Byron Birdsall's Alaska ― Before and After Statehood

These illustrations of historic Alaska by Byron Birdsall, one of the state’s most renowned artists, portray the territory from the beginning of the twentieth century through the first decades after Alaska achieved statehood in 1959. Accompanied by informative captions, the black-and-white drawings are organized by region: Southcentral Alaska including Anchorage, the Arctic, the Interior, the western/Bering Sea coast, and Southeast. Birdsall’s masterful illustrations depict a myriad of scenes, from tents on Ship Creek in 1915 to a train unloading tourists at McKinley Park Station in 1935, from the Governor’s Mansion in 1939 in the capital city of Juneau to the Good Friday earthquake in 1964 and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline near the Koyukuk River in 1975.

Byron Birdsall’s paintings feature brilliant landscapes, as well as uniquely Alaskan images such as puffins, eagles, and fishing boats. An artist with a national reputation and a world traveler, here is a man truly excited about being alive; and this same excitement illuminates his work. His watercolors are distillations of reality, scenes reduced to their basics, with the integrity of the subject intact. His mentors are the great Japanese wood block printers, Hokusai and Hiroshige. Their influence is particularly evident in his washes, flawless gradations of color that ebb and flow. He is also known for his nostalgic renderings of historic Alaska scenes. Byron lives near Tacoma, WA.Dana Stabenow is an award-winning author of mystery, science fiction, and suspense/thriller books. Born in Anchorage a few years before statehood, she grew up in Southeast on a seventy-five-foot fish tender, experienced the 1964 Alaska earthquake firsthand, and worked for the oil industry during the pipeline construction boom days. A recipient of the Alaska Artist of the Year Award, she is a great admirer of Bryon Birdsall’s artwork. www.stabenow.com