Pratt Museum

Visitors to the museum can view live footage of seabirds at Gull Island

The Pratt Museum is a local museum in Homer, Alaska concerning Kachemak Bay in Southcentral Alaska. The museum's motto is "art, science, and culture of Kachemak Bay."[1] The museum focuses on subjects like early homesteading, Native Alaskan traditions, local contemporary art, and an exploration of the marine and terrestrial life around Kachemak Bay.

Exhibits

The main gallery's exhibit at the Pratt Museum is entitled Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People & Place, which explores the cultures that have existed in Kachemak Bay and contemporary life in Kachemak Bay,[2] from early Native Alaskans to the homesteaders of the 1930s and 40s to the current fisheries that sustain the Kachemak Bay town of Homer.

One major attraction for visitors is a live-feed wildlife camera set up to view seabirds such as puffins, cormorants, and murres on Gull Island in Kachemak Bay. The camera is controlled at the museum, with a touchscreen below the main screen for visitor use. The SeeBird Camera (or Gull Cam) is also available online during the summer months, although it is controlled by the visitors at the museum and not the online visitors.[3]

Facing the Elements is an art exhibit along a forested trail behind the museum. During the summer months, the community creates art to line the trail. Each year new art pieces are created to decorate the trail.[4]

The museum also hosts a number of interactive activities, from fish-feeding on Tuesdays and Fridays[5] to tours of the harbor on the Homer Spit on Fridays and Saturdays.[6]

Expansion

Current museum building as seen from Bartlett Street

The Pratt Museum is, as of 2010, looking to expand their facilities, due to a lack of space and inadequate storage space for its collections. The creation of a new building has been a matter of debate throughout the community. The current building is "one of Homer's oldest, continually occupied public buildings" and so hosts historical value for the town, and has the potential, with renovation, to be larger than a new building assuming the same cost. However, a renovation would last an estimated 20 years instead of the 50 years that a new building could provide. The new building would also be on one level, eliminating the need for staircases and elevators that use up space, and would have other efficiencies not possible with the current building.[7] The Pratt Museum's Board of Directors has decided to support the creation of a new museum building, and expects to begin designing the building sometime in 2010.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Pratt Museum Home Page
  2. ↑ Homer Tribune Events (Meetings) July 21, 2010
  3. ↑ Live Gull Cam Feed
  4. ↑ Homer News: 'Facing Elements' exhibit pushes art into outdoors
  5. ↑ Homer Tribune: Events Calendar for May 19th
  6. ↑ Homer News: Announcements, July 7 2010
  7. ↑ Homer News: Pratt Holds Meetings on Expansion Options
  8. ↑ Pratt Museum Website: Museum Expansion Plan

External links

Coordinates: 59°38′42″N 151°32′58″W / 59.64500°N 151.54944°W