The new Rasmuson Wing at the Anchorage Museum will add 25,000 square feet of space to display more of the museum's collection of artwork. How much more? Five times.
There are at least 500 notable paintings, sculptures and multimedia items in the museum's holdings, including Thomas Hill's romantic vision of Muir Glacier in 1889 and contemporary artist Keith Appel's starkly modern "Lunar Solstice." There are works by painters of yore and those currently in business, a physical catalogue of the artistic history of Alaska over the past 150 years or so.
Recently, the museum has been able to display only about 40 of them at any one time. They rotate in and out, with some items more or less on view all the time, like the giant portrait of Mount McKinley by Sydney Laurence.
The Rasmuson Wing will accommodate approximately 200 works on long-term exhibition, according to the museum. There will also be space dedicated to changing exhibits that will allow for even more pieces to be seen by the public on a revolving basis. Some improvements in the mechanical department will also be addressed with better ventilation and lighting than in the past.
Director Julie Decker calculated there are more than 26,000 objects in all of the museum's permanent collections, which includes craftwork and artifacts, everything from prehistoric bowls to antique toys that come out each Christmas. That's not counting the 575,000 historical photographs, 14,000 publications and 800 maps tucked away in the building.
The expansion, which coincides with a major reworking of the historical galleries, is expected to be done in 2017 and will enable the museum to show more contemporary pieces by Alaska Native artists, facilitate large, temporary exhibits from its own materials and host more large traveling exhibits.
An architect's sketch of the addition shows how it will sit above the present Imaginarium on the northeast side of the building. A cantilevered section looks like it will provide a nice view toward Cook Inlet.
The $17.5 million cost of the addition is being covered by the Rasmuson Foundation and members of the Rasmuson family.
Silavuuq speaks
Speaking of the museum, Jerry "Silavuuq" Lieb will be the presenter at the "Meet the Artist" talk at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28. Lieb is known for his carvings, spirit masks and drums, found everywhere from the museum gift shop to the table he regularly mans at the Fourth Avenue Marketplace during tourist season. Though he's from Bethel, his Native name comes from his grandfather, an Inupiaq shaman, the source of many of the stories he often tells to regale friends and tourists alike. Friday's admission is half-price, by the way, and most of the spaces, including the Captain Cook exhibit, are open for the evening, part of the "Half-open, Half-off" series.
Keillor sound man at Snow Goose
Garrison Keillor will perform at the Alaska State Fair on Sunday, Aug. 30. But if you can't get to Palmer, think about getting over to the show by his sound effects master, Fred Newman, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, at the Snow Goose Theatre, 717 W. Third Ave.
Newman will present his one-man show "Fred Newman: Growing Up Weird, in Stories and Sound Effects," in which he recounts his early years making odd noises and goofy voices behind the teacher's back and turning those dubious gifts into a career as a writer, actor, musician and sound designer. Tickets are $45, a benefit for Best Beginnings, available at bestbeginningsalaska.givezooks.com.
Boochever deadline approaches
The deadline to apply for the Connie Boochever Fellowship is Monday, Aug. 31. A select number of $2,500 awards will be given to artists in the fields of film, digital, media and visual arts.
Final years loom for centennial 'theatrical tour'
The last installments of "Anchorage: The First 100 Years -- A Theatrical Tour" take place through Sept. 6 at Cyrano's Theatre. Since July 1, the theater has presented a series of plays, read on book, dealing with Anchorage history one decade at a time. Through Aug. 31 the period is 1995-2005, addressed in John McKay's "Et tu, Y2K?," directed by Barielle Barnett. The years 2005 to the present will be the subject of the final episode, "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" by Indra Arriaga, directed by Shelly Wozniak. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and Monday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available at centertix.net.
Cyrano's regular fully staged, off-book presentations will resume in September with Nita Raine's complex study of communication, deafness and families, "Tribes."