Museum of the North

Once i was in Fairbanks for a few days after my friends there had moved away. I was taking some pictures for a story on one of the military bases and it was raining every day, so one of those days i decided to look at the new art museum.

A very nice bronze polar bear that shares a lot of the same curves as the building. Coincidence? I wonder if the building was designed to echo Native design principles.

The University of Fairbanks Museum of the North is very impressive for it's size, not to mention the size of the city. It's divided into two sections. The bottom floor is devoted to natural and cultural history while the top floor exhibits art of the North. The building itself is also visually interesting and fun to explore. It was nice for me to see so much modern Native art, which i like, made for art's sake instead of the serving the purpose of making a living selling items in "tourist" galleries. I'd recommend a visit to the museum as one of the top things to do in Fairbanks

Bullet shells stuffed with bones.

A modern expression following the traditional design rules of Native wood carving.

Much of the art up here is strongly tied to history and the environment.

An old relic of bone carving on top compared to a modern carving on the bottom. By the way, that bottom piece contains granite and seal whiskers.

A crazy old ivory calendar! I guess you can make anything out of ivory....

A partially preserved baby mammoth and a painting from upstairs.

Mammoths aren't the only things that were preserved in the permafrost. Here's a big ox that use to roam around up here.

When i was in this room a rather ill educated woman from New Jersey (who stepped out of one of those Princess Cruise buses) walked over to this large specimen of quartz. She excitedly exclaimed to her friends "Look! They've got ice!!" Then she started to feel it and denying all her sensory informaion, said "This is strange ice, it's not cold at all!" Just one more reason i'm never going on one of those cruises.