Outdoor Exhibits

Pratt Museum in spring

The Pratt Museum Outdoor Exhibits offer a thoughtful and an aesthetic view of the art, history, and nature of the Kenai Peninsula. Each exhibit affords a unique experience filled with influences only found in Alaska.

 

Botanical Garden
Visitor enjoying the botanical gardenA botanical array of 150 species grace the garden pathways during the summer. This habitat features only plant species native to the Kenai Peninsula. Forget-me-nots and columbine, chocolate lilies and fireweed, cranberries and Labrador tea. Each turn of the trail opens to a new community of flora. The most remarkable of the habitats is the Alpine, which includes species that normally grow at over 1000 feet in elevation, but are kept alive at 100 feet through the magic of the Museum gardeners. A written plant guide is available at the admissions desk to help you identify plants in the garden.

 

Harrington Homestead CabinHarrington Cabin
Outside the Museum is the Harrington Cabin. It tells many stories about the hard-working people who homesteaded the Kachemak Bay area. From hand tools and daily diaries to crochet work and kitchen supplies, the history of a self-reliant era encircles you with the clarity of a fossilized shell. Guided tours are available in the summer. An oral history recording can be played when a cabin interpreter is not present.

 

Forest Trail
Sitting and relaxing on Beetle Killed Spruce BenchAn interpretive trail system is located adjacent to the Museum with outdoor theater and annual art exhibits from June through September. The Forest Trail has trail markers and a written guide describing a forest in transition from dying old growth through bark-beetle kill, with emerging stands of newly released trees. A written trail guide is available at the trailhead to help you in your explorations.

 

Facing the Elements
Art made with naturally occurring materials: rocks, log, grassThis exhibition is completely open to the elements — sun, wind, rain, insects, birds, large and small animals — and offers artists natural surroundings as a unique backdrop. The forest is in transition and offers many new opportunities for interpretation. We encourage poets, writers, musicians, dancers, performance artists and actors to participate in this unique exhibition along with visual artists. Artwork must be removable, safe to visitors, stable and compatible with the environment. If you would like to participate, please — for the safety of curious children, adults or animals — no sharp or jagged objects. Sculptures may be created on-site or at home.

 

Outdoor Performance Space
Musicians at the Elements exhibit opening Facing the EThe clearings system, including our forest amphitheater, represents reserved places for evolving gatherings and collections. While what gathers and collects cannot be predicted in a given time and place, the clearings serve as flexible and adaptable space for the players in this landscape to act out their inevitable comedies and tragedies. These wily and wooly players are the human and the art-ifacts, the moose, the beetle, the forest, and the water.