Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941

1/25/12

The University of Alaska Museum of the North has installed a new pipeline super pig on its grounds.

The pig, donated to the museum’s ethnology and history collection by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, replaces a pig given to the museum in 1984.

“That older, mostly steel and rubber pig has been on exhibit in the museum’s yard since it came to us. It sits in a vertical position in full sunlight,” said collection manager Angela Linn. “The rubber components have severely degraded over the past few years and the bumper pieces have been falling apart, so we approached Alyeska to see if they had a spare pig ready to be decommissioned.”

A pig is a device inserted into a pipeline to clean it, separate products or dewater the line; to inspect the pipeline; and to perform other special duties, such as plugging isolated pipelines. The trans-Alaska pipeline system is “pigged” every eight days.

Alyeska agreed to donate a S.U.N. Engineering “Super Pig Hybrid-B” that was in operation from about 2007 until 2010. This version has cutting devices in a configuration of disks and cups, but was decommissioned after the company transitioned to an all-disc pig in 2011.

Getting such a piece into the collection means more than having the donor drop it off, Linn said. “After many months of organization, we identified a location and then designed, custom-fabricated and installed a saddle mount.”

On Dec. 6, 2011, after more than two years of coordination, the pig was delivered.

The story of natural resource extraction is a part of Alaska’s history, Linn said. “The technology and equipment used through the entire process are a big part of telling that story.”

The comparison between the pig from the 1980s, which will be removed from exhibit this summer but preserved in an off-site facility, and the new super pig demonstrates the innovations in materials and technology that have improved efficiency in Alaska’s oil industry.

“This is one of the primary reasons we have research museums: for comparing and contrasting changes through time. Alyeska’s generous donation helps us tell this story in relation to the people of Alaska,” Linn said. “The ethnology and history collection depends on donations to expand the collection and the willingness of corporations such as Alyeska to pass along items to help us achieve our mission.”

Visitors can inspect the pipeline pig any time or day. Since it is too large to be curated inside, it is located on the northwest corner of the building, along the edge of the parking lot.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Angela Linn, ethnology and history collection manager, at 907-474-1828 or via email at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: museum.uaf.edu

NOTE TO EDITORS: Images are available for download www.uafnews.com.

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
1/13/12

The University of Alaska Museum of the North will host a free photo presentation Thursday, Jan. 19 from 6-8 p.m.

The event will feature the photographs of Piotr Naskrecki, including close-ups of insects, horseshoe crabs and other relic organisms with ties to the Jurassic Period. He will also sign copies of his books.

This event is part of the museum’s special exhibit, “Leggy! Live Spiders and Their Relatives,” showing Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call 907-474-7505 or visit the museum online at museum.uaf.edu.

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/museum/calendar/

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
1/12/12

Each semester for the past 30 years, Fairbanks school children have settled down in front of a docent to learn the secrets of the museum. The lessons they absorb from the collections and exhibits are a result of a legacy of teamwork between local teachers and the museum’s education staff.

Terry Dickey was the museum’s education director when the guided school tours program began in the spring of 1982.

“We met with teachers who helped us design topics that matched learning outcomes with classroom objectives,” Dickey said. “They knew that students learn in different ways and offered valuable suggestions about using hands-on objects, storytelling, and activities.”

After years of collaboration, the museum today features a core of volunteers who serve as docents. They are a major strength of the program, says Jennifer Arseneau, the museum’s education and public programs manager.

“These dedicated volunteers have a passion for learning and sharing the joy of discovery with kids,” she said. “It’s a real pleasure to work with them and see the unique assets each docent brings to the program. The interaction with multiple docents makes our program unique. Kids interact with several adults, all passionate about museums and discovery.”

People with a variety of interests and backgrounds have joined the team. All it takes is a willingness to commit to the museum and take part in one of two yearly training sessions. This week, the education department is preparing the next docent class, something school and community liaison Peggy Hetman says is vital to educating our community.

“We’re very fortunate to have the UA Museum of the North in our backyard,” Hetman said. “It’s the place to ask an expert and learn about Alaska’s diversity of people, animals, and land. Whether visiting with family, participating in Family Day programs or other special events, such as Halloween or the open house, the museum has something for everyone.”

More than 386 Fairbanksans have been museum docents, including Denali Elementary School principal Tim Doran, Amy Iutzi, director of the Alaska Adult Education Association, and CTC culinary arts program assistant professor Jennifer Jolis. Almost 72,000 elementary school students have participated in guided field trips since the program’s inception.

As part of the program’s outreach to the local school community, the museum is hosting an Educators’ Night on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 4-6 p.m. for teachers to explore the museum’s offerings and plan a school trip for their class. Pre-registration is required by Jan. 20.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Jennifer Arseneau, education and public programs manager, at 907-474-6948 or via email at [email protected], and Peggy Hetman, school and community liaison, at 907-474-5360 or via email at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: museum.uaf.edu

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Theresa Bakker

907-474-6941

1/6/12

The University of Alaska Museum of the North’s new special exhibit “Leggy! Live Spiders and Their Relatives” features diverse members of the phylum Arthropoda, creatures known for their many legs and their many relatives.

