Iditarod race veteran Rose Albert will be at the restart today in Willow. But, as in recent years, she's wrangling artwork, not dogs. If you're out with the crowd look for her table. She'll have paintings and carved cedar boxes for sale, including a box decorated with race champion Lance Mackey and team.
Pendleton and Rofkar collaborate
Sitka Cultural Center resident artist Teri Rofkar has designed a Ravenstail robe blanket that is being produced by Pendleton Woolen Mills. Pre-sales of the Pendleton blankets are being taken now at the Sitka Cultural Center, 1-907-747-8061.
A robe dedication ceremony will take place at the Sitka National Historical Park visitors center beginning at 1:30 p.m. March 21 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the park.
Dowdy receives award for airport installation
Fairbanks artist Rachelle Dowdy has received an award from the Alaska Chapter of the American Public Works Association for her sculpture, "From Here to There and There to Here."
The artwork was commissioned through the State of Alaska Percent for Art at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. It consists of 15 large-scale Canada geese and one egg-baby, constructed out of carved spruce and ferro-concrete. Twelve of these geese are suspended from the ceiling, flying the full length of Concourse B, appearing to dodge over and under airport signage. Wing-spans vary from 6 to 8 feet; weight of each goose is 140-240 pounds.
The remaining three geese are nested or standing on the floor, "where they can engage with the public."
That's newspeak for "you can look at them," and we hope you indeed take a gander (ahem) the next time you catch a plane.
Last week for 'Ox'
Lacie Stiewing's entertaining "Box of Ox" installation can continue to be seen at Out North Gallery, 3800 DeBarr Road, through March 14. Stiewing has created a Crayola herd of lightweight pressed paper musk ox sculptures that can be easily maneuvered to form a different, ever-changing composition. Definitely worth a peek.
Heading out
Peter Lind Sr., master of museum-quality reproductions of Aleut hunting visors, harpoons, etc., informs me that he and his wife, Darlene, will head to London soon to examine artifacts in British museums. "I got to show the Rasmuson grant people that I'm doing something to earn it," he said.
Peter Jr. told me that his son Travis just had a film juried into the National Film Festival for Talented Youth -- or "Nifty" -- which is presented each spring in Seattle.
The reason I could talk with both artists is because they were manning the tables, side by side, at the Fur Rendezvous Native Art Market in Dimond Center. That fabulous emporium of Alaska art winds up today, with hours from noon to 6 p.m.
Also out of town -- or maybe just getting back -- Sonya Kelliher-Combs is featured in a show at the George Gustav Heye Center, National Museum of the American Indian, located at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, One Bowling Green, New York City.
The show is titled "Hide: Skin as Material and Metaphor."
It will remain on display through Aug. 1.
Arts Potpourri seeks entries
The Anchorage Museum announces a call for entries for Crafts Weekend and Summer Art Potpourri, the museum's most popular annual craft events. In both events, Alaska's top artists, crafts people, authors and illustrators are given a forum to demonstrate and sell their work.
Summer Art Potpourri runs daily July 1 through Aug. 31. Crafts Weekend is Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 26-28.
Both events are juried. Deadline for submissions is March 26. A prospectus is available at www.anchoragemuseum. org. For more information, contact Director of Enterprise Adam Baldwin at 929-9254 or abaldwin@anchoragemuseum.org.
Olympic art show a sellout
In another meeting of sport and art, the Vancouver Art Gallery reports that it enjoyed record attendance during the 17 days of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in that Canadian city.
"With line-ups that wrapped around Robson Square, the Gallery welcomed more than 95,000 visitors through its doors between February 12 and 28," reads a press release.
It probably didn't hurt that the featured art during that period was an exhibit of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci loaned by Queen Elizabeth.
Speaking of big shows, the Seattle Art Museum will present a landmark exhibition of masterpieces by Pablo Picasso from the Musée National Picasso, Paris.
It will feature more than 150 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and photographs drawn from the collection of the French repository and will open in October.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com