Talk of the Town

Typically held in January, the Aleutian Arts Council Annual Auction and Meeting was rescheduled on March 28^th. It was held in conjunction with their annual community art show at the Grand Aleutian Hotel’s Makushin Room.The art show started in 1991 by Curator Carolyn Reed and she shared, “Our very first show was through the Bering Sea Art Exchange. Later on, when the Bering Sea Art Exchange closed down, the Aleutian Arts Council adopted intellectual property for the show. The first show was at the Burma Road Chapel and, I think, we had 16 artists and at that point, the Burma Road Chapel was the community center. We had no PCR building so it was maxed out and used every single minute. We had to hang the show in one night and could have it up for the weekend and then take it down so it definitely was a grassroots initiative and the community liked it so much. I think we had 300 people that showed up in two days, which was huge back then and we asked local artists and local people to bake cookies because we didn’t even have catering service at that point. So it’s really come a long way since then and I’m really proud. Every year I’m amazed at how many wonderful artists we have. So it’s a great show.”