Cinema
Who shot the sheriff?
On Feb. 20, 1921, Anchorage's first police chief, John "Black Jack" Sturgus, was shot with his own weapon behind the Anchorage Hotel. (His ghost is said to return to the spot on the anniversary of the event.) The killer was never found. Alaska Sisters in Crime have revisited Anchorage's oldest unsolved murder in a film, "Murder Gone Cold," which tells the story and sorts out the possibilities using the format of a radio play. There'll be a free screening of the film, an Anchorage Centennial Project, on Sunday, Feb. 22, at UAA's Wendy Williamson Auditorium. The evening starts with a reception at 4 p.m. The film rolls at 5 p.m. followed by video of experts discussing the case from the perspective of modern criminology.
Lectures
Historic explorers
Two free talks about two of the first Europeans to investigate Alaska take place on Thursday, Feb. 19. Researchers Margritt Engel and Karen Willmore will talk about what they've learned from newly found diaries of naturalist and explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller, who sailed with Bering and is credited with establishing the fact that the voyage had indeed reached North America. That takes place at 5 p.m. at the UAA Campus Bookstore. Free parking is available in the West Campus Central Lot (behind Rasmuson Hall), the Sports Lot and the Sports NW Lot. At 7:30 p.m., the Cook Inlet Historical Society will present Robin Inglis, emeritus director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum and research curator of the Anchorage Museum's major exhibition titled, "Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Search for the Northwest Passage," which opens at the end of March. Inglis will draw on his extensive knowledge to describe James Cook as "an explorer for the ages." The PowerPoint presentation will take place in the Anchorage Museum auditorium. Use the Seventh Avenue doors.
Art
Beauty of wood
The annual Artistry in Wood competition and exhibit will again take place in the Northway Mall this year. The show regularly features examples of master woodworking with items intriguing, amusing and stunningly beautiful. Entries into the competition will be accepted at the mall 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday and Monday, Feb. 22-23, and the exhibit will be on display for the public during mall hours Feb. 25-March 8.