Klara Maisch

Artist | Panelist

 

Klara’s landscape based art is rooted in the wild places of Alaska. Her core practice involves painting large canvases directly in the field. Mountains, glaciers, and geologic forms are common features in her paintings. Her experiences in the outdoors allow her to directly interact with the physical forces that shape a landscape, informing the underlying visual dynamics in her work. Klara grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. She attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she received a BFA in Printmaking and Painting in 2012. In 2019 she completed construction of an art studio and home in the woods near Fairbanks. Klara primarily works as an artist, though she seasonally instructs for Inspiring Girls Expeditions and works as a wilderness guide for Arctic Wild. She is passionate about developing cross-disciplinary ways of expression and thinking through art, science, and the outdoors. Her artwork has been featured in exhibits and public art commissions throughout Alaska as well as California, Hawaii, and Washington.

www.klaramaisch.com

Jessica Thornton

Artist | Panelist

 

Jessica Thornton (she/her/they/them) is an artist and community organizer living in Palmer, Alaska. She was born in Åbo, Finland and raised in Huizen, the Netherlands. Before moving to Ahtna and Dena’ina lands, she lived in Scotland for 7 years where she earned her M.Sc. in  Environment and Development from the University of Edinburgh. Alongside being an artist and a small business owner, she currently works as Arts in Action Coordinator for Native Movement, an Indigenous-led organization that provides support for grassroots-led projects that endeavor to ensure social justice, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the rights of Mother Earth. She works in various mediums including linoprint, screenprint, letterpress, pen and ink  and digital art. Her artwork is inspired by her Finnish heritage and culture, social and environmental justice movements, Arctic flora and fauna, and the unseen, beautiful connections we have to our environment. She is passionate about the role of art in  building narrative strategies in social justice movements, and her art has directly supported communities and coalitions including United Tribes of Bristol Bay and Defend  the Sacred AK.

 

www.jessicathorntondesigns.com 

Hannah Perrine Mode

Artist | Panelist

 

Hannah Perrine Mode is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working at the confluence of visual art, community storytelling, and polar science. Often combining place-based making with participatory projects, her objects and installations serve as proxies for climate change, Earth systems, geologic time, and human connection. She teaches art as a tool for creative thinking,  communication, and outreach, utilizing abstract art to deepen our connection to  geologic forces and foster an intersectional approach to climate justice. She serves a faculty member on the leadership team of the Juneau Icefield Research Program in Southeast Alaska, and has been a Visiting  Artist with the International Arctic Science Committee in Iceland and Chulengo Expeditions in Patagonia. Hannah was an Artist-in-Residence with Google, the National Park Service/Parks Canada, Alaska State Parks, Vermont Studio  Center, and Central Michigan University. She has exhibited her work at venues around the country, including 2021 group shows at the Anchorage Museum in  Alaska, Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA, SPARC in Los Angeles, CA, and the National Park Service in Seattle, WA. She is a co-founder of Erratics, a  collaborative research group exploring empathy, geology, and climate change. Hannah has an MFA in Studio Art from Mills College and a BS in Studio Art from  Skidmore College. She currently teaches at Central Michigan University.

 

www.hannahpmode.com