Local Color: a community art show highlighting locally grown & harvested color.

On View: September 5 – 27, 2025

First Friday Opening Reception:Friday, September 5, 5 – 7 p.m.

(Gallery opens at noon on First Fridays)

The Bear Gallery is located on the third floor of the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts building in Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way, Fairbanks, Alaska.  Admission to the Bear Gallery is free of charge and open to the public. The Bear Gallery is open Monday – Saturday from 12 – 6 p.m.

This September at The Bear Gallery, over 40 local artists, craftspeople, and creators share the endless possibilities that natural dyes, pigments, and naturally colored materials have to offer. 

Local Color is a collaborative art show organized by Calypso Farm and Ecology Center. It features over 40 Alaskan artists and their individual creative explorations of locally grown, harvested, and found color. The colors displayed in this exhibition are all derived from locally sourced and home-grown botanicals, flowers, lichen, mushrooms, wood, clay, berries, wool, and stone, as well as pigments resulting from natural processes such as rust, fire, snowmelt, and more.

Local Color features a wide variety of mediums, including printmaking, ceramics, illustration, photography, painting, collage, eco-printing, woodwork, embroidery, and many different forms of fiber arts – from knitting and spinning to weaving and quilting.This show is meant to inspire curiosity, share knowledge, and celebrate the art and science of creating with natural materials. We encourage you to experiment and explore your own interpretation of Local Color. Don’t miss this unique expression of natural beauty!

Calypso Farm is a non-profit, educational farm in Fairbanks, Alaska, offering hands-on education programs for all ages and growing fresh food for the community. Their mission is “to encourage local food production and environmental awareness through hands-on education in natural and farming ecosystems.” They offer workshops, farmer training, youth programs, and numerous other initiatives with a focus on the Fairbanks community. Whether you love eating fresh vegetables, are a homeschooling mom looking for a program to teach your kids about growing and harvesting, or have a passion for blacksmithing, Calypso has something for you.

You can learn more about them on their social media pages @calypso_farm or visit their website calypsofarm.org