BLM seeking artist to capture Dalton Highway and Brooks Range

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - People who love to create art and love a good adventure are being encouraged to fill out an application with the Bureau of Land Management for this year’s BLM Artist-in-Residence Program.

If chosen, up to two people will be selected to take a weeklong tour of the Dalton Highway and the Brooks Range and produce works of art to capture the landscape however they see fit.

BLM Public Affairs Specialist Craig McCaa clarified that they are looking for any kind of artist. The work could be a painting, a written piece, a song, a sculpture — anything. He said BLM even had a cartoonist selected for the program in the past.

“That’s what surprised me, is the creative ways they interact with the landscape,” McCaa said, “and that’s what this program is all about.”

Once chosen, the only thing the artist needs to take care of is transportation to the BLM office in Fairbanks. There, McCaa said the BLM will transport the artist along the Dalton Highway and into the Brooks Range wherever they feel comfortable going.

McCaa said the venture will vary based on the artist’s outdoor ability. There are cabins they can stay in, but if they’re up to it they can also go into more remote locations and get set up in a tent.

McCaa said the program will ensure the artist will be safe during the residency, given that they will be creating in the Alaska wilderness.

“Part of the application process covers the level of outdoor experience the artist has,” McCaa said. “Certainly we do a safety orientation. We’re not gonna drop someone off who is ill-equipped or unprepared to be in Alaska backcountry, and we also supply safety equipment.”

This year’s program is special, according to McCaa. The chosen artist usually is asked if they’d like to donate a piece to BLM of Alaska for use in exhibits and educational purposes. However this year, the chosen artists will be able to donate a piece to be hung in the BLM Headquarters all the way in Washington D.C.