The Norman Lowell Gallery established in the 1990s, houses more than 300 of Lowell’s paintings.
Lowell died earlier this month though, at the age of 96. On top of being the featured artist, he was the gallery’s founder and operator.
Barnabas Firth, the gallery’s curator, said the gallery features Alaska landscapes and shows what Lowell’s life in Alaska was like.
“This place captures kind of a moment in time where Norman operated, and it's very much a capturing of the homestead life and the beauty that he was surrounded by as he was homesteading,” Firth said. “I hope it can live on as a testament and an ongoing, unfolding story of how much we love the beauty of this land.”
Lowell usually spent summers running the gallery and tending to his garden. He also traveled around the state, observing and sketching the wilderness and mountains. Firth said Lowell usually shifted to painting outside of the tourism season.
“During the winter, when he painted his paintings. Oftentimes He would build his compositions off of the black and white sketches. So a lot of the color and atmosphere and light are memories. So just sitting there and taking it in was such an important part of his artistry,” Firth said.
That followed a long career. Lowell pursued an art career after serving in the U.S. Air Force. He got his start in Iowa before he and his wife Libby, moved to their homestead in Anchor Point in 1958.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing for him though. Lowell faced vision issues since the 1980s and ultimately went legally blind since, 2013, after battling glaucoma.
"Thought he was going to go blind at the time, but then they were able to get him on a treatment plan that preserved his vision. It was really that struggle with his vision and depth perception that caused him to start doing these grand-scale paintings," Firth said.
Firth said Lowell never explicitly named a favorite piece, but had a special regard for certain paintings, like a large piece titled “Alaska.”
“He felt that some of the finest work he ever did was with palette knives. The simplicity of the large palette knife strokes and the multiple layers of oil...he felt that was a high level of his work,” Firth said.
Lowell continued painting with the help of a special setup involving a system of lights attached to his easel.
His final piece displayed in the gallery was completed in 2017.
The gallery continues to be operated as a nonprofit by the Norman Lowell Art Gallery Foundation.
Lowell isn’t the only gallery official who’s died recently – Board Member Danny Presley died in a plane crash near Tustumena Lake on the Kenai Peninsula on Sept. 13. Firth said the two deaths have left the gallery in a state of transition.
The Norman Lowell Gallery on the Sterling Highway near Blackwater Bend is free to visit and will reopen next year on May 1. Firth said the gallery is looking for volunteers for the next season.
