EARTH, FIRE AND FIBRE XXVII

ON VIEW SEPT. 4, 2009 - JAN. 3, 2010

Earth, Fire and Fibre XXVII opens with a First Friday reception 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 4. The Anchorage Museum's biennial craft exhibition is one of the state's longest running juried exhibitions. It showcases Alaska artists working with materials such as clay, glass, metal or wood. Selected artworks often challenge the usual preconceptions, blurring the lines between art and craft.

Fairbanks artist Margo Klass won the $1,000 Juror's Choice Award for a series of books hand-made through the pochair process, a meticulous method in which a series of stencils is used to create a print.

Entries included 313 works of art from 113 Alaska artists. For the exhibition, juror Patricia Watkinson selected 82 works from 50 artists. Watkinson is the former executive director of Pilchuck Glass School. She has served as a reviewer for many state and national art agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts.

"The intimacy and innate communication of the handmade object is something rare in our modern lives," Watkinson wrote. "It is why the crafts, however broadly they are defined and however keenly debated, continue to maintain their meaning for artist and viewer alike."

After it closes in Anchorage, Earth, Fire and Fibre will tour the state for one year. This exhibition is funded in part by a grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

  • Margo Klass, Fairbanks, body of work in porcelain, pochair, coptic binding, $1,000 Juror's Choice Award
  • Anne Lingener-Reece, Anchorage, body of work in silver, $500 award
  • Diane Melms, body of work in textiles, $500 award
  • Rika Mouw, Homer, body of work in multi-media, $500 award
  • Paula Rasmus-Dede, Chugiak, body of work in beads, $500 award
  • Wendy Smith-Wood, Sutton, River Pebble Stole, Arashi shibori, China silk, $500 award
  • Rebecca Starry, Anchorage, body of work in multi-media, $500 award
Wendy Smith-Wood, River Pebble Stole