Solo exhibition opens Dec. 6 at Alaska State Museum in Juneau

Sharing the World I Know is a new solo exhibition featuring quilt works by Fairbanks art quilter Ree Nancarrow. It opens at the Alaska State Museum on December 6.

Exhibit Opening

Friday, December 6, 4:30–7:00 pm

Lecture

Saturday, December 7 at noon in the APK Lecture Hall, Alaska State Museum

For 50 years, Nancarrow watched a small tundra pond outside her window called Deneki Lakes. She tracked the shifting habitat at the lake as the water level dropped over time. Fewer species live there now. 

In 2010, Nancarrow started working with scientists through a program called In a Time of Change, which supports collaboration across the environmental arts, humanities, and sciences in Alaska. She explains how this collaboration informed her work: “The knowledge and deeper understanding of the natural world gained from working with these scientists has changed how I see the world, and how I describe it visually. That knowledge and concern for the world I live in led me to tell stories of climate change such as wildland fire, permafrost melt, development of greenhouse gases, bark beetle infestations, and creation of methane bubbles.”

She makes her quilts with custom-printed fabric. The fabric features images and designs she has collected and created over her art career. She sews them together and quilts each piece with intricate designs, enhancing their rich imagery and detail.

Sharing the World I Know opens Friday, December 6, 4:30 – 7:00 pm. Ree will give a talk about her work on Saturday, December 7 at noon in the APK Lecture Hall. Both events are free.

The exhibit runs through March 15, 2025.

Ree is one of six artists selected for the Alaska State Museum 2024–2026 Solo Artist Exhibition Series, along with artists Myesha Callahan Freet, Shgendootan George, Joel Isaak Łiq’a yes, Golga Oscar, and Tamara Wilson.

Ree will be displaying the following 20 quilts at the solo exhibition.

• Inner Light (new)

• Salmon in the Trees (new)

• Spruce Bark Beetles

• Methane Bubbles 3

• Mountain Tapestry

• Dwarf Birch, Light

• Denali Weather: 100 Years

• Permafrost Melt in the Boreal Forest

• Advancing Destruction

• Polychrome Slide

• Seasons of Denali

• Caribou Migration 2 (new)

• Ancient Dwellers (new)

• Dusk (new)

• Signs of Danger (new)

• Change at Deneki Lakes (new)

• Forest Microbes

• Habitat Loss, Plumage Mismatch

• One Spruce

• High Mountain Storm

Ancient Dwellers

45" h x 62.4" w

2024

Fiber Art Now coverage of the Denali climate history collaboration

As previously noted, Ree unveiled a new quilt in August as part of a collaboration celebrating 100 years of weather data at Denali National Park.

Details about this work and the August event is covered in a new article in Fiber Art Now: Art Meets Science: Celebrating 100 Years of Climate Observation in Denali National Park.

Pam Sousanes, the lead scientist behind this initiative, wanted to make the centennial milestone something that would not only highlight Denali’s scientific contributions but also reach a broader audience. “Celebrating 100 years of climate observations at Denali is a big deal, and I wanted to make the event memorable,” Sousanes explained. With support from a generous grant from Alaska Geographic, she sought out an artist who could translate the raw data into something more tangible and impactful for the public. Through a recommendation from her colleague, she found Ree Nancarrow, whose quilt work on a wildlife study had already made a lasting impression. Nancarrow’s ability to turn scientific data into compelling visual narratives made her a perfect fit for this project.

Ree (holding microphone) and other panelists at the Celebrating 100 Years of Denali Weather Climate Change Perspectives artist panel, August 23, 2024.

See more photos and read the full article at Fiber Art Now.

Ree featured as spotlight artist on Create Whimsy

Ree was interviewed as a spotlight artist in September 2024 by Create Whimsy. The interview delves into Ree's history, and her creative process.

"I am an improvisor on many levels. I took classes from Nancy Crow in the 1990‘s and learned to work improvisationally with fabric, cutting and sewing without rulers and templates. I still use this approach to construction. I produced very large abstract pieces working that way until 2006, when I was accepted as an Artist in Residence at Denali National Park. I spent my two weeks in Denali Park doing very representational drawings which then became very important images in subsequent work. I work with units that I mix and combine as I develop a piece.This allows me to make major changes in the piece right up until the very end if I want to."

Read the full interview at Create Whimsy.