Homer galleries showcase works for First Friday

Published 4:30 am Thursday, April 30, 2026

Spring is here and Homer’s art galleries and public art spaces are bursting with new and ongoing exhibits and installations. Stroll downtown and meet the artists and enjoy the variety of mediums on display.

Art Shop Gallery

202 W. Pioneer Ave.

Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society Spring Show

Opening reception, 5 to 7 p.m.

Art Shop Gallery’s newest artists are the members of the Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society. This month, the gallery showcases new original work by KBWS members, including their always-popular collaborative piece, in their annual Spring Show. Visit the gallery online at artshopgallery.com.

Bunnell Street Arts Center

106 W. Bunnell Ave.

What Color Blue, paintings by Oceana Wills

Opening reception, 5 to 7 p.m., Artist talk, 6 p.m.

Bunnell Street Arts Center hosts Homer painter Oceana Wills and her exhibit “What Color Blue”. This body of work features the landscapes of the Kachemak Bay area as the artist explores themes that include our relationships to nature, community and self, appreciation of the ordinary, acknowledgment of anxieties, sorrows and unknowns, expressions of holding and being held, as well as playfulness and curiosity. Embracing eclectic concepts and imagery with trust that the work fits together through pattern, color and the possibility of evocation, Wills often approaches her painting like collage, pulling observational and imagined images together with the question of how they relate. “What Color Blue” invites the viewer to consider the color blue in nature and objects in one’s daily life.

Raised in Homer, Wills has long been inspired by the ocean and spent many summers on it as a deckhand in the commercial salmon fisheries. Her earlier work centers women in the fishing industry and imagines mermaid life parallel to life on land. She spends summer on land these days and her art is inspired by the animals, rocks, plants, people and landscapes of Homer. Her primary medium is gouache paint on clay board panels or on paper. She also works in acrylic, pen, and embroidery and is learning how to sew. Visit the gallery online at bunnellarts.org.

Grace Ridge Brewing

870 Smoky Bay Way

Acrylic paintings by Michelle Morton

Opening Reception, 5 to 7 p.m.

Grace Ridge Brewing presents painter Michelle Morton. With acrylics as her primary medium, Morton’s work is colorful and whimsical. Exhibit on display through May.

Homer Council on the Arts

355 W. Pioneer Ave.

The Misfit, collage and photography by Corrina Pariyar

Opening Reception, 5 to 7 p.m.

Homer Council on the Arts showcases collage work and photography by Corrina Pariyar. An abstract expressionist and self-described misfit explorer of the multi-media, collage, Pariyar is drawn towards deities, death, dreams, truth and love. While her collages are abstract, her photography in inspired after nearly a decade of practice in Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography, literally translating in Tibetan to Good Eye. It is a practice of seeing the world as it is and one that she hopes to bring to Homer once she completed her teacher training. Visit the gallery online at homerart.org.

Homer Public Library

500 Hazel Ave.

Meander to Mustang, Travel photography by Taz Tally and Christina Whiting

Library hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday & Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friends of the Homer Public Library hosts “Meander to Mustang”, photography by Taz Tally and Christina Whiting captured during their 2024 trek into the remote Mustang area of Nepal. In this exhibit they showcase their individual perspectives from their shared journey. The photographers will discuss their adventure and images in a slideshow presentation and talk at the library on Thursday, May 21, 6 to 7 p.m.

Pratt Museum

3779 Bartlett St.

50 Years of Limited Entry

Reception, 4 to 6 p.m.

Pratt Museum continues their exhibit 50 Years of Limited Entry that opened at the beginning of the year and is on display through the end of May. This thought-provoking exhibit by the Kodiak Maritime Museum examines the conditions that spurred the creation of the Limited Entry Program, the effects it had on Alaska’s fishermen and fishing communities over the past half century, and recent proposals to address unintended consequences of the program. In addition to the 50 Years of Limited Entry exhibit panels, this exhibition features art, photographs, and materials from the Pratt Museum’s permanent collection. Visit the Museum online at prattmuseum.org.

Ptarmigan Arts

471 E. Pioneer Ave.

Wings Over Homer, Bird-themed work by gallery members

Opening Reception, 5 to 7 p.m.

Ptarmigan Arts presents “Wings Over Homer” in honor of the return of migratory shorebirds and other birds this spring. Featured work will include pieces by gallery members, Heather Mann, Gary Lyon, Diane Briggs, Ted Heuer and others, showcased in the mediums of paintings, photography, quilts, textiles and woodwork, among others. Visit the gallery online at ptarmiganarts.com.

South Peninsula Hospital Gallery Hall

4300 Bartlett St.

“A Landscape of Wild Mystery”, photography by Sky Cady

On display at South Peninsula Hospital’s gallery is “A Landscape of Wild Mystery”, photography by Homer’s Sky Cady. Cady’s photographs are inspired by Alaskan landscapes that he sees as a small window into the rugged, wild and untamed nature of the human soul and his soul. With a passion for freedom and adventure, Cady enjoys exploring and photographing landscapes few have ventured to, which both piques his curiosity as to what is yet to be discovered and nurtures his spirituality and relationship with God. Always looking to see what is beyond a mountain, down a crevasse, behind a willow grove, under a tussock and in a valley, Cady’s creativity brings him unmeasured joy which he strives to share through his images. “A Landscape of Wild Mystery” is on display in the SPH Gallery through June. Find the gallery wall through the Main Entrance and on display in the hallway by the lab.

The Dean Gallery

40374 Waterman Rd.

January “Open Studio”

Open, 5 to 7 p.m.

The Dean Gallery is family-owned and features contemporary art by M’fanwy, Ranja, and Jeff Dean. On First Friday, the gallery will host an open studio where visitors can see M’fanwy’s intricately carved wood panels, Ranja’s bronze sculptures and drawings and Jeff’s metal and wood wall art and bronze sculptures. Also on display will be Jeff’s ‘Salmon Stream Table’, a 3’ x 9’ coffee table made from curved black cherry boards and featuring a heat-colored salmon stream depicting the life cycle of salmon, as well as new heat-colored steel pieces in a variety of sizes and progress on his current commissions that include a stainless steel and rusted steel garden piece of a moose in the willow patch and a large stained-wood and heat-colored steel rendition of the SVT Health and Wellness logo for their new reception area. Visit them online at deangallery.com.