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The Anchorage Alaska Temple is one of a series of detailed pencil drawings and paintings created by the artist Chad S. Hawkins. In 1989, at the age of seventeen, Chad started this unique temple series, becoming the original LDS artist to involve hidden spiritual images in his artwork.
The temple is located on stake center grounds near the major Seward Highway, nestled in a grove of trees in a residential area of the city. To the east is the Chugach Mountain range; to the southwest is Cook Inlet. As symbols used for the Last Frontier State, Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the North Star mark the west side of the building. Chad subtly placed them both among the distant mountains and the trees in this rendition. Prominent in the northern sky, they serve as navigational aids, piloting many safely to their destinations. Hence, on the temple these reflect the great guiding influence of Jesus Christ and His work for mankind.
Chad has sketched an image of the Savior, Jesus Christ, kneeling in prayer in the tall trees and grass to the right of the temple. President Howard W. Hunter has counseled us, saying, “Let us truly be a temple-attending and temple-loving people. We should hasten to the temple as frequently, yet prudently, as our personal circumstances allow. . . . As we attend the temple, we learn more richly and deeply the purpose of life and the significance of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ensign, February 1995, p. 5).
