Author Archives: designata

Lynn Larsen

April 17, 2020 by designata

Aichilik River Ivishak River Marsh Fork of the Canning River Upper Marsh Fork Schrader-Peters Lakes Upper Sadlerochit River Sheenjek River ARTIST’S STATEMENT In 1988 I first visited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — a trip that would forever alter the direction of my life and art work. Looking down during that first bush flight to the Wind River at the seemingly endless mountains, I knew that I would be returning many, many times. The following year I rafted the Hulahula. […]

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Subhankar Banerjee

May 10, 2018 by designata

Subhankar Banerjee was born in Calcutta in 1967. He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering before moving to the United States, where he obtained master’s degrees in physics and computer science. Before starting his career in photography, Banerjee worked in the scientific fields for six years, with Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico and Boeing in Seattle. His book, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, published by The Mountaineers Books (Seattle, 2003), resulted in three separate […]

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James Behlke

May 10, 2018 by designata

Arctic Refuge Art mourns the passing of artist Jim Behlke in March 2022; our thoughts are with his family and friends. An obituary may be found here. ARTIST’S STATEMENT I was raised in Alaska, lived in California for ten years, and in 2001 moved back to Alaska. I return to the Arctic year after year to sketch, paint, and write in journals. I like to explore and to imagine that I am the first to discover remote places. When I […]

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Bill Brody

May 9, 2018 by designata

ARTIST’S STATEMENT Each summer I go deep into the wilderness of Alaska’s mountains to paint. I spend my time chasing light and dancing shadow, trying to capture the dynamic richness of this spare and wonderful northern landscape. Working in the endless light of the arctic summer is my wellspring; it grounds me for the flights of introspection which occupy me in the studio during the majority of the year when it is too cold to paint outside. I reflect on […]

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Roy Corral

May 9, 2018 by designata

ARTIST’S STATEMENT The spiritual call of the Arctic first lured me into its wild heart in the early 1970s when I staked a 40-acre homestead parcel along one of its pristine rivers. That attraction was initially a misunderstood, romantic notion about living alone off the land in my remote cabin. Throughout subsequent years, however, it became clearer with each return to my northern sanctuary that the Arctic would be a learning place for my art, intellect and spirit, with Nature […]

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Scott Hansen

May 9, 2018 by designata

ARTIST’S STATEMENT In 1989 my friend David Mollett asked me if I might be interested in going on a painting adventure into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the early summer of 1990. The plan was to visit some of the areas within the refuge that are potential sites for oil exploration and extraction on the coastal plain near Camden Bay. Strangely, my most successful pieces from that trip were those that I did while working in and around an […]

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Robert William Head

May 8, 2018 by designata

Robert William Head lives in the woodlands of western Kentucky. He taught painting and drawing at Murray State University from 1965 until 1997. His work has been shown in numerous one person and group exhibitions throughout the United States. Recent solo shows were held at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky; Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; Concord College, Athens, West Virginia; the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Doane College, Crete, Nebraska; Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green; and The Parthenon Museum, Nashville, […]

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Dixon J. Jones

May 8, 2018 by designata

Dixon J. Jones is a retired graphic designer from Fairbanks, Alaska, now living in the Midwest. He traveled in the Arctic Refuge four times between 1988 and 1994, including his 1991 honeymoon at Sunset Pass with his wife Marion. His work from these visits, completed on site, comprises drawings on paper in colored pencil, grease pencil, and brushed inks. GROUP EXHIBITIONS1994: “Alaskan Landscapes: Views of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” Wignall Museum, Rancho Cucamonga, CA1993: “64th Parallel Juried Show,” Civic […]

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darleen masiak

May 7, 2018 by designata

darleen masiak grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and received her college degree in art and biology from Beloit College, Wisconsin. From there she moved to Alaska in 1975 and since then has called Alaska home. She continues to pursue art, and works as a biological technician. masiak’s work comprises woodcuts in Shina plywood, water-based ink monotypes combined with woodcuts, and large but intimate metal and rock sculptures meant to be out and about in her yard. ARTIST’S STATEMENT […]

