PRATT MUSEUM

established in 1968

Ritz Art Preview 2016

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October 7 – November 2, 2016

2016-ritz-flyerOpening Reception: Friday, October 7, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Visit the Pratt Museum Special Exhibits Gallery during October to preview artwork to be included in the 31st Annual Ritz Art & Experience Auction. The dinner and auction event, which will be held on Saturday, November 5, will include a live and silent auction, featuring artwork and other items donated by artists, businesses and individuals throughout Alaska. All funds raised at the Ritz will help the Pratt Museum continue to increase the diversity and quality of its exhibits and programs. Plan your bidding early!

 

Heartfelt and Handmade

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The soaring framework for the workshop porch roof looks a bit like a breaching humpback whale.

The soaring framework for the workshop porch roof looks a bit like a breaching humpback whale.

August 5 – October 1, 2016

The Dean farmstead reflects “Life as Art” – from functional artworks including handmade tools and implements, aesthetically designed and crafted structures, furniture, and housewares, to representational and more abstract artworks inspired by nature and farm life. “Heartfelt and Handmade” shows not only Jeff and Ranja’s skillful artistry, but also a glimpse inside their thoughtfully crafted and unique home.

Jeff Dean was born and raised in Fairbanks and exposed to art and innovation from an early age. He’s been a working sculptor since the late 70’s, making fine art and functional pieces in clay, wood, bronze, stone, steel and other materials. “I’m also a bit of an inventor and tinkerer. I bring my creativity and artistic background to each project at hand, be it artwork, a new tool, a curved rafter, computer programming, or even a solar thermal heating system.”

Girl with Rooster

Girl with Rooster

Ranja Dean grew up in the Tennessee hills among a menagerie of art, animals and gardens. Her father was an artist and a professor of horticulture and landscape design.He painted, wrote poetry and made the most amazing gardens. She is self taught with no formal education but has been developing her creative character since childhood. She loves the magic of life and it shows in her work, giving it a fairytale appeal whether it be an apple tree dollhouse, a garden, a sculpture or a chicken house.

See more exhibit images at the Creative Fires Studio website.

Cliff-Nesting Seabirds of Gull Island — LIVE

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Each year, cliff-nesting seabirds signal a change of season when they return to Gull Island. Pelagic birds live at sea for most of the year. They return to remote islands during their summer nesting cycle. Gull Island, a series of jagged rocks twelve miles from Seldovia Museum and nine miles from the Pratt Museum, is situated in the middle of Kachemak Bay. This unique rookery hosts a nesting colony of over 15,000 birds, including 12,000 Black-legged Kittiwakes and 5,000 Common Murres.

For thousands of years people have utilized the valued resources at Gull Island. Like their ancestors before them, the Sugpiaq Alutiiq and Dena’ina Athabascan of this region continue to gather eggs in the springtime.

Gull Island is protected and off-limits to visitors except for approved Native harvest. This remote-controlled camera is currently operated from the public galleries of the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska. Visit the museum to control the camera and explore Gull Island for yourself!

Paula Dickey Legacy Exhibit

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Mountain 1crop

The Pratt Museum is proud to present a legacy exhibition representative of Paula’s lifetime of creating (1937-2011). Many of her lovely works will be available for purchase, as well as other artists’ pieces that were in Paula and Brad Dickey’s personal collection. The Pratt Museum appreciates the gifts Paula has given this community and is honored to offer the opportunity for community members to have a remembrance of Paula Dickey.

Art Sale: Saturday May 7, 3-6 p.m.

Art and Science of Bears

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May 6 – July 31, 2016IMG_9497

Since the Fall of 2015, the Pratt Museum has hosted a series of special presentations and activities surrounding the science of bears on the Kenai Peninsula and Lower Cook Inlet region. Drawing from those presentations and a coinciding call for new works, we are thrilled to present the Art and Science of Bears. Local and regional artists from Alaska will present works interpreting our region’s bears alongside current science.

