In this edition, I interview my friend and colleague Carl Ramm. He shares photos of his work, and I include a link to his safety advice for artists in bear country.

 

Carl Ramm moved to Alaska in 1983. He and his wife Susan live in King Salmon, AK,

where Susan works for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2014 Carl spent time at Brooks Camp, Katmai National Park, as an artist in residence. He returned the next two seasons to help with the interpretation program on the falls platform. In 2017 he worked as part of the camp’s bear management team.

 

Bears at Brooks Camp

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One hundred and fifty years ago, the United States purchased Alaska from the Czar of Russia for $7.2 million dollars.

 

Settlers were granted citizenship, but the native peoples of Alaska were not. Despite being the true owners, they got nothing.

 Americans in 1867 read about the transaction in their newspapers, but their political cartoonists gave them more to think about. They predicted ridiculous expense for taxpayers, bizarre difficulties, and that only a few would profit.

Recently, I was invited to take part in an exhibition about the Alaska Purchase and its effects.

I wondered, if I could time-travel back to 1867, what cartoon would I submit?

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Before she was Ms. Peach, she was Ms. Lime, an unfinished sketch I threw into my luggage (and bent!) as I packed for San Francisco and the intaglio printmaking workshop at Crown Point Press.

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