In any normal year it feels important to look back in the rearview mirror, but when it comes to 2020 it is feels even more important.
Although 2020 brought many challenges, both locally and throughout the world, narrowing the focus to our little gallery community reminds us of all the support, encouragement and cooperation that happens everyday. We encourage you to take a minute and think back on the exhibitions and efforts over the last 12 months by clicking through the slideshow above (clicking the arrow buttons on either side will move you through the photos, hovering over the photo will show a caption, and clicking on the photo will take you to more information on that exhibition), it really tells a wonderful story of 2020, and all that was accomplished despite the challenges in this unprecedented year.
We are a space that is built to be a place for the community to congregate and experience contemporary expression and art. The realities of 2020 shook that fundamental identity; no more first Fridays, no artist talks, no workshops or weekly life drawing. At the time we closed, we were a week into our annual Members show, arguably the most social month of the whole year - a celebration of our gallery’s supporting community. We were finishing up the hand printing of invites to our annual member’s party when the decision came down to close the space. The decision was right, we needed to protect our members, volunteers and the visiting public. But the reality of the situation at the time was bleak.
Now, ten months later, that March seems like many years ago. The disaster of rescheduling exhibitions that had been scheduled during the three months of closure, the scrambling to develop new online and distanced efforts to promote and support our artists and community developed an environment where no idea was a bad idea. From installing weekly window displays to ramping up 3D scanning technology in our space, we did everything we could to keep on mission and hopefully be a light in the darkness for our community.
The year we are leaving behind could be summed up as a lonely year - a year of distanced, hunkered down, isolation. But in retrospect, we can, with absolute certainty, say that all of us came together and there were countless lights in the darkness. We have so many heroes to highlight for this year in review, not only to commemorate on the hard times, but to also celebrate that we all survived and in many ways we are reminded that no matter the distance between us - the thread of our community is woven of strong stuff.
First we want to extend our immense appreciation to the artists for being so flexible and cooperative throughout this crazy year. Cancellations, rescheduling, and short notice exhibitions - we asked a lot of these artists this year, but you all reacted and came through with grace and generosity, all while retaining the class, creativity, and ingenuity that we are so proud to facilitate. Thank you!
In addition to the artists, there are many entities working in the background to create this opportunity. We want to make sure and give credit to them for their extra efforts (both monetarily and with their time), which allowed us to keep our space even through closure, helping us to take the time to develop systems and adjust to the "new normal" that came along with Covid-19… Thank you to Neighborworks Alaska, Rasmuson Foundation, The Carr Foundation and the Municipality of Anchorage.
To our volunteers who showed up to the gallery and kept the doors open. During a pandemic, when the risks of being in the public is great, and the work of maintaining social distancing, sanitation, protection and security of the space was harder than could be expected of any paid employee... let alone a volunteer, you stood up to the challenge, and kept the doors open. You are absolute heroes to us, our exhibiting artists and the community. You are the reason this town still had a quiet, clean, safe space to visit amongst the chaos.
So - Joseph Carr, Mary Kancewick, Stephen Gray, Jen Wang, Linda Lucky, Elise Rose, Donna Carr, Lloyd Crow, Heidi Weiland, Kelly Brabec, Sharon Trager, Nan Thompson, Marybeth Holleman, Sarah Woolley, Nathan Perry, and Deborah Hansen - with full hearts we thank you.
Thank you to our board, Don Mohr, Daniel King, Donna Carr, and Amy Robinson & Joe Carr, that took the time and effort to have the discussions and make the calls through this very difficult time.
To our Gallery Manager and hanging assistant, Karinna Gomez and Hans Hallinen. It was a tough year, switching to being 100% online and then having the combination if in person and online exhibitions was no easy task. Through it all our contracted staff was there, dialing everything in and making sure the the gallery, its exhibitions (online and in person), and day to day operations continued with the professionalism and quality we all have come to expect from the IGCA… thank you.
And last but not least, To our members, the backbone of our financial stability. During an economic time of uncertainty, anyone would understand limiting the expenses that include one’s financial membership support of the gallery. We expected our membership to suffer because of the stark economic condition of our state and country. But our members responded by continuing to support our space, by continuing to place value on the IGCA. It is very encouraging to receive the public support during good times, but for it to maintain even during the darkest of times is humbling. We appreciate every single member as the family of the gallery, and we thank you.
On to 2021….
And now here we are in 2021. We are being careful not to put too much expectation on this brand new year. But that is a little hard to do with such a great line up of exhibitions ahead of us which you can preview via the slideshow below. Keep in mind, there are still a lot of unknowns out there so all scheduled exhibitions are somewhat tentative.
We will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and are hopeful that we will be able to have events and gatherings in the not too distant future. But until then, we will be continuing our programing of artist led exhibitions with limited open gallery hours of Wed through Sat, 12-4pm and extensive online efforts so that everyone can safely experience these wonderful exhibitions of 2021.
By the way, we do still have some gaps in our scheduling for 2021. Consider submitting a proposal to exhibit in 2021 or beyond. We would love to hear from you and are excited to see what you have in mind for the space.