Please join us for the opening reception on May 6. Additional presentations and events are listed on the BEARS project page.

Jubilee 2016

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This year’s annual Festival of Young Artists exhibit includes works by students at Paul Banks, West Homer, McNeil Canyon, Fireweed Academy, Razdolna, and Port Graham schools. Jubilee ise on exhibit in the Art Gallery, April 1-30.

See what these amazing youth are creating in our own communities!

Pratt Museum Campus Increases

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Donation Allows Purchase of Land to Pioneer Avenue

Grounds trailmap 2016The Pratt Museum is pleased to announce that, thanks to a benevolent anonymous donor, its 9.8 acres of wooded property has increased to over 10 acres. A generous financial gift was presented to the museum in December 2015, and the property was purchased soon thereafter.

Situated between the Legislative Information Office and Hopped Up Espresso, this new addition connects the Pratt’s grounds directly to Pioneer Avenue. To honor Woodard Creek and extend its trail system, the Pratt will work to pull a crew together to build a trail extension down to Pioneer Avenue along the creek, which flows through the property.

If you’d like to sign up to help with trail work this spring, please email to office@prattmuseum.org, stop by the front desk, or call the Pratt Museum at 235-8635.

Living Alaska: A Decade of Collecting Contemporary Art for Alaska Museums

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Aurora Borealis

February 26 – April 23, 2016

Opening Reception: February 26, 5-7 p.m.

For more than a decade, the Rasmuson Foundation has been giving annual grants to Alaska’s museums to acquire contemporary art. This unique program has allowed museums throughout the state, to purposefully build their collections. In its first ten years, the Rasmuson Art Acquisition Fund distributed 173 grants to 33 museums to purchase works by 436 artists.

Living Alaska shares the far-reaching impacts of the fund and a sample of the artwork it has preserved for the public. Curated by Sven Haakanson, Jr. and designed by the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, the exhibition contains 25 pieces loaned from 12 different museums.

The exhibition, “Living Alaska: A Decade of Collecting Contemporary Art for Alaska Museums,” was organized by the Anchorage Museum. Major support for traveling the exhibition has been generously provided by the Rasmuson Foundation.

Image: Aurora Borealis I, II, III
Ron Senungetuk, 2006
Silver maple and oil stain
Pratt Museum, Homer
22″ x 56 ¾”

Alaska Native Art from the Pratt Collections

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Extended, February 2 – 20, 2016
(Following annual museum closure during January)

For the extended run during February, additional works from the Pratt collection will be added to this already-stunning exhibit!

Explore the Pratt Museum’s diverse and rarely seen collection of Native Art from across Alaska, featuring fine and functional art from St. Lawrence Island to Southeast, archaeological finds to contemporary works.

Join us for the opening reception, Friday November 13 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and hear a special presentation at 6 p.m. by Port Graham artist Jim Miller: “Second Life: Spiritual Restoration Through Traditional Art.”

On November 14, Jim Miller will also present a bone a jewelry making workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration is required. For more information visit the event page.

Ritz Art Preview

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October 9 – November 3, 2015

Opening Reception: Friday, October 9, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

2015 Ritz Poster copyVisit the Pratt Museum Special Exhibits Gallery during October to preview artwork to be included in the 30th Annual Ritz Art & Experience Auction. The dinner and auction event, which will be held on Saturday, November 7 at Wasabi’s, will include a live and silent auction, featuring artwork and other items donated by artists, businesses and individuals throughout Alaska. All funds raised at the Ritz will help the Pratt Museum continue to increase the diversity and quality of its exhibits and programs.

For this 30th Anniversary Ritz, we’ll be celebrating Havana Nights! Ritz at the CopaCabana. Celebrating the 1940s and 50s that was Cuba in its heyday, this year’s Ritz will include Cuban food, music, dancing, diamonds, pearls, bright lights, rum, and cigars (to take outdoors)!

For more information, call Michele Miller at 435-3342 or e-mail mmiller@prattmuseum.org.