Steve Durr is the Recipient of a Rasmuson Grant

This month, Talkeetna-based artist Steve Durr received a 7,500 dollar grant from the Rasmuson Foundation to build an art studio in his backyard. Durr is incredibly grateful for and excited about this opportunity. 

It’s a big deal in our little world. You know, it’s not the Nobel Prize, but in my world it kind of is. 

Durr explains that he’s been applying to this grant for years.  

If you throw a line in the water, you may not catch a fish. If you do not throw a line in the water, you won’t catch a fish. So I’ve been applying every year for a number of years and finally caught a fish. 

Durr started playing music at age six, and has been playing professionally since age sixteen. His father was an impressive visual artist as well, and also played folk guitar. He taught Durr the basics. 

My dad was a great painter. And together we lived a life of total involvement with each other’s art.

Durr came to Talkeetna in June of 1970. He was twenty, and explored with his dad. They found a lake on the map and stayed there. He feels that it must have fostered his creativity. 

That’s not really what you call a career move, going out into the wilderness. 

At that time, Durr had already been to New York City and had a recording contract with a major label. But, he ended up in Alaska. 

For most of his life, he played music and his dad painted.

When he passed away some years ago, I just picked up his brushes and his paints and went at it. 

Durr’s music and art practices influence each other. 

The creative aspect comes from the same place. It’s just a different medium, different tools. 

Durr gets a lot of his inspiration visually from the wilderness around him.

Once you start, you just can’t stop. Because every day it’s different up there—the colors, the angles, the shadows, the sky. 

He also likes to write what he calls “stoopid songs.” 

These are songs that have no redeeming value whatsoever. Not culturally, not socially, not spiritually, not poetically, and certainly not musically. 

Whatever the endeavor—acrylic painting or singing—Durr says he has an artistic community in Talkeetna that has shaped his work over the years. He’s excited to have a studio to share with all the talented folks here. 

We’re really a musical, artistic family. And friends can come over and we can rehearse here. We can record. 

Durr is building his studio by himself, and hopes to have it completed this fall. The roofing and lumber is on its way, the floor is ready, and logs are collected. 

Durr looks forward to the opportunities that the studio will more easily afford. 

For KTNA, I’m Nell Salzman.