First Friday </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 8:35 PM on Wednesday, June 3, 2009

First Friday

Fish, fauna, flora and fantastic featured

BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

Homer's summer art season starts this Friday with shows featuring everything from art made from fish skins to the art of the fantastic. At Bunnell Street Arts Center, artists from around North America and Alaska continue the tradition of the late Anchorage artist Fran Reed with art using halibut, salmon and other fish skin as a main medium. Art inspired by the sea also is seen in Leola Rutherford's "Vessels of Land and Sea" at the Art Shop Gallery and ship captain David Wagner's oil paintings at Picture Alaska.

Art escapes from the normal with fantastic -- as in subject, not just quality -- art from Abby Maria Wentworth's show at Ptarmigan Art. Faeries, sprites and spirits appear in her images of flora and fauna. Hannah Baechler's painted models evoke the exotic as men and women in body paint pose in unusual Alaska settings.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.

Art Shop Gallery

207 W. Pioneer Ave.

"Vessels of Land and Sea," ceramic art by Leola Rutherford

5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Reception

Girdwood ceramic artist Leola Rutherford, a fifth-generation Alaskan, has created a series of lidded jars reflecting the land and sea of Alaska that she grew up with.

Bunnell Street Arts Center

106 W. Bunnell Ave.

"Skin Sisters," by various artists

"Countenance," curated by Elizabeth Eero Irving

5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception

6 p.m., Artists' Talk

"Skins Sisters" features work by North American and Alaska artists using fish skin as the main medium. The show celebrates and is inspired by the fish-skin art of the late Anchorage artist Fran Reed.

In "Countenance," curator Elizbeth Eero Irving of Fairbanks includes selections from a January 2009 exhibit at Well Street Art Company, Fairbanks, of contemporary masks of the far north.

Fireweed Gallery

475 E. Pioneer Ave.

"Art from the Heart," watercolor paintings by Jan Thurston

5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception

"Art from the Heart" is a celebration of recovery and trust. Halibut Cove artist Jan Thurston had planned the exhibit last fall, before she found out she had two brain aneurysms and needed surgery. After her recovery, Thurston wondered if her brain surgery might have affected her creativity. The exhibit is the result. It takes its title from the Oriental teaching, "The brush is an extension of the hand, the hand is an extension of the arm and the arm is an extension of the heart."

Homer Council on the Arts

344 W. Pioneer Ave.

"59/49" photography by Tom Reed

5-7 p.m., Second Friday Reception, June 12

In his exhibit of black-and-white photography, Homer and California artist Tom Reed explores the contrast between mountains in Alaska and Patagonia.

Photo by Hannah Baechler

One of the photos from Hannah Baechler's "Return of Romanticism" show, opening Friday at Hotel Bravo.

Hotel Bravo

158 W. Pioneer Ave., Suite D

"Return of Romanticism," photography and installation by Hannah Baechler

6-9 p.m., First Friday Reception and grand opening

Homer artist Hannah Baechler opens her new gallery and theater space with an exhibit of her photography from recent photo shoots featuring models decorated in body paint in exotic settings. For First Friday, the show includes some of the models in performance, with music by the band Yellow Cabin. See story, page 18.

David Wagner's "Renegade."

Picture Alaska

448 E. Pioneer Ave.

Paintings by David Wagner

5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Reception

"As a ship captain I have had the privilege of showing thousands of visitors from around the world my little piece of Alaska," Kenai Peninsula artist David Wagner writes. His work features the variety of animals, scenery, boats and the people who work on them seen on his travels. Wagner has recently begun working in water-soluble, environmentally friendly oils. He makes many of his own brushes and experiments with items like sponges and stranded bamboo.

Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery

471 E. Pioneer Ave.

"characters from an untold story," acrylic paintings and silkscreen posters by Abby Mariah Wentworth

5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception

Seward artist Abby Mariah Wentworth creates fantastical images and creatures interwoven with Alaska's flora and fauna.

Ring of Fire Meadery

178 E. Bunnell Ave.

"Tulips," acrylic paintings by Casey Wise

5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Reception

"Nothing has moved me more than the colors and forms I've found in nature and the human form," Homer-raised artist Casey Wise writes in his artist's statement. "Tulips" looks at the beauty found in flowers. "In painting, I express the beauty of the work by utilizing what is already there, embellishing it with textures and colors, letting the brush and the knife expose themselves in their rawest form."