Rockwell Kent "Wilderness" Centennial Journal

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Nov. 5 - 7, 2018 The November 9 th Kent Symposium at the Anchorage Museum went well. I’ll give more information about that later and tell you more about the other presenters. I’ll also publish on this site the text of my presentation sometime this month. Getting my presentation in shape got me behind somewhat on this blog, but I should get up to date by the end of this week. As I write this, on Monday, Nov. 12 – we have a typically rainy, foggy, dismal day in Seward – not unlike those that Kent talks about this time of year 100 years ago. For a painter who needed light, days like this could be frustrating. Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1918 -- It has been eight days since Olson left for Seward. Kent is waiting anxiously for his return -- for the old man will have the mail – and Kent is desperate for letters. It doesn’t’ look good. Overcast skies with rain and some snow make it so dark that t...

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Oct. 31 – through Nov. 4, 2018 Winter is here, and Rockwell Kent says as much about this time 100 years ago. This last week in 2018, morning temperatures hover between 10 and 20 degrees and rise to perhaps 30 by the afternoon. It’s been clear – beautiful sun rises and sun sets – with a light to sometimes brisk northwest wind. As the month ends for Kent on Oct. 31, 1918, there is a mix of rain and snow on Fox Island. Olson is in Seward so less interruptions with his tall tales – which the Kents actually enjoy. It breaks up their day and acquaints them with what Kent considers the true Alaska character connecting him with the freedom and liberty of the wilderness. Rockie spends the day reading, writing and drawing. Kent paints, and works on a two-inch square woodblock, his first, fabricating a new tool out of a file. After supper the evening ends with Kent’s flute playing, som...