Mike Tauriainen remembers his high school basketball coach at Evenson collection reception at KPC.

Mike Tauriainen remembers his high school basketball coach at Evenson collection reception at KPC.

Jim Evenson’s collection at KPC through September

Works from the permanent collection of legendary artist, coach and homesteader Jim Evenson will be on display through this month at the Gary Freeburg Gallery at Kenai Peninsula College Kenai River Campus.

Evenson’s son Thor, also an acclaimed artist, was present at the opening reception of the show.

“It’s a lot of fun to be here and see folks enjoying Dad’s works. He and Mom spoke with us earlier via the phone and that was really nice and rather emotional. The show is such a positive thing and see them talking to people who remember them was moving. They would have loved to have been here but their health prevented it. He is a legend in my mind and was the best strategic basketball coach I ever had. The thing I think is the most intriguing about him is the way he approaches things. He comes at it and thinks about it, sees it in a clear way and then closes it. That is one of the reasons he was such a great coach because he saw further and thought of more clever ways than the other coaches did,” said Thor.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Mike Tauriainen, now a civil engineer in Soldotna, once held the scoring record under Coach Evenson at KCHS.

“He taught us to play position which is everything in basketball. Mike was a scoring machine and had the long big step,” said Thor.

“To me he was just a great basketball coach. I knew he taught art but I never took an art class, but he was an excellent coach and I really enjoyed playing under him and he produced some excellent teams mostly because of Coach Evenson. Then after finishing college and moving back to the area I became acquainted with his art and really enjoy seeing what he sees through his eyes and his paintings what life on the Kenai Peninsula was all about. I’m really impressed with the volume of this work and his focus on Cook Inlet and this area. This is a great show and I really enjoy seeing it through his eyes and the medium he uses to convey his thoughts and feelings,” said Tauriainen.

Thor Evenson’s work is very different from his father’s.

“Not at all like Dad’s. I think anyone who is expressing themselves through art has to find their own way, but there are influences and what he taught me is the pure pleasure he got from his art. He would work on a piece painting or printing and he just loved it. My mom would say he just sits there and works all day, he just seemed to love it and he did and that’s something that is important and that I’m glad he passed on to me. He was a bold and courageous person. When he started commercial fishing he had never done it before and there were times we got in some real trouble in the rips and all, but he didn’t follow other people he wanted to go and figure it out himself and it was an adventure for him very much like his art work he’s not figuring it all our beforehand he lets it happen on the page or stone or in the boat. When I had my biggest day fishing with like 3,100 fish, Dad had 3,400 fish. Now we usually beat him because we were younger, but the big day he beat us and I watched him walk around the dock afterward and he was like floating with happiness,” recalled Thor.

Those experiences and emotions of life on the Kenai are on display through September at KPC.

Artist Thor Evenson shares memories of growing up with his father Jim on the homestead.

Artist Thor Evenson shares memories of growing up with his father Jim on the homestead.

Jim Evenson originals on display through September at KPC.

Jim Evenson originals on display through September at KPC.

More in News

tease
‘All the kids are grand champions’

Kenai Peninsula 4-H shows off at Agriculture Expo

Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chilson and Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney grill hot dogs at the Progress Days Block Party at Parker Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Progress Days block party keeps celebration going

Vendors, food trucks, carnival games and contests entertained hundreds

Children take candy from a resident of Heritage Place during the 68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days Parade in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘It feels so hometown’

68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days parade brings festivity to city streets

Kachemak Bay is seen from the Homer Spit in March 2019. (Homer News file photo)
Toxin associated with amnesic shellfish poisoning not detected in Kachemak Bay mussels

The test result does not indicate whether the toxin is present in other species in the food web.

Superintendent Clayton Holland speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Federal education funding to be released after monthlong delay

The missing funds could have led to further cuts to programming and staff on top of deep cuts made by the KPBSD Board of Education this year.

An angler holds up a dolly varden for a photograph on Wednesday, July 16. (Photo courtesy of Koby Etzwiler)
Anchor River opens up to Dollies, non-King salmon fishing

Steelhead and rainbow trout are still off limits and should not be removed from the water.

A photo provided by NTSB shows a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, that crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska, Sept. 12, 2023. The plane was weighed down by too much moose meat and faced drag from a set of antlers mounted on its right wing strut, federal investigators said on Tuesday.
Crash that killed husband of former congresswoman was overloaded with moose meat and antlers, NTSB says

The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska on Sept. 12, 2023.

Armor rock from Sand Point is offloaded from a barge in the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, part of ongoing construction efforts for the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Work continues on Kenai Bluff stabilization project

The wall has already taken shape over a broad swath of the affected area.

An aerial photo over Grewingk Glacier and Glacier Spit from May 2021 shows a mesodinium rubrum bloom to the left as contrasted with the normal ocean water of Kachemak Bay near Homer. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Greer/Beryl Air)
KBNERR warns of potential harmful algal bloom in Kachemak Bay

Pseudo-nitzchia has been detected at bloom levels in Kachemak Bay since July 4.

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in