Art Beat: A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Art and beauty are all around us.

As Alaskans, we endure unique hardships while enjoying our own kind of luxuries. It’s a different way of life up here, and that fact alone is enough to give us plenty of common ground.

If you throw art into the mix, it makes it a whole lot easier to share inspiration and ideas, express complex emotions, and connect with the people around you. That’s why many people across many miles across the Mat-Su Valley and surrounding state have been etching their own colorful marks on that big canvas we call life.

I’ve talked to local creative people across countless mediums and countless walks of life as a reporter. In this last year alone, I’ve spanned across multiple genres of musicians, plenty of painters with their own styles and techniques, various vendors craftily exemplifying how to make one’s wares stand out, and everyone else in-between.

Since 2022 will be here before we know it, I’d like to share some of the highlights from 2021 conversations about local creativity. Each time we wake up in the Valley, we have a chance to make it a neighborly day for beauty.

“I love the Alaska music scene. I think there’s an originality here. I tell people all the time that we’re different and we have to embrace that… You don’t understand it until you get here… I would like to see a lot of these young artists that are moving in the scene now get the recognition they deserve because they are talented, they are unbelievably talented. As Alaskans, we shouldn’t sleep on it… but eventually, we’re gonna make a big enough noise to where everybody can hear. It’s only a matter of time... I take pride in being an Alaskan artist, period. I very much celebrate what makes us different. Coming from the Valley specifically, it’s home. I speak my life. My life is Alaskan and Alaska is my backyard. That’s what I speak about.”

— Local hip-hop artist and AK Rhymefest founder, Devon Shaw

“I think it’s incredibly important. We don’t realize how much we’re missing until we’re locked up… Something so small as going out to a bar and having a band playing in the background. You don’t realize how much you miss that. I think the artists have an opportunity right now to bring more focus to what they do and what they offer.”

— MoonDog Media co-founder, Michael B. Dillon

“I think the art scene in Palmer and the Valley, in general, is really good… It’s amazing. Since I’ve been up here in Alaska, I’ve met sculptures, painters, fiber artists… There’s so many creative people.”

— local multimedia artist, Colleen Wake

“I am just always amazed at how many artists there are in the community, and I think Palmer has the reputation for being an arts destination… The first thing I did was get involved with the Valley Arts Alliance… I think it tries to be all-inclusive through the community. I think they’re just really great service. We’re just so fortunate to have that kind of energy and interest in wanting to promote art in the community and bringing people together. I just think that they’re a great asset.”

— local artist, Sandra Cook

“It’s remarkable how much talent that’s in the Valley per capita in my opinion...

The Valley is music over drama, like noone’s caring who’s getting the most money... We’re just all in this together... We’re all very supportive of each other. It’s like a family out there. I think open mics do help with our community being closer… Anytime there’s someone new, everyone gets super excited.”

—local musician, Justin McCain

“It’s huge. There’s a lot of talent here. I like to say there’s an artist in everybody… I remember one family, they were sitting at the very back table. We were just painting pottery that night… The whole family was there, and the father was painting on this plate, freehanded… It was stunning. I was like, ‘wow, are you an artist?’ His kids were like, ‘Dad!’ He was like a hard hat type guy. He goes, ‘I didn’t even know I can do this either.’”

— The Art Cafe owner, Barb Stigen

“I am thrilled by the amount of talent that’s in the Valley. It would be wonderful to see a place where we could be together, and feed off each other, and grow… Theatre is incredible here. COVID has gotten in the way of most of these things, but it’s not forever.”

— local painter, Nancy Angelini

“I’m a little blown away by the Valley music scene… The people, it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of, ‘me, me, me’ attitude about the music here. It’s all about us, and that’s exciting to me; and there’s some of the best musicians I’ve ever seen in my life out here in the Valley.”

— Palmer blues musician, Darren Smith

“Well, art’s huge. We’re always encountering art no matter what we look at… It’s all about having a vision and then bringing that vision to fruition. It’s like thinking out loud and making thinking visible. People call it a language, but it’s even more than that. It’s like the basic, fundamental thing. You put something in a child’s hands and they’ll start making marks. You play music for a toddler and they’ll dance and that’s without them ever seeing dance. So, art’s everywhere and it’s everything and it’s hugely important.”

— Mat-Su College art professor, Dr. Felicia Desimini

“Alaska as a whole is home to some of the most accomplished writers in the nation, if not the world. I was fortunate enough to study under, attend workshops and readings by, or know several of them, including John Morgan, Natalie Kusz, Anne Caston, Nancy Lord; Peggy Shumaker, and Sherry Simpson. Cynthia Ritchie and I are trail friends and ultra-runners. This state, and the Valley, is remarkably blessed with an abundance of creative writers in all genres, who are craftspeople and very dedicated to literature and its pursuit. I feel honored to be a part of a rich culture of writing and craft and literary study that has largely taken place here at home.”

— local writer, Michele Harmeling

“It’s people’s creative juices flowing and it’s amazing… with the different variety of arts in the community and bringing them together. It’s a nice, unifying thing.”

— Palmer painter, Jerry Kelly

“I love the Valleys local talent. I just wish more people knew how much more fun we can have out here… People are hungry for entertainment and we have all the things they need.”

— Local comedian Sabrina Speers

“I think we need it now more than ever really… We’re all in this Valley together.”

— Valley Arts Alliance Executive Director, Carmen Summerfield

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com