Alvin Amason

Department of Art
Alvin Amason

Alvin Amason

AlvinEducation:

Kodiak High School 1966
B.A. Central Washington University 1973
M.A. Central Washington University 1974
M.F.A. Arizona State University 1976

Selected Collections:

  • Alyeska Pipeline Company, Corporate Collection, Anchorage, Alaska
  • Koniage Native Corporation
  • Doyon Corporation
  • University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska
  • Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • His Holiness, Patriarch Aleksy II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia
  • National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.
  • Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark
  • U.S. Government Services Administration, Federal Bldg., Anchorage, Alaska
  • Indian Arts and Craft Board, Department of Interior, Washington D.C.
  • Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri
  • Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
  • State of Alaska Art Bank, Anchorage, Alaska
  • Alaska State Museum, Juneau, Alaska
  • Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska

Selected Invitationals:

  • United Nation’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues – May-June 2009 N.Y.C
  • Alaska 2005 – “Native Arts Now”, Kenai Culture Center, summer 2005 Kenai, Alaska
  • “Native Art Invitational” August 2004, Well Street Art Gallery, Fairbanks, Alaska
  • “Gallery Artist” – Well Street Art Company, Fairbanks, Alaska Summer 2003
  • “Shaped by Design” Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Summer 2003
  • “Alaska Native Contemporary Art” Anchorage Museum of History and Art July 2001
  • “Gallery Artist Show” Decker/Morris Gallery, Anchorage, Alaska December 2001
  • “Art in Two Worlds” – Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona 2000
  • “The Great Land” – Art from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and the Bering Straits Region, Stonington Gallery, Seattle, Washington, 1996
  • “Art from the Arctic”, Greenland, Sami Scandinavia, Canada, Russia, Alaska, 1993 sponsored by the institute of Alaska Native Art, Anchorage Museum of History and Arts National Endowment of the Arts
  • “New Art of the West”, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1990 “Russian America”, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, Washington, 1990
  • “Multi-media Work”, Carnegie Art Center, Walla Walla, Washington, 1989
  • “Alaska Native Heritage Festival”, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, 1985-1987
  • “Western States Print Invitational”, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 1985
  • “Bridges from the Past”, Stonington Gallery, Anchorage, Alaska 1984
  • “50 States, 50 Artists”, Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco, California, 1984
  • “Innovations”, The Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, 1984
  • “Uniquely American, The west Coast”, art Train, Detroit, Michigan, 1983-1984
  • “New Directions” Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, 1983
  • “The White House Annual Easter Egg Invitational”, Washington, D.C., 1982
  • “Magic Images”, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1981
  • “Art of the States, Nine Alaskans”, Alaska State Museum, 1981
  • “Across the Nation:Fine Art for Federal Buildings 1972-1979”, Hunter Museum of the Art Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1980
  • “Spirit of the Earth”, Native American Center of the Living Arts, Niagara Falls, New York, 1980
  • “Tamamta Katurlluta” – A gathering of Native tradition ’98, Pratt Museum, Homer, Alaska 1998
  • Northern Legacy – Alaska native Arts Exhibit – Seattle Center Pavilion, 1994
  • “Working Inspirations” – University of Alaska museum, January 1994
  • Twenty Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, Anchorage Museum of history and Art 1993

Shows – One and Group:

  • “Brothers on the water”, Alaska House N.Y.C. March-June 2009
  • Two Man Show, Lena Amason, Artique Gallery, Anchorage October 2007
  • Two Man Show, Kesler Woodward, Well Street Art Gallery, Fairbanks July 2004
  • “Heart of my Home”, One man show, Decker/Morris Gallery, Anchorage AK, July 2003
  • Four man Show, Decker/Morris Gallery, Anchorage, Alaska, Dec. 2000
  • “Amason and Manook”, Decker/Morris Gallery, Anchorage, Alaska, May 1999
  • “Caribou People”, Alvin Amason, Ron Manook, Glen Simpson, Dick Weyiouanna, Dec. 6 at Decker/Morris Gallery, Anchorage, Alaska 1996
  • “Alvin Amason, New Work”, Suzanne Brown Galleries, April 6, Scottsdale, Arizona 1995

Appointments:

  • Native Arts Program Developer, University of Alaska Anchorage, Spring 2009
  • Board Member – Alaska Native Arts Foundation, 2006- Present
  • Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak, Advisory Team, 2003 – present
  • Judge – Federal Junior Duck Stamp Conservation & Design Project, 2002
  • Alaska Native Arts 2000, Advisory Board, UAF museum
  • Director of Native Arts UAF – 1992 – 2008
  • Board Member, Institute of Alaska Native Arts, 1992-1998
  • Board Member, Kodiak Area Native Association Cultural Advisory Committee, 1991
  • Juror, King County Cultural Resources Division, Percent for Art, Beaver Lake Totem Project, Seattle, Washington, 1990
  • Board Member, Alaska Council of the Arts, Governor’s appointment, 1978-1980

Bibliography:

  • “Messages from Alaska” - M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust 2006
  • “John Hoover” Life and Art – University of Washington Press – 2002
  • Feature Alaskan Artist “Dove” Magazine, Milano, Italy March 2001
  • “Painting Alaska” Author, Kesler Woodward, Alaska geographic Society 2000
  • “Under the Northern Lights”, University of Washington Press, Editors, Frank Soos,
  • “Ice Breakers, Alaska most Innovative Artists", Julie Decker, 1999, National
    Endowment for the Arts, Alaska State Council on the Arts, Alaska Humanities Forum.
  • Looking North – Art fro the University of Alaska Museum.Aldona Jonaitis
    Editor, 1998, University of Washington Press
  • Aleut Art – Lydia Black, 1982, Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Inc.
  • Reader’s Digest, Through Indian Eyes, The Readers’ Digest Association, Inc.
    Pleasantville, New York/Montreal, 1995
  • Stadem, Catherine, Alaska Magazine, July 1994, Alaska Publishing
  • Samuels, Larry, NEW ART OF THE WEST, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1990
  • Smith, Barbara Sweetland and Raymond J. Barnett, RUSSIAN AMERICAN, THE FORGOTTEN FRONTIER, Washington
  • Fitzhugh, William W. and Aron Crowell, CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS,
    Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988
  • Ray, Doroth Jean, ALEUT AND ESKIMO ART, University of Washington
    Press, 1981
  • Thalacker, Donald, THE PLACE OF ART IN THE WORLD OF ARCHITECTURE, New York:Chelsea House, 1980
  • Jamake, Highwaterr, SWEET GRASS LIVES ON, Lipincott and Crowell
  • To pal, Cathy Weisman, Children and Painting, Davis Publications, 1992

Honors:

  • Closing Speaker – Alaska Arts & Culture Conference, Jan. 2009
  • Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship, 2004
  • 28th Annual Festival of native Arts, Fairbanks, Alaska, Held in my honor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, March 2001 – Produced by native Students of University of Alaska Fairbanks
  • Honored by the Nature Conservancy of Alaska along with Governor Jay Hammond for a “Lifetime achievement award” – March, 1997 – Anchorage Museum of History and Art
  • Individual artist award – 1997 Governor’s Awards for the Arts – by Governor
    Tony Knowles – Juneau, Alaska – February 26th, 1997