About

Kesler Woodward

One of Alaska’s best known artists, Kesler Woodward moved to Alaska in 1977. He has painted the landscape of the Circumpolar North for almost five decades, from Hudson Bay in the Canadian Arctic to the Bering Sea and the Siberian coast.

Woodward’s paintings are included in all major public art collections in Alaska and in museum, corporate, and private collections on both coasts of the United States. Solo exhibits to his credit include the Morris Museum of Art, University of Alaska Museum, Alaska State Museum, Anchorage Museum, Nevada Art Museum, and public and commercial galleries throughout the U.S.  Juried and invitational exhibitions including his work have ranged from Alaska to Brazil and Russia.

Also an art historian and curator, Woodward since 1990 has published six books on Alaskan art, including the first comprehensive survey of the fine arts in Alaska, Painting in the North. He has lectured on art of the circumpolar North from Alaska to Georgia, New England, and the British Museum in London.

Woodward served as Curator of Visual Arts at the Alaska State Museum and as Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Center of Alaska before moving to Fairbanks in 1981. He is currently Professor of Art Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he taught for two decades, serving as Chair of the Art Department and Chair of the Division of Arts and Communications.  He retired from teaching to paint full time in the spring of 2000.

In 2004 Kesler Woodward received the first Alaska Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, and in 2012 he received the Rasmuson Foundation’s Distinguished Artist Award and Fellowship.