These creatures are the most numerous and adaptable on the planet, says entomology curator Derek Sikes. “Five hundred million years ago, the first animals with exoskeletons and hard parts appeared during the Cambrian Explosion, probably as a result of predation. In the oceans, there are maybe 50,000 species of arthropods, about as many as there are vertebrate species today; but on land, insects have almost hit the million mark.”

The exhibit will feature live spiders, tarantulas, centipedes, scorpions and more. There will also be a darkened gallery where visitors can enter the secret world of nocturnal insects, creatures that are most active in the dark.

Videos will show arthropod behaviors, such as spiders spinning webs and beetles searching for food. A close-up lair camera will let visitors see arthropods that like to stay hidden and learn more about Earth’s true majority.

“It’s been said that if humans disappeared, nature would be unaffected,” Sikes says. “But if insects vanished, we would see the widespread collapse of most ecosystems, incredible ecological simplification and a great deal of lost biodiversity.”

“Leggy!” opens Jan. 14, 2012 in the special exhibits gallery at the museum, on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Derek Sikes, UAMN curator of entomology, at 907-474-6278 or via email at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: museum.uaf.edu

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
1/4/12

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is looking for volunteer docents for its school tour programs this semester. Volunteers will be trained to use the museum’s exhibits and hands-on collection to teach students about science, culture and art. No experience is necessary.

Docents commit to leading kindergarten through sixth-grade class tours one morning a week. Credit is available through the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

For more information or to register for the training, call 907-474-5360 or email [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/museum/calendar/

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
12/9/11

A large collection of archaeological artifacts has returned to Alaska, nearly 60 years after the items were excavated near Point Barrow. The Birnirk collection represents a phase of prehistoric Eskimo culture dating back to 500 A.D.

“This collection has tremendous research significance,” said Jeff Rasic, acting curator of archaeology at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. “The Birnirk site is the ‘type site’ for the Birnirk culture, which occupies a key juncture in the branches of Eskimo prehistory and the first decidedly Eskimo phase of cultural development seen on the Alaska mainland.”

The collection was excavated in the early 1950s by a group of Harvard graduate students headed by Wilbert Carter. They completed a three-season program of archaeological work with the support of the Arctic Research Laboratory, established in Barrow by the Office of Naval Research. The collection is owned by the U.S. Navy and was housed for decades at the Harvard Peabody Museum.

The collection contains almost 26,000 items, ranging from hunting tools and harpoon parts to snow goggles and snow knives. The site also offered excellent organic material preservation, producing an exceptionally complete catalog of prehistoric materials, such as wood, bone, antler and even plant fibers.
Besides adding to the UA Museum of the North’s collection, which contains artifacts representing the entire span of Alaska prehistory, the donation represents a research bonanza.

“Carter never published a final report on the site,” Rasic said. “So the data and the documentation have great research potential, both in terms of bringing unpublished data to light and applying modern analytical techniques.

“There are dozens of M.A. thesis projects that could be done with this collection.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Jeff Rasic, acting archaeology curator, at [email protected]. Jim Whitney, archaeology collection manager, at 907-474-6943 or [email protected].

ON THE WEB: museum.uaf.edu

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
12/2/11

The University of Alaska Museum of the North invites the community to an Archaeology Family Day on Saturday, Dec. 10 from noon to 4 p.m.

Meet archaeologists and ask the experts questions about the ancient history of Alaska. See and touch real artifacts. Dig for specimens and make ulus and clay pots.

Activities are included with admission. For more information, call 907-474-7505 or visit the museum online at museum.uaf.edu.

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/museum/calendar/

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
12/1/11

Reproductions of paintings created during a 1950s retreat to the Brooks Range have been donated to the community of Anaktuvuk Pass. The originals are housed at the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

The artist, Jeffries Wyman, helped discover a new branch of biochemistry and embarked on a series of global pilgrimages, including a painting retreat to the University of Alaska Fairbanks weather station at Anaktuvuk Pass. He produced over 100 drawings and watercolors there, as his daughter, Anne Wyman, described in the book “Kipling’s Cat: Memoir of My Father.”

“He ate caribou or sheep the men sighted with ancient telescopes steadied on fork sticks. All of this figured in a series of beautiful cobalt and sepia watercolors of the landscape and – for almost the only time in his painting life – of the people he lived with.”

Anne Wyman and her brother Jeffries Jr. donated 17 watercolors and drawings to the University of Alaska Museum of the North and provided the funds for high quality reproductions to be framed and shipped to Anaktuvuk Pass for display at the Simon Paneak Memorial Museum.

Mareca Guthrie, the UA Museum of the North’s fine arts curator, helped coordinate the donation. She praised the Wyman family for their work to preserve the paintings.

“Museums have two conflicting goals, preserving objects so that they can be experienced by future generations, and ensuring that they get to be seen and enjoyed now,” she said. “Because watercolors are so sensitive, we decided it would be best to keep the originals in the climate controlled environment of our museum, but it was also important for Anaktuvuk Pass to have something to display.”

