Coastal Alaska

Mystique and Metaphor

As the frozen landscape of the far north begins to thaw each spring, a wonder of nature unfolds along the tidal flats of coastal Alaska and the Copper River Delta. The shorelines shimmer with millions of migrating birds feeding and resting before their final flight to the arctic. What migrates to and from this vast delta is the catalyst that drew our creative group together. A poet, a painter, photographers, and naturalists—each came to listen and reflect. We watched as hundreds of bald eagles, thousands of sandpipers, moose, bear and sea otters live their lives. We heard the crack and crash of glacial ice pounding into the sea, while a short distance away we walked into a dense temperate rain forest. Each evening, over homemade halibut-corn chowder and seared sea scallops, our conversations drifted into the art of finding things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete—attentive to being open to the undeclared beauty that awaits discovery.

Coastal Alaska - Mystique and Metaphor is an exhibition conceived by Krista Elrick and Andrea J. Sharon, the two leaders of this creative adventure that took place in May 2009. Presented are the photographs from this unique experience.

In Rene Hales’s (pbase.com/halesr) images we observe how her sharp eyes and intuitive compositions transform details into dreamlike abstractions. Alan MacKellar’s (pbase.com/alan099) photographs are made with raptor-like precision; catching his subjects exactly the way he wanted them—so different from his unexpected and emotion-filled poems. As an accomplished painter, Signe Stuart (signestuart.net), photographed moments that do not last, and patterns that accept the natural cycle of growth and decay. Kay Threlkeld made the one photograph that all of us wished we had. With her decades of wilderness experiences, Andrea J. Sharon (light-prints.com) created stunning color images that honor the protection of the land and its wildlife. Krista Elrick’s (kristaelrick.com) mysterious black and white photographs remind us how fragile America’s far north really is.