PRATT MUSEUM

established in 1968

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.

Museum Macabre: Darkest Secrets of Kachemak Bay

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October 9 – 31, 2015

Some stories from Kachemak Bay have been lost to common knowledge, swept under the rug and into collections storage at the Pratt Museum. Now is your chance to learn about the dark days of our past through original artifacts and rare images:

Museum Macabre 2015

  • Silver bullet casting molds from the werewolf outbreak of 1934
  • Taxidermy mount of the now-extinct native scorpion forest squirrel
  • Various and frightening specimens preserved stuffed (fanged hare and parasitic fish crab) or in alcohol (giant huntsman spidermoose and assorted viscera)
  • Relics from the vampire wars of the 1970s, including impaling stakes, fangs, and desicated vampires (in bat form)
  • The brain (cast) of a 3-legged land whale
  • Kandorian “siren” eel extracted from Homer Pennock’s leg

This special exhibit is only up through Saturday, October 31, after which the specimens shall be appropriately forgotten…

Capital Update – August 2015

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This month was a busy one for building design. A two-day workshop with the architects, engineers, building committee and staff was held to discuss systems for managing temperature and humidity (a very important consideration for collections care and conservation), lighting, flooring, ceiling forms and dozens of other structural and functional considerations.

Work on design details will continue through the fall, and the capital campaign continues with staff and committee members meeting with prospective major donors and foundation funders.

Woodard Creek Arts & Culture Complex

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Collaborative Planning is Underway

The Pratt Museum and Homer Council on the Arts (HCOA) are pleased to announce that our two organizations are in conversation about the possibilities of collaborating to make use of the existing museum building as a performance, art and activity space.

The future Arts and Culture Complex, to be located on the Pratt Museum’s 9.8-acre property, is envisioned to include the new Pratt Museum building, the newly-defined performing arts and community building, and the existing historic cabin and shop. This newly-defined space would also serve the region by providing a location for meetings, events, and workshops.

SITE PLAN 7.1.15Last fall, the Pratt Museum reexamined the idea of re-purposing its existing building, based on the positive collaborative work that has been occurring throughout the community within the last two years. In response to ongoing dialogue, results of the Parks Art and Recreation (PARC) survey released earlier this year, and the number of nonprofit organizations on the Lower Kenai Peninsula, the two organizations saw this as a unique opportunity to meet community needs. Both are excited to move forward with planning and collaborative work to implement this vision.

The Phase 1 Site Plan is shown here. Phase 2 is a future project to open up the part of Woodard Creek that currently flows underneath the Museum’s parking lot behind the existing building. The Pratt and HCOA will be working diligently over the next several months to further develop this vision of an arts and culture complex. We invite the community’s ideas ̶as well as a commitment to join us ̶ in creating this important and vital center for our community.

 

 

Capital Update – June 2015

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Just in: Updated Renderings of the Building Exterior, Floor Plan, and Site!

Over the past few months, Pratt project architects, engineers and staff have been developing the new building design and site plan.

One change to the previous schematic design includes the location of air handling systems, creating a new roof line. Tweaks have also been made to remove the need for pillars in the main gallery and gain more overhead space for the gray whale. To better account for existing slopes and handicapped access, the Phase 1 Site Plan has been modified.

Design Development will be completed in early August, and construction drawings will be completed in the fall. We will be shovel-ready by the end of the year!

Substantive planning work on aquaria and exhibit design is in the works and we’ll have some exciting drawings to show off very soon! Exhibit design will continue through 2016.

Fundraising also continues. We expect the State’s budget situation will delay the construction timeline. We are working on other sources of funding in lieu of the remaining piece of the State appropriation that was originally requested.