Museum Launches First Online Art Exhibit

Raptora Borealis: Alaska’s Birds of Prey,

Art by Kevin Crowley

Click on title to view full exhibit.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdez, Alaska, August 6, 2020 – The Valdez Museum & Historical Archive is pleased to announce the opening of its first online exhibition, Raptora Borealis: Alaska’s Birds of Prey, Art by Kevin Crowley. This temporary fine art exhibit was planned by the Valdez Museum as a summer 2020 attraction, but has undergone reformatting in the wake of a delayed opening and reduced travel resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. By presenting Crowley’s artwork in an online format, VMHA hopes to reach a broader audience so visitors to the Museum website can appreciate Crowley’s works in the safe environment of their own homes. Raptora Borealis combines natural history with fine art, showcasing the artist’s woodcut prints of the birds of America’s northern latitudes. The exhibit explores the birds of prey of Alaska and their connections to folklore, traditions, historical and scientific lore.

Born in Detroit, Crowley first came to Alaska in 1999 to work as a teacher in a remote village on the Lower Yukon River. There he met and worked with the pastel artist and subsistence fisherman, Jon Barbar, who had a strong influence on his work. Crowley has since traveled and lived in Asia, painting, drawing and spending as much time in the mountains as possible. Never having taken an art class past the high school level, Crowley paid for his university schooling by working as a tattoo artist around the Detroit area and overseas, using a style that informs his artwork. Currently Crowley is an intensive-needs special education teacher with the Anchorage School District.

Raptora Borealis debuted on August 1, 2020.

Exhibit sponsored in part by Copper Valley Electric Community Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

For More Information Contact:

Executive Director Patricia Relay                                                  

Tel. 907-835-2764, Email: prelay@valdezmuseum.org