Capturing denali on canvas

Frontiersman

Artist James Havens is used to taking Alaska's beauty and portraying it on canvas through the medium of painting, but his latest project was a tall order, quite literally.

Havens, a 1986 Wasilla High School graduate, is finishing up two paintings at Grande Denali Lodge at Denali National Park. Like the park itself, the paintings are enormous - one is 17 feet by 10 feet in size, while the other is 10 feet by four feet. Both capture the historical side of the much-visited area.

“It's definitely the biggest project I've ever worked on. It's gigantic,” Havens said. “I've been working on the project since June, and I'm just getting ready to finish it up. It's been a wonderful summer. My family has come up and we've enjoyed being up here.”

Because the murals are located within the lodge, Havens said tourists have felt like they had a hand in the creation.

“One is in the dining room, so they come in and watch me paint and comment on it,” he said.

Havens and the owners of the lodge have talked about the murals for years, and Havens said he's just glad it finally became a reality.

“I'm associated with one of the owners, and we worked together on the project. He'd draw me sketches of what he wanted to see, and we came up with these two,” Havens said.

The larger mural depicts two gold miners on the Nenana River with a background of peaks from the Cantwell and Denali areas. Within the painting are many of the artifacts hanging around the lodge, including a 1905 Yukon Skow Freight Hauler.

“The lodge is filled with these artifacts, and it worked to include them in the paintings,” Havens said. “There is so much history contained within the lodge that I wanted to put that history in the

paintings.”

The smaller painting depicts the Savage River Valley (located at Mile 15 Denali Park Road), with a view of the Valley looking north.

Lodge officials said they are happy with the paintings, and see them as a great addition to the lodge. Because of the historical nature of the paintings, they also help the serve as educational pieces about Alaska.

“We are privileged to have such a talented artist painting these murals,” said Carl Mittleman, vice president of operations for ARAMARK Alaska. “We see this as a long-term addition to the Grande Denali Lodge and the subject matter fits seamlessly with our effort to educate travelers about the history of Denali.”

The painting that depicts gold prospectors has a personal twist for Havens.

“I've got a friend who is a contractor and I incorporated his face into the face of the prospector,” Havens said. “When he saw it, he was shocked. I brought him right into the painting.”

Havens said the project has inspired him to work on larger canvasses in the future. He is a full-time artist, and he credits his high school art teacher, Jackie Schmidt, with giving him the inspiration to make art a career.

“I had a wonderful teacher who encouraged me and introduced me to painting on a large scale,” Havens said. “She really got me interested in art, and it's gone from there.”

Havens left Wasilla for the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., where he pursued a career in visual arts. Since then, he has been an award-winning illustrator and an accomplished painter. He still does some graphic design work professionally, but his heart is with

painting.

“It's great to be able to do something you love as a career,” he said.

Earlier this year, he painted a piece for the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, which was sold as a fund-raiser for the Wasilla museum. It depicted a historical Bush plane and Cook Inlet.