The Alaska State Museum Shows Recent Paintings by Constance Baltuck

Written by David Damerval Wednesday, 07 December 2011 23:28

Juneau, Alaska.- The Alaska State Museum is proud to present " Constance Baltuck , a Solo Exhibition" on view at the museum through January 14th 2012. Constance Baltuck came to Juneau in December 1981, where she has been painting and showing her work ever since. In this current exhibit, she presents landscapes and points of interest in the landscape from in and around Juneau, as well as Kobuk Valley National Park near Kotzebue, where she spent an artist-in-residency this past August. Working in watercolors, pastels, oils, and her favorite of late — acrylics, Baltuck paints canvases of all sizes, ranging up to as large as 36 x 48 inches. “When I paint landscapes, I feel free to play around with my subjects, color, and composition,” she says. In fact, Baltuck’s paintings are all about color—the purples, oranges, and deep blues that infuse the predominant grey and white of Southeast Alaska.

Exploring side paths and byways, always moving forward but not necessarily in a straight line, Baltuck distills her past year art, travel, and life experiences into one show. In her words: “It takes more than painting to create a show. It takes being out on the world, open to all its peaks and valleys, harvesting life’s scattered treasures, and wrestling them into something that sits handsomely on canvas.” Baltuck has been an Artist-in-the-Schools in Juneau and, in addition to her residency at Kobuk Valley, spent time as an artist-in-residence at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. She also “travels, gardens, dances the Tango, reads books, rearranges furniture, builds tiny houses, plays with words, and ponders the mystery of life.” And she’s been known to drink a glass of wine or two. Group and solo shows include The Orpheum, Annie Kaill’s, Juneau Arts & Humanities Council gallery, The Canvas, Ad Lib Gallery, and the Franklin Street Gallery at the Baranof Hotel. In addition to her solo exhibit, The Alaska State Museum recently selected for purchase two of her paintings for its permanent collection. She regards this as “one of the proudest moments of her art career.”


The Alaska State Museum was established on June 6, 1900, when an Act of Congress created the Historical Library and Museum for the District of Alaska. The purpose of the Museum was to collect, preserve and exhibit objects from the territory. Although the collection of artifacts and volumes grew rapidly, a permanent place to house and display materials was not found for 20 years. Initially, the collection was originally stored wherever space could be found, with no provision made for public access. In 1920, the collection of the Alaska Historical Museum was made available to the public in the Arctic Brotherhood Building in Juneau. In 1923, the Territory assumed responsibility for Museum operations and the Museum continued to acquire and display important historical objects, and also developed research, tour guide programs, and educational activities. By the mid-1940s, the collection had outgrown its space and the Museum could no longer adequately store and display its materials. Finally, in 1967, in honor of the centennial of the purchase of Alaska from Russia, the citizens of Juneau implemented a one percent sales tax to help fund the building of the current museum facility. Juneau subsequently turned over ownership and governance of the Museum to the State of Alaska. Since that time, the Museum's collections have grown from 5,500 to 27,000 objects.


The Alaska State Museum was accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1975 and was re-accredited in 1987, and again in 2001. Sheldon Jackson Museum was founded in 1888 to house an exceptional collection of Alaska Native ethnographic material, most of which had been gathered by Presbyterian missionary and General Agent of Education for Alaska, the Rev. Dr. Sheldon Jackson. In 1985, the state purchased the Sheldon Jackson Museum and now administers its collection of 6,000 objects. In 1972, the Museum's unique building -- the first concrete structure built in Alaska -- was added to the National Register of Historic Places . Until it was sold to the state, the Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka operated this facility. The fine art collection consists of approximately 1,800 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and sculptures. A watercolor by William Ellis made during Captain Cook’s exploration of Alaska in 1778 represents the earliest original image of Alaska in any collection in the state. Early engravings illustrate the exploration of Alaska. Rare watercolors from the Russian period depict Sitka, the former capital of Russian Alaska. The collection also includes works by Sydney Laurence and Eustace Ziegler , the most famous of Alaska’s landscapists. Rockwell Kent and Ilya Bolotowsky are among the nationally known artists in the collection who visited Alaska. Much of the collection reflects the Alaska State Museum’s efforts to keep pace with the development of contemporary art in the state since the 1970s. The museum often purchases work from in-house exhibits by Alaska artists. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.museums.state.ak.us

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