SNRAS staffer featured in First Friday art show

Art has always been meaningful to lifelong Alaskan Marilyn Childress. Inspired by her mother, Shirley Childers, Childress grew up in a creative household, expressing herself through music and art.
At 17 she took her first art lessons, an acrylics class with Bill Cross.

She was hooked, but life intervened; Childress became a school teacher and mother. She returned to art lessons in the 1990s, taking classes from Bill Cross for several years, along with her mother and her young daughter. At 5, Brittany Childress would attend art lessons with her mom and grandmother, working on her own freestyle projects while the adults learned professional methods.

This beautiful rendering of an eagle in flight is one of Childress's most popular paintings. It was most recently on display in the SNRAS dean and director's office but will be at S Salon throughout December.

This is the first public showing for Childress and she is thrilled to share her work. “I’m excited to meet new people on the First Friday rounds,” she said.

Her portrayals of Alaska’s scenes convey the astounding beauty of the natural world with a nearly surreal element. “I hope my love of nature and animals shows up in my work,” Childress said. “That’s my specialty and that’s what I want to share.”

Marilyn Childress

Childress is assistant to the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences dean and director. In free time, when not painting, she enjoys hiking, riding motorcycles and walking her German shepherd, Jax. She plays the piano and guitar and enjoys singing.

She is working on a three-generation art show featuring her mother’s paintings, her own paintings and her daughter’s drawings and metalsmithing.

Her work will be on display at S Salon, 9th and Cushman in downtown Fairbanks, for all of December. The First Friday event is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 6.