PRATT MUSEUM

established in 1968

Postcards from Unprecedented Times: Ongoing Project

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What stories will we tell about our present moment?

At the Pratt Museum, we are committed to collecting and sharing the stories of Kachemak Bay, from both the past and present. This year, we have faced dramatic changes to our way of life, and undoubtedly our world will continue to shift. We want to document this present moment with your voices. Postcards from Unprecedented Times is our way of helping our community preserve those stories and voices.

We started off this project with a First Friday craft night on August 7, but this is an ongoing opportunity to participate. We will be developing an online display of these postcards and letters in the coming weeks, so check back soon to see how others have experienced these unprecedented times!

How it works:

1: Write a letter You can use one of our postcard templates (available at the Museum!) or make something new. Fill it with words, stories, drawings — whatever you want to say about your experience in this moment.

2: Deliver it to the Pratt You can drop it off at the special mailbox in our Community Gallery  (look for the bright blue board in the Greetings from the Past: History in Postcards exhibit) or mail it to 3779 Bartlett St, Homer, AK 99603.

3: Become part of the archives! When we receive your letter, we’ll scan it into our digital archives — it will become part of the historical collection reflecting this moment. Check our website for updates as we develop an online catalog of these letters.

 

Entangled: Exploring Natural History Collections from Kachemak Bay

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The Pratt Museum reopened on Thursday, July 9, with a new special exhibit: Entangled: Exploring natural history collections from Kachemak Bay. 

“This exhibit allows us to share some of our favorite things from the Pratt’s permanent collections that you may have never seen before,” said Curator Savanna Bradley, “and hopefully inspires everyone to share or contemplate their own collection stories.”

Entangled brings together artistic whimsy and the study of natural history. The family-friendly exhibit invites museum-goers to consider and question the origins of natural history collecting for individuals and museums in the Western tradition over time. It also explores how our baseline understandings, such as how we practice culture and what we notice about our environment, are shifting. The exhibit was co-curated by Pratt Museum Naturalist-in-Residence Marilyn Sigman and Curator Savanna Bradley and draws from the permanent collections of the Pratt Museum.

The Pratt Museum is offering a variety of virtual and in-person summer programming around the theme of Collecting, including First Friday programs, participatory Zoom events, and a radio series. For more information, see the Events calendar, contact the museum, or visit our social media.

“We are excited to reopen our doors to the community with this exhibit, and we are so grateful for the support and patience of our members, friends, and guests,” said Pratt Museum Executive Director, Jennifer Gibbins. “We hope to inspire visitors of all ages to continue to be curious about the natural world and to enjoy learning, sharing stories, and connecting with others.”

#MuseumFromHome: Download these two coloring pages to enjoy Entangled from your own home!

Entangled will be on display at the Pratt Museum July 9 – September 26.

Don’t forget to Pick.Click.Give.!

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The deadline for PFD filing is March 31. Did you know that over 30,000 Alaskans donate funds and create positive change through the Pick.Click.Give. option every year? The Pratt Museum is a non-profit enrolled in this awesome program. Please consider us as you file for your 2020 PFD!

If you give, and your neighbor does, and another, it will add up quickly! When you make a donation from your PFD through Pick.Click.Give., you can make an impact by sharing just a little with a cause you care about. The Pratt Museum has been part of the Pick.Click.Give. program since it began in 2009. Donors may give part of their permanent fund dividend to the Pratt through the Pick.Click.Give. website, and help support the Museum’s educational programs!

The filing deadline for your Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) application is March 31, 2020. If you have already filed for your PFD, and would like to make a change to your Pick.Click.Give. donations, you may do so until August 31, 2020.

Museum from Home!

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Looking for ways to engage with the Museum from the comfort of your own home?

Keep checking with us here and on social media for more ways to have museum adventures!

Pratt Museum CLOSED through Friday, APRIL 3

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To support public efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Pratt Museum is closed effective Monday, March 16, through Friday, April 3.