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Mary Beth Michaels

May 7, 2018 by designata

ARTIST’S STATEMENT I visited the mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge twice, and the coast of the Arctic Ocean at both Barrow and the Mackenzie River Delta. Just to set one thing straight: I did not see a wasteland in any of these places. Instead, there is scenery to rival any place on earth, and an abundance of life. I enjoyed being a part of that life, even if only for a few weeks. I have always liked drawing […]

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David Mollett

May 5, 2018 by designata

ARTIST’S STATEMENT In 1988 I began a series of trips to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to paint from the landscape. Within minutes of arriving at Schrader-Peters Lakes on my first trip, I knew I’d found an incredible place to paint. There were composition possibilities in every direction. The variety of color and geological formations could provide a lifetime of working material. My landscapes are completed in the field, whatever the size. Quick drying alkyd paints have proven to be […]

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Lucinda Parker

May 5, 2018 by designata

Represented by the Russo Lee Gallery, 805 NW 21st, Portland, OR 97209 ARTIST’S STATEMENT ART SAVESEXCEPT IN CASE OF FIREOR HURRICANEOR PESTILENCE, OR WAR.BUT AS SOON AS SAFE ENOUGHTHOSE OF US WHO MUSTWILL MAKE IT,CERTAIN SURE WE OWNITS REALEST MEANING.WHY DO I PAINT?I PAINT FOR NEW INVENTIONTO WAKE MY ONLY EYESAND TO SURPRIZE MY SCHEMATIC BRAIN,PARADOXICALLY MIXING PAINWITH DIZZY GAIN. I PAINTTO RECONFIGURE EMBLEMATIC CLUMPSOR VISIT LOVELY ANCIENT FORMSWHOSE COUSINHOOD WITH COMMON THINGSRISES QUIZZICALLY FROM EACHPAINTING BINGE. AND THENI NAME […]

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David Rosenthal

May 4, 2018 by designata

SOLO EXHIBITIONS2001: University of Montana Center, Missoula, MT2001: International Antarctic Center, Christchurch, New Zealand2001: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, Santa Barbara, CA2000: Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA2000: Husson College Gallery, Bangor, ME1999: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, OR1998: Wignall Museum, Chaffey College, Rancho Coming, CA1998: Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT1998: Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME1998: Dublin Arts Council Gallery, sponsored by Byrd Polar Research Institute, Ohio State University1997: Northern Arizona University, […]

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Ursula Schneider

May 3, 2018 by designata

The Bear and The Land The bear woodcuts and paintings below originated from experiences I had while hiking and drawing above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. I have been there four times. The land is vast, fragile, and its life is spread far apart. The bear traverses the land alone in search of food. He walks silently, his moves are measured and swift. His coat is bleached from the sun. In the presence of a bear, you realize that he […]

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Douglas Yates

May 2, 2018 by designata

GROUP EXHIBITIONS2018: “Rarefied Light,” Alaska Photographic Center, Anchorage, AK (Best of Show)2006: “24 Hours of Fairbanks”, Well Street Gallery, Fairbanks, AK2006: “Landscape Invitational”, Well Street Gallery, Fairbanks, AK2006: Pratt Museum, Juried Art Exhibition, “Going to Extremes”, Homer, AK2005: “64th Parallel Contemporary Fine Art Exhibition,” Fairbanks, AK (Honorable Mention)2003: “64th Parallel Contemporary Fine Art Exhibition,” Fairbanks, AK2001: “64th Parallel Juried Show,” Civic Center Gallery, Fairbanks, AK1996: “64th Parallel Juried Show,” Civic Center Gallery, Fairbanks, AK1993: “Rarefied Light,” Alaska Photographic Center, Anchorage, […]

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About this site

April 23, 2018 by designata

We are artists who have worked in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for many years. The landscape north of the continental divide of the Brooks Range is no “desolate wasteland,” but quite the opposite—a beautiful and powerful place. We have worked for weeks at a time amidst this splendor: on the banks of the Hulahula, Canning, and other pristine rivers; in the shadows of the primordial Romanzof and Sadlerochit ranges; surrounded by caribou on the soft tundra of the Coastal […]

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