Written on November 08, 2024

Sea Pony Farm from the float plane by Alex Kelsey

The on-the-ground work for Sea Pony Farm started in May, but the planning and fundraising for projects this year began much earlier, most significantly with our Keep on Pickin’ Bealer Art Show event and auction held in Juneau at the Alaska Robotics Gallery during the Alaska Folk Festival! 

Putting on this event was an exciting and novel opportunity catalyzed by Sea Pony Farm artist-in-residence Annie Bartholomew. We were thrilled for the opportunity to celebrate Eric and Pam Bealers’ artistic and musical connections across Southeast Alaska and expand networks by sharing about Sea Pony Farm with new audiences. 

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the event a success, including the art galleries, the musicians that played at First Friday, the bidders, and the generous sponsorships from businesses and individuals. Click the link above to learn more! Above photo by Ryan Morse.

Building & Maintaining Partnerships Across Southeast Alaska 

We are so grateful to everyone that poured immense energy, creativity, love, and support in various ways into Sea Pony Farm this year:

  • We hosted volunteers, contractors, partners, and artists from Sitka, Juneau, Haines, Anchorage, and Seward.
  • Dozens more supported the property and programs through monetary and in-kind donations, such as transportation and kayaks.
  • We continued to work closely with the community of Pelican in 2023, both with the city, local businesses, and individuals. The City has written us letters of support and community members and businesses helped with sourcing supplies, offering transportation, hosting concerts, checking on and putting labor into the property, and more.
  • Thank you to our transportation services for providing safe and reliable transportation to the property and Wilderness project sites: Harbor Air Services, Gust LLC, Barnautica Air Services, Alaska Marine Highway, Highliner Lodge, and Alaska Seaplanes.

The Steward family, Dana Herndon from Senator Murkowski's office, and AK Representative Himshoot visiting Sea Pony Farm. Photos by Ryan Morse and Carly Dennis.

 

2024 Focus Project: A new life for a classic barn 

SCS staff, contractors and volunteers all worked on preparing for and beginning transforming the barn into a larger communal art and gathering space. This work involved:

  • Demolishing an old shed.
  • Clearing out of items and lumber that were storage. 
  • Crafting and installing new windows from salvaged glass and re-glazing windows.
  • Installing a new plywood subfloor in the upstairs and demolishing walls.
  • Leveling, raising, and building lower level floor and putting in timber uprights, beams, and supports made from salvaged spruce and yellow cedar.
  • Beginning electrical, insulation, and paneling.
  • Removing trees around barn. 
  • Building a new lumber storage covered shed outdoors.

The lower barn in September vs May! Photos Andrew Thoms and Lione Clare.

Other maintenance projects on the property included trimming and felling trees, recreating aged fences and gates, working on wood stove masonry and chimneys, repairing roofs, installing new and handmade windows and salvaged doors, reducing the scrap and junk pile, transforming a greenhouse into a solitude studio and sleeping area, cutting and splitting firewood, and more.

Art & Property Upgrade Residencies 

  • Tristan Rhodes from Sitka created two beautiful clocks out of salvaged materials, and artistically led the installation of two new windows in the main house, created new windows out of repurposed glass for other buildings on the property, and helped with interior barn improvements.
  • Artist Steve Lawrie and writer Maite Lorente of Sitka continued their art and writing project documenting Eric & Pam’s lives and how they lived there. 
  • Poet and visual artist Shauna Potocky of Seward came for a ten day residency and we are looking forward to seeing the final work she creates. 
  • Esther Smith of Anchorage did gouache paintings that will become note cards and helped with projects around the property like splitting wood, cleaning solar panels, window glazing, and with fences.
  • Musician Kennedy Jo from Juneau brought folk music to Pelican. She played a local concert at Pelican General Store. She also helped on the property for several days stripping logs and helping prepare for the barn improvements.
  • The talented group from Haines worked incredibly hard on their projects associated with the barn improvements, transforming the space into a beautiful work of art itself.

Kennedy Jo, Shauna Potocky, and Esther Smith sharing and creating art! Photos by Lione Clare 

Wilderness Stewardship

We continued to use the Sea Pony Farm property as a base for Wilderness stewardship projects, maintaining nearby public use facilities and trails at White Sulphur, Greentop, and Goulding Lakes. We helped stock firewood, gather user and archeological data, and remove invasive plants across the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness.

Volunteers Cait, Carly, and Caysha sourcing firewood for a remote public use cabin. Photo by Lione Clare.

Thank you again to everyone who donated, volunteered, and worked to support our efforts at Sea Pony Farm this year! We are so proud of the progress we made and excited to continue next year.

If you would like to help us continue to develop this property into a comfortable and functional space for hosting small groups of artists and leaders working together with us to protect the Tongass National Forest and support sustainable communities across Southeast Alaska, please consider donating to this project using the donate button below.

Support Sea Pony Farm

 

Questions about the property or programs or want to volunteer? Contact [email protected].