Soldotna Rotary Club has installed an “Art Park” at Soldotna Creek Park. This is an installation of a grouping of permanent outdoor display cases in Soldotna parks suitable for up to four simultaneous curated summer exhibits, particularly of already-submitted bodies of work by students and emerging artists. Because protected shelters, students and their families can enjoy an outdoor picnic-style opening for all of the exhibitors. The ribbon-cutting for the new facility and an opening reception will occur from noon to 1pm Saturday, October 24, 2015 near the Soldotna Creek Park bandshell. Soldotna Mayor Pete Sprague is expected to cut the ribbon and dedicate the facility.
The ARTSpace free DYI copyright workshop for visual artists and writers follows at 2pm at the Soldotna Library.
There will be a coffee cart at the park opening and we will have free snacks.
Displays include work by:
- Thomas Minelga, first place in both RR Fine Art photography body of contest AND Picture Greater Soldotna contest
- Sue Biggs, first place winner of single image fine art photo contest
- Wade Wahrenbrock, second place in RR Fine Art photography body of contest
- Shun Adachi, second place in Picture Greater Soldotna contest
- Liam Floyd, third place in RR Fine Art photography body of contest
- Brian Moore, third place in Picture Greater Soldotna contest
- Sue Lee, honorable mention in RR Fine Art photography body of contest
- Paintings by Amy Kruse and Kaitlin Vadla
All exhibited work will be professionally curated for quality and family-friendly suitability for display in a heavily-trafficked public space where adults and children of all ages are present. The first exhibits will include winning photos and other photos from the two Redoubt Reporter-City of Soldotna-Soldotna Chamber of Commerce photography contests and Kaitlin Vadla’s recent salmon paintings.
Soldotna Rotary Club is also installing a series of high-quality display “drawers” for an educational and display program at Soldotna Library, which will provide year-long indoor access for up to 10 curated 2D and 3D bodies of work drawn from prior bodies of work submissions. Any member of the public can view at their convenience a complete “body of work” by up to ten different artists over the course of a year. As with the outdoor displays, this will be family-friendly work drawn largely from the local community.
Kelly Keating and his construction crew did the final design and all of the construction of the art park. Kelly Keating and his spouse Gerri Litzenberger provided the equipment, labor and other above-ground construction materials.
Soldotna Rotary purchased the display cases. Becky Foster of Foster Construction provided the special D1 gravel fill. Davis Block provided the concrete.
