Art Beat: Growing in the ice

Hi, my name is Jacob Mann. I cover the art beat for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

Stories start in many different ways. This one’s going to be short and sweet. It started with kids running around in their Halloween costumes and ended with the ever creeping darkness imposed by Alaskan winters, with the bright prospect of turkey dinner and Christmas celebrations to come.

Like many Alaskans, the long and cold winter months with laughably few hours of daylight really has a way of wearing on my sanity. In fact, I’ve been dreading this since last spring. Around the same time I was picking out flowers for my garden, I was already stressed about the impending darkness.

Then COVID hit. And you all know the rest. Major concerts were cancelled, many road trip destinations were dashed, and countless dates have been put on hold to keep up with the social distancing.

I was sent out to Houston to cover the city’s up and coming Trunk or Treat event on Halloween. It was cold when I took off on the Parks and it didn’t get any warmer when I got there. That didn’t stop wave after wave of families from packing up their kids and hand warmers to enjoy Halloween the same way Alaskan do every year: working with what’s available with one of those actual, bonafide smiles on your face the whole time.

“You gotta do what you can so your kids can still have a childhood,” Houston Fire Chief Christian Hartley told me while I was out there pulling quotes from people.

He was right. And that was true about life in general with “everything going on” as people so often say nowadays. I learned that life doesn’t stop and wait for you to make things happen.

Alaskans across the state have figured out how to go on hikes, road trips and even made dates and other social gatherings work with the surrounding conditions, so why shouldn’t I? I’ve only lived here my whole life. You’d think I’d get with the program right?

Well, I’m over my end of summer sadness and even though it’s still technically autumn, my fleeting fall sadness as well. I’m ready for winter and reminding myself of all the good things that come with the bad. Sure it’s cold and dark, but there’s still plenty to do if you’ put on the right attitude for the day.

I recently interviewed a Big Lake artist named Nancy Jenkins. Toward the end of the interview, I asked her to share some advice for artists looking to get back into an old hobby. The second half of her answer can really resonate if you zoom out a bit.

She said, “Take classes, where you have other people there who can support you. That’s important. I think that’s one of the things that made it hard for me. I didn’t really have anybody around me who knew how to help me.”

After that, I asked her, “So, surround yourself around people with people that can help you improve?” and she said, “exactly.”

What’s my takeaway? Well, the way I see it, us humans are a social bunch of critters, even the most crotchety and isolated hermits who were socially distant before it was cool. We all have things that make our brain light up and we all have things that make us want to get out of bed in the morning.

“I think recreating in the cold just requires a little more preparation... I think it just takes a little bit more foresight… That said, recreating in the winter, it’s a pretty special time. I think snow can be really dreamy sometimes. I think it can be very special,” Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers Executive Director Alida van Almelo told me during an phone interview about outdoor recreation in the winter.

There’s a lot of people out there who like the same stuff as you, a lot more than you realize. I say grow in the ice. When I looked at my frozen roses in my frosty, white garden today, I thought they looked rather pretty like that. While these roses may not come back next year, I have a strong and nutrient rich spot where my Tiger Lilies grow, and I know they’ll be back next year; because life doesn’t stop in the winter, it just changes and prepares you for the rest of the year.

I’ll tie this one up with a Bible verse, Proverbs 27:17 (KJV), “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

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