog-team is one of the most deceptive in the world. . . [one is] generally convinced by hard experience that a dog-driver, like a poet, is born, not made."

And we have more modern images.  From Alaska Natives themselves.  

Rosie Charlie, Basket c1972

Pootoogook, Composition
(Woman with Dogsled) 1991

 

But there are lots, maybe more, depictions of dogs from a whole array of artists.  A few examples:

This is a quilt by Chichi and Giannone called Coleccionistas de trapos [Rag collectors] 2022.   "Argentine artistic duo Leo Chichi and Daniel Gannon portray themselves in an everyday moment with their children/pet dogs.  Created from collected and salvaged textiles, the artists use their materials to transform and re-inscribe stories that celebrate "Cuevas configurations familiars, en este case una familia lgtbq multi specie, rodeados de un mundo de telas que representa los recuerdos, tiempos y memorias de quienes han pertenecido pestos trapos."/"new familial configurations, in this case, a multi-species LGTBQ family, surrounded by a world of textiles that represents the memories and times of those who formerly owned these 'rags.'"                     

Gordon Parks, Woman and Dog in
Window, Harlem, New York 1943

And this dreamy picture is by Shona McAndrew  "Oh, To Be Loved"  2023

Sesse Elangwe, A Different Kind of Love, 2022

"Texas-based Cameroonian artist Sesse Elangwe frequently paints his subjects with bold colors and patterns to celebrate their individuality and confidence.  Reflecting on this work, which also features three pet dogs, Elangwe shares, 'We look so different but so alike;  you're my soul's true counterpart.'"

There is a lot more to see in the museum.  A good reason to get an annual membership that allows you to go as often as you want so you can look at one small part on each visit.  Or you can go free on the first Fridays of the month.    

And I want to call people's attention to the exhibit in the atrium - photos, large photos, by Roman Dial of the trips he's taken, often cross country for miles and miles, through Alaska's wild lands with friends and family.  Here's one picture I found amazing - both the picture itself and how it is presented.  

I didn't catch the title, but there's a packraft at the bottom and then folks way up on top of the ice.  And it's displayed right on the wall, over a door with the handle right there.  

 Again, I encourage folks to go.  Get distracted, get your brain stimulated, or your heart.  

SUMMER HOURS (May - September)
10 A.M. to 6 P.M. Monday - Sunday
*Extended hours through 9 p.m. on First Fridays with free admission after 6 p.m.

MUSEUM Admission & Tickets

$25 Adult (18-64)
$20 Alaska resident (18-64)
$18 Ages 13-17, senior (ages 65+), military, and students 
$12 Ages 6-12*
FREE Children age 5 and younger, museum members, and enrolled members of federally recognized tribes.

*Children age 12 and younger must be accompanied by an adult age 18 or older. 

There are a number of times when there are free or discounted tickets which you can see here.

Or find a friend with a membership who can take you as a guest.  Or get your own membership.  

 

Great Anchorage Student Art At Museum

 This was the 50th year of the Anchorage Student Art Exhibit in the Anchorage Museum.  These exhibits are always a delight.  So much talent and originality.  I snapped pictures here and there that called out to me - but there was so much more than this.  Enjoy.  Go see these and more in person at the museum.   These are in no particular order.  They are higher resolution than normal so you should be able to click on them to enlarge.  

Anna McIllece "Peggy"  Grade 12

Anna Skaggs "Jeffery Heath" Grade 8

Brooke Harkleroad Grade 10  (Photo)

Collin Keith "Camouflaged" Grade 6

Jennie Becker  "Dog Collage"  Grade 8

Madison Griffin "Dragon" Grade 12

Majo Hernandez Zamora "Grasshopper"  Grade 4

Samantha Farren  (Acrylic) Grade 10

Sophia Fenoseff  "My Most Important People"
Grade 10

Claire O'Leary "Skyscraper with a Can" Grade 11

Gabriella Garcia "Sad Bubbles"  Grade 11

Gracelynn McCotter "Soul Seeker"  Grade 6

Kiana Reed "Girl at Midnight" Grade 6

Lauren Gaskill  "Wallflowers" (ceramic) Grade 11

Melody Lankford "Self Portrait"  (oil) Grade 10

Mercedi Lee "Nature's Rain" Grade 10

Michelle Harris "The Honey Gears" Grade 12

Naly Yang "Shiny" (oil pastel) Grade 12

Noelle Larsen "Covid" Grade 6

Sawyer Brock  "Dragon" (Collage) Grade 4

Sophia James "Wonderland Bus"  Grade 7

Thanks to all the students who shared their imaginations with everyone and to the Museum for giving them a place to do it.  If anyone does NOT want their picture up, email me (address upper right column).  

