About the Artist and Founder of AK Starfish Co.
As a third generation Alaskan, Marci has much to appreciate about her lifelong relationship with Alaska. She has spent her fifty-three years exploring Alaska by running and skiing on the trails of Kincaid park, bush whacking through the brush and animal trails at Mount Susitna’s feet, flying to remote rivers and streams to fish for salmon with her dad, boating over the icy waves of Resurrection Bay in search of salmon, glaciers, halibut, and beauty, kayaking and beach combing out of Homer, Valdez, and Seward, and running across the 50km frozen dogsled trails of the Little Su and the mountain pass Lost Lake trails.
Her experiences in nature are part of the inspiration for her art and her lifelong love of Alaska. After going out of state for college and teaching English in China, Marci returned to begin seventeen stimulating years as an English teacher at Dimond High School. Her relationships and experiences with students inform her awareness of human growth and an individual’s ability and need to regenerate, like starfish do, to constantly “create anew.” This desire to learn and grow propels her art and her life…
The Starfish Design:
Marci’s first design, the starfish, was inspired by the galaxy of starfish in Sadie Cove, Homer in the summer of 2003. After photographing the starfish on an especially low tide, Marci created her vision of a clean stippled image that would capture the wild creature and celebrate its strength and beauty while mirroring the same qualities in the person who wears it.
The hand drawn design has become an Alaskan symbol that Alaskans are excited to call their own and that folks around the Lower 48 and beyond are excited to adopt.