Ree Nancarrow
• fiber: quilt •
Bark beetles have gone from obscurity to a household word in central Alaska since 2016. They are always present in small numbers, but occasionally their population increases to create terrible infestations. They have impacted over 1.6 million acres of spruce forest in southcentral Alaska, as they have, and continue, to move northward. My neighbors and I have watched this happen from our homes near Denali National Park and further south.
This piece shows the cycle of a spruce bark beetle infestation. Healthy spruce trees are infested with beetles that kill them, turning their needles brown as they die. They are subsequently consumed by wildland fires, leaving the landscape blackened by ash and skeletons of dead spruce trees.
In the larval stage, the beetles resemble small grains of white rice. They eat beautiful patterns under the bark of spruce trees. Images at the bottom left of the piece show some of these larval gallery patterns, and the open blue section is quilted using some of these patterns.
REE NANCARROW
Ree Nancarrow primarily makes art quilts. She lived near Denali National Park for 50 years, drawing inspiration from the natural world and her observations of climate change. Major commissions include a quilt for the U.S. Army, Fort Wainwright Bassett Hospital, Fairbanks AK, and a four-panel quilt for Eielson Visitor’s Center in Denali National Park. She received an Interior Alaska Mayor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts in 2012 and a Rasmuson Individual Artists Grant in 2020. Her work is in the Alaska State Museum, University of Alaska Museum of the North, and the Pratt Museum.
Website: reenancarrow.com
