The Painted Pipes of Fairbanks

Marilyn Monroe painted pipe, Fairbanks, Alaska

Marilyn with Bunny Boots, David Hayden.

Noble Street and 2nd Avenue

These ventilation pipes provide fresh air intake for utilidors (utility corridor) that run under the streets of downtown Fairbanks. Thirteen of these pipes have been artistically painted by local artists for Paint the Pipes which is a joint project of the Downtown Association of Fairbanks and Project Fairbanks.

Sadly, the original Marilyn pipe was vandalized in May 2018. Marilyn Pipes Up was sprayed with green paint. The culprit/culprits were never caught. The artist had spent 40 hours to paint the pipe in 2012 only to see it trashed a few years later. But he repainted Marilyn (with the help of sponsors) and added something new - the bunny boots!

Lingonberry Love, Gail Priday.

Griffin Park towards Chena River.

Priday loves picking lingonberries. And what better way to show this love for the fruit than to render it in color on this pipe.

Fairbanks painted pipes, Fairbanks, Alaska

Fairbanks, Mica Fairchild.

5th Avenue between Cushman and Barnette Streets

These vent pipes represent everything that is special about Fairbanks. It is the Golden Heart City.

World of Winter, Sarah DeGennaro

First Avenue and Lacey Street

DeGennaro wants the viewer to enjoy the “intricacy of snow crystals at monumental scale and detail”.

Up Stream, Kate Wood

2nd Avenue across from Key Bank

Wood paints the quintessential Alaskan salmon swimming upstream.

Downtown Shoppers, Laura Nutter

Barnette Street

What happens when the fox, the moose and the raven get together? The party of parties begins!

Fireweed. Nikki Kinne

2nd Avenue

For the artist, fireweed is the essence of Alaska. She chose to paint the fireweed in summer to remind her and us that “dark and cold” will pass.

Under the Midnight Sun. Junior Roller Girlz

3rd Avenue and S. Turner Street

Alaska experiences as much as 22 hours of sunlight from mid April to August which is why it is called the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Pet Dreams. Karen Austen. 2013

Cushman Street

The artist portrays the dreams of a dog and a cat with the northern lights in the background.

Spirit Dance. Lucas Elliott.

2nd Avenue and S. Turner Street

Elliott paints a girl with her dog dancing under Aurora skies.

Interior Alaskan Images, Dan Kennedy

Lacey and 3rd Street

Kennedy depicts the flora and fauna of Interior Alaska. Notice the bear, moose kingfisher, eagle, the snow covered mountains and the northern lights above.

Dreaming, Mica Hendricks

Lacey and 4th Avenue

Dreaming represents the dreams and imaginations of children.

Musk Ox, Iris Sutton

Excessive hunting eradicated the muskoxen population in Alaska in the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The good news is they were reintroduced to Nunivak Island in 1935 and are now thriving there and in other parts of the last frontier. Iris Sutton says her paintings “explore Alaska’s wildlife and landscape with vibrant and bold color and contrast”. She uses color to give an animal personality and emotion according to her website, icewedgeart.wordpress.com.

What’s nice about searching for these pipes is that they are all in the downtown area and within walking distance from each other. I had fun discovering all of them.

*****

Images by TravelswithCharie

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called Kasaysayan ng Maynila (History of Manila). The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was

8 Heritage Houses of Iloilo

Lizares Mansion The province of Iloilo on the island of Panay has a rich trove of heritage houses, left over from the sugar industry boom in the 19th century. Iloilo also had the largest port in the Philippines at that time which facilitated the export of sugar to foreign shores and deposited money in the hands of the sugar barons. The barons dropped their earnings into the acquisition of properties in Negros and the construction of beautiful homes in Iloilo, many of which are located in the vicinity of the Jaro Cathedral. The Lizares Mansion was built in 1937 by Don Emiliano Lizares for his wife, Concepcion Gamboa and five children. The family fled to safety when World War II broke out and the house was occupied by the Japanese military. The family returned to the house after the war but left once again after the demise of Don Emiliano. It was sold to the Dominican order in the 1960s and was converted in 1978 to a private school, Angelicum School. The mansion now houses the

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