В галерее Bear откроются две выставки художников Аляски, посвященные ботанике

Two solo exhibitions will be on display at the Bear Gallery during September. Amy Noon’s “Window to my Soul” and Kristin Link’s “Drawn in Place” are the Alaska artists’ distinct practices of looking closely at the botanical world and drawing what they find there. Both exhibitions are on view Sept. 4–26, 2026, with a First Friday opening reception on Friday from 5-7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. In “Window to My Soul,” Noon presents a collection of new oil paintings drawn from a deep-seated interest in color and form as it is presented through the Interior Alaska botanical world. Noon finds her subjects in the garden and on the trail — a flower in bloom, a leaf shimmering in the sun, a cluster of buds about to explode — stopping to look closely, photograph and sketch. Back in the studio, those become the seeds for larger drawings that come alive on canvas. Layer by layer, colors grow bolder, shapes evolve and details are sorted. For Noon, every flower, every leaf, every wild berry has a story to tell, and these paintings are her interpretation of the stories each subject tells her. In “Drawn in Place,” Link gathers the work of a sustained field sketching practice — what happens when we go outside, pay attention, and build a practice around what we find. Loose daily diary sketches layer contour drawing with wet-on-wet watercolor washes to capture moods, weather, and the passage of time. Botanical studies track what plants are doing across the year, returning to the same plant over weeks and seasons to observe changes, with notes that leave room for questions and thinking on paper. The nature studies developed through years of teaching field sketching in Alaska — a practice that became a book in April 2026 with Timber Press. Noon is a painter based in Fairbanks, specializing in vibrant botanical oil paintings and drawings of Alaska’s Interior flora. Inspired by a lifelong love of plants, flowers, leaves, buds, berries and seasonal change, her passion for color, form and intimate perspective shines through in her work. Noon received a bachelor of fine arts from Colorado State University and completed the Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certification Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her work has been selected for the 64th Parallel Juried Art Shows and Fairbanks Arts member shows, and her Alphabet Garden collection is on permanent public display at Noel Wien Library. Retired from teaching since 2021, she paints nearly every day in her home studio. Link is a science illustrator, visual artist, and educator based in McCarthy, Alaska. Her work explores the intersection of art, ecology, and place, focusing on northern landscapes including glaciers, tundra and the boreal forest. Her first book, “Discover the Art of Field Sketching” (Timber Press, 2026), draws on over a decade of teaching field sketching in Alaska and beyond. Link’s illustrations have been featured in museum exhibits, educational materials, and her long-running nature journal column in her local newspaper, the Copper River Record. She teaches field sketching and science communication across Alaska and online. Learn more at KristinLink.com. The Bear Gallery is located on the third floor of the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way, Fairbanks.