ENTRY DESCRIPTION
A small point on the northwestern shore of the Bristol Bay, Alaska is home to a few dozen set net commercial fishermen in the summer months. When the salmon come up the bay, set netters string out their nets at low tide and wait for the tide and the salmon to come in. This young crewmember waits at his makeshift home in an abandoned cannery for the authorities to announce the opening in his area of this carefully managed fishery.

AUTHOR
Born and raised in Anchorage Alaska, Gage’s career spans nearly 40 years. Always an artistic child, his formal interest in art started in high school and college where he studied painting and drawing under Wasili Somers and Keith Apple at the University of Alaska Anchorage. In 1977, a close friend and mentor, Marc Bourassa, introduced Gage to the artistic merits of photography. Studying under UAA professor Sam Kimura, Gage immersed himself into the art of photography. His studies extended throughout his early career with classes from many notable late 20th century photographers: Jerry Uelsmann, Micheal Kenna, Eikoh Hosoe, Richard Misrach, and Emmet Gowin to name a few. By the late 1980s, Gage mounted his first one-person show. By the late 1990s, he was being represented by such galleries as Weston Gallery in Carmel, CA; Benham Gallery in Seattle, WA; and the Fotografie Forum in Frankfort, Germany. In 2004 Hal Gage was awarded a one-person exhibition at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center which traveled to the Alaska State Museum and other venues in Alaska and Oregon. A portfolio of that work is on permanent display at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, with a representative selection from the show in the State Museum, Anchorage Museum and Pratt Museum’s permanent collections. Also in 2004 Gage was awarded his first Rasmuson Fellowship. In 2010 Gage received his first public art commission which is sited at the Fairbanks International Airport. That same year he was awarded his second Rasmuson Fellowship Award. In 2016 he was awarded his second public art commission: this one sited by Seattle, Washington’s King County metro system.

Hal Gage lives with his writer partner Jean Ayers in Anchorage, Alaska. He teaches classes and workshops covering photography and computer skills.

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