The latest installment of the art and science collaborative known as In a Time of Change is currently on view at the Fairbanks Arts Association’s Bear Gallery in Pioneer Park. The collaborative process enhanced interaction among artists to create works that re-imagine the boreal forest in the new exhibit called “Boreal Echoes.”
Visitors to the current art installation “Boreal Echoes” may see some similarities between it and previous shows from the In a Time of Change initiative. The collaborative has been in existence for over a decade and fosters partnerships between artists, practitioners of the humanities, and scientists to facilitate new ways of thinking about environments and ecosystems. This time around however the emphasis on the show was on fostering relationships between the artists.
The number of books targeted for censorship in the United States increased by 65% last year, according to the American Library Association. It’s the largest yearly jump in the nearly two decades the association’s tracked the number.
Gig Decker, who is a Friends of the Museum Board member, spoke with KSTK’s News Director Colette Czarnecki about his experience with deep sea diving around shipwrecks, including the Star of Bengal. He also shared why history is so important and how The Nolan Center is integral to safekeeping Wrangell’s history. The Nolan Center’s 20th anniversary celebration will be held Monday, Oct. 14 at 6p.m. at The Nolan Center. Decker goes into what’s to be expected at the potluck event.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly on Tuesday will consider a resolution directing officials to display the Ten Commandments and five other documents in the borough's five public libraries and the lobby of the borough administration building in Palmer.
The display would “honor historical documents” that influenced U.S. law and “remind everyone entering... of the societal bonds we all share,” according to a memo accompanying the proposal. It would include the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and the preamble to the Alaska Constitution, the resolution states.
The proposal is sponsored by Assembly member Ron Bernier, whose district includes Talkeetna. While the resolution currently on file with the borough does not address libraries, Bernier said he plans to add that requirement as an amendment when the resolution goes before the assembly next week.
If there's one absolute truth in this universe, it's that the patrons of the Golden Eagle Saloon love their library.
That fact was on full display Saturday night at the Ester-based bar for the LiBerry Pie Throwdown — a yearly pie baking competition and auction to benefit the John Trigg Ester Library.
"It's a gathering place," said Kathy Nava, a member of the library's board of directors. "On Sunday afternoons there's a writing group, we've got a music group, and on Tuesday afternoons we've got a knitting group — sometimes we have a dozen or more people in there."
Kodiak History Museum and the Alutiiq Museum are partnering up to present a four-part October lecture series that begins this Friday. The series will offer an opportunity to learn and engage directly in Kodiak’s history, science and Alutiiq/Sugpiaq culture by sharing recent scientific and historical work here.
The lecture series is open to the public and free of charge. Two will be in person at the Kodiak History Museum and two will be held online via Zoom.
Public libraries on the southern Kenai Peninsula, left wondering how they will fund operating costs for fiscal year 2025 in the wake of a state grant program being dramatically reduced last month, may soon see financial relief.
The Public Library Assistance Grant is a noncompetitive grants program through the Division of Alaska State Libraries, Archives and Museums that annually provides up to $7,000 to public libraries in Alaska, including combined public-school libraries, for critical operating expenditures including staff, utilities, collection materials, computers and educational programming.
The Sullivan Roadhouse Museum enjoyed one of our busiest years entertaining and educating guests at the roadhouse.
During the winter months Kassie Farrar organized and accomplished, with the help of Smiling Moose owner, Piper Williams along with local photographer Nick Marchuk reformatting the SRH pamphlets that are translated into 5 languages. Sharon Waldo assisted Kassie with coordinating the project. The upgrade was much needed and appreciated. The Smiling Moose was very helpful in setting up the programs to make this a reality along with printing the brochures for the roadhouse.=
Spring house keepers swept the cobwebs, dusted and vacuumed silt, and polished treasures in the roadhouse in preparation for summer visitors. Thank you Carol Dufendach and Christy Roden for your hard work.
The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Thursday approved a zoning change paving the way to the Kodiak Maritime Museum's new home.
The assembly voted 5-1 (Whiteside) to grant longtime downtown resident Gerald Markham's request to rezone three lots he owns, one including the old Madsen house, adjacent his Mill Bay Road home. Markham is donating the house to the Maritime Museum as a permanent home. Rezoning the property from multi-family residential to business district will enable the museum to set up its headquarters and exhibit space in the old Madsen house.
The measure garnered a lot of consideration at Thursday's assembly meeting, with near-unanimous support during a public comment period. Fisherman Darius Kasperzak said a permanent Maritime Museum is a needed asset. Kasperzak, who was raised near the old Alitak cannery, called the potential loss of material from the Alitak cannery museum a travesty.
The Homer Society of Natural History is hosting the Pratt Museum’s Ritz event on Saturday, Oct. 5 starting at 6 p.m. The Ritz is an event to benefit the Pratt Museum and will include a silent and live auction and food and drink options. Tickets are $75.
The theme for this year, Kodachrome, is related to the current photography show on exhibit in the main gallery of the museum. Homer is the final stop for the 2023 Rarefied Light show, Alaska’s largest traveling juried fine art photography exhibit sponsored by the Alaska Photographic Center, an organization formed in 1983. This year’s exhibit includes 46 photographs by 35 artists.
