The More You Look
Welcome to The More You Look, a production of the UA Museum of the North and your behind-the-scenes journey into museum collections, research, exhibits, and public programming from Fairbanks Alaska. Join us as we talk about special exhibitions in development, and changes to look for in the permanent galleries. Not just the what, but the how and why. Learn about new programs and new ways to get involved. Curators will discuss the latest field season and collections managers what new finds have come to our labs to be cataloged, studied, and made available to researchers worldwide. We’ll get a look at major projects on the horizon and notable ones from years past. We’ll visit the museum labs–and field camps throughout Alaska and gain a better understanding of not only what this museum is within and without its walls, but quite possibly what discussions take place within any art and natural and cultural history museum that you might venture inside.
The More You Look is now also a KUAC FM radio show.
Episodes
54 episodes
Random Birds
Not long ago, we broadcast another episode with the museum’s Birds collection. There, Roger Topp spoke with five of the students about working with the collection, and he spoke with the Curator Kevin Winker and Collections Manager Jack Withrow ...
The Sick, with Kevin Carroll
In 2025, the museum held its first open call for artists and community curated shows in the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery. The jury selected 6 shows to be exhibited, and Kevin Carroll’s The Sick, is the first in the series, opening Apr...
We Can Move the Stars
The UA Museum of the North now has a planetarium, and as planetarian Omega Smith said when she first came to the museum in the fall of 2025, “We can move the stars.”In this episode we discuss the new facility with Omega Smith, Director o...
Ways of Interaction (with the Birds Collection)
Welcome to the museum’s Birds Collection. In this episode Curator Kevin Winker and Collections manager Jack Withrow discuss the dimensions of the collection, and the way it grows. We talk about Super Pato and remember the stories that come with...
Creative Continuum
The Native Art Center at UAF has been a cornerstone for the study and preservation of Alaska Native art since its establishment in 1965. Founded by Iñupiaq artist Ronald Senungetuk, the Center was created to bring together artists from rural co...
Bus 142: Narratives of Solitude
In planning to exhibit Bus 142 at the UA Museum of the North, we’ve spoken with many people about their experiences with the bus, their perspectives on the story of Chris McCandless, their connections to the bus that go back into the 70s and 80...
Dinosaurs and Mammoths
As the UA Museum of the North approaches its centennial anniversary, we thought we might talk to each collection about that collection, the collection’s history, and what objects might be in a top ten list to include in a celebratory exhibit. T...
Threshold 32F
The museum’s latest exhibit in the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery, Threshold 32 Fahrenheit, is a collaboration between visual Artist Klara Maisch, writer Debbie Moderow, and ecologist Rebecca Hewitt. The exhibit is a mu...
Observing Our Dynamic Planet
The museum’s latest special exhibit, Observing Our Dynamic Planet, showcases how synthetic aperture radar data allow us to study earth from space. To follow our last episode, which looked at the Alaska Satellite Facili...
Ground Station
The museum has opened a new special exhibit in partnership with the Alaska Satellite Facility. The exhibit, Observing Our Dynamic Planet, showcases how synthetic aperture radar data is acquired and how it allows us to ...
In a Time of Change
Mary Beth Leigh is UAF professor of microbiology and Arts-Humanities-science integration, and Director of the In a Time of Change (ITOC) program. Dr. Leigh's work has influenced exhibits at UAMN and found their way into shows and programming...
Tales From the Front Desk
From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to produce an episode where we could hear some of the stories as told by the museum’s attendants, those employees who work the front desk, the store, who open the galleries and see to the needs of solo...
From Leaf Miners to Burying Beetles
In this episode, we continue the conversation with UAMN Curator of Insects, Derek Sikes and UAMN Entomology Collections Manager, Jess Rykken, from the full episode, Of the Ants and the Bees. And we cover so many topics...
Of the Ants and the Bees
The last time The More You Look sat down with museum entomologist, Derek Sikes, he hinted that perhaps at our next conversation, he could share some results on his work on the ants of Alaska. That was more than a year ago – and in pret...
To Build Connections
UAMN Education & Public Programs offers a wide array of activities and resources for teachers, students, families, community members, and visitors of all ages and backgrounds. Opportunities to learn from, inspiration through museum colle...
The Northwoods Set Book Project
In the Fall of 2024, the museum opened the Northwoods Set Book Project, the first special exhibit presented within the museum’s Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery, bringing closer together newer community work and the work within the museum’s per...
Everyone's Grandfather
In September of 2024, Nathan Jackson’s totem pole, “Everyone’s Grandfather,” on the grounds of the museum, was removed from its site of 36 years and brought inside the museum for conservation and future installation within the building. UAF ...
Stories We Can Tell
Christina parks, the UAMN's Director of Visitor Services somehow finds time for an afternoon chat on September 4th, 2024, what happened to be the busiest non-event day at the museum in years. Not all days at the museum are the same. Li...
Opportunities in Fish
Today, a conversation with UAF masters student Sydney Almgren and postdoctoral researcher Laura Timm. We talk about their current research, Sydney updating us on her work following on a prior episode of the show – but they also talk about th...
Oh the Places We Go
A conversation with Audra Darcy and Haley McCaig, UAMN research archaeologists, and recorded on the cusp of the 2024 summer field season. It's less about science and data analysis and more about logistics, planning, and manual labor in reall...
The More You Find
In July 2023, the museum recorded a trailer for The More You Look Podcast, and we think, now more than a year later, we got the direction, the goals about right. Over the years, museum outreach has considered the museum from many angles. Wha...
The Teacher Voice
Museum galleries and programs are brought to life by museum educators and members of the Fairbanks community, who volunteer to teach school children, guide tours, and help during special events. And the UA Museum docent program has been arou...
Birds of the Late Cretaceous
Arctic lands today are important breeding grounds for more than 200 species of birds, some of which migrate great distances to take advantage of the abundant summer resources. But this episode is not about them, but birds that lived in Alask...