PRATT MUSEUM

established in 1968

Salmon Culture Exhibit

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In the main gallery, Salmon Culture, includes the work of more than thirty Alaska Native artists whose work references salmon love across the state. In the community gallery, Salmon Culture: Kachemak Bay Connections, shares twelve local Kachemak Bay artists’ work that references local relationships with salmon. This exhibit runs from October 7 – December 17, 2022.

Salmon Culture celebrates connections between salmon and Alaska Native peoples through contemporary, historical and archaeological works of art. This exhibition honors salmon as a resource that has nourished our communities physically and spiritually for thousands of years. As shared by exhibition circle advisor, Erin Gingrich: “Salmon are gifts, every single one a blessing. The continuity of their ancient cycle is something we owe to the past, present and future, not just our own future generations but the futures of all that have a part in this ecosystem.”

This exhibition is organized by a circle of Alaska Native salmon people: Anna Hoover, Erin Gingrich, Rochelle Adams, Drew Michael, Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi and Ilgavak Peter Williams. We invite you to celebrate salmon with us.

“Universal Connections: Experiences Bringing Us Together”

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The Pratt Museum and Park is hosting an exhibit in collaboration with the World Arts Festival in Homer, AK. The exhibit is opening September 2 at our First Friday in the downstairs gallery where admission will be free. The exhibit is entitled Universal Connections: Bringing Us Together and is a mix of photographs from around the world curated by Sarah Borgen. ​It is a collaborative exhibit showcasing artwork from local artists.

More on the theme of Universal Connections

Throughout our lives, we get caught in a whirlwind of concerns, thoughts, and anxieties only to briefly pierce the interpersonal veil and see ourselves in the eyes of others. These insights can define our lives by how we sense interconnectivity with all people and each person’s unique experiences of life. 

“Universal Connections: Experiences Bringing Us Together” is a collaborative photo exhibit of moments where we see ourselves in each other, a shared encounter of being human.

An example of what the exhibit will showcase…

To have Tea is To Share Tea – Jeffrey Eide, Sri Lanka 2009

Saman spotted me in the market in Haputale, Sri Lanka. Labeling me as a friend and insisting I join him for a cup of tea. “To have tea is to share tea” It was more than a catchy slogan, Saman lived this value. His eyes blinked slowly like a comfortable cat and his voice calm with wisdom. I felt  a profound sense of connection to someone who I would never see again. He sometimes speaks to me in dreams. This is the effect we have on each other, his presence has reminded me.

A Mother’s Gratitude – Jeffrey Eid Sri Lanka 2009

“What is your mother’s name?” My local friend had informed me she asked. We met at the store while I was trying out local snacks. Her name eludes me today. With a series of brief exchanges, I asked her about her children, and could see a sense of disconnection, of loss. When I asked her if I could take her picture, she agreed, on condition that I sent it to my mother and expressed my love.

Protection: Adaptation & Resistance

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The exhibit is open from June 11 to September 24, 2022

“In times of pandemic, climate crisis, and ongoing assaults on human rights, how are Indigenous Alaska artists today strengthening self and community, and guiding the next generation from surviving to thriving?  Protection: Adaptation and Resistance centers Indigenous ways of knowing. Working within intergenerational learning groups and as collaborators in vibrant community networks, Alaska’s Indigenous artists are invigorating traditional stories and proposing resilient new futures through design, tattoo, regalia, and graphic arts. Thirty artist projects presented in this exhibition elevate collaboration, allyship, and community as tools of resistance, adaptation, and cultural affirmation.”   Asia Freeman, Curator

The Moveable Feast

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Opening May 6th from 4 – 6 PM 

Welcome to Kachemak Bay’s moveable feast that attracts migrating birds to stop over as they make their annual journeys along flyways that stretch from wintering areas along the Pacific Rim northward to Western, Interior, and Arctic Alaska.

May 6th will be the opening of a month-long special Shorebird Festival exhibit “A Moveable Feast” at the Pratt Museum and Park that celebrates Kachemak Bay as a place for migrating birds to rest and refuel. From 4 pm-6 pm, get a closer look at birds from the museum’s natural history collection and bird art at this free First Friday reception. There will be supplies on hand to make drawings and then your work will be added to this exhibit!  Posters and information will be available about local bird research and citizen science opportunities. You can also tour the Museum to view other local birds on display as well as go birding on the Pratt Museum and Park trails. Museum hours during the Festival will be Wednesday through Sunday, 11 AM – 4 PM and the Park trails are always open.

It’s a place to rest and refuel, replenishing the fat stores required for migration and breeding. Although many migrants feed on what is available year-round like mussel beds in the intertidal zone, the migration of others is made possible by the massive bloom of plankton in the ocean and the growth of nutritious aquatic plant shoots as day length increases in the spring. Seaducks and seabirds feed on the abundant zooplankton and on small fish that are fattening up on the bounty. The pulse of migrating
birds also provides a spring feast for bald eagles, other raptors, and owls. The twice-daily tidal cycles in Kachemak Bay provide a smaller-scale moveable feast on tidal flats and
rocky beaches that are covered and uncovered, altering access to marine invertebrates and aquatic plants at the water’s edge or in shallow waters. Shorebirds probe the mud-filled with burrowing worms and clams. Ducks follow the rising tide, dabbling, and diving. Waterbirds, like loons, grebes, sea ducks, and seabirds, are superbly adapted for diving deeper after plankton, mollusks, and small fish.

As the birds move through the air and watery places, they’re a resplendent feast for our human eyes. As we pay attention to and mind the birds, we can feast on the intricate and dynamic ecological connections they make manifest.

The exhibit also showcases artwork by the late George West, a long-time Board member of the Pratt Museum, and the featured Shorebird Festival Artist
on its 25th anniversary in 2017. His pioneering work monitoring shorebird use of Homer area habitats is also featured in one of the posters about the continuation of this work as a Kachemak Bay Birders citizen science project.