"Communities, Disaster & Change" is a traveling exhibition coordinated by the Valdez Museum and Historical Archive, in Valdez, Alaska. It provides a twist on the fiftieth anniversary of the Good Friday Earthquake commemoration through its connection with other communities and other disasters. The exhibit will travel around the state as well as to Oregon, and Hawaii. The full travel schedule and complete online gallery of the exhibit can be seen here.

This blog serves as a place to host a global conversation about the indomitable nature of the human spirit and communities' reactions to change, how they survive disaster and how they rebuild for the future. We hope this can be a tool for people like you, all across the world, to reach out and share your stories on survival and the will to carry on.

If you have seen the exhibit whether online or in person we want to know your reaction to the work of these twenty-eight Alaskan artists. Please join us in an ongoing conversation, and chime in with your thoughts, views and your personal stories of your community, disaster, and change.

06 October 2014

Perry Eaton, Communities, Disaster & Change Artist

 By: Laura Johnston    Monday, October 06, 2014     No comments
 
 
Perry Eaton, an Alaskan artist, makes Suqpiak Alutiiq masks. Growing up in Kodiak, Alaska he commercial fished with his father. He started painting at the age of eight when his parents enrolled him in an art class a few hours a week. Like many of the CDC artist his influences are connected to his natural Alaskan environment.

His mask created for the CDC show is titled ..."in rolled the sea...over the troubled spirit...we called land"... The materials he used are white spruce, hickory, leather dye, domestic duck feathers and glue.

Perry says, "The mask was created in respect for the power of those forces beyond our control. For me the earthquake of 1964 was the prelude to the devastation of the Tsunami that followed. For a boy from Kodiak like me the chaos in the aftermath of the moment was all about the tidal wave."

During the 1964 earthquake several tidal waves washed over the town of Kodiak. The largest was 35ft above mean low tide. Most residents sought safety up Pillar Mountain during the waves. Kodiak’s waterfront and central business district were heavily damaged. The land around Kodiak sank and spring tides washed through town for several months before action was taken to remedy the situation.

Perry Eaton is one of the few artists in the Communities, Disaster, and Change exhibition to have first hand experience with the 1964 earthquake.

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