An open canvas for creativity draws artists and creatives to Ester

At the far end of Main Street in Ester, in a studio that once belonged to well-known former Fairbanks jewelry maker Judie Gumm, the husband and wife team of Daniel Ponickly and Zoe Quist operate Art Attack AK, a gallery and event space where all forms of self-expression take place.

“We have our own playroom. We created our own play space, and we invite people to come and play with us,” Ponickly said, describing what the couple has built.

“The idea was to create a space that was inviting to artists,” Quist added. A space, she said, “for art and conversation to happen.”

Art Attack AK is the brainchild of two Esterites with lengthy backgrounds in multiple areas of creativity and a desire to build a niche anyone can use to present whatever it is they wish to share with the world.

“It’s a welcoming space for artists to create, to exhibit, to perform,” Quist explained, adding that this expands well beyond visual arts. “We’ve had a harpist come in here who played. We’ve had sound bath yoga. We’ve had immersive art with live DJ music.”

Following up on Quist’s statement — something the two frequently do with each other owing to their relationship and shared vision — Ponickly added they have also played host to tango dances, cymbals, swing dance groups, a pop-up coffee shop and more.

“If you’ve got an idea, if you want to do something, if you want to use this space in some kind of creative way, we are open for it.”

Art Attack AK opened in 2022, shortly after the couple settled in Ester. For Quist, the move marked a return to Fairbanks, where she was born and raised, while for Ponickly, originally from New York City, and who arrived via Los Angeles where the two met and married, it’s an adopted lifestyle he’s found much to his liking. “Fairbanks punches above its weight class in all ways art,” he said, something he would know, coming from decades of being deeply immersed in the art worlds of the country’s two largest cities.

Quist is an independent filmmaker who left Fairbanks after high school to study political science at Northern Michigan University. During her senior year she returned to Fairbanks and took a film class at the University of Alaska Fairbanks with the late Anatoly Antohin, something that changed the course of her life and set her on her career path.

“I would say he was the most influential person in my film directing career,” she said, adding that Antohin taught her “what it is to create art on a global scale.”

Seeking to make movies, she moved to Los Angeles, where Ponickly had been since 2006. In NYC, he said, “I was acting and doing lots of performance art, live staged stand-up, and other kinds of esoteric performances. A lot of my friends moved to Los Angeles to be in the L.A. acting world and entertainment industry there, and I followed suit.”

After briefly meeting at a synchronized swimming class, the two got to know each other when by chance both wound up in a mutual friend’s RV on the way to Burning Man in 2010. They married the following year and their daughter arrived in 2013. Meanwhile their artistic partnership commenced and led to several projects, including the independent movie “Mining for Ruby,” which was filmed in Alaska.

The pandemic brought them back north in March of 2020 to stay with Quist’s parents. And after some subsequent overseas and domestic travel, they returned to stay. Ponickly was hired as Executive Director of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, and the couple launched MADO CBD, a hemp farm in Cripple Creek.

Looking for a home midway between the farm and town, they lucked into the Ester property Gumm was selling when she and her husband retired and left for warmer climes. “Because this was Judy’s place and there was an art space, we thought we would love to continue the idea,” Ponickly said. “Continue art at the end of Main Street. We wanted to create something for all.”

What the two had discovered upon arrival was a thriving arts scene on all levels, from art to music to photography, dance, movement, literary arts, and much more. What was missing in a state with a limited number of galleries and venues, and thus a lot of competition for room to exhibit or perform, was a space for all of it to come together. Quist said that this is where she and Ponickly found a gap that needed filling.

“We said, we’ve got this place, this is great, we’ll turn this into gallery space,” Ponickly recalled. The only thing left that they needed was a name for it. “It was Zoe who said Art Attack. And it just was hilarious and it stuck.”

Since its opening, photographer Kate Wool, multimedia artist Igor Pasternak, Naomi Hutchquist, who works in digital media, and the late painter Alfred Skondovitch have had showings, as have up-and-coming artists, musicians, dancers, and more seeking to reach audiences.

Art Attack AK is not being run as a profitable venture, Ponickly said. It’s a place for the community to share in. “Our philosophy here is, if you’re charging for what you’re doing here, then cut us in. If you’re not charging, then go forth and enjoy.”

Quist, explaining how she and her husband see the facility’s role in the local arts scene, said “We’re a vessel, we’re an amplifier, we just provide the tools.”

Continuing this thought, Ponickly added, “We provide the canvas for the artist to fill.”

Between ongoing, scheduled, and spontaneous events, Art Attack AK offers expanded opportunities for creative-minded residents of Ester and Fairbanks alike. “If you’ve got an idea, if you want to do something, if you want to use this space in some kind of creative way, we are open for it,” Ponickly said, summarizing the couple’s creation.

“It’s anything you want it to be,” Quist concluded.

•••

Art Attack AK is located in Ester at 3600 Main St. at the end very end of the road. The next gallery show, “The Rites of Spring,” a collection of works from various artists, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 6. The gallery and art space can be found online at www.artattackak.com, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArtAttackAK.