Rockwell Kent "Wilderness" Centennial Journal

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Nov. 14-15, 2018 Nov. 14, 1918 – Fox Island, Resurrection Bay, Alaska – Rockwell Kent in his journal: “This night Rockwell and I skated for the third time. Ah, but it was glorious on the lake, the moon high above us in a cloudless sky, the snow and ice on the mountain sides glistening and the spruces black. We skated together hand in hand like sweethearts; going far to one end of the lake in the teeth of the wind and returning before it like full-rigged ships.” A hundred years later it isn’t quite as cold, but the evening skies are clear and there is a Rockwell Kent moon above Resurrection Bay. Kent and Rocky have packed and are waiting for a window to make the trip to Seward. Kent has learned his lesson about making that crossing in his 18-foot dory with its heavy keel and its finicky 3.5 horse-power Evinrude motor. Although packed and ready, he now realizes that he’s ho...

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Nov. 8 - 13, 2018 Seward, Alaska – At the head of Resurrection Bay: I write this on Nov.14, 2018. Yesterday and today the skies cleared partially and the sun came out. We’ve had heavy rain the last few days with mild temperatures, high 30’s and low 40’s. A few days ago a huge storm moved through South Central Alaska, the heaviest rain on the eastern Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound. As I sat at home listening to the hard rain hitting the roof -- occasionally glancing out the window at the dim gloom of mid-afternoon -- I imagined what it must have been like for Kent and Rockie on Fox Island during this kind of weather. They’re living in a 14 x 17-foot log cabin with a four-foot-high door. There’s a large south facing window and a 2 x 2-foot west facing window. He gives a detailed description of the cabin’s interior on p. 13-14 of Wilderness (1970 reprint). Kerosene lamps ...

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...