Meet Dorothy and Jeff, Visionaries of Alderworks

This is Dorothy and Jeff, visionaries and hosts of Alderworks. To read their story, go to alderworksalaska.com. Jeff moved to the area and started a newspaper when he was 21, and he continues to spearhead the North Words Writers’ Symposium which will be gathering in Skagway next week. Dorothy is a Skagway native, third generation, and is the queen of the gardens and animals here. We are so grateful for their warmth and hospitality and Alaskan grit, and when Ed and I need to talk with someone besides each other, Dorothy and Jeff always have good stories to tell.

The main purpose of a residency is to work without distraction. The main challenge of a residency is working without distractions. I have no excuse to not paint. There are no errands to run, no bills to pay, no meetings to attend, no dinners to host. To text or email here, I have to walk to a bench across the grounds where everyone can see that Carol is on her phone again, so I don’t do that a whole lot. We can’t access movies or TV programs or NPR. All we can do is paint and write and hike and read, which is fine when I’m feeling confident. It’s fine when I’m in Oakland where people might say, “You’re Carol Aust! I love your work.” But here, people don’t know me or Oakland, and my reputation is only as good as what I paint here, and at the moment I don’t like my paintings very much. I would much rather watch a movie or play the piano or cook dinner for 20 or even run to Target, but those aren’t options here.

When we interviewed for this residency, we suggested coming for two weeks. Jeff was reluctant. “It takes people a couple of weeks just to settle in,” he explained. I’ve made a calendar for myself and counted the panels I brought. It works out to 8 ½ panels a week for four weeks. I have lots of time to make lots of bad art, and maybe some gems will happen, too.