[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING BYRON BIRDSALL

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, Alaskans tend to view our State 
as a big family, a family whose members come from many places but are 
united in our love and loyalty for our great land. And like any family, 
Alaska has been blessed with outstanding sons and daughters, 
distinguished in their own unique ways.
  Today I wish to pay tribute to the memory of one such Alaskan, 
acclaimed watercolorist Byron Birdsall. Byron's passing on December 4, 
2016, just 2 weeks shy of his 79th birthday, leaves a hole not just in 
the hearts of Alaskans, but in the art world itself. Given the 
indelible impact that Byron's prolific volume of work has had on 
Alaskans over the last 41 years, it is all the more impressive, 
considering that he lived the first half of his life outside the State.
  Born in Buckeye, Arizona on December 18, 1937, Byron was raised in 
the suburbs of Los Angeles. After graduating with a bachelor's degree 
in history from Seattle Pacific College in 1959, Byron attended 
Stanford University. Following his 1960 marriage to his beloved Lynn, 
who succumbed to breast cancer in 1998, the couple set out to travel 
the world. The couple traveled to Africa to teach English and explored 
the Pacific, living in American Samoa for a few years. They then 
returned for a job in Seattle before arriving in Anchorage for a job at 
an advertising agency, which he soon quit to paint full time.
  He recalled that it was 1975, during the pipeline boom that he was 
painting pictures. ``People started buying them so I quit work and 
started painting.'' Byron painted Alaska. He later explained to the 
Anchorage Daily News, ``Alaskans love Alaska. That's what they want to 
buy.''
  Despite his talent in multiple mediums, including portraiture and 
oils, Byron will likely be best remembered for his prolific work in 
watercolor and landscapes, and, perhaps rightly so, as many of the 
pieces and prints so familiar to most Alaskans were in that format. His 
work is so highly regarded that one of his prints, ``McKinley 
Moonlight,'' was selected to serve as a background for Alaska's 
heirloom marriage certificates. As his wife Billie said, Byron was 
``inspired by both the scenic beauty of Alaska and its people.''
  Alaska Dispatch News writer David James described Byron's landscapes 
for a recent book Byron completed this year as ``rich with color and 
detail. His summer scenes explode with flowers, animals and sunlight, 
while his images of winter, where snow covers the ground and twilight 
darkens the sky, are alive with elaborate hues and stellar lighting 
that belie the notion of Alaska as a desolate wasteland for half the 
year.''
  But I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to highlight for the 
record that Byron's work was not just the beautiful landscapes that 
Alaskans love so much. Rather, he helped catalog the history of the 
49th State. Among the many honors we have as Senators is adorning our 
offices with artwork that represent our States. In my case, that 
includes two of Byron's prints proudly hanging in the hallway leading 
to my office. While the first is one of his traditional moonlit 
landscapes, the other is ``Anchorage Land Auction, 1915.'' It features 
a crowd huddled in what was then no more than a tent city near Ship 
Creek, in what would eventually become downtown Anchorage. Byron's 
painting reminds me not just of those pioneers who ventured to Alaska 
with the promise of a new life waiting to be carved out of the 
wilderness but, despite how far Alaska has come, how much raw potential 
still remains.
  Despite our rich history and heritage, we are a young State, and many 
of our founding generation has been--and is now--passing from the 
scene. However, whether through his capturing of the 75th Annual 
Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Festival or ``Fur Rondy,'' featuring Rondy 10-
time champion George Attla racing his sled dog team down 4th Avenue, or 
in his painting the historic devastation to downtown Anchorage 
following the 1964 earthquake, Byron was interpreting and memorializing 
the highs and lows of our history for generations of Alaskans to come.
  I can think of no better way to end than with Byron's own words about 
his life: ``A dream come true. That is what Alaska has given to me. 
Incredible beauty for subject matter, and a receptive public have 
combined to allow me to do what I love best, painting all day, every 
day for more than 41 years.''
  On behalf of grateful Alaskans and my fellow Senators, I extend my 
condolences to Billie and Byron's family. With Byron's passing, Alaska 
has lost a cultural icon, but his substantial body of work lives on 
forever.

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