The 36th Annual Anchorage Folk Festival
Introducing the 2025 Festival’s Official Art!
“My family and I have spent a lot of time around Alaska’s cold, rocky seashores. We’ve spent weekends beachcombing in Homer, walking around Point Woronzof while couples have windblown picnics and kids climb on rocks, watching otters frolicking near the docks of Seward, warming up at a midnight beach bonfire with new friends on Douglas Island, and enjoying old friends having a summer jam session in Hope. This year’s poster captures a little of the magic that can happen when a group of friends has time to relax by the sea and lose themselves in their music.”
Choosing a visual artist to represent each festival is one of the most fun tasks that the AFF Board has. Anyone can nominate an artist. It doesn’t have to come from a Board member, though the Board must make the final decision since the artwork will be on posters, programs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hang over the stage. The Board usually reviews the options we have been given, look at their artwork online, and one of us will talk to the artist to make sure that they are interested and inspired by the idea of art for the festival. Over the years, the Anchorage Folk Festival has certainly been blessed with some iconic images from a wide variety of artists; we are confident that this year will be another! Please meet the 2025 Festival Visual Artist: Lee Post!
Lee Post, a.k.a. Post Marks, is an illustrator and community advocate in the heart of Spenard. His fun and uplifting illustrations can be seen all over our community. He offers well-loved comics classes all over the state. He also performs graphic recording to illustrate notes for meetings, conferences, and public events as they happen.
In addition to his art, Lee retired from twenty-three years of work with at-risk youth but continues to work with kids in local schools and the community as well advocating for better treatment and housing options for youth. See Post Marks’s work online at Postmarks.graphics and on Instagram @Postmarks.graphics.
AFF Board President Johnse Ostman explains how Lee was approached as a candidate for producing this year’s festival art: “I reached out to Lee several years ago to gauge interest. He and his daughter had attended a few Folk Week coffee shop gigs we played. I had been at workshops Lee did at the museum and generally thought he and his art are fun, and he was local and recognized in the Anchorage community. I also knew he had retired so potentially had time to do this. Lee was interested, and we agreed that 2025 would be the year.”
Board member Lucy Peckham adds: “Lee made us feel, as a board, like our suggestions during the process of creative development inspired him! He was so receptive…and, in the end, his art inspires us. It is hopeful and visionary.”