Oct. 28--Ten months after the airport learned its precious Native art collection was being ruined by overexposure to light, a plan is in place to move the most sensitive pieces out of harm's way.
About a third of the objects will be relocated to a new, windowless art gallery. The airport's focus is prevention; objects already discolored and faded will not be repaired.
Rich Wilson, airport development director, hopes the move will happen by January. "We are working diligently on this," he said. "It has taken longer than any of us thought it would, but we are getting there."
The contemporary Alaska Native art collection owned by Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is unmatched in quality and size, according to Charlotte Fox, executive director of the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
The Native art was purchased in the 1980s as part of the airport's Percent for Art obligation. Under state law, public construction projects of $250,000 or more must set aside 1 percent of the project's cost for public art.
The collection includes more than 150 objects, such as Inupiat etched ivory tusks, Cup'ig beach-grass baskets and a Tlingit-carved canoe paddle.
In 2004, the collection was moved into the light-saturated mezzanine of Concourse C.
State Conservator Scott Carrlee reported in January the objects were being exposed to 10 times the recommended amount of light. Works made of natural materials and dyes -- which had already suffered from fluorescent lighting -- were deteriorating rapidly. He determined that if these items weren't moved or protected, they would be ruined within five years.
After a Daily News report in April, airport staffers covered the display cases with thin, vinyl sheeting. Curious airport patrons kept ripping the vinyl. The case coverings were changed to UV protective drapery linings, installed to allow peeking at the art underneath.
The coverings bought some time for the Airport Arts Committee to consult experts and find a permanent solution. The airport hired the state arts council to serve as conservator of the collection.
"We've done everything we could without museum curator training," Wilson said. "Nobody here is a curator, and nobody has a degree in museumology or whatever."
The arts council's Janelle Matz worked with the state curator to create a list of light-sensitive objects. The 53-item list includes mainly textiles, baskets and objects with natural dyes, such as Esther Littlefield's Tlingit button robe and Floyd and Amelia Kingeekuk's Eskimo dolls, which are dressed in sealskin clothes dyed with alder.
Those objects will be moved to a new gallery in the South Terminal's Northern Lights Corridor, an underground passageway on the public side of security that leads from the escalators on Level 0 to the rental car lobby and the Alaska Railroad depot. New museum-quality cases with UV-free lighting will be installed in the corridor.
"It turns out a lot of people are using that (corridor)," Wilson said. "It gets a good cross-section of our customer base and is really an environmentally preferred location."
The mezzanine gallery display will be redesigned to protect the remaining objects.
Matz said she hasn't consulted the Native arts community yet but will ask for input when she updates the exhibit's accompanying text.
Wilson said the two gallery projects will be paid for with the Percent for Art pool created by the airport's current South Terminal renovation. Wilson declined to say how much the projects cost.
Matz said there are no plans to repair the damaged objects.
"Fading is permanent. Because these are contemporary pieces, it's possible we could go back to the artists who are still around and re-dye some pieces, but that's not really being considered. Our goal is just to prevent further damage."
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Find Sarah Henning online at adn.com/contact/shenning or call 257-4323.
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