The Ritz started in Homer in 1984 in order to create a festival to dress up and come out for, according to a 2014 Homer News article. The original theme “Putting on the Ritz” by Irving Berlin became the inspiration for the formal dinner and auction event. Now, the theme changes annually.
On a sunny, warm day in downtown Haines, Dave Pahl is determined to show and not tell what’s going wrong with the nearly 20-foot-tall hammer that stands outside of the Hammer Museum.
He stoops down to a spot at the base where the wood looks flimsy, reached inside the handle and pulled out a handful of damp, deteriorating pieces.
He grinned. “You could almost make coffee with that.”
Rashah McChesney, October 3, 2024. Chilkat Valley News.
Grand Opening of the Rasmuson Library Student Success Center
The University of Alaska Fairbanks recently celebrated the grand opening of the Rasmuson Library Student Success Center, on Wednesday, September 18.
The Center brings together many academic services, such as Writing and Math tutoring, Career Services, Advising, Testing Services, and more, to enable students to get assistance with academics as they move through their university years.
Putting these resources into the Rasmuson Library was an enormous effort in planning, design and construction, as well as moving more than 250,000 books! This change allows the library, along with all of the other academic support services, to get quality information sources and library instruction to students in all programs and at all levels. We'll be working as a team along with all of these student-focused staff to help students thrive.
The Rasmuson Library continues to provide books, online resources, quiet study space, and all of the other traditional library resources and services to students and the public, as well as all of Alaska through the Alaska Library Catalog.
A new documentary, “Sugarcane,” recounts the searing, traumatic history of colonization and forced assimilation of British Columbia’s Indigenous people through a network of what are known as Indian residential schools...
After recent screenings in Sitka and Anchorage — and with the approach of the annual Sept. 30 commemoration for survivors — advocates say the film’s themes are as relevant and urgent just across the Canadian border in Alaska...
“There is not a parallel process of truth and reconciliation happening in this country in as robust a way as there is in Canada,” co-director Julian Brave NoiseCat, who explores his family’s own traumatic history in Sugarcane, said in an interview just before the screening. He added: “It takes a lot of courage to have the conversation. And our hope is that this film inspires people across the country who are living in the legacy of this genocide to have those conversations.”
Nathaniel Herz, September 25, 2024. Northern Journal/Alaska Beacon.
With the rise of satellite internet and the unspooling of fiber optic cables, rural Alaska is in the midst of huge changes in broadband connectivity. For school districts increasingly reliant on the internet to deliver education, these changes couldn’t come sooner.
But finding the most affordable option, and turning away from established providers in favor of services like Starlink, is easier said than done for many rural school districts. It means navigating the complex and ever-growing systems of state and federal subsidies these districts have long relied on, and that critics say should be given more scrutiny.
Evan Erickson, October 2, 2024. KYUK/Alaska Public Media.
For some time, Anchorage author Lynn Lovegreen watched the growing movement across the country to remove books from library shelves, especially in schools, with a growing sense of alarm.
“As a retired secondary teacher, I have seen how important books are to teens,” Lovegreen said. “And as an author, I have been aware of what’s happening with book challenges and book bans throughout the country, including here in Alaska. I want to stand up for the freedom to read.”
A totem pole was raised at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in Juneau over the weekend. Though it’s new to the building, the Porcupine and Beaver Kootéeyaa is almost 40 years old.
The totem pole was carved by late master Lingít carver Amos Wallace. For decades, it lived inside the U.S. Forest Service office in Juneau. But on Saturday it was rededicated to its new home inside the visitor center...
The pole also signifies another step toward tribal sovereignty, according to the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The tribe helped make the move possible and hosted the rededication ceremony.
A year ago, the tribe and the U.S. Forest Service signed a memorandum of agreement to co-manage the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area together in order to better educate visitors about the Indigenous history of the area.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski presented Gwich'in fiddler Trimble Gilbert of Arctic Village with a national arts award and a hug last week during a special ceremony in Washington D.C.
Gilbert was one of 10 Americans honored with a National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellowship award. Each year, since 1982, the program recognizes recipients' artistic excellence, lifetime achievement and contributions to the nation's traditional arts heritage. He is a traditional chief from Arctic Village, a master Giwch'in Athabascan fiddler and renowned culture bearer.
In a fast-paced world, asinnajaq likes to take things slow.
As a guest curator at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, asinnajaq, a 32 year-old artist who uses all lowercase letters in her name, has been working on a new exhibition of Inuit art for a few years now; she’s not quite sure how long.
“Time is as meaningless as it ever has been to me,” said asinnajaq, a soft-spoken Inuk from the northern Quebec village Inukjuak, in a video call to discuss the exhibition, “uummaqutik, essence of life,” to open Nov. 8.
The Federal government has many, many agencies and most of them have their own acronym alphabet soup that can be mystifying. But with the help of library staff at the University of San Diego, you can quickly solve the puzzle of the letters before you. Their GovSpeak guide is a current, extensive, and linked list of U.S. government agency, office, program and publication acronyms. The guide is best browsed by letter. Nearly all acronyms are linked to a relevant federal page in addition to being defined. If an acronym has more than one meaning, those links will be separated by a “|” character.
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