Salmon transform as they make their way up Juneau\u2019s skyline. A miner painted on black velvet turns away to urinate against the wall. An empty chair commemorates John Tanaka, the valedictorian who missed graduation at Juneau Douglas High School when he, along with more than 50 other Japanese-Americans, was forced to move to a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II.<\/p>\n
Juneau\u2019s full of interesting public art, and a new Juneau Arts and Humanities Council tour guided by local artists aims to help visitors and locals alike get more familiar with it.<\/p>\n
I walked downtown Juneau with local guitarist and guide Dan Hopson soon after the tours began on May 14. Word still needs to spread, Hopson said \u2013 he\u2019s only had one paying client so far, a travel writer visiting from the Lower 48.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the public art in Juneau is so representative of all the layers of culture and ethnicity in the town,\u201d Hopson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful, wonderful cross section slice of life and history in Juneau.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are 32 official stops on the Art Walk, but there are more you can add. Hopson, a retired biologist, has lived in Juneau for 45 years but is still wowed by the new things he\u2019s learning as he familiarizes himself with the art on the tour, he said.<\/p>\n
Much of Juneau\u2019s art lends itself to discussion of local history, as well. For example, Ed Way\u2019s Hard Rock Miner statue in Marine Park can spur discussion of how mining literally changed Juneau\u2019s landscape. (That topic is also a focus of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum\u2019s historic walking tours. Find out more about them at the end of this article.) Guides also customize the art walk to their clients. Some people are more interested in learning about formline art; others might be more interested in seeing working artists or totem poles (Wasgo Totem, or Old Witch Totem in the State Office Building dates back to 1880). Maybe it\u2019s a rainy day and you\u2019re over 21, so you spend a little longer at the (very interesting, once I actually stopped to look at it) painting on black velvet of miners at the Triangle Bar. (It\u2019s not an official stop, though it is listed as \u201cnotable.\u201d)<\/p>\n
First off, though, is Dan DeRoux\u2019s 1986 mural, \u201cAncon,\u201d a ship whose passengers are members of many of Juneau\u2019s long-time families; Hopson pointed some out for us. Then there\u2019s \u201cTransfiguration,\u201d the stained glass work by Bruce Elliot on the fourth floor library entrance, Ray Peck\u2019s multi-story \u201cTraditional and Modern Ways of Fishing\u201d metal wall sculpture, and two other installations, and that\u2019s all just in the downtown library and parking garage building.<\/p>\n
One of the stops on the tour is Native arts co-op Haa Shag\u00f3on, where Rudolph M. Isturis (\u201cyou spell my name H-A-N-D-S-O-M-E,\u201d he joked) was engraving formline designs onto silver lined with copper just inside the entrance.<\/p>\n
We also wandered into the Walter Soboleff Building, where Leonilei Abbott told us about her mother, renowned elder Helen Watkins, who had a wealth of knowledge about the natural world and who \u201cwalked into the forest\u201d earlier this year. In a room next to the clan house, Lily Hope and Ricky Tagaban wove a robe.<\/p>\n
The tour may also stop at other galleries with working artists, like Sketch (M.K. MacNaughton) and Trickster Gallery (Rico and Crystal Worl) but doesn\u2019t focus on commercial establishments, Hopson said.<\/p>\n
Later, we stood in front of \u201cFrom the Stream of History,\u201d a mural by Arnie Weimer at Third and Franklin Streets. Standing and looking at it, I saw things I hadn\u2019t before \u2014 a person who looked familiar, the shadows cast by a bust, a bird, and many other figures outside the \u201choles\u201d in the wall serving as portals into Juneau\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really absorb a lot of feeling of what Juneau\u2019s about,\u201d Hopson said.<\/p>\n
Along with Hopson, local actor Christina Apathy will guide tours when she returns from travels and artist Amanda Filori will fill in at times, said JAHC executive director Nancy DeCherney.<\/p>\n
The tours begin at the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau kiosk in Marine Park and finish at the JAHC, lasting about 2\u00bd hours at their full length. They begin at 1 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and will run until Sept. 15. They cost $20 per person.<\/p>\n
Those who want to guide themselves can print the map out at https:\/\/juneauarts.wordpress.com\/art-walk-map\/ but I definitely had more fun and learned more walking around with Hopson than I would have on my own.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more stuff than you would think,\u201d DeCherney said. \u201cIt\u2019s just really interesting when you start to think about it \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of really fun, quirky artwork in this town.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Juneau-Douglas City Museum\u2019s historic downtown walking tours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. A tour at the same time on Saturday focuses on \u201clocal heroes.\u201d Find out more here: http:\/\/bit.ly\/1OGkchA.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact Capital City Weekly editor Mary Catharine Martin at maryc.martin@capweek.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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