Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Dexter's Roadhouse Golovin, Alaska

Dexters Roadhouse Golovin, Alaska
acrylic painting
16 x 20 wrapped canvas

When destitute miners on the beach at Nome realized that the ruby colored sand at their feet was laced with gold, they must have thought that they had died and gone to heaven. Alaska gold in Nome was literally discovered on the beach. Poet Sam Dunham wrote in 1900, "For many miles along the beach, double ranks of men were rocking, almost shoulder to shoulder, while their partners stripped the pay streak and supplied the rockers with water and pay dirt”. If they would let you a person could still earn a days wages digging gold on the beach. I know I saw the gold flashing on the beach in the bright Northern sun.

Golovin, Alaska is about 60 miles South of Nome and Dexter”s Roadhouse was built in that time to accommodate the miners and villagers. Dexters according to locals operated until 1954 as a dance hall, general store, post office, hotel and saloon. Oxy a resident of Golovin and Jack Brown told me they remember their moms working there for twenty-five cents a week. Oxy told me when her mother saved up one dollar she would buy herself four yards of fabric and make herself a dress. They told me when it was closed and boarded up, the contents remained inside: furniture, store supplies, clothes, beds, dishes, stoves, shoes, everything. It was only opened once to let people have a look inside and then boarded up once again just like a coffin, protecting a rich and colorful history of the gold rush in Nome. A building this old is a rarity in AK.  The early pioneers did not even come to settle Alaska until the 1940s or so.  Most of the early structures are gone altogether, Dexter’s Roadhouse is a true relic of Alaskan history, it sits in a small village of only 150 Chinik Eskimo’s in such a remote place that almost no one will ever see it. It’s not clear to me if it is on the Historical Register (it should be).

I painted this in my free time while visiting Golovin.

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Become as Little Children - Jesus




Look at my fetish doll - it's mine all mine - not everything is for sale . Driftwood gathered from the beach at Golovin, Alaska, Raven feathers, Seagull feathers, bird beak, cracked seagull egg, old spoon of Grandmother's with Emilie one of the Dionne quintuplets born in the 30s before fertility drugs.
I remember all 5 quint spoons now only one is left and it has been purloined for my doll. The inspiration for "Emilie" was of course being in the real Alaska, with time to be with myself, on a peninsula, collecting beach things and reading Julia Cameron's book “The Vein of Gold a Journey to Your Creative Heart.” Along with faithfully doing my three pages of longhand writing everyday. I get a chance to clear my head first thing and plan my day and perhaps go a little deeper into my psyche and uncover some pure gold. To quote directly from her book...

“According to doll making legend, the original work for doll was “idol” We have just lopped off the “I.” When we make dolls we are invoking God like powers. Doll making is a very powerful form of magic. Because we are working directly with the human figure in a form that appeals to our child self, we are talking directly to our creative consciousness, which in turn speaks directly to our Higher Self.

“Doll making is a very potent form of turning it over to God. Therefore, dolls are extremely potent tools for manifestation. (It is no accident that dolls are used in Voodoo.)” But if dolls can be—and have been—used negatively, they can also be used positively, and that is what we are doing here.”

My job is to live with my creation and just see what my doll this reveals to me. I have some good ideas what this doll is saying, which I will save for my morning pages. 

Why is it that dexterity, knowledge of art, and taste do not necessarily add up to what we seek in art?
Peter London

Friday, June 03, 2011

 Misty Morning
 Jack Brown
 A scene in Golovin
I had to show you just one of the kids
I wonder what this little boy wants to be when he grows up?

Just where in Golovin, Alaska