Summer Special Events

May 28
Landscape Painting in the Eastern Alaska Brooks Range

Landscape artist David Mollett will present an entertaining and informative lecture on the adventures and experiences of both large and small groups of artists painting in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and nearby area.

4 June
Painting in Glacier Country

Artist Bill Brody states “Painting on location in wilderness Alaska is my beacon against which I measure all my art.” In his lecture he will address all phases of working in the wilderness as a landscape painter (how to get there, how to do the work while there, how to live there while working).

Image Credit: Jesse Venable

11 June
Painting in the North

Art historian, curator, author, and painter, Kesler Woodward will discuss and show images of his paintings of Alaska and the circumpolar North from Hudson Bay to the Bering Strait and Siberian coast. Emphasis will be on his personal connection to the northern landscape and the relationship of his work to that of historical and contemporary painters of the North.

18 June
The Poet’s North

Poet Derick Burleson will read poems from his new collection “Never Night,” and discuss poetic inspiration in the Alaskan Interior.

25 June
Alaska’s Amazing Avifauna (Birds)

Senior scientist with the Alaska Bird Observatory, Susan Sharbaugh will share the natural history of the Interior’s avian summer visitors and sourdough residents. She will enlighten you on the how and why of migrating birds and how the resident birds survive 40 below and the extended dark of winter.

2 July
Geographies of the Land and of the Heart

Writer Peggy Shumaker will read work rooted in the vastness of Alaska, and will explore how our inner and outer landscapes merge. Images painted by Kesler Woodward will complement her readings.

Image Credit: Barry McWayne

9 July
The Firecracker Boys: The Story of Project Chariot

With accompanying slides, author Dan O’Neill will tell the story of how a small Eskimo village along with a handful of Alaskan scientists and conservationists thwarted Edward Teller’s dream of using a massive nuclear explosion to create an instant harbor on the coast of Alaska.

Image Credit: Mareca Guthrie

16 July
Painting with Light

Photographer and lifelong Alaskan Monique Musick will share photographic tips through a slide show lecture. Learn how to best capture the unparalleled beauty of Alaska on film or in digital format.

Image Credit: Monique Musick

23 July
Remembering The Statehooders—The Legacy of Alaska’s “Greatest Generation”

Former UAF historian and author of “Completing The Union,” John Whitehead will share his interviews with many of the delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention of 1955-56, and highlight their accomplishments, particularly the Alaska Constitution, the Tennessee Plan, and their adroitness in maneuvering the U.S. Congress to approve the Alaska Statehood Bill in the summer of 1958.

30 July
Mushrooms of Alaska

With unbridled enthusiasm mycologist Gary Laursen will share with you his expertise on the critical role that fungi play in the northern environment. Gary will be showing slides of Alaskan mushroom species. (needs a slide projector)

6 August
25 years ofCartooning in Alaska

Alaskan artist and UAF adjunct faculty member, Jamie Smith who is said to be “afflicted with an unremitting sense of absurdity” will offer a window into the world of the Alaskan cartoonist. Jamie has published four collections of his Freeze-Frame and Nuggets cartoons. 

Image Credit: Jamie Smith, Self Portrait

13 August
Alaska’s Native Flora

Through images and stories long-time Alaskan field botanist Carolyn Parker shares her exploration of Alaska’s native flora—its origin, beauty, diversity, and mysteries.