Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum awarded grant from Museums Alaska
NOME, AK – The Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum has been awarded a grant from Museums Alaska in the amount of $6,800 to purchase one hundred tiny artworks from the series Hair Portraits by Sonya Kelliher-Combs of Anchorage and an original painting titled In Vain He Chases Ravens by Ryder Erickson of Unalakleet. The grant comes from the Art Acquisition Fund, one of three funds established by Museums Alaska, to benefit museums, cultural centers and artists across the state. AAF awards are supported by the Rasmuson Foundation.
Hair Portraits are from a new series of artwork called The Body that Sonya Kelliher-Combs began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each Hair Portrait is made of acrylic polymer, paper, human hair, and nylon thread. Kelliher-Combs began Hair Portraits on March 13, 2020, the day after the first case of COVID-19 appeared in the state of Alaska. She began collecting her hair every time she took a shower and each portrait includes stitched hair from a single day. Kelliher-Combs states a friend of hers cut her hair because she was losing so much of it, which she attributed to the stress of the pandemic. In this way, the stitched hair speaks to the emotional and physical impact of the pandemic on the body. Kelliher-Combs has created over 200 Hair Portraits and plans to continue to make them until a cure is found for COVID-19.
In Vain He Chases Ravens is an acrylic painting on canvas executed in bold tones of blue, yellow and black. A central band of bright yellow and orange depicts a sunset that is framed above and below by swaths of brilliant blue sky and ocean. The whites of the clouds are reflected in the water below. In the foreground, a Siberian husky leaps at a raven flying just beyond his reach. Artist Ryder Erickson explains, “This is a painting of our dog Kavik, who is my wife Annette’s favorite dog. Even though Kavik knows the ravens are too far away and too fast to catch, he still loves to try and play with them.”
Visitors can explore the new artwork in person starting in August at the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum. Hair Portraits will also be shown in the exhibition Stronger Together: Bering Strait Communities Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic opening at the museum later this year.