Lynn Larsen’s paintings on display at Bunnell for the month of September express her feelings about the mountains in the Brooks Range and Arctic Alaska. Larsen shared this personal reflective composition with listeners at the event at Bunnell on Saturday and vocally shared it again for KBBI:
“Why do I come here again and again? There is peace, yet the mountains feel so forceful that they almost overwhelm you with their emanating energy, such a force that it shoves against you, making the mountains appear more alive than the nearby plover or the yellow Arnica or the occasional caribou. What is this force so calm yet powerful? Is it the feeling of being able to see time? I sometimes wonder if painting these mountains is my way of trying to understand time, not with my brain, but with my whole being. In my paintings, I have tried to be true to the land's geological story, showing the layers and shapes of rocks as they exist today, but the geological history, dating of layers, push of plates, classifying of rocks and minerals, is too linear and understanding and does not capture the experience of sitting before a mountain and looking all time feels present when silently looking at a mountain, all past and all future become one in the moment. Will I ever be able to show the geological history, the linear history, and simultaneously, this feeling that takes one to another place and feels like all is present.”
After her comments, former Arctic guide Ron Yarnell also provided comments on his experience starting with his first visits to Alaska. He initially came up to work along the valley highway in 1969 while attending the forestry school at the University of Washington. This department is currently called “the school of environmental and forest sciences.” Prior to oil and gas development on Alaska’s North Slope, few road projects were fully implemented in the state. Many more specific contextual details can be found in a historic road overview prepared by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in 2014. Though there is no road in Alaska officially titled “the Valley Highway” this likely refers to what is now the Glenn Highway, the route through the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
Larsen also provided details of his own history in the Arctic, Brook Range and Northern River guiding through the 1970’s, pre-oil development and various organizations whose assistance helped establish environmental stability and security.
“One of the things that I thought was that I feel is so special about the Arctic Refuge is the idea that you can hike or paddle or float across, you know, through the mountains and then across the coastal plain and then spend some time on the Delta, any of those deltas, there's like none was talking. There's all kinds of loons and cranes and just all kinds of shorebirds on the deltas and the delta, some of the deltas are spectacular. The Aichilik Delta is small, but it's really packed. I mean, it's just got so much to offer.”
For clarity, the Aichilik Delta is located in the North Slope Borough of Alaska and empties into the Beaufort Sea. Larsen referred to spring details of the Delta in the late 1970’s and imagery of coastal ice pack and polar bear habitat, which has since changed. Larsen completed his comments by discussing potential roles from Alaskan congressional leaders and what they, particularly Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, may be able to contribute to assisting preservation of the environment in northern regions of Alaska.
Homer local Nancy Lord introduced the Saturday presentation by expressing her role as chair of the advocacy committee with Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges. She expressed that the refuge system is challenged by layoffs and financial freezes impacted by public lands given the current national political situation and need for support. Other local representatives with the organization are Marilyn Sigmon, president of the organization and Poppy Benson, chair of the outreach committee who are both currently on a trip out of the Dutch Harbor/ Aleutian region of Alaska but delayed due to weather conditions. For more information on Friends of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, visit their website at: https://alaskarefugefriends.org/. This site will share what they sponsor and support statewide and will provide details on how to support the organization directly.
