Vladimir Zhikhartzev February 16 Denali watercolor painting demo -> DOWNLOAD VIDEO
Click on link, Download, Download anyway then Double Click on file in DOWNLOADS
Vladimir Zhikhartzev Workshop - April 21, 22, and 23, 10am - 5pm each day at Blaine's Art & Graphic Supply. Class size limited to 15 people. Please see the February "Brush Strokes" newsletter for details or call Jean Watson at 907-333-4678
All monthly meetings have been cancelled until further notice. No new or renewing memberships are being accepted at this time. It is expected that the Society will end in May 2023 due to a lack of volunteers for the AKWS Board of Directors.
President’s Message by Chris Zafren
The Alaska Watercolor Society (AKWS) will cease to exist in May 2023 after a ten-year struggle to find volunteers
for the leadership. The demise of this once vibrant organization can be attributed to several factors: aging of the
membership, expansion of artistic media options, increased interest in on-line art opportunities, the pandemic and a
general decrease in volunteerism nation-wide.
The Alaska Watercolor Society was formed in 1974 as a not-for-profit organization to help promote the knowledge
and craft of professional watercolor painting in Alaska. For forty-nine years AKWS sponsored a week-long
workshop with a nationally prominent watercolorist. Yearly grants from the Alaska State Council on the Arts
helped bring notable artists to Alaska for workshops including Milford Zorns, Art Shapiro, Stephen Quiller, Carrie
Burns Brown, Carla O’Conner, Mark Mehaffey, John Salminen and, most recently, Andy Evansen. Hundreds of local
artists benefited from their instruction. Our annual juried exhibition encouraged local artists to show their work
publicly and guided them through the process to do so. The Anchorage Museum of History and Art hosted the
annual AKWS Juried Exhibition every other year until 2010, raising our profile. For years, AKWS provided judges
and prize money for local high school art shows, then transitioned to offering an annual $1000 scholarship to a
University of Alaska art student. AKWS provided a $100 prize for the best water media piece at the Alaska State
Fair for years.
Times change and we adapted. The Anchorage Museum stopped hosting the AKWS Exhibition as it pursued a more
avant-garde and international focus. We then sought out local galleries for the Exhibition. Entries to our annual
Exhibition declined, so we opened the show to all water media and to artists at the national level. As the number of
local galleries declined, members came together to install monthly shows at a local cafe. For years monthly
meetings at a local restaurant provided a time for socialization and sharing watercolor techniques. During the
pandemic, we adapted, holding our Exhibition virtually, setting up paint-outs and meeting via Zoom. Membership
has held steady over the last ten years, it was volunteerism that declined. In January 2022, our Board made the
difficult decision to close down AKWS unless others stepped up to lead the organization. Despite our offer to
mentor in a new Board, no one volunteered to take on the leadership.
As president since 2010, I can say, it was a lot of work. While we near our shut down date in May, I am consoled by
the number of people who have benefited from that work, those of all ability levels who grew in their painting
skills, those who came to know the joy of having their work recognized in a juried show, and those encouraged to
continue in the arts via our scholarship awards. While the time for AKWS may be passing, during our time I can say
we contributed in making our community a more vibrant place
The Alaska Watercolor Society (AKWS) will cease to exist in May 2023 after a ten-year struggle to find volunteers
for the leadership. The demise of this once vibrant organization can be attributed to several factors: aging of the
membership, expansion of artistic media options, increased interest in on-line art opportunities, the pandemic and a
general decrease in volunteerism nation-wide.
The Alaska Watercolor Society was formed in 1974 as a not-for-profit organization to help promote the knowledge
and craft of professional watercolor painting in Alaska. For forty-nine years AKWS sponsored a week-long
workshop with a nationally prominent watercolorist. Yearly grants from the Alaska State Council on the Arts
helped bring notable artists to Alaska for workshops including Milford Zorns, Art Shapiro, Stephen Quiller, Carrie
Burns Brown, Carla O’Conner, Mark Mehaffey, John Salminen and, most recently, Andy Evansen. Hundreds of local
artists benefited from their instruction. Our annual juried exhibition encouraged local artists to show their work
publicly and guided them through the process to do so. The Anchorage Museum of History and Art hosted the
annual AKWS Juried Exhibition every other year until 2010, raising our profile. For years, AKWS provided judges
and prize money for local high school art shows, then transitioned to offering an annual $1000 scholarship to a
University of Alaska art student. AKWS provided a $100 prize for the best water media piece at the Alaska State
Fair for years.
Times change and we adapted. The Anchorage Museum stopped hosting the AKWS Exhibition as it pursued a more
avant-garde and international focus. We then sought out local galleries for the Exhibition. Entries to our annual
Exhibition declined, so we opened the show to all water media and to artists at the national level. As the number of
local galleries declined, members came together to install monthly shows at a local cafe. For years monthly
meetings at a local restaurant provided a time for socialization and sharing watercolor techniques. During the
pandemic, we adapted, holding our Exhibition virtually, setting up paint-outs and meeting via Zoom. Membership
has held steady over the last ten years, it was volunteerism that declined. In January 2022, our Board made the
difficult decision to close down AKWS unless others stepped up to lead the organization. Despite our offer to
mentor in a new Board, no one volunteered to take on the leadership.
As president since 2010, I can say, it was a lot of work. While we near our shut down date in May, I am consoled by
the number of people who have benefited from that work, those of all ability levels who grew in their painting
skills, those who came to know the joy of having their work recognized in a juried show, and those encouraged to
continue in the arts via our scholarship awards. While the time for AKWS may be passing, during our time I can say
we contributed in making our community a more vibrant place