
Expedition
Log

On-board
Lectures

2001
Souvenir
Album

Sketch
Book

Alaska
Geographic
Alliance

Heacox
Photo
Album
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2001 Sketch
Book
In the tradition of the
original Harriman Alaska Expedition, Harriman Retraced
invited artists aboard to see how Alaska looked through
their eyes, as well as their pens and paints. The following
sketches are examples of works in progress created during
the expedition by both professional artists and young
explorers.
Artists' Sketches (click
images for larger view)
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Patricia
Savage delivered an excellent presentation on how
nature artists approach their craft, covering their
background and training and going on to the source
materials used as starting points for individual
works. Her goal was to "demystify" how artists
work. But actually watching her in the act of
creation, layering in the background for a vision
that exists only in her mind, working on a dining
room table in the ship's day lounge as the
Clipper Odyssey sails past coastal mountains
and frosty glaciers, seemed to make the process
even more mysterious and magical. (Photo by
National Ocean Service, NOAA).
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Naturalist
Conrad Field illustrated a NOAA navigational chart
with pen and ink drawings of animals found in
Alaska, carrying on a tradition dating back
thousands of years. The chart was auctioned off
just before the ship reached Homer, and the $3,000
donation given to Homer's Pratt Museum, one of the
finest community museums in the United States.
(Photo by National Ocean Service, NOAA).
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"Inside Passage" -
Oil pastel on paper by Kesler
Woodward
"I made the sketch 'Inside Passage' in oil pastels
on paper, from the promenade deck of the Clipper
Odyssey, the second day of the Harriman
Expedition Retraced."
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"Davidson Glacier" -
Oil on paper by Kesler Woodward
"I
painted the sketch 'Davidson Glacier' in oil paint
on paper, a day after running up to glimpse the
glacier from the top deck just before dark, as the
Clipper Odyssey cruised south from Skagway
toward Sitka. Rather than a literal view of the
glacier as it spills out of the surrounding
mountains on the west side of Lynn Canal, the oil
sketch is composed from memory, impression, and a
couple of very quick pencil notes I jotted just
after seeing the scene."
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"Iceberg, Tracy Arm"
- Pen and ink on paper by Kesler Woodward
"Iceberg,
Tracy Arm' is a pen-and-ink sketch of an iceberg
floating near the entrance to Tracy Arm, south of
Juneau. I drew the scene directly from observation
through my cabin window, beginning a bit before 5
o'clock in the morning on July 24, 2001."
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"Iceberg, Prince
William Sound" - Pen and Ink on Paper by Kesler
Woodward
As
the Harriman Expedition Retraced cruised from
Cordova to Valdez across the eastern part of Prince
William Sound, the Clipper Odyssey passed a
large chunk of floating ice from Columbia Glacier.
I sketched the floating mass in pen and ink, trying
to capture a sense of the fantastic forms the ice
takes as it floats, tumbles, and eventually melts
in its passage on the currents of the broad
Sound.
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"Leaving Harriman
Fjord" - Prismacolor Pencil Sketch by Kesler
Woodward
At
the end of one of the first clear, sunny days on
our expedition, we cruised out of Harriman Fjord at
sunset among some of the last remnants of floating
ice. I completed the sketch "Leaving Harriman
Fjord" in Prismacolor Pencil late that evening,
trying to capture a bit of the wonder and gratitude
that everyone seemed to feel for the sublime sights
we'd seen and the ethereal glow of the closing
day.
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"Quiet Cove - Prince
William Sound" - Oil on Paper by Kesler
Woodward
We
have seen so many grand panoramas on the Harriman
Expedition Retraced - mighty glaciers, soaring
mountains, towering waterfalls - but I am equally
attracted to some of the quiet, peaceful,
unremarkable little bays and inlets that abound
along the coast. "Quiet Cove - Prince William
Sound" is an oil on paper sketch of one of those
anonymous coves.
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"Aleutians" - Oil on
paper by Kesler Woodward
"I
did the oil sketch 'Aleutians' near Unimak Pass, on
a day in which clouds and mist gave way to
uncharacteristically bright skies and only the
slightest chop on the surrounding sea. I was
impressed by the amount of snow still on the
volcanic peaks in August, and the striking green of
the low-level vegetation."
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"Kodiak Island" -
Oil on paper by Kesler Woodward
"I
did the oil sketch "Kodiak Island" just two days
into the second half of our trip. I was interested
in the deep green of the lower flanks of the
mountains against the intense blue of the
surrounding Gulf of Alaska, as clouds lifted and
skies cleared."
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"St. George" - Pen
and ink on paper by Kesler Woodward
"On St.
George Island in the Pribilofs, we were again given
the gift of unexpected sun for a few bright moments
in the early morning. It seemed like a magical
place in that light. Back on the ship after
completing two pages of little thumbnail sketches
in the village, I worked from one of those quick
impressions to try to capture a bit of that glory
in a simple pen-and-ink drawing of our landing
spot."
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"St. George
Sketchbook" - 6 Pen and ink sketches by Kesler
Woodward
"Though
my other sketches on this trip were done on fine
paper with carefully taped borders, on the island
of St. George I was so taken with the character of
the landscape and the village itself that I had to
get out the little sketchbook in which I take notes
and jot a quick impression. One little image led to
another as I walked around, and soon I had filled
two pages with hasty visual notes."
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"Unga Island" - Pen
and ink on paper by Kesler Woodward
"Unga
Island was breathtakingly beautiful -- all the more
so for being shrouded in low clouds and mist, which
rose and fell during the day. Wind and shifting
shafts of light alternately curtained and unveiled
the treeless slopes throughout the
afternoon."
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Shells - by Megan
Litwin.
Megan
Litwin sketched these shells during a guided field
drawing session with artist Patricia
Savage.
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