City Museum’s May First Friday: Sinking of the Sophia
Join the Juneau-Douglas City Museum on Friday, May 4 from 4:30-7 p.m. for the opening reception of its summer solo-artist exhibit, Sinking of the Sophia: Scenes from the Opera, oil paintings by Dan Fruits. This event is free.
Sinking of the Sophia: Scenes from the Opera is a unique art exhibit featuring oil paintings by Dan Fruits which trace the story of the sinking of the SS Princess Sophia in 1918. The sinking of the SS Princess Sophia resulted in 350 lives lost and involved almost all of the city of Juneau in its aftermath. October 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of this disaster.
“It was my intention, in doing these pictures, to make art about the story. The work intends to loosely follow the path of the Sophia from passengers boarding in Skagway to the delivery of bodies in Vancouver amid celebration of the end of World War 1. Each piece, hopefully, stands on its own, but as a body of work pays tribute to a piece of local history – to this classic, epic, dramatic and compelling tragedy,” states Fruits.
The exhibit will be on view at the City Museum through September 29, 2018 and historical SS Princess Sophia artifacts from the City Museum’s permanent collection will accompany Fruits’ paintings. In October 2018, Fruits’ paintings will become the back drop for the Orpheus Project’s, The Princess Sophia Opera commemorating the centennial of this disaster. Fruit’s paintings will be projected in 3D onto the stage- a first for Juneau. More information about the opera can be found on the Orpheus Project’s website: orpheusproject.org
Summer hours begin May 1. The City Museum will be open seven days a week – Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Summer admission is $6 for general admission, $5 for ages 65 and older, and free for ages 12 and under. Friends member at the Family level or above receive free admission with a guest, and annual passes are available.
More information about the City Museum can be found on the Museum’s website: juneau.org/library/museum. The City Museum is located at the corner of 4th & Main Streets across from the state Capitol, and its phone number is 586-3572.