Quilts in a changing world: UA Museum of the North showcases Ree Nancarrow’s work

Story and photos by Louis Seymour

One of Nancarrow’s newer pieces, Blue Fireweed (2025) features some of the dyed fabric that characterizes much of her work.

Local artist Ree Nancarrow celebrated the opening of her newest exhibit, “Observations: Two Decades of Change,” at the University of Alaska Museum of the North on Aug. 14. The exhibit features a collection of handmade quilts that often center around the theme of environmental change.

Nancarrow, who has lived in Alaska since 1964, said her years living in and around Denali National Park have allowed her to witness environmental change firsthand. She recalled, “I drove from Denali Park to Fairbanks for groceries and back for years and years, and so I’ve watched the change take place.” Rather than depicting specific landscapes, she focuses on the animals and plants affected by those changes.

Anchoring the exhibit is “Seasons of Denali,” its largest piece. The four-piece quilt depicts a semi-abstract landscape with Denali at its center and was housed at the Eielson Visitor Center in Denali National Park for nearly 20 years. Nancarrow said its inclusion in the exhibit was significant because the visitor center has been closed since 2021 following a landslide on the Park Road. Nancarrow is storing the quilt until the visitor center reopens. Its inclusion in the exhibit marks its first public display since the closure.

The exhibit also includes several other quilts. “I sold a lot of work, so I choose my pieces that I’ve chosen to keep for myself or have on hand,” Nancarrow said. Many of the quilts on display are recent works. Nancarrow estimated that “about half the pieces are brand new from the last couple of years.” Several explore environmental change through subjects such as wildfire and seasonal progression.

Nancarrow also works in painting and photography but said quilts offer a unique way to explore environmental change.

Visitors view Nancarrow’s quilts during the exhibit opening Aug. 14, many of which have not been publicly displayed before.

“I think the texture is the thing I find most important…the dynamics of the texture just adds something that no other form of art will do.”

Much of the fabric used in her quilts is personally designed and dyed. In recent years, Nancarrow has experimented with artist books, which she has used to illustrate environmental change in a foldable and sequential fashion. 

Speaking at the exhibit opening, Nancarrow said, “I used everything I knew to do the fabric and had to learn a few more ways to do things in order to make that work.” She also said she has continued to learn new things throughout her career, including creating fabric designs digitally. 

Nancarrow also emphasized that her work is enjoyable. Speaking to the crowd of attendees at the exhibit, she said, “Honestly, I’m having so much fun.”

Observations: Two Decades of Change will be on display in the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery at the UA Museum of the North until January 10, 2027.