Museum of the North - Fairbanks, AK

The Murries in Alaska, painted by their good friend, M.C. "Rusty"Heurlin. Having read the story of the Murries exploration of Alaska, "Two In The Far North", the picture is exactly how I pictured the couple.

Athabascan formal dress, beaded on hide.

Complete set of bone engraved knives depicting outdoor scenes of animals.

Left is the traditional Fox Forehead Mask, used in dancing ceremonies as a dancer becomes the fox.

Calyspo by Tamara Schmidt in 2003 (right) was modeled after a pure bred Morgan horse by the same name. The sculpture is made of Adler wood, steel and wire.

This bright and amazing piede of art by Donald Varnell was named Logic Board. It was made of red cedar, acrylic, chalk color pencils and graphite. Did you find any logic in it?

Sidney Laurence is a well known artist in Alaska and has many paintings hung in the Museum of the North. I liked his work and this one to me, camped in the snow, was all that needed to be said about early Alaska.

M.C. "Rusty" Heurlin (1985-1986), the artist did such an exceptional job of making the viewer feel the wind and bitter cold.




"Blue Babe" is an actual Alaska Steppe Bison. This is the reconstructed carcass, found in 1979 by the Roman family at their placer mine near Fairbanks. The Steppe Bison is one of several extinct mammals that roamed Alaska during the Wisconsinan glacial period 100,000 to 10,000 years ago. It was estimated this Steppe Bison died some 36,000 years ago by an American Lion, (determined through the claw marks on the carcass and tooth punctures in the skin. The bison died with all four feet under him, as they do today when captured by predators.

This bit of gold is Alaska's largest public display of gold.

The museum hosted a grand view of gems and minerals found around the world. This is one window out of 6 4-storied windows on display.

This is Epidote (left), composed of calcium, aluminum, iron and silica. This world class specimen of Green Monster Mountain was found on Prince of Wales Island. Found in 1982 this specimen has several large, dark green epidote crystals and numerous smaller quartz crystals.

As we found in many businesses throughout Fairbanks, abundant colorful flowers have been planted. The flowers everywhere seemed very healthy and well taken care of. These are found outside the entrance to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

In addition to all the art found inside the museum, there were several outdoor exhibits.



Perhaps difficult to understand, the form
to the left is a modern day Totem sculpture.

To the right is a very modern "Denali" sculpture.

It wouldn't be Alaskan art without the totem pole.
This has been named "Everyone's Grandfather".

In 2005 the University of Alaska Museum of the North opened its new, with a view to the modernistic future, wing, which doubled the size of the museum facilities. The design (by architect Joan Soranno) is meant to convey a sense of Alaska, evoking images of alpine ridges, glaciers and a diving whale's tail. OK!
Before we came to Alaska and traveling through the State, we were often told to be sure and visit the Museum of the North in Fairbanks if nothing else. This museum has become known as the premier repository for artifacts and specimens collected in Alaska and a leader in northern natural and cultural history research. There are 3 main areas of art: Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery from ancient ivory carvings to contemporary sculpture; Gallery of Alaska focuses on people, wildlife, geography and history of each of Alaska's five major geographic regions; and Alaska Classics presenting historical paintings from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries.

Museum of the North is well worth your time spent there. We visited the museum with the Funks and I believe we can say all four of us enjoyed the visit and were very glad we went.

BBFN, Karen and Don