As an organization founded by and for community, our highest priority is to protect and support community. We thank our friends, partners, visitors, members, staff and volunteers for your support as we all we all do our part to help ensure a safe and healthy environment.

We will continue to monitor this situation and to act in accordance with the recommendations of health officials and local, state and federal authorities. We will announce any changes via our regular communication channels including our website and social media.

In Homer, more information on COVID-19 may be found through the City of Homer.

More information on COVID-19 may also be found through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alaska Department of Health and social Services.

PRATT MUSEUM CLOSED THROUGH TUESDAY, MARCH 30

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To support public efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Pratt Museum is closed effective Monday, March 16, through Monday, March 30.

As an organization founded by and for community, our highest priority is to protect and support community. We thank our friends, partners, visitors, members, staff and volunteers for your support as we all we all do our part to help ensure a safe and healthy environment.

We will continue to monitor this situation and to act in accordance with the recommendations of health officials and local, state and federal authorities. We will announce any changes via our regular communication channels including our website and social media.

In Homer, more information on COVID-19 may be found through the City of Homer.

More information on COVID-19 may also be found through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alaska Department of Health and social Services.

Jubilee Festival of Student Art

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The Pratt Museum is partnering with Homer Council on the Arts to present the 2020 Jubilee Festival of Student Art! Student works submitted through HCOA’s office will be distributed between HCOA and the Pratt. View the amazing work that our community’s youth are creating at both locations!

Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth

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October 9 – November 28, 2020

“Whither the Waterfront?” by Cathy Miranker

Art quilts from Studio Art Quilt Associates Pacific regions

An exploration of the effect of the Pacific Ocean on the lives of people
living in the coastal states and province of the North American continent
and in Hawai‘i.

Created as a group exhibit to shine a light on the issues facing the Pacific Ocean today, Shifting Tides is a collection of work by 45 artists chosen from the seven Pacific-facing regions of SAQA. Curated by renowned textile artist Ann Johnston, the exhibit offers a variation of style and context about the plight of oceans and the communities they support.

From their strikingly different vantage points—from Southern California northward to Western Canada and Alaska, plus Hawai`i—artists from a range of backgrounds were asked to express their concerns and feelings about the Pacific. “Merely because we live in this part of the world, we as individuals are part of the Pacific ecosystem. On a daily basis we may not recognize the changes that are happening, but they are of vital importance to our world,” write Georgia French and Sonja Campbell, co-chairs of the exhibit planning committee.

Shifting Tides debuted in San Jose, California at the 2019 SAQA Conference for the purpose of showcasing the talents of SAQA members living in the greater North Pacific region. The show will tour the seven participating Regions, bringing to public view the innovative contemporary art that SAQA stands for.

 

 

Denali: Artists Respond to Composers

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February 4 – May 25, 2020

DENALI Artists Respond to Music Inspired by Wilderness was conceived at the confluence of two languages-music and visual art. Elements Artist Group, six artists anchored in Alaska, created eighteen pieces of art in collaboration with nine composers from Composing in the Wilderness 2017. Each piece of art is a personal response to a musical composition. Composers from Denali National Park’s Composing in the Wilderness program shared their music scores, ideas, and information about specific locations that kindled their inspiration. Elements artists have all experience the transformative potency of living, working, traveling, or being an Artist in Residence in Denali Park. Their connections to this rare wilderness, alon with knowledge of specific places influence their responses–the colors, textures, shapes, and images they chose.

Each visual work in the show is accompanied by a musical score and QR link to audio of the composition by which it was inspired.

Kathy Smith: Rivers of Ice

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October 4 – December 28, 2019

Kathy Smith is a painter and a long time resident of Homer, Alaska. She can see Grewingk Glacier from her house, and has been watching glaciers retreat since visiting Portage Glacier as a child. Her new paintings are a record of visits to various glaciers in Alaska, and a testament to the effects of a changing climate on the northern landscape. Her work is represented in the Pratt Museum’s permanent collection.