Anchorage Museum

At the Anchorage Museum, creativity isn’t just something we celebrate; it’s something we live. Staff recently gathered in Seed Lab to admire an in-house exhibition of artworks made by our colleagues. The exhibition showcased our team's talent, passion, and diverse perspectives, from painting to sculpture, photography to fiber arts. Moments like these remind us that creativity fuels not only what we do but who we are—as individuals and as a museum community. How does your workplace foster creativity and connection? #AnchorageMuseum #SeedLab #CreativeCommunity #MuseumLife

The holiday are almost here, and the Anchorage Museum Store has curated gift boxes available for those looking for a thoughtful gift filled with locally sourced goodies. This box, the Alaska Series, comes with a bar of chocolate from Chugach Chocolates, and a copy of Jula O'Malley's "The Whale and the Cupcake." Plus, customize your gift box by selecting three goods from local vendors. Featuring items from Barnacle Foods, Alaska Salt Co., and Sipping Streams Tea Company. Visit our holiday gift guide to purchase: https://loom.ly/U8l4m9I

Installing exhibitions involves a blend of meticulous planning, technical skill, and creative vision to bring a concept to life. The work typically involves a collaborative effort between several departments, each contributing expertise to ensure the exhibition's success. The seamless coordination of these efforts ensures that museum exhibitions are visually compelling and intellectually engaging, providing visitors with meaningful experiences. In “Frozen Forms,” repeating and interlocking geometric shapes made from cardboard are transformed into large-scale sculptures that evoke ice crystal formations in snow: stellar dendrite, needle, and capped column. This installation was created in collaboration with the design studio Collective Paper Aesthetics, based in the Netherlands. Collective Paper Aesthetics designs and develops audience engagement materials and STEAM education resources in the form of pop-up architecture, offering a unique experience merging mathematical expertise, hands-on engineering, and universal design as placemaking. "Frozen Forms" is on view in the museum's Patricia B. Wolf Family Galleries. #FrozenForms #CollectivePaperAesthetics #MuseumWork #PoPUpArchitecture #STEAMByDesign

"We're the next generation. We need to focus on what we can do and how we can help." Teens are critical to the climate conversation. The Anchorage Museum’s Teen Climate Communicators are Anchorage-area 9th-12th-grade students passionate about creatively exploring climate and climate action. Teens gather over the course of a year to learn and investigate using museum artworks, objects, and resources. They have access to museum professionals and community experts, earn school credits and volunteer hours (great for resumes and college applications), develop critical thinking skills, and collaboratively create an installation that will be on view in the museum. Through memes, journal entries, collages, images, and text, #TeenClimateCommunicators help voice their generation’s thoughts about #ClimateChangeInTheArctic. Video highlights the 2023 cohort.

It took many hands to assemble the hundreds of recycled cardboard forms that create the giant ice crystal-inspired sculptures in the exhibition "Frozen Forms." This type and scale installation shows how museums can leverage existing spaces and expertise to create meaningful, attractive, and green experiences for their members and new visitors. In this case, it's an engaging play and learning space. This installation was created in collaboration with the design studio Collective Paper Aesthetics based in the Netherlands. Their “pop-up architecture” has been displayed worldwide, inviting children and adults to challenge themselves with engineering and creativity. #FrozenForms is made in partnership with #CollectivePaperAesthetics and with support from #DutchCultureUSA #AtwoodFoundation #FirstNationalBankAlaska

As we approach Thanksgiving weekend, we thank you for engaging with us this year. We also thank our many members, creatives, volunteers, donors, and partners who help us continue to strive to be the best museum we can be for our community in the homeland of the Eklutna Dena’ina and beyond. The museum is closed today and will reopen at 10 a.m. tomorrow. We hope to see you then for our free Crafted in Alaska event.

Looking for a gift for someone at the office? Add a little art to their workspace with a glass paperweight featuring a design inspired by the artwork of Christi Belcourt. Shop this and more in our holiday gift guide: https://loom.ly/z8jnDeI

We may be closed on Mondays, but much is still happening behind the scenes with Anchorage Museum staff getting a primer on the recently opened exhibition “Tricksters & Sourdoughs: Humor and Identity in Alaska,” and our exhibitions team preparing to install “Frozen Forms,” a new exhibition that takes a playful look at snow and crystal geometry.

Happy Halloween from our spooktacular staff!

Our winter hours take effect today! Monday: Closed Tuesday – Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday: 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. The museum also offers extended hours on First Fridays, with free admission from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Browse our web calendar and plan your next visit: https://loom.ly/60y5t8A