Frederick Machetanz, 94; Painted Alaskan Landscapes

Frederick Machetanz, 94, Alaska’s best-known artist who grandly captured the state’s vast landscapes and wildlife, died Sunday in Palmer, Alaska, of causes associated with aging.

A native of Kenton, Ohio, Machetanz got his start illustrating covers for his beloved football team while attending Ohio State University. He made a post-graduate vacation visit to an uncle in Unalakleet, Alaska, near the Arctic Circle and made the state his home.

He served as a lieutenant commander in Navy intelligence in and around Alaska during World War II, and used the G.I. Bill to study lithography at the Arts Students League in New York City.

First an illustrator, Machetanz and his wife, the late Sara Dunn, produced several children’s books including “Barney Hits the Trail,” and travel documentaries for the state of Alaska and the Walt Disney Co. But by 1962, Machetanz had become a full-time artist and art professor at the University of Alaska.

Machetanz used a distinctive technique of painting his entire canvas blue and letting it dry before varnishing that and beginning to paint his subjects in layers. Considered one of the last of Alaska’s “old masters,” he painted the natives, prospectors, landscapes, polar bears and sled-dog teams.