C. Bennet - "My [grandmother] told me that, because I was black, some people might assume certain things about me"

 I dropped my daughter's bike off at the bike shop for servicing - it got full of sawdust when my son-in-law built a boat in the garage and when I rode it with my granddaughter the gears were not working right and the bike just felt balky.  

So I was walking home and the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art was right there.  It's terribly big, but they have good exhibits.  So here are some pictures from C Bennet or Cory Bennet Anderson.

Been busy so just putting this up for anyone interested.  

King Tut

My daughter had gotten tickets for the King Tut exhibit at LA's California Science Center.  This was the Museum of Science and Industry when I was a kid.

Here's part of the old facade.

It was all pretty overwhelming.

The Mercury capsule that took the US' first chimpanzee into space is there.

So is the Space Shuttle Endeavor.


The museum itself is free - in contrast to the Science Center in San Francisco.  So that means a lot of lower income families can come in and experience all he exhibits.   And during this holiday break, it was very crowded.

I'm still trying to process the exquisite craftsmanship of the items buried in Tutankhamen's tomb in 1300 BC.  It was really kind of crazy in the darkened rooms full of people and baby strollers crowding around the glass display boxes.

`But I thought I' share a little bit here while I think about it.

Unsettled - A Baker's Right To Not Bake For A Gay Wedding

I've combined two topics in the title - but it seems to fit today's US Supreme Court decision.  But I did stop at the Anchorage Museum today and saw the Unsettled exhibit, which the Museum's website begins describing this way:

"Unsettled amasses 200 artworks by 80 artists living and/or working in a super-region we call the Greater West, a geographic area that stretches from Alaska to Patagonia, and from Australia to the American West. Though ranging across thousands of miles, this region shares many similarities: vast expanses of open land, rich natural resources, diverse indigenous peoples, colonialism, and the ongoing conflicts that inevitably arise when these factors coexist. . ."

The exhibit was POWERFUL with lots of interesting exhibits and I want to post about it more.  But I did want to give you a preview now as a way of showing the wide range of this show.  This first is from Sitka artist Nicholas Galinin, called THINGS ARE LOOKING NATIVE, NATIVE'S LOOKING WHITER.  This is merely a reproduction of it on the elephant sized elevator at the museum.  He had several other works that work striking that I'll put up later.

Below is Bolivian Sonia Falcone's Campo de Color

I don't ever recall an olfactory art piece in a museum before.  Here's Bruno Fazzolari's Unsettled scent.

As you can see, this was the only art piece in the exhibit that you were allowed to touch.  It wasn't bad.  You can buy it at the museum gift shop (the only art work in the exhibit you can buy) or for those of you not in Anchorage, at Fazzolari's website.

Did he name the scent for the exhibit, or did it get in because of the name?

Truly, there was something there to interest everyone.  Chris Burden's All The Submarines In The United States of America had model submarines suspended in the air.  There was a list of all their numbers and names on the wall, and notebook with a brief description of each.  It was opened to the page which included the USS Thresher.







Rodney Graham's Paradoxical Western Scene looked like a photograph (it wasn't) and the setting in Yosemite Valley with El Capitan in the background was definitely eye-catching.  And different from everything else.  You might even tempt the kids by telling them there's a chocolate room.

I'll add more from the exhibit in another post, but I wanted to get Anchorage folks' attention so they head down to the museum to catch this before it leaves in September.

The advantage for me of having an annual membership at the museum is when I'm downtown, I can take a break and spend time looking at one part of the museum without thinking about the $18 admission price each time.  Though it's only $15 for Alaskans, $12 for seniors, and $9 for kids.  Still that's steep for an hour visit to look at one section only.  And for members, there's a machine to scan your card and go in without having to stop at the front desk.  But remember to take a quarter for the lockers for you bulky stuff - but you get it back when you pick your stuff up.   So, with an annual membership, I can make many short trips to look at small portions of the museum without thinking about the cost.  For those who want to see this exhibit and not pay a big chunk of change - the museum is free on First Fridays (of the month) from 6-9 pm.

You can see more images from the exhibit at the link.



Well that doesn't leave much room for MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP, LTD. v. COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMM’N, which is ok, since I haven't had time to read the whole opinion.  Conflicts between two protected rights is always tricky.  While I have posted about the issue of artists (photographers and wedding cake makers) and same-sex marriages and sided with the couples in the past, I could also see the baker's point of not wanting to help make something as critical as the cake for a gay wedding, if his religious beliefs truly found such weddings sinful.   I also didn't think it likely that too many same-sex couples would want anti-gay marriage businesses involved in their weddings anyway.  That post, by the way, looked at an argument that was comparing those situations with whether a kosher baker could refuse to cater to serve ham.   The case was chosen, if I recall correctly, to make a point, but I never thought it was the best case and apparently and 7-2 majority of the court didn't either and from what I understand, the decision very narrowly is focused on this particular baker and the particular decision by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

So, it would seem, the issue is still unsettled, as I say in the title.