Dave Rubin with his creations at the Hamilton Building art classroom
Art projects finished for health center

 Dave Rubin – Ketchikan artist, art teacher and musician – previewed eighteen new works of art Monday in the art classroom of the University of Alaska Southeast, Ketchikan Campus, Hamilton Building. They are figures he painted on hardboard ( masonite) for the new State of Alaska Ketchikan Health Center that will open near the gateway Human Services building in Ketchikan. The figures, cut out for him by Craig Koch of Ketchikan, are part of Alaska’s 1 percent for art program.

The figures will be separated into at least two groups when they are installed in their new home. The 18 brightly colored acrylic paintings depict 18 active people and 1 dog. Some are young, some old, some are walking, some are playing. An old man carries a child on his shoulders. A pregnant woman walks by. Several boys are playing with big balls. One child rides a tricycle.

Rubin has worked on the figures since May. The eclectic artist also spent time on other projects such as playing saxophone, guitar and bass as a member of the Potlatch Band: playing music at Salmon Falls resort for passengers of the Song of Flower tour ship when it was in port; and other painting projects, he said.

Three other Ketchikan artists will be represented in the new building when it is finished and moved into in mid October, according to Health Center Supervisor Joan Nugent. Kate Berntson, has painted a pair of watercolors; Colleen Blake has produced a series of suspended brass, balsa wood, and glass beaded objects; and Robert Walsh will be represented by a long, stained glass image of Rotary Beach, Nugent said.

Nugent described the new, $1.6 million building as wonderful.

The above photo and story are used with the written permission of the Ketchikan Daily News.