UAA galleries: The who, what, when, where and why

Galleries are specially organized rooms where visual artwork is displayed. UAA has three — the Hugh McPeck Gallery in the Student Union, the Kimura Gallery in the Fine Arts Building and the Arc Gallery outside the Consortium Library. Each of these feature artwork from different people. 

The McPeck Gallery currently hosts the final contestants of the Juried Student Art Show, and primarily focuses on highlighting UAA students’ works. The Kimura Gallery currently displays artwork by June Pardue, an adjunct professor at UAA, and also showcases international artists. The Arc Gallery holds a sister exhibit to the one in the Kimura Gallery, showcasing the Alaska Native Arts Student Showcase, and focuses on displaying local Alaskan artists. 

These galleries provide UAA students and staff, along with the greater Anchorage community, the opportunity to closely engage with the fine arts in curated events, free of charge. 

Hans Hallinen is a sculpture technician at UAA and works as an exhibit installer and gallery coordinator for the Kimura Gallery and others as needed. As an installer for the galleries, Hallinen works with artists to ensure their pieces are undamaged and prepared for installation, along with arranging lighting and deciding what display methods are best for different pieces of artwork. Artists vary in experience level, especially in the McPeck Gallery where many artists are first-time students.

The Hugh McPeck gallery is a student-run gallery and almost only showcases student artwork, in exhibits like the Annual No Big Heads Exhibition, the Clay Body’s artwork and the Juried Student Art Show each year. The gallery also hosts a variety of other exhibits throughout the year and allows opportunities for students who work in all aspects of the fine arts, including watercolor painting, drawing and ceramics. 

The Kimura Gallery currently hosts June Pardue’s Sugpiaq Art Renaissance exhibit, featuring beautiful beaded headdresses, fur clothing and more. This exhibit will be up until April 5. The Kimura Gallery aims to showcase artwork that demonstrates “current developments in art-making, and in culture at-large, while creating an opportunity for public dialogue regarding new work, diverse perspectives, and pertinent research.” 

The Kimura Gallery hosted an exhibition by artist Nuttaphol Ma in fall 2021, which Hallinen shared his thoughts about. “[Nuttaphol Ma] did this pretty intense project, incorporating photography and embroidery.” He said the exhibit was “definitely, like, politically charged, and wanting to kind of really engage with the public. So there was this really kind of aspect of reaching out to [the] community.” Hallinen highlighted one of Ma’s pieces which focused on community engagement surrounding the idea of the Pledge of Allegiance. Photos of this piece can be found on the Kimura Gallery website, and feature a patchwork American flag in white, with note cards filled out by visitors pinned to it, answering the question “What would your reconsidered pledge to a flag be to create a sense of home for all?” Exhibits like this highlight the community aspect of art exhibition and encourage attendance and engagement from the Alaskan community. 

The Arc Gallery is located between the Consortium Library and the Kaladi Brothers in the same building. Hallinen said the gallery is named after its notable curved, or arc-shaped, wall. “It’s named after a wall that we basically never actually hang on, right, because you can't really install artwork on it safely.” While the gallery focuses on Alaskan artists, it happens to connect with the Kimura Gallery’s showcase this time around — June Pardue is a professor of native arts at UAA, and many of her students are featured in the current Alaska Native Arts Student Showcase. 

Each gallery has its own website which allows viewers to find current, upcoming and past events. Hallinen said that “Ideally we would have at least three shows a year for each of the galleries — it's usually like three to four.” While exhibits last six to eight weeks on average, the gallery sites also feature photographs of many past events, giving viewers the opportunity to view exhibits no longer installed.