In 2011 two artists painted whales on the side of this building Seward, Alaska, as an experiment. The mural was very popular, but it did not do well in the hostile Alaskan environment.
In 2019 the building was renovated. The owner hired J. Leslie to paint whales again. His mural "Return of the Whales" looks fresh seven years later.
The Ranting Raven Gallery is across the street. It sells "unique gifts, original art, [and] local wares." Three raven-related murals from 2014 are on the side of the gallery.
In the beginning, the world was all water. Raven flew over and fell in love with Salmon Woman. He asked her to marry him and she agreed, but only if raven creates land. With the help of other sea creatures, raven obtains sand from the sea bottom and drops it to create land and islands. Salmon Woman can now come ashore to dry her hair in the wind.
The world was dark because an evil Chief has hidden the sun, moon and stars in a box. The raven discovers this and, disguised as the Chief's grandson, tricks him into opening the box. Now the sun is released to light the world and the moon and stars light the night sly.
The Fog Woman story teaches respect for what you have. Raven is greedy and takes this for granted and loses her, but not before she creates Salmon for the world. Jennifer Headtke is the lead artist with a long list of contributing artists.
Across an alley from The Ranting Raven Gallery is an older 1999 mural, "Snapshots of the Past." A photograph of William H. Seward is in the center of the left side. Seward was the U.S. Secretary of State who bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia for $7.2 million, or about two cents per acre.
Linked to Monday Murals.
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