Wyman said her father was not a socialite who cared about big hotels and comfort, but preferred to be among the people, observing how they lived and worked and managed their lives. That’s why it makes sense that the paintings have returned to the place where they were conceived. “They are all about the Pass as it was in the early 1950s.

“I love the paintings,” Wyman said. “But I am getting old now and trying to think of what to do with the rest of his pieces. We are particularly glad that the Alaska paintings and the journals have found a home.

Guthrie said photographs are the typical visual form we use to explore the mid-twentieth century, but drawings and paintings offer an even more personal lens. “Some people think that the act of drawing from observation is a sort of meditation on the subject. The artist is drawing, not just with his hands, but with his eyes, head and heart. When you look at the watercolors you can see the respect and tenderness the artist had for his hosts—and it is that personal connection that I like the most.”

Vera Woods, the director of the Simon Paneak Memorial Museum in Anaktuvuk Pass, said the paintings have been well received. “They are hanging beautifully in the Elder’s Room, and the people love them.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Mareca Guthrie, UA Museum of the North fine arts curator, at 907-474-5102 or via email at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: museum.uaf.edu

NOTE TO EDITORS: Images are available for download from www.uafnews.com.

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Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
11/30/11

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will host holiday sales, open houses and concerts in the coming weeks. Following is a list of events scheduled in December:

University of Alaska Museum of the North holiday sale
Nov. 21 through Dec. 24, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m, Monday – Saturday, UA Museum of the North
Holiday sale prices include 20 percent off bone sculptures and masks, and 10 percent off all other museum store merchandise, including ivory carvings, beadwork, children’s books and toys. Free gift-wrapping is available. Call 474-1595 for more information.

Alaska Sea Grant, Marketing and Communications and UA Press open house, sale
Dec. 1, 2 – 6 p.m., Wells Fargo Building, second floor, Geist Road and University Ave.
The event will include free refreshments, door prizes, book signings, free gift-wrapping and 25 percent off all Alaska Sea Grant and UA Press items. Have your photo taken with the Nanook. The UAF shuttle is available for service between campus and the Wells Fargo Building by calling 474-7433. Call 474-6707 or email [email protected] for more information.

UAF music department – Music at One
Thursdays, Dec. 1 and 8, 1 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
These free concerts feature UAF music students performing a variety of pieces. Open to the public.

Northern Lights String Orchestra concert
Thursday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
This free concert will include works by Vaughn Williams, Corelli and Rutter.

Large Animal Research holiday bazaar
Friday, Dec. 2, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., West Ridge Research Building lobby and room 210
This sale will feature T-shirts, sweatshirts, raw qiviut, Alaska-made items and lots more. For more information call 474-7165.

Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra – Design Alaska Holiday Concert
Sunday, Dec. 4, 4 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
This annual holiday concert will feature the Fairbanks Symphony with the Choir of the North, University Chorus and Northland Youth Choir. For tickets and information, call 474-5733.

UAF music department – string chamber groups concert
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 8 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
This free concert features UAF music students. Open to the public.

UAF music department – Junior recital
Wednesday, Dec. 7, 8 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
This free concert features UAF music student Franz Felkl on violin. Open to the public.

UAF holiday concert, wind symphony and jazz band
Friday, Dec. 9, 8 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall, UAF campus
This concert will feature the Wind Symphony, directed by Karen Gustafson, and the Jazz Band, directed by James Bicigo, playing holiday classics and more. Tickets are available at the door: $10 for adults, $5 for students, seniors and military; children under 12 attend free. Call 474-7555 for further information.

UAF art department semiannual sale of student artwork
Friday, Dec. 9, noon – 6 p.m., Fine Arts Building, studios 415 and 405
Ceramics and prints will be for sale. Contact Carol Hoefler, UAF art department, at 474-7530 for more information.

University Chorus holiday concert, “Christmas Oratorios”
Saturday, Dec. 10, 8 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
The University Chorus in holiday concert, directed by Jaunelle Celaire. Tickets are $5 for students, seniors and military; $10 for adults; and children 12 and under are free. Call 474-7555 for more information.

UAF music department – brass ensembles concert
Sunday, Dec. 11, 4 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
This free concert features UAF music students. Open to the public.

UAF music department – Junior recital
Sunday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m., Charles W. Davis Concert Hall
This free concert features UAF music student Khelsea Sawyer on piano. Open to the public.

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Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
11/4/11

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is holding its annual Artisan Expo and Sale on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18 and 19.

The event begins with an evening with the artists on Friday, Nov. 18th from 6-8 p.m. featuring light hors d’oeuvres and a complimentary drink. There will be shopping and live music by singer-songwriter Mariah Ver Hoef. You must be 21 or older to attend. Tickets are available online.

On Saturday, Nov. 19th from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., the Artisan Expo & Sale kicks off the museum’s holiday season with fiber arts, jewelry, glasswork, ceramics and other fine gifts. Admission is free.

For more information call 474-7505 or visit the museum online at museum.uaf.edu

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