Curtis W. Wagner Jr. final show is July 5-Aug. 9

TALKEETNA — The Denali Arts Council will host the final showing of oil paintings and pencil sketches by Curt W. Wagner from July 5 to Aug. 5 at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar.

An opening reception and Slide Show Presentation is from 5 to 7 p.m., July 5, at the hangar.

Along with Wagner’s work and a slide show presentation of his life and works, the art opening will include a book signing by Ken Marsh, author of “Alaska Cache: The work of Alaskan Artist Curt W. Wagner Jr., A Local Legacy of Beauty and Life Beneath the Mountain.”

Wagner, an Alaska-born artist, was tutored by Fairbanks artist Ted Lambert, who was instrumental in getting him accepted into the American Academy of Art in Chicago.

Wagner returned to Alaska to pursue his dream of painting Mt. McKinley and homesteading in Trapper Creek.

Along with a wide array of works of art, Wagner also painted a 5-foot-by-12-foot oil painting, which is prominently displayed at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Wagner was one of the artists featured in the Alaska Geographic “Painting Alaska” and We Alaskans, Volume II.

He lived out his 87th year in Talkeetna. In spite of diminishing eyesight, Wagner’s final art pieces included a mural painted on his studio wall and a 5-by-10-foot seascape. Anticipating his last painting of Mt. McKinley, he stretched and primed a 5-by-12-foot canvas, which remains unfinished.

For more information, contact 733-7929, or info@denaliartscouncil.org.