Back Page with Carol Crump Bryner

Artist Statement:

During the fifty years I’ve lived in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, I’ve avoided painting
landscapes. I prefer the more domestic scenes – rooms, chairs, sunlight on rugs and
flowers, portraits of people dear to me, and still life paintings of my daily
surroundings. But in 2018, I began a series of paintings based on the view of Cook
Inlet that I see when I walk on the nearby Coastal Trail. Across the mudflats and the
water is a distant view of the Alaska Range, Mount Susitna, Fire Island, and Point
Woronzof. Some days I hurry out onto the trail to see the color from the sunset or
the darkness of a coming storm. In every season, the sunlight and cloud formations
bring this landscape to life. It is always changing and always dramatic. When I look
into the distance, I feel like I’m standing at the edge of the world.

Carol Crump Bryner was born in Connecticut at the end of World War II on the winter
solstice. Her mother was an artist, so she started learning about art as soon as she could
hold a crayon. When she was in graduate school at Stanford, her lithography teacher
had them visit his painting studio. From that day on, she wanted an artist’s life – days
spent in a studio with paints, a paintbrush, and the concentration that comes with
bringing a blank canvas to life. It’s often been a struggle to maintain this career, but
after so many years of making art and putting it out into the world, She is still really
happy with her choice. More about her at carolcrumpbryner.com.