By Eric Berger
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The completion of the Alaska Railroad was marked when President Warren Harding drove a Golden Spike into the track at the remote, riverfront village of Nenana, Alaska, on July 15, 1923. That event is juxtaposed with a contemporary station scene in a piece of art created a century later by a young artist from Nenana, one of two works commissioned by the railroad to commemorate its centennial and appear on art prints and posters sold by the railroad this year.
Rendered in black & white with coal pencils by Noah Nolywaika, the railroad founders and President Harding appear in the sky above the Nenana depot as a train led by a GP40-2 waits at the semaphore below in the piece, “Nenana: Where River Meets Rail and Past Meets Future.”
In the second piece, a lineup of nine key locomotives from the railroad’s history is depicted in “Alaska Railroad: 100 Years Strong,” a layered oil painting on canvas by William “Art” Chase of North Pole. In 2007, Chase painted “Then and Now,” for the railroad’s art print program, depicting an ARR steam locomotive and diesel. It was then that he first conceived presenting a diverse array of steam and diesel locomotives, an idea the railroad thought was well-suited to the centennial.
Painting by Art Chase
A passionate steam fan and preservationist, Chase has lived in North Pole with his wife Wendy since the Air Force stationed him nearby in 1983. He helped rebuild the Tanana Valley Railroad Porter locomotive that operates at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks on special occasions and has spent the past decade working on the restoration of ARR 557 in Wasilla. Built in 1944, the Baldwin 2-8-0 was the railroad’s last steam engine and survived being sold to a Washington state scrap dealer in 1964. It eventually returned to Alaska in 2012.
While Chase is enjoying an encore with this year’s print, the commission is a milestone in the career of 22-year-old Nolywaika. Raised in a log cabin outside Nenana, his passion for drawing developed in childhood and has been nurtured with private lessons in recent years.
“Winning this contest and working on the railroad’s centennial drawing is by far the most thrilling and significant achievement of my short art career,” Nolywaika said. “What I love most about this project is the opportunity to be involved in the centennial of the Alaska Railroad.”
The Chase painting is designated as the 2023 Official Print, while Nolywaika’s drawing is the Official Centennial Print. The art print program began in 1979 with a work by renowned artist John Van Zyle. New selections have followed annually ever since, excepting 1984.
The public will have a chance to meet the artists during a sign-and-sale event Saturday, January 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Anchorage Historic Depot, at 411 West 1st Avenue in Anchorage.
For more information about the art prints, including the history and images of past prints, go to www.AlaskaRailroad.com (Click on Annual Print Contest).
