On View March 11-23 in the Bear Gallery Gift Shop

Open from 12-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday

The Bear Gallery Gift Shop is located on the third floor of the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts building in Pioneer Park at 2300 Airport Way, Fairbanks, Alaska.

“I was straight out of college with a BFA when I was drafted into the U.S. Army and deployed to Vietnam as an MP in the early 70’s. The Vietnam Drawings were my way of documenting this very different new world and culture that I had been thrown into. I was fascinated with the landscape of the area.” -Charles Hunt

This exhibition features the work of Charle’s Hunt, a long-time educator of fine arts in both Fairbanks and the Lower 48. Charles holds a BFA in painting from Southeastern Massachusetts University as well as a Master of Arts, Teaching  Master of Arts, Teaching  (MAT) from  Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Charlie’s career and pursuit of art have been versatile over the years, including a period of time in the mid-80s from 1984 to 1989, when he took numerous art courses at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska. Charlie was also the Arts and Crafts Director at Ft. Wainwright. Fairbanks, Alaska from 1982-1984.

Fairbanks Arts Association is honored to host this special pop-up exhibition in the Bear Gallery Gift Shop to honor Charlie’s contribution to the arts in Alaska and his long-time support of Fairbanks Arts. Vietnam Drawings, 1970-1971 is on view during Youth Art Month, underlining Charlie’s long term involvement in the arts through education both outside of Alaska and during his time living in Fairbanks.

This will be the second exhibition showcasing Charlie’s work within the last 50 years.

A statement from the artist:

“In September, 1969, I was drafted into the U.S. Army. Before that, I was a college student and deferred from serving until I graduated from my undergraduate university. I went through Basic Training at Fort Dix New Jersey and Advanced Military Police Training at Fort Gordon Georgia. I was then assigned to Fitzsimmons Hospital in Aurora Colorado, as a Military Policeman. Soon afterward, most of the MP’s in my unit were reassigned to Vietnam. When I reached the Replacement Depot, near Saigon, I was assigned to B Company Detachment, 720 MP Battalion, in Vinh Long Vietnam. Vin Long is a city, and Province, in the Mekong Delta. We worked shifts of 9 days on and one day off for most of the time I served there. Although we had little free time, I was attracted to the landscape and started to draw my surroundings on my few days off. I would catch a ride downtown in a patrol jeep and sit in a roadside café while making these drawings. I also frequently climbed up to the guard tower on top of the Headquarters and worked up there in solitude. 

When my tour in Vietnam ended, I hand carried these drawings back home. My uncle Jim, who was a WWII infantry veteran, offered to exhibit these drawings on the walls of his living room in Rhode Island. This is the only time these drawings have been exhibited. I later was hired as a civilian Recreation Director in Germany. The drawings later disappeared from my uncle’s house, and as the years passed, also faded from my memory. 

Many years later, when I was visiting my brother in Rhode Island, he said that he had an artwork of mine in his storage shed. As I was clearing away stored objects to look at an old collage, the corner of a buried drawing caught my eye. It was one of the drawings from Vietnam. It was in poor condition, stained with mold, torn and perforated in a number of places. This discovery led me to begin searching for the rest of the drawings. 

One thing I wanted to do is exhibit them in my adopted home town of Fairbanks, Alaska.”

-Charles Hunt 

Artist Education and Career:

Education:

Undergraduate education:

1969:  BFA in Painting from Southeastern Massachusetts University, 

North Dartmouth, MA

1973: Master of Arts, Teaching (MAT), from  Rhode Island School of Design, 

Providence, RI

1984 – 1989: variety of art courses from UAF i.e. life drawing, watercolor, photography 

Career

1973: Teaching Certificate, Certified in Art Education from Rhode Island Dept of Education

1973 – 1980: High School Art Teacher, North Kingstown High School, 

North Kingstown, Rhode Island 

1980 – 1982: Arts and Crafts Director at Karl Schurz Kaserne, Bremerhaven,  Germany (Employed by Dept of Defense at U.S. Army Base in Bremerhaven Germany) 

1982: Transferred to Ft Wainwright in Fairbanks Alaska from Germany   

1982 – 1984: Arts and Crafts Director at Ft. Wainwright. Fairbanks, Alaska