Rarefied Light 2012 Results are IN!

© 2012 Brian Adams

© 2012 Ash Adams

Brian and I are honored to have a few of our pieces accepted into this year's Rarefied Light exhibition, a traveling photography show that tours the state's museums in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, and Kodiak. (Brian's photo above, "Coney Island Sundays," even received an honorable mention!)

We are especially honored because this year's Rarefied Light juror was none other than Cig Harvey, an artist whose work we have both admired for years. (You can read our review on her latest book, You Look At Me Like An Emergency, here.) Cig is inspiring, both as an artist and as a person. She is brilliant, she is captivating, she is down-to-earth, she is dreamy, and she is a teacher through-and-through. We are so privileged to have had the opportunity to listen to her talk about her work and to meet her. Even though her schedule was busy and her visit short, she made time to stop by our home to sit on the floor, drink tea, and talk about life, parenthood, and art we admire. (We talked about you, too, AVS!)

Congrats to all of the other artists, and thanks for venturing North, Cig! We'll see you sometime on the other coast!

Elliott is Four Months Old!

© 2012 Ash Adams

© 2012 Brian Adams

It's true: time flies when you're on baby time! Elliott is four months old today, and we can hardly believe it. Elliott grows and learns so much everyday that a week feels both like it was actually a year and also like it was only a wink. It is impossible to imagine our world without him and yet almost unbelievable that just a little over four months ago, he was in my belly.

In just four months, Elliott has learned so much about the world, and we've watched with amazement as he has learned how to hold things, how to reach for things, how to roll over, how to sign for "milk" with his hand, how to laugh and laugh and laugh. We will write a post in the next few weeks about the tangible things--products, books, activities--that have been helpful or rewarding along the way, but for now, we just want to say that Elliott is the best. He is partytimeexcellent always. He is truly a remarkable, happy soul, and we are just so blessed that he's here.

Giselle and David

© 2012 Ash Adams

© 2012 Brian Adams

Last week, Brian and I were privileged to photograph two lovely friends, Giselle and David, who are expecting their first child at any moment. Their daughter was due this past Monday, so the couple is now just patiently awaiting her arrival. We are so happy that they wanted a few last minute photos to document this awesome time that is still so very fresh in our minds from our own pregnancy and delivery!

The five of us (yes, Elliott came along on the shoot!) headed over to Point Woronzof for the afternoon where we spent a while on the bluff and then wandered down to the beach and behind the graffiti-sprayed water tower for some extra color. We all were excited to watch and hear the planes roar above us. It was a splendid day spent with two great (and beautiful!) people, and again, we were just so happy to be included in these special final days of their pregnancy.

Thanks, Giselle and David! We can't wait to meet your little lady!

VX Days - Ted Kim

© 2012 Brian Adams

Today is an exciting day for the shredders of Anchorage: VX Days, Ted Kim's fourth full-length skate film, is premiering at the Wilda Marston Theater at the Loussac Library. VX Days is a film that's been about 3 years in the making, so we don't need to write a long blog post to create any more hype around it. Everyone is already counting down the hours.

But we will say this: we love Ted, and we love his work. It has heart. What he portrays in his clips is the familial nature of the skate community here and what it means to love something with everything you have. Skaters here skate because they love it, because they have it in their hearts. The pavement in Alaska is rough, the kick-outs are quick, the summer is short, there is no industry up here to sponsor talent. But they're out there, early in the morning, all day long, and into the night.

If you've just passed by them on the street, you're missing something wonderful. You're missing art in motion. Thanks, Ted, for catching it.

AK to AK - Brit visits Alaska

Photos © Brian & Ash

This past week, Brian and I were honored to host Akron Empire's Brit Charek and her son, Holden, in our home in Alaska. Brit is my friend of almost 13 years, but because we have been in different states for most of our adult lives, it's been years since we've seen each other face to face. It was a little bit of a time-warp; we both now have children, we both have seen dozens and dozens of cities and coasts and bands and art shows without each other, we have fallen in and out of love, we both have gone on to graduate school. And, of course, I met Brian during these years of separation and now am a happily married lady.

But as with any long-time friend, there are glimpses of all of those teenage days and nights spent stretched out of summer docks or driving fast at night, toying with ideas of hair dye, of boys, of suicide, of song lyrics. There is a shared knowledge of familiar streets, those roadmaps that never fade.

One thing certainly has remained the same for both of us: we both love life and creative things, so we do a lot in a short amount of time.

Brit writes a great new blog, Akron Empire, which features twice-weekly posts on local bands, businesses, and events, and although the blog is just starting out, Brian and I dig it a lot. (Check out the blog and like Akron Empire on Facebook if you feel the same.) Brit earned her Masters in Education last year, is working on her Masters in Literature currently, and will be teaching high school English full-time starting this fall. She regularly hosts local craft fairs, and she sells awesome guitar-pick earrings from her online etsy store, HoldenAllan. She also raises an energetic three-year-old, Holden, who is possibly one of the sweetest, coolest little kids I've ever met. What a lady.

Our week together as a fivesome was a fun one. We spent some time in Anchorage just catching up, going to brunch at Snow City, playing at Elderberry Park, walking around downtown, cooking up halibut and enjoying delicious brews from Great Lakes Brewing Co. (courtesy of Brit) and Alaska Brewing Company. Then, we headed out to Homer for a few days, stopping first at the Bake Shop in Girdwood. We stayed in Girdwood long enough for Holden to get some play time in at the park and for Elliott to get a feeding, and then we hit the road again, only making stops for feeding Elliott and stretching our legs. (This was Elliott's longest car ride, so he needed a few extra stops.) We arrived in Homer excited to wander a bit and grab some delicious fish and chips from Boardwalk Fish and Chips, and then we were all very happy to just hang out in our cabin for the evening. The next day, we had a marvelous brunch at Two Sisters Bakery and hit the beach, where we spent the rest of our time in Homer. Elliott adored our guests and simply couldn't take his eyes off of Holden, especially as he ran and jumped on the sand.

Back in Anchorage, we continued our vacationing-visit with long walks, Fourth of July festivities on the Park Strip, more delicious meals at home and at Yak & Yeti, Bear Tooth, and La Cabana. Before we knew it, it was time for Brit and Holden to head back to Ohio, taking with them a few pounds of Kaladi Brothers Coffee for the road.

Thanks for venturing North, Brit! We three had a wonderful time!

Mobile Food

Photos © 2012 Brian Adams

Walk the streets of Anchorage in the summertime, and you'll see it everywhere: food. Delicious food. Sold from carts, stands, tents, trailers, and trucks. At the markets, in random parking lots, in an alley, and on the street.

It isn't fast food in the way we typically think of fast food. It's prepared locally—not processed, packaged, and frozen somewhere else before making its way up here to be reheated and handed out of a window. There's usually one person behind it, and you can talk to him or her about where it came from and why. It isn't exactly the same every time, because good food never is.

No, it isn't fast food. It's just mobile.

Read Ash's full story in this week's Anchorage Press!