Erik's world

Valley Life editor

The rectangular pieces of paper are Erik Behnke's windows of life. Through these windows, people get to see inside Erik's mind. More importantly, they let his expressions to the rest of the world come out.

Behnke, who has Down syndrome and autism, has developed into a known artist in Alaska, despite not starting until seven years ago. While he rarely speaks, his art communicates for him, letting the world know he is a creative, colorful individual with clear goals and dreams.

"Art has helped him become a gracious young man. It's helped him pull out of his shell a bit," said Linda Thompson, Erik's mother. "At shows, people have come up behind him and watched him drawing over his shoulder. When he turns and looks up at them, they are like, 'A-ha.' They open up to him immediately."

Behnke was born in Palmer and attended Palmer High School from 1994 to 1997. He now lives in Homer with his mother, but regularly spends extended periods of time in the Valley. Earlier this month, Behnke was the only Alaskan selected for the juried VSA International Arts Festival in Washington, D.C. The VSA International Arts Festival is an annual event that celebrates artists with disabilities. Behnke, who carried the Alaska flag during the opening of the festival, was one of 210 artists selected from around the world. Two of his pieces were on display -- one in Union Station in Washington, D.C., and the other at Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf.

"This is an honor for both Erik and for Alaska," said Gene Dugan, co-director of Out North, an Alaska nonprofit that works with VSA. "Erik was the only Alaskan whose work was selected by the international jurors."

While in Washington, D.C., Behnke and his mother met with U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens, as well as Rep. Don Young, to talk about the arts, as well as difficulties those with disabilities experience in Alaska. They also met artists from around the world, communicating through the common bond of art.

"There were people doing all forms of art, and they all had a wide range of disabilities," Thompson said. "The entire trip was exciting. Erik got to see so many things he never would have seen otherwise. He was most intrigued by the Metro."

Behnke grew up in Bush Alaska, soaking up the rural scenes he encountered each day. It was during those times that he was essentially teaching himself about art, without any formal -- or informal, for that matter -- guidance on the subject. From 1994 through 1997, Behnke attended Palmer High School, where he painted some of the walls with the help of the PHS staff.

"He was teaching himself line, shape, form, color, design. We didn't even realize that he was teaching himself," Thompson said.

It was a year later, however, when Behnke's family discovered the artistic talent in Erik. After Thompson got a job teaching in the Copper River area, a teacher's aide, Linda Rutledge, noticed Erik's potential. She and Thompson fostered Erik's creative spirit with art books, tracing paper, drawing paper and ink pens. It was the beginning of a whole new Erik.

"I had a conference in Palmer with one of Erik's teachers and they told me that they'd probably have a job for him folding towels and things like that, and I left that meeting so depressed because I wanted so much more for this kid," Thompson said. "We knew he had talent in art, so we decided to go for it."

They first developed a portfolio of 50 original works, which they took to Anchorage-area art galleries. One, Aurora Fine Arts, picked up his portfolio and immediately started displaying and selling his art.

"I just fell apart when they told me they wanted to be the first gallery to introduce Erik to the rest of the world," Thompson said. "And it's only gotten better from there."

On all of his work, Behnke uses a detailed background comprised of tiny colored blocks to start. Then, he often turns to animals as his main subjects, continuing with his intricate coloring techniques and patterns.

Behnke's talents have not gone unnoticed. Since his work debuted at Aurora Fine Art, his career has blossomed. In 2001, he was selected as the Special Olympic World Winter Games artist -- the games were part of the largest sporting event ever held in Alaska.

Since then, Behnke's art has been displayed in galleries around Alaska, and locally at Fireside Books in downtown Palmer. While Behnke and his mother live in Homer now, he spends a great deal of time in the Valley -- both in Palmer, where he and his mother own a home, and on his grandmother Peggy's homestead in the Meadow Lakes area, where she has lived since the 1950s.

He regularly sets up shows at the Girdwood Forest Fair, the Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival, the Homer Street Fair and other festivals